H1359
The first series of Slavonic Dances, Op. 46, was originally written for four-hand piano. It emerged over a very short time, between March 18 and May 7 1878. That same year the composer arranged the dances for large symphony orchestra. in these pieces Dvořák idealises and stylises distinctive Czech dance types, both from a formal and ideological point of view. He only used the rhythm from these models as the most spontaneous and characteristic element from each dance.