Silent Woods for Cello and Orchestra, Op. 68/5, B182
Opus number
68/5
Burghauser catalogue number
182
Date of composition
28 October 1893
Premiere - date and place
16 December 1894, Basel
Premiere performer(s)
Moritz Kahnt, conductor Alfred Volckland
First edition
Simrock, 1894, Berlin
Main key
D flat major
Instrumentation
1 flute, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 1 horn, violins, violas, cellos, double basses + cello solo
Duration
approx. 6 min.
Dvořák arranged the fifth part of his earlier four-hand piano cycle From the Bohemian Forest for cello and piano for a concert tour organised before his departure for the United States. This is a short little piece of sombre mood, in Czech usually going by the title of Klid, which translates simply as “Silence” or “Tranquility”; in English it is usually presented as Silent Woods. Two years later the composer arranged the piano accompaniment for small orchestra.