| Marketing Copy | In October 1880, as he was completing his sixth symphony, Antonín Dvo?ák (1841-1904) wrote to his publisher Fritz Simrock that he wanted to complete a set of duets for piano in the next month. On January 30, 1881, he finally started work on the cycle, titled LEGENDS, Op. 59, and Simrock had published it by the middle of the year. Following the release of the piano duet version, Dvo?ák undertook to orchestrate all ten of the movements, which he completed between November and December of that same year. The critic Eduard Hanslick, to whom the work was dedicated, heartily praised it for its contrapuntal design and propulsive freshness. On May 7, 1882, Antonín Bennewitz led the first performance of movements 1, 3, and 4 at the Prague Conservatory and on November 26, Wilhelm Jahn conducted movements 2, 5, and 6 with the Vienna Philharmonic. Unusually, each movement of the work features a different instrumentation. Two publications are available from the publisher: Nos. 1-5 as a set and Nos. 6-10 as another set. Instrumentation for Nos. 6-10: 2.2.2.2: 4.0.0.0: Timp: Hp: Str (9-8-7-6-5 in set). Reprint edition. |
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