across the border

The following stage in Dvořák’s career was extremely productive; not only did the state scholarship enable him to focus much more on his composition work, but his contact with the major German publisher paved the way for important connections outside the country. None of this came a moment too soon: despite the huge number of works he had already written, Dvořák, now past the age of thirty, was still an unknown entity in the eyes of the public at large. In terms of his subsequent career as a composer, the most important works to come out of this period were his Moravian Duets and Slavonic Dances, which attracted the attention of the critics, for the most part in German-speaking territories. Apart from the duets, Dvořák turned out a whole series of other pieces, including the popular Serenade for Strings in E major, the Piano Quartet in D major and Fifth Symphony in F major.