Dvořák, Antonín

comprising the second subject theme in the first movement, nine bars notated for piano in violet ink on two systems, marked "dolce"

1 page, oblong 4to (c.33 x 23cm), 12-stave paper, the leaf trimmed at the bottom, Prague, 17 May 1885, overall browning and splitting at folds, the inking rather uncertain at the beginning,  

This is a large quotation from one of Dvořák's greatest and most frequently performed works.  We have no record of autograph music from any of his symphonies appearing at auction for fifteen years.  Dvořák composed the D minor symphony for the Philharmonic Society in London, where it was premiered on 25 March 1885, some three weeks before this quotation.  This was a period when Dvořák's fortunes were transformed by his success in London.  The work was not appreciated by the publisher Simrock and not given in Prague until 29 November, nor in Germany until 1887.  This quotation shows the lyrical second subject, which first appears in the flute and clarinets at bar 73 of the first movement, with a semiquaver accompaniment in the second violins and violas.  It is recapitulated in the tonic key of D major at bar 214.