An earlier Bohemian (Czech) composer, Vaclav Tomasek (1774-1850) was the first composer to assigned the literary term "eclogue" to a piece of music. In literature, the term goes back to Classical Greek. Tomasek used it to refer to a shorter piano work of pastoral, rural, or rustic flavor. This leaves the door open as to whether it should be fast or slow, dancing, singing, or hunt-like. Tomasek¹s examples of moderate difficulty.

Dvorak wrote the four works to which he gave the title in January and February, 1880. The are attractive works and follow Tomasek¹s example in not being very difficult to play. They have to be counted as minor works by Dvorak, but they are no less tuneful and attractive for that. He originally assigned his opus number 56 to them. But he did not get the published during his lifetime. In the meantime, he wrote a set of Mazurkas the same year that did get immediately published, and at that time assigned Op. 56 to them. The Eclogues were finally published in 1921, seventeen years after the composer¹s death, and they are common given only their listing number in the Burghauser catalogue of Dvorak¹s works.



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