Dvorák, firmly convinced of his love for one of the daughters of the Cermák family, probably the older Josefina, wrote his first song cycle “Cypresses” in 1865 when he had just turned 24. Even though his arrangement for string quartet is one of the best-known works today, the original version of the songs of 1865 remained in manuscript form until now.
This first ever Urtext edition is based on the autograph. Later versions as well as the printed collection of poems by Pfleger from 1862 were also drawn upon as sources. The musical text is accompanied by an instructive introduction written by the Dvorák scholar David Beveridge.