Two Songs on Folk Poems, B142

Opus number

Burghauser catalogue number

142

Date of composition

1 May – 2 May 1885

Premiere - date and place

unknown

Premiere performer(s)

unknown

First edition

Hudební matice, 1921, Praha

Text

Czech folk poems

Parts / movements

1. Sleep, sleep, my child / Cradle Song (Spi, mé dítě, spi / Ukolébavka)
2. When I see you, my darling / A Hindrance in Devotion (Kdyz tě vidím, má panenko / Překážka v pobožnosti)

Duration

approx. 4 min.

These two short songs originated during Dvořák’s third visit to England, in May 1885, written to the German translation of Czech folk-song texts. The first is a quasi lullaby with two identical verses, in its melodic beauty and fragile sound one of the most enchanting of Dvořák’s songs. The composer used certain elements of the melody later on for Julie’s lullaby in the opera The Jacobin. The second song has a march-like rhythm in the piano accompaniment and oscillates curiously between the keys of A major and F sharp minor. The songs only came out in print after the composer’s death, published in 1921 by the artists’ association Umělecká beseda in its Hudební matice edition.