Dumka, Op. 12/1, B136

The short piano Dumka was probably commissioned by the Parisian music critic Louis de Fourcade for the music supplement of the French daily Le Gaulois. However, it was first published in January 1885 by František Augustin Urbánek in Prague (together with Furiant, Op. 12/2), featuring a dedication to a young amateur pianist, Marie Rusová, the daughter of one of Dvořák’s friends. It was then printed in the Album de Gaulois in Paris only in December of the same year, in a considerably altered form. What is different about this dumka, however, is that its middle section doesn’t follow the traditional pattern and lacks the lively contrast one might expect. The wonderful main theme is somewhat reminiscent of the poetic style of Chopin’s nocturnes.