In 1877 he had a letter from Hanslick to say that he had won a prize of 600 gulden and that the great composer Johannes Brahms was interested in his music. His music started to be published by Simrock, a well-known German music publisher, and his music was performed in many countries, even as far away as New York. His fame spread. Even his operas were performed abroad. "Dimitrij" was particularly successful. Brahms was a great friend and helped him a lot. Brahms and Hanslick tried to persuade him to move to Vienna because it was a great musical city, but Dvořák wanted to stay in his own country.