BEETHOVEN EMPEROR PIANO CONCERTO FEATURING BRONFMAN
but it soon expanded to encompass Bohemia’ s landscapes and history. Vyšehrad, depicting the historic seat of Czech princes, and Vltava came first; Šárka and Z českých luhů a hájů followed, depicting, respectively, a female warrior of Czech legend and a musical picture of the Czech countryside; Tábor and Blaník— depicting the Bohemian town at the center of the fifteenth-century Hussite Wars and the mountain where, according to legend, an army of sleeping knights will rise to defend their homeland— were completed by the close of the winter 1879.
Smetana described the program of The Moldau, as follows:“ Two springs gush forth in the Bohemian forest, one warm and spouting, the other cool and tranquil. Their waves rushing down over their rock beds unite and glisten in the rays of the morning sun. The forest brook becomes the river Vltava, which flowing on through Bohemia’ s valleys grows to be a mighty stream […] At the Saint John Rapids the stream rushes on […] and with its foamy waves beats a path for itself through the rocky chasm into the broad river in which it flows on in majestic repose toward Prague, welcomed by time-honoured Vyšehrad, whereupon it vanishes in the far distance […].” would change his name to its Czech equivalent: Bedřich. In the interim, the composer went into self-imposed exile in Göteborg, Sweden; beyond the threat of imprisonment for his role in the Revolution, he faced the harsh reality of a decade of repressive governance.
By the 1860s, under somewhat improved political conditions, Smetana’ s commitment to Czech nationalism had become decidedly more pronounced. Declaring himself“ a Czech in body and soul,” he resolved to master his native tongue. From mid-1862, his diary entries were written in Czech; by 1864, he was contributing music criticism to a Czechlanguage newspaper( though his written Czech was still developing, so many of his pieces were actually translated from German); and by 1868, Bedřich’ s diary had taken an overtly patriotic tone with the composer lamenting“ the persecution of the Czech opposition” and the jailing of dissidents. Smetana’ s music, too, followed suit. His first opera, The Brandenburgers in Bohemia, carried an unmistakable revolutionary spirit.( The librettist, Karel Sabina, had recently been released from prison for his role in the 1848 uprising.) Other works in a similar vein followed, including his set of symphonic poems Má vlast, or“ My Fatherland”— from which the present work is drawn.
Begun in 1874, Má vlast was originally conceived as a single work following the Vltava( or, Moldau, in German) River,
Instrumentation: two flutes, piccolo, two oboes, two clarinets, two bassoons, three horns, two trumpets, three trombones, tuba, timpani, percussion, harp, and strings.
HEATHER O’ DONOVAN is an artist and writer whose program notes have appeared at Carnegie Hall, the Manhattan School of Music, the Aspen Music Festival and School, and the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. She is the dramaturg and librettist of Princess Ida: The Glow Up, a Gilbert & Sullivan adaptation to be premiered by the Manhattan School of Music Undergraduate Opera Theatre in May 2025.
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