Vltava - Smetana [Part 1] - Dedicated to the Puchalka Family

This video is dedicated with love and sincere gratitude to Daniel and his family, who introduced me to, and made me fall in love with, the Czech Republic and anything Czech, opening up a new world to me. For all their care and love, and for all they have enriched my life with, I thank them heartily.

Vltava from Má Vlast by Bedřick Smetana,

Prague Philharmonic Orchestra,
Conductor: Libor Pesek.

Some notes on the Vltava:

Bedřick Smetana was born in Czechoslovakia in 1824 and died in 1884. Smetana is a heroic figure in Czech culture, and very often he is held in higher esteem, in the Czech Republic, than other, perhaps better known, composers such as Antonín Dvořák.

Smetana is considered as the founder of a Czech national school of music. Indeed he was the first composer to write music using Czech folk tunes and dance rhythms. Smetana's music transmits a passionate Czech nationalism and patriotism. This patriotism is best expressed in Má Vlast, which Smetana began in 1872. The name of this set of six orchestral tone poems reflects the essence of nationalism: Má Vlast, generally rendered as My Country.

Má Vlast is an exceptional composition made up of six orchestral tone poems. The second of these is the Vltava, which Smetana wrote in 1874. He was already going deaf at the time he started the first piece of Má Vlast. By the time Smetana wrote the Vltava, he had gone completely deaf. Ironically enough, Smetana wrote this extraordinary piece of descriptive music without hearing a single note.
Vltava portrays the river, called the Moldau by German-speaking Czechs such as Smetana himself, which rises in the Šumava Forest and flows through the Bohemian countryside and the city of Prague before joining the River Elbe.

Through this beautiful piece of music, Smetana manages to capture and express the course of the river. Two brooks, portrayed on two flutes, form the source of the river. Smetana then uses a surging string melody to depict the two springs as they flow happily into the main stream of the river itself. As the river broadens, the banks re-echo with the sound of hunting horns. The river then flows past a rustic wedding celebration where the guests are dancing a polka. Following this episode, the music portrays the moonlight shimmering on the river in magical orchestral colours. Smetana evokes the legend of the Rusalkas, the water nymphs who feature prominently in Slav folklore. The music accelerates and grows agitated as the river crashes over the Rapids of St. John. The river finally sweeps through the Czech capital itself, Prague. The majestic rendition of the river passing Vỳsehrad, the great rock-fortress that is symbol of the Czech nation, towers over the closing bars, as the Vltava flows unstoppably onwards to the Elbe.

The Vltava is an exceptional example of descriptive music composition. In it Smetana succeeds to evoke, in a remarkably vivid and dramatic way, the life of the River itself.

[References: R.G. Bratby, 2001; School of Music Lessons, 2005]

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Smetana
• Czech Republic
• Prague
• Vltava
• Moldao
• Ma Vlast

[ProfessionalGam3rz]

This is highly remenesent to the Israely anthom.

[ilhagra]

@ProfessionalGam3rz You are so right. I never noticed the similarity, so thanks for pointing it out. I think there is a link of influence between the two, and it is not so surprising. Smetana and the composer of the Israel national anthem both lived in Eastern Europe roughly at the same time. Both these compositions manifest the idea of the "homeland". Smetana aspires for his homeland's independent statehood, while Israel's main historical focus is the "promised land", hence the anthem.

[ilhagra]

@ProfessionalGam3rz: I just found this piece of information in an article about Prague and the Jews: Not Jewish himself, Smetana nevertheless contributed unwittingly to modern Zionism. Naftali Herz Imber was so enamored by Smetana's "Moldau" that, when he composed the words to "Hatikva", he co-opted the melody. Another Czech "Jewish" contribution.

[francescaingall]

i played this when i was 11, i wish i had been old enough to know what it meant then. one of things that did move me was this old czech man who was crying because he had been moved by our playing.

[ilhagra]

@francescaingall

i was moved myself about what you said about the old czech man! indeed this piece of music is so evocative!

[DiscoJunk1]

that must be forbidden

[ilhagra]

why? what do you mean exactly? what must be forbidden?

[carmalf07]

I didn´t believe that there were still remaining genious in this world.Congratulations Miss Ilhagra wonderful video, amazing images of the city and beautiful music.

[AggressiveAgnostic]

great composure! im an american college student, and in america at my age we are "not supposed to" like this kind of music because liking it makes you "not cool"