Preludes and Fugues, B302

Opus number

Burghauser catalogue number

302

Date of composition

1859

Premiere - date and place

Nos. 5 and 8: 30 July 1859, Prague

Premiere performer(s)

Nos. 5 and 8: Antonin Dvorak

First edition

Nos. 1 and 7: SNKLHU (in: Ceska varhanni tvorba ), 1954, Prague
komplet: Editio Supraphon, 1980, Prague

Parts / movements

1. Prelude in D major
2. Prelude in G major
3. Prelude in A minor
4. Prelude in B flat major
5. Prelude in D major
6. Fughetta in D major
7. Fugue in D major
8. Fugue in G minor

Duration

approx. 19 min.

Only a few works have survived from the time Dvorak studied at the Prague organ school – apart from the piano polka Per pedes, these include a handful of organ works: five preludes, one fughetta and two fugues. They were essentially school etudes whose main purpose was to demonstrate in practice everything the student had learned from his music theory classes. These are the only known compositions Dvorak wrote for solo organ. Dvorak, then aged 18, performed two of them – the Prelude in D major and the Fugue in G minor – at a graduation concert on 30 July 1859. According to a review in Dalibor magazine, Dvorak performed these works “superbly”.