This work is without a doubt one of the most intimate testimonies of its author, whose music speaks of the shock caused by the loss of two children. Although the second movement contains glimpses of folk revelry, as a whole it remains melancholic and wistfully meditative. The virtues of the work are most clearly shown by the fact that the composer did not hesitate to dedicate the piece to Johannes Brahms in gratitude for his patronage and recommendation for a state stipend. The current edition of the parts is published within the first Complete Edition of the Works of Antonín Dvorák.