Dvorák worked longer and more intensively on this Trio than on just about any other chamber music work. After his first successes with pieces inspired by Czech folk music, namely the popular Slavonic Dances (HN 757 and 918), he now wanted to prove himself as a composer of the highest order. This is why in the following summer, he thoroughly reworked the Trio that he had written within eight weeks in spring 1883 before giving it to his publisher.

Although Brahms’ music was the undeniable model...