Composed between August 4 and October 25 of 1897, A Hero's Song was at first entitled A Hero's Life , which is curious because another work with that exact title was being composed at the same time by Richard Strauss. Like Strauss' work, this one is autobiographical in nature and alludes to the fact that it was his final work for orchestra alone. The remainder of Dvorak's life was devoted to the composition of opera, and even this last symphonic poem was written while he was revising his opera The Jacobin . The first performance was given by the Vienna Philharmonic on December 4, 1898 under the baton of Gustav Mahler. This new study score is a digitally enhanced reissue of the full score first published in 1960 by the Czech State Publishers as part of the Dvorak collected works, edited by Antonin Pokorny and Karel Solc. Unlike so many of the on-demand scores now available, this one comes with all the pages and the images have been thoroughly checked to make sure it is readable. Matching large conductor score and orchestra parts also available from Serenissima Music (97483)