Four Choruses, Op. 29, B59

This work appeared during a three-year period in which the composer wrote the large majority of his choral works (1876-1878), nevertheless we only have a precise date of origin for the first chorus, “Evening’s Blessing”, whose manuscript is dated 7. 2. 1876. The work was written for a cappella mixed choir. The first two parts of the cycle are set to texts from the poetry collection by Adolf Heyduk, The Cimbalom and the Violin, while the other two are set to Moravian folk texts from Frantisek Susil’s extensive collection Moravian Folk Songs with Melodies Included in the Texts. The setting respects the character of the texts, conveying the spirit of folk music in a largely homophonic style which is only occasionally enlivened by imitative treatment; the music adheres to a strophic form. The fourth part of the cycle, in particular, is reminiscent of the composer’s Moravian Duets. Dvorak dedicated these four songs to the Choral Society in Turnov, which premiered two of them and, after Dvorak’s death, added “Antonin Dvorak” to its name. The work was first published in Prague in 1879 by Emanuel Stary.