Impromptu in D minor, B129

Opus number

Burghauser catalogue number

129

Date of composition

(?) January 1883

Premiere - date and place

(?) 23 November 1884, Plzeň

Premiere performer(s)

(?) Heřman Šikl

First edition

Humoristické listy (J. R. Vilímek), 1883 Prague

Duration

approx. 5 min.

Impromptu in D minor is an occasional piano piece which Dvořák wrote at the beginning of 1883 at the request of his friend Václav Juda Novotný for the music supplement of the magazine Humoristické listy. It is constructed upon three exalted themes prized for their masterful treatment, range of moods and strong emotional impact. The work features a symmetrical A-B-A form, while the thematically identical outer parts are reminiscent of some of Dvořák’s dumkas. After its publication in the magazine, the composition was forgotten and the autograph was long considered lost. It was only after many decades that it was later discovered in a private collection.