Antonín Dvořák wrote his Symphonic Variations on an Original Theme (Symfonické variace), Op. 78, B. 70 in 1877. The piece was apparently written in respone to a challenge to write variations on a theme that didn't lend itself to that purpose (Dvořák used a theme oh his creation, the song Já jsem huslař). Even though the piece did enjoy some succes when it first premiered, the lack of press coverage disencouraged the composer, who held it back for ten years before publishing it in 1887, after Hans Richter conducted it in Vienna. The work was given an updated catalogue number (78 instead of 28, 70 in the Burghauser Catalogue and B. 514 for the 4-hands piano arrangement) and became one of the most frequently played of all sets of orchestral variations, along with Brahms' Variations on a Theme by Haydn and Elgar's Enigma Variations.
