The performance material available up till now for Dvorák’s sun-filled cheerful Symphony no. 8 has been notorious for its myriad mistakes. The challenge of correcting it has now been taken over by the editor Jonathan Del Mar. He has taken into account the engraver’s copy, which was actually discovered in a trash bin at Novello’s in 1964. Its title page bears the words “Copied from my original manuscript” in Dvorák’s hand. This source proves that many of the readings contained in the first edition and faithfully adopted in all subsequent editions, were simply slips of the copyist’s pen.

This new edition with score and orchestral parts in an enlarged format is accompanied by a detailed Critical Commentary on the sources and alternative readings. It also contains important facsimile pages to clarify problematical readings.