Antonín Dvorák composed 14 of his 20-some Moravian Duets during the middle months of 1875; five of them were published in Prague that year as Op. 29, another eight became Op. 32, and one didn't make it to the printing press. Dvorák's method of securing texts for the Moravian Duets was a bit unorthodox: he took existing folk songs, stripped the text from its melody, and proceeded to start from scratch, as it were. The result are works that straddle the line between folk song and art song, energetic, vibrant songs that, in the case of Op. 29, are written for soprano and alto voices and piano accompaniment.

The five Op. 29 duets may well be the best loved of them all. Their English titles are: 1. The Fugitive, 2. The Birdling, 3. The Parting, 4. The Parting without Sorrow, and 5. The Pledge of Love. Each is quick in tempo (though most have somewhat slower, or at least more flexible, episodes in the middle), and all but one—the last—is cast in a bright and cheery major mode (and that last one modulates from A minor to E major by its end).

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