Rondo for Cello and Orchestra in G minor, Op. 94, B181

Opus number

94

Burghauser catalogue number

181

Date of composition

16 October – 22 October 1893

Premiere - date and place

16 December 1894, Basel

Premiere performer(s)

Moritz Kahnt (cello), Alfred Volckland (conductor)

First edition

Simrock, 1894, Berlin

Main key

G minor

Instrumentation

2 oboes, 2 bassoons, timpani, violins, violas, cellos, double basses + cello solo

Duration

approx. 7 min.

In 1892 Dvořák travelled on a “farewell” tour of Bohemian and Moravian cities before his departure for the United States. As fellow performers he chose his friends, violinist Ferdinand Lachner and cellist Hanuš Wihan. The programme for the concerts consisted of Dvořák’s piano trios, involving all three artists (with the composer at the piano), in addition to which each of them would also play solo pieces. For the purposes of this tour Dvořák arranged some of his earlier works for Wihan and he also wrote a completely new Rondo in G minor with piano accompaniment. Two years later he arranged the work’s piano accompaniment for small orchestra. The Rondo elaborates three distinctive themes, evolving according to the regular form A–B–A–C–A–B–A.