Symphony no. 8 in G major, op. 88, B. 163

Dvořák composed and orchestrated the Eighth Symphony in under three months, between August and November 1889, with his election to the Bohemian Academy in mind; the dedication thanks the Academy for choosing him. He conducted the premiere in Prague on 2 February 1890. Novello of London printed the score in 1892, which earned it the misleading nickname of the English symphony, and it was first published as No. 4. Dvořák had earlier refused Simrock's terms, declining to have the tempo markings given in German — the position, as he put it, of a proud Bohemian.