Russian Songs: Frauenchor mit Klavier/Orgel

At the behest of his friend, the businessman and benefactor Jan Neff, who also gave the impetus for “Moravian Duets”, in early 1883 Antonín Dvorák arranged 16 Russian folk songs selected from the collection “Songs of the Russian People”, which had been published in 1866 by the St Petersburg composer, pianist, and publisher Matyáš Bernard (1794–1871) and which Dvorák had probably received directly from Neff, who was an avid Russophile. In his arrangement, Dvorák merely supplemented the original melodies with a second voice, while also adapting Bernard’s stylisation of the piano accompaniment in some cases (most noticeably in songs Nos. 6, 14, and 16). The arrangements testify to Dvorák’s understanding of the distinctive character of the original songs, and they evince the composer’s fully mature style. The present edition is a reprint of the edition from 1951 (published by Orbis), based on Dvorák’s autograph (Antonín Dvorák Complete Edition VII/5).