Má vlast
Encyclopedia
Má vlast is a set of six symphonic poem
s composed between 1874 and 1879 by the Czech composer Bedřich Smetana
. While it is often presented as a single work in six movements and – with the exception of Vltava– is almost always recorded that way, the six pieces were conceived as individual works. They had their own separate premieres between 1875 and 1880; the premiere of the complete set took place on 5 November 1882 in Prague.
In these works Smetana combined the symphonic poem form pioneered by Franz Liszt
with the ideals of nationalistic music which were current in the late nineteenth century. Each poem depicts some aspect of the countryside, history, or legends of Bohemia
.
The first poem, Vyšehrad (The High Castle), composed between the end of September and 18 November 1874 and premiered on 14 March 1875, describes the Vyšehrad
castle in Prague
which was the seat of the earliest Czech kings. During the summer of 1874, Smetana began to lose his hearing, and total deafness quite quickly followed; he woke on the morning of 20 October to find himself completely unable to hear anything. The previous night he had gone to the opera with some hearing still remaining.
The poem begins with the sounds of the harp of the singer Lumír, and then crosses over into the tones of the castle's arsenal. This section of the music introduces the main motifs, which are used in other parts of the cycle. A four note motif (B-E-D-B) represents the castle of Vyšehrad; this is heard again at the end of 'Vltava' and once more, to round the whole cycle off, at the conclusion of 'Blanik'.
In the score two harps are required to perform the opening arpeggios. After a dominant seventh chord, the winds take up the theme, followed by the strings, before the whole orchestra is employed to reach a climax. In the next part, Smetana recalls the story of the castle, using a faster tempo which becomes a march. A seemingly triumphant climax is cut short by a descending passage depicting the collapse of the castle, and the music falls quiet. Then the opening harp material is heard again and the music reminds again of the beauty of the castle, now in ruins. The music ends quietly, depicting the River Vltava
flowing below the castle.
Conceived between 1872 and 1874, it is the only piece in the cycle to be mostly completed before Smetana began to go noticeably deaf in the summer of 1874. Most performances last approximately fifteen minutes in duration.
Vltava, also known by its German name Die Moldau (or The Moldau), was composed between 20 November and 8 December 1874 and was premiered on 4 April 1875. It is about 12 minutes long, and is in the key of E minor.
In this piece, Smetana uses tone painting
to evoke the sounds of one of Bohemia's great rivers. In his own words:
The piece contains Smetana's most famous tune. It is an adaptation of the melody La Mantovana
, attributed to the Italian renaissance tenor
Giuseppe Cenci (also known as Giuseppino), which, in a borrowed Moldova
n form, was also the basis for the Israel
i national anthem
, Hatikvah
. The tune also appears in major in an old folk Czech song Kočka leze dírou ("The Cat Crawls Through the Hole") and Hans Eisler used it for his "Song of the Moldau".
, a central figure in the ancient Czech legend of the Maidens' War. Šárka ties herself to a tree as bait and waits to be saved by the princely knight Ctirad, deceiving him into believing that she is an unwilling captive of the rebelling women. Once released by Ctirad, who has quickly fallen in love with her, Šárka serves him and his comrades with drugged mead
and once they have fallen asleep she sounds a hunting horn: an agreed signal to the other women. The poem ends with the warrior maidens falling upon and murdering the sleeping men.
in the south of Bohemia
founded by the Hussite
s and serving as their center during the Hussite Wars
. The theme for the piece is quoted from the first two lines of the Hussite hymn, "Ktož jsú boží bojovníci" ("Ye Who Are Warriors of God").
inside which a legend says that a huge army of knights led by St. Wenceslas
sleep. The knights will awake and help the country in its gravest hour (sometimes described as four hostile armies attacking from all cardinal direction
s).
Musically, Blaník begins exactly as Tábor ends, "hammering" out the motto which was left unresolved, but now continuing on, as if in the aftermath of the battle. Thus these last two tone poems of the cycle form a cohesive pair, as do the first two; the High Castle's theme returns as the Vltava's river journey triumphantly reaches that same destination, and again returns triumphantly at the end of Blaník. Once again, the Hussite hymn used in Tábor is quoted, though this time it is the third line which rings out in the march at the end of the piece. The original lyrics to this line in the hymn are "so that finally with Him you will always be victorious," a reference to the eventual victorious rise of the Czech state.
