Nocturne in B major, Op.40

There is an old story - sad enough to bring tears to the eyes, if only it were true - that the Nocturne in B major was inspired by the death of Dvorák’s little daughter Josefa in 1875. In fact, it originated as the slow movement, marked Andante religioso, of a String Quartet in E minor written in 1870 and since discarded. Too good to throw away, the Andante religioso was revised and reworked in 1875 to takes its place as one of two slow movements in the String Quintet in G major, Op.77. Finally, seven or eight years after that, when the composer had come to the conclusion that two slow movements in one work “seemed to be too much,” it was removed from the String Quintet and reworked again, this time as a separate Nocturne for string orchestra. So the sombre opening theme of the Nocturne - at once an an anticipation of Barber’s famous Adagio in its melodic line and an echo of Wagner’s Parsifal in its harmonies - is not so much a lament as a prayer. Offset by a slightly incongruous waltz-like episode, the religioso atmosphere is restored towards the end and the aspirations behind it are confirmed in the ethereal closing bars.