Mazurkas, Op. 56, B111

Opus number

56

Burghauser catalogue number

111

Date of composition

June 1880

Premiere - date and place

unknown

Premiere performer(s)

unknown

First edition

Bote & Bock, 1880, Berlin

Parts / movements

1. Allegro non tanto
2. Vivo e risoluto
3. Allegro
4. Lento ma non troppo
5. Allegro non troppo
6. Allegro

Duration

approx. 21 min.

The cycle of six piano mazurkas from June 1880 originated at a time when, thanks to numerous commissions from various music publishers, Dvořák was devoting much of his time to piano compositions. With this series of mazurkas, he joined the ranks of composers whose music helped to put the Polish national dance on the world map. In fact, he became one of the leading names among them, since this work is one of his most successful piano compositions, both from a musical point of view and in terms of its instrumental stylisation. Dvořák based his ideas on a highly idealised conception of this Polish dance, as codified in his work by Fryderyk Chopin: short musical poems, all of which preserve the characteristic rhythmical elements, but each has a different mood. Before the publication of the cycle, Dvořák excluded the fourth mazurka and replaced it with a completely new piece based on the themes from the first part of his Eclogue cycle. He did not consider the latter worthy of publication and used its opus number, 56, for his Mazurkas, which were published that same year by Bote & Bock.