It is one of a set of late orchestral works inspired by national themes which were written after his return to his native Bohemia from the United States.
Later that day, the father arrives home, and finds his wife passed out with the dead body of their son in her arms.
[1][2] The piece is scored for piccolo, two flutes, two oboes, two clarinets in A, bass clarinet in A, two bassoons, four horns (in F and E), two trumpets in C, three trombones, tuba, timpani, crash cymbals, bass drum, triangle, tubular bell (A), and strings.
[2][3] Dvořák's music follows the story closely and the orchestration is often used to illustrate characters and events: the oboe and bass clarinet are used to depict the misbehaving child and the witch respectively, whilst twelve strokes of a bell signal the coming of noon.
During the witch's chase, the music alternates between two different time signatures as a further dramatic device.