Silent Woods for Cello and Orchestra, Op. 68/5, B182

Opus number

68/5

Burghauser catalogue number

182

Date of composition

28 October 1893

Premiere - date and place

16 December 1894, Basel

Premiere performer(s)

Moritz Kahnt, conductor Alfred Volckland

First edition

Simrock, 1894, Berlin

Main key

D flat major

Instrumentation

1 flute, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 1 horn, violins, violas, cellos, double basses + cello solo

Duration

approx. 6 min.

Dvořák arranged the fifth part of his earlier four-hand piano cycle From the Bohemian Forest for cello and piano for a concert tour organised before his departure for the United States. This is a short little piece of sombre mood, in Czech usually going by the title of Klid, which translates simply as “Silence” or “Tranquility”; in English it is usually presented as Silent Woods. Two years later the composer arranged the piano accompaniment for small orchestra.