Dvorak wrote to his Berlin publisher in 1889 informing them of the composition of the Poetic Tone Pictures (Op. 85) and adding "You will like the compositions. Each piece has a title and is meant to describe something." The titles of the different pieces give a good indication of the impulses which prompted Dvorak to write them: the intimate impressions and moods evoked by his enjoyment of the natural beauties of the Vysoka countryside where they were composed, and recollections of its past. Antonin Dvorak (1841-1904) was best known for his New World Symphony, composed in the short time he spent in America – the rest of his career was spent in his native Bohemia and the rest of Europe.