Poetic Tone Pictures, Op. 85 (B. 161)

Thirteen programmatic character pieces composed in the spring of 1889 at Dvořák's Vysoká estate near Příbram. Dvořák's most extended and elaborate piano cycle — lasting over fifty minutes complete — each piece carries a descriptive title evoking mood, landscape, or narrative. Dvořák told his publisher Simrock: 'Each piece will have its own title and is meant to express something — thus, as it were, this is programme music.' The cycle is increasingly regarded as one of the great neglected piano works of the Romantic era.