The end of 1877 was the time of Dvorak's big break. The thirty-six-year-old composer had struggled greatly with little material reward, but now he had a 600-guilden Austrian State Stipend that, even more importantly, brought him to the attention of Johannes Brahms, who became a close friend and something of a mentor. These fifteen dances were composed at just about that time. It seems clear that he was writing them for the home music-making market, for they are just the sort of little pieces that he had managed to survive on for some years. They are attractive and often charming, all simple contradances in 2/4 time. Each is 32 measures long, comprising two separate eight-measure melodies, each repeated once, to form one movement. Each of the fifteen in a different major or minor key. The music exemplifies Dvorak's familiar harmonic style with a hint of modality and some surprising shifts of harmony. They quote no Scottish folk music; nor do they reflect any contact with Scotland (Dvorak had never left Austrian territory). They are "Scottish Dances" simply because they are in the rhythm of the eccosaise, the so-called "Scotch" dance rhythm that was a convention even before Beethoven and Schubert wrote their own Scottish dances decades earlier.



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