It was the Â"Slavonic Dances for Piano DuetÂ" op. 46 which brought Antonín Dvorák unexpected international fame. An unerring business instinct led Fritz Simrock, at the beginning of 1878, to ask the Czech composer for some works for piano duet into which Dvorák incorporated musical themes from where he grew up. Following in the footsteps of BrahmsÂ's Â"Hungarian DancesÂ", Dvorák refrained from a literal portrayal of individual kinds of dance. As a result, he created unique masterpieces of European music for domestic use and concert performance.