I’d like to spend
our last day looking at music and ethnicity focusing on one of my favorite
nationalistic pieces, Bedrich Smetana’s “Vltava” or more commonly known as “The
Moldau” from Má vlast, meaning “My
country.”
One of the first
major nationalist composers in Bohemia, Smetana gave his people a musical
identity during a time when the Czech population desperately needed some sort
of national character to hold on to. Their country had been under Habsburg rule
for quite some time and as a result, their Czech-connection somewhat lost.
Their language, for instance, fought for survival against the dominant German
tongue.
Many of Smetana’s
works identified with his own pride in his homeland, thus creating a similar
pride amongst his fellow Bohemians. His eight operas and many of his symphonic
poems have national subjects inspired by his country’s legends, history, and
landscapes. Má vlast is a cycle of
six symphonic poems, one of which is “The Moldau.” The Moldau is a river in the
Bohemian region. During his composition, Smetana’s goal is to leave an
impression on the listener of how the river flows across the Bohemian
landscape. You can listen to this lovely work here. Do you hear the forests
depicted by hunting music or the village wedding conveyed by a polka?
