Antonín Dvořák penned his Stabat mater op. 58 in the years 1876 and 1877. The first performance took place in Prague on 23 December 1880. The first edition (score and piano vocal score) was published by Simrock (Berlin) in 1881.
Breitkopf & Härtel's Urtext edition comprises the complete performance material including the piano vocal score and choral score. Through the arrangement by Josef Zubatý, the piano vocal score offers the sole authentic and historically legitimated music text, the one that Dvořák himself commissioned for the world premiere.

The unique stature of Breitkopf's new edition of Dvořák's Stabat mater can easily be nailed down by three superlatives:

* It is the only edition with a historically legitimated piano-vocal score. Josef Zubatý's arrangement is the only authentic reduction, and was commissioned by Dvořák himself for the world premiere. (The composer never made a reduction of this work himself.)

* It is the only edition with a choral score.

* It is thus the first text-critical edition that goes beyond the source findings presented in the Dvořák Complete Edition and which can be used for performances with a material that can be purchased in its entirety.

„Guter Druck, gutes Papier, übersichtlicher Notensatz. Wie immer ein Kompliment an und für B&H! Die sorgsam aufeinander abgestimmten Teile der Neuausgabe erleichtern die Arbeit. Wenn nicht schon Aufführungsmaterial vorhanden ist, so sollte unbedingt zu dieser Ausgabe gegriffen werden." (Kurt-Ludwig Forg, Kirchenmusik)