In 1879 Dvorak¹s new publisher, the prestigious Viennese firm of Simrock, was hungry for new music to follow up on his smash hit, the first set of Slavonic Dances for piano duet. But Dvorak first had to deal with another job, a commission from the Ball Committee of a patriotic group called the National Society, which had asked him and other Czech composers for some dance music for their 1879 Jubilee Ball. Dvorak set to work on some waltzes for them. He planned a set and sketched out one of them, then realized that these were more in the nature of drawing room music for listening rather than actual dance pieces. He started afresh on a new set, taking care to produce waltzes suited to the need of the outfit that was paying for them. These are known as the "Prague Waltzes," B 99.

Then he turned back to the original set of waltzes, changing them to pieces suitable for solo piano, and offered them to Simrock, who was delighted. Simrock wanted to call the set "Slavonic Waltzes" or "Czech Waltzes," no doubt to capitalize on the popularity of the Slavonic Dances, but Dvorak demurred on the grounds that the Waltz was a Germanic Dance. Dvorak¹s view prevailed, but both men were correct on their own terms: The melodic qualities of these excellent piano pieces is purely Slavonic. This collection is one of the very best collection of stylized dance pieces for piano to have been written by anyone.



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