In 1874, Brahms reluctantly sat on the jury of the Austrian State Stipendium with the critic Eduard Hanslick and the Director of the Imperial Opera, Johann Herbeck. The jury was to award financial support to talented composers in need within the Habsburg Empire. Brahms encountered a massive submission from an obscure Czech composer: fifteen works including two symphonies, several overtures and a song cycle (Op. 7). Brahms was visibly overcome by the mastery and talent of this unknown individual. As a result of Brahms’s support, Antonin Dvorák received the stipend (and twice more in 1876 and 1877).

The Czech suite was written at the point in Antonín Dvořák’s career when his fame as a composer was burgeoning. The popularity of nationalist music was growing. Liszt had had great success with his set of Hungarian rhapsodies, composed from 1846 onwards, and Brahms had followed on with his famous set of 21 Hungarian dances.

Brahms’ music publisher, Fritz Simrock was looking for more music of this kind, and on the recommendation of Brahms approached Dvořák to commission a new work. The commission saw the publication of a set of 16 Slavonic dances which were originally written for piano duet. The work was a huge success. Simrock made a handsome profit and Dvořák received a pitifully small fee. At Simrock’s request Dvořák orchetrated the dances and they were published as his Opus 46. This time Dvořák insisted on and received a much higher fee. The Czech suite was written the following year.

The work is made up of five movements, three of which are traditional Czech dances, and two are descriptive of the Bohemian countryside which inspired much of Dvořák’s music.

The first movement is a pastorale in which the bucolic atmosphere is created by drone sounds accompanying a long lyrical melody and the sounds of bird-like songs.

The second movement is a Polka, the most celebrated of Bohemian dances. It is in a minor key and in duple time.

The third movement is a sousedská, a calm swaying dance in three quarter time. Some refer to the style as the grandparents’ dance.

The fourth movement is a romance that takes us back into the countryside. It is slower and gentler than the two preceding dances. The final movement is a furiant. This is a fast energetic dance that frequently shifts accents between duple and triple time. It provides a lively and exuberant conclusion to the work.