Antonin Leopold Dvorák was born on September 8, 1841, in a tiny town north of Prague, the eldest of 14 children.¹⁾

His father was a butcher, an innkeeper, and a professional zither musician. Every family gathering was accompanied by folk music, and young Antonin quickly joined his father in the neighborhood band – also worked as an apprentice butcher.²⁾

The name Dvorák is pronounced 'Devor-jacques.'³⁾

Dvoák studied organ, violin and piano.⁴⁾

He was a member of the Bohemian Provisional Theatre Orchestra, which performed in restaurants and at balls. In 1871, he withdrew from the orchestra to focus on writing, earning a living by teaching piano.⁵⁾

After wooing and being rejected by her sister, Josefina, Dvorák married Anna Čermáková in 1873.⁶⁾

Dvorák and his wife had nine children in all, six of them survived childhood. After his marriage, he left the orchestra to become a church organist, which provided him with a higher pay, a higher social rank, and more time to write.⁷⁾

Dvoák's early compositions earned neither critical acclaim or public performance. Some of the composer's early pieces were even destroyed by the self-critical composer. However, his music began to pique the interest of critic Eduard Hanslick and composer Johannes Brahms, pictured, who boosted Dvoák's career.⁸⁾

Simrock, the publisher, commissioned Dvoák to create some Slavonic Dances for piano duo in 1877, on the advice of Brahms. The sheet music for the eight dances, aimed at the lucrative domestic market, sold out in one day.⁹⁾