Following the great success of the Slavonic Dances op. 46, the publisher Simrock was extremely happy when Dvorak presented him with the prospect of a new cycle for piano, four hands, the Legends, in October 1880. Barely a year wasto pass before the new work was published. Shortly before this, Dvorak and Simrock had travelled to Karlsbad with the proofs, where the Viennese music critic Eduard Hanslick was taking the waters. They played through the worktogether and proofread it. Hanslick was delig