Anton穩n Leopold Dvor獺k (September 8, 1841 - May 1, 1904) was a Czech composer. In 1874 he made a submission for the Austrian State Prize for Composition. Brahms was the leading member of the jury and was highly impressed. The prize was awarded to Dvor獺k in that year and again in 1876 and in 1877. Brahms recommended Dvor獺k to his publisher, Simrock, who soon afterward commissioned what became the Slavonic Dances, Op. 46. In 1892, Dvor獺k moved to the US and became the director of the National Conservatory of Music of America in NYC. While in the US, he wrote his two most successful orchestral works. The Symphony From the New World spread his reputation worldwide. His Cello Concerto is the most highly regarded of all cello concerti. Problems in payment of his salary, along with increasing recognition in Europe and an onset of homesickness, led him to leave the US in 1895 and return to Bohemia. The first Czech Musical Festival, in April 1904, had "a programme consisting almost entirely" of Dvor獺k's music. He died in 1904, of an undiagnosed cause, at the age of 62, leaving many unfinished works. No artist credited.