Zvuky Prahy / Sounds of Prague

During autumn 1877 the Dvoraks family moved into the house No. 564 called "U Pešinských" or "By White Lion"at Žitná Street, from a nearby street V Tůních. Apparently because none of the tenants did own a piano and Dvorak would not be disturbed while composing. Dvořáks raised there six children, who were born here. Just shortly before they moved in the house had been rebuilt into a modern apartment building with neoclassicist facade and the yards, with three wings, replacing the former gardens. In the backyards was the first apartment Dvorak, and later they moved to a larger and more representative apartments in front, regarding the groving family members and the composer's income. Dvořák had a separate studio equipped with the Bösendorfer grandpiano. Among the frequent guests were Johannes Brahms, Leoš Janáček, Edvard Grieg and Petr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, (a note from February 1888: "Lunch at Dvorak. His wife is simple, sympathetic woman and an excellent housekeeper.") Leoš Janáček used in the summer of 1883 Dvorak apartment shortly when Dvořáks spent their holidays at Vysoká. In the house also lived sculptor Josef Mařatka a painter Jaroslav Věšín. The building is owned by a real estate company Armida Real Estate Ltd., which prommised to revitalize the entire building. The works should started in 2007, when the building was declared on aa list of National Historical Monuments. Composer's statue was used by the tenants for drying thier clothes. The current situation does not suggest there is some reconstruction going on. The bells of the nearby church of St. Stephen heard Dvořák while composing, and it is said the sound appears in many of his compositions, but otherwise, Žitná street had was probably rather calm and quiet.
quotations from the historical recordings of Humoresque and Largo from Archive.org