Dvorak's 6th Symphony was composed in 1880 for the Vienna Philharmonic and dedicated to its conductor, Hans Richter. Anti-Czech prejudice in Vienna caused the premiere to take place in Prague the following year by the Czech Philharmonic. Richter conducted a very successful London premiere in 1882.
The 6th Symphony was known as Dvorak's 1st during his lifetime as it was the first of his symphonies to be published. The work was extremely popular in Europe, North America, and especially England where the performance during Dvorak's first of an eventual nine visits led to the London Philharmonic Society commissioning what would become his 7th Symphony.
Musically, the 6th is a sunny work in D Major and occasionally evokes two of Dvorak's favorite interests, trains and birds. The third movement is a Czech furiant which was so popular in England that it was immediately encored. The coda of the finale features a difficult fugato on the principal theme before the symphony closes in celebration.
