Composed 1881 (arr. Wosner); 12 minutes

“Give my regards to Dvořák and tell him that his Legends continue to delight me.  It is a charming work, and his fresh, joyful, and rich powers of invention are enviable.” So wrote Brahms to the publisher Simrock in 1881, shortly after the publication of the ten Legends for piano four hands, Op. 59. Simrock immediately commissioned Dvořák to prepare an orchestral version of the 40-minute cycle, as he had recently done with the successful Slavonic Dances.

The title Legends and the music’s shifting moods—now joyous, now reflective—suggest the presence of a narrative or program. “Of course, no one knows what tale is being told, although you feel that wonders and fairy tales play a leading role,” said the work’s dedicatee, music critic Eduard Hanslick. Dvořák never revealed any literary source, though the music shares much of the spirit of the Slavic dumka, a dance form he would soon adopt in his Dumky Trio and other works. “Only a master of harmonic and contrapuntal art could have written these Legends, even though they may not seem so erudite and scholarly at first glance,” concludes Hanslick.