Dvorak was born in Bohemia (now the Czech republic). In matters of style Dvorak was neither conservative nor radical. His works display the influences of folk music, mainly Czech but also ones that might equally be seen as American (pentatonic themes and flattened 7ths).

Classical composers of whom Dvorak admired, included Mozart, Haydn, Beethoven and Schubert; Wagner, whose harmony and use of leitmotifs attracted him; as did his close friend Brahms.Despite his fascination with opera, he lacked a natural instinct for drama; for all their admirable wit and lyricism.His last five stage worksrank lower than his finest instrumental music. Here his predilection for classical procedures reached its highest level of achievement,notably in the epic Seventh Symphony, the most closely argued of his orchestral works, and the Cello Concerto, the crowning item in that instrument's repertory, with its characteristic richness and eloquence, as well as in the popular and appealing Ninth Symphony and the colourful Slavonic Dances and Slavonic Rhapsodies.