The manuscript of Sníh (Snow, H 105) is lost, but the composition is known from several sources: it is mentioned in Šafránek's monograph (SHV, Prague 1961, p. 347). In the leaf catalogue of Bohuslav Martinů's compositions compiled by Karel Šebánek in 1938 (Šeb 1938-00-00a), Martinů's handwritten note "not yet published" is attributed. The publisher was supposed to be M. Urbánek. The composition is also included in the 1939 inventory of compositions for Ochranný svaz autorský pro práva k dílům hudebním (OSA 1939-00-00), where a notated incipit is attributed in Martinů's hand. Martinů himself mentions the piece in a letter to Stanislav Novák in 1917 (NovS 1917-00-00d): “Did Dlouhý ever give you the piano things? They are only nice, especially the 'snow'."
The three-part piano piece was probably written during the winter of 1917 in Polička. Lydia Čechová, niece of evangelical pastor Vladimír Čech from Borová, notes in her memoirs: "[...] One winter evening, we [my brother, Martinů, my sister-in-law and me] went on a sleigh from Borová to Polička. The music of the bells and the horses were beautiful. Bohoušek seemed to be listening with bated breath. The snow was falling quietly, the sleigh was moving smoothly through the twilight of the evening, only here and there a small light was burning in the cottages of the Vysočina. We were delighted with the ride."
Jana Burdová, 2024