Symphonic poem
A symphonic poem or tone poem is a piece of orchestral music in a single continuous section in which the content of a poem, a story or novel, a painting, a landscape or another source is illustrated or evoked. The term was first applied by Hungarian composer Franz Liszt to his 13 works in this vein...
s composed between 1874 and 1879 by the Czech composer Bedřich Smetana
Bedrich Smetana
Bedřich Smetana was a Czech composer who pioneered the development of a musical style which became closely identified with his country's aspirations to independent statehood. He is thus widely regarded in his homeland as the father of Czech music...
. While it is often presented as a single work in six movements and – with the exception of Vltava– is almost always recorded that way, the six pieces were conceived as individual works. They had their own separate premieres between 1875 and 1880; the premiere of the complete set took place on 5 November 1882 in Prague.
In these works Smetana combined the symphonic poem form pioneered by Franz Liszt
Franz Liszt
Franz Liszt ; ), was a 19th-century Hungarian composer, pianist, conductor, and teacher.Liszt became renowned in Europe during the nineteenth century for his virtuosic skill as a pianist. He was said by his contemporaries to have been the most technically advanced pianist of his age...
with the ideals of nationalistic music which were current in the late nineteenth century. Each poem depicts some aspect of the countryside, history, or legends of Bohemia
Bohemia
Bohemia is a historical region in central Europe, occupying the western two-thirds of the traditional Czech Lands. It is located in the contemporary Czech Republic with its capital in Prague...
.
Vyšehrad
Vyšehrad
Vyšehrad is a castle located in the city of Prague, Czech Republic. It was probably built in the 10th century, on a hill over the Vltava River...
castle in Prague
Prague
Prague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. Situated in the north-west of the country on the Vltava river, the city is home to about 1.3 million people, while its metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of over 2.3 million...
which was the seat of the earliest Czech kings. During the summer of 1874, Smetana began to lose his hearing, and total deafness quite quickly followed; he woke on the morning of 20 October to find himself completely unable to hear anything. The previous night he had gone to the opera with some hearing still remaining.
The poem begins with the sounds of the harp of the singer Lumír, and then crosses over into the tones of the castle's arsenal. This section of the music introduces the main motifs, which are used in other parts of the cycle. A four note motif (B-E-D-B) represents the castle of Vyšehrad; this is heard again at the end of 'Vltava' and once more, to round the whole cycle off, at the conclusion of 'Blanik'.
In the score two harps are required to perform the opening arpeggios. After a dominant seventh chord, the winds take up the theme, followed by the strings, before the whole orchestra is employed to reach a climax. In the next part, Smetana recalls the story of the castle, using a faster tempo which becomes a march. A seemingly triumphant climax is cut short by a descending passage depicting the collapse of the castle, and the music falls quiet. Then the opening harp material is heard again and the music reminds again of the beauty of the castle, now in ruins. The music ends quietly, depicting the River Vltava
Vltava
The Vltava is the longest river in the Czech Republic, running north from its source in Šumava through Český Krumlov, České Budějovice, and Prague, merging with the Elbe at Mělník...
flowing below the castle.
Conceived between 1872 and 1874, it is the only piece in the cycle to be mostly completed before Smetana began to go noticeably deaf in the summer of 1874. Most performances last approximately fifteen minutes in duration.
Vltava
In this piece, Smetana uses tone painting
Word painting
Word painting is the musical technique of writing music that reflects the literal meaning of a song. For example, ascending scales would accompany lyrics about going up; slow, dark music would accompany lyrics about death.Tone painting of words goes at least as far back as Gregorian chant...
to evoke the sounds of one of Bohemia's great rivers. In his own words:
- The composition describes the course of the VltavaVltavaThe Vltava is the longest river in the Czech Republic, running north from its source in Šumava through Český Krumlov, České Budějovice, and Prague, merging with the Elbe at Mělník...
, starting from the two small springs, the Cold and Warm Vltava, to the unification of both streams into a single current, the course of the Vltava through woods and meadows, through landscapes where a farmer's wedding is celebrated, the round dance of the mermaids in the night's moonshine: on the nearby rocks loom proud castles, palaces and ruins aloft. The Vltava swirls into the St John's Rapids; then it widens and flows toward Prague, past the Vyšehrad, and then majestically vanishes into the distance, ending at the LabeElbeThe Elbe is one of the major rivers of Central Europe. It rises in the Krkonoše Mountains of the northwestern Czech Republic before traversing much of Bohemia , then Germany and flowing into the North Sea at Cuxhaven, 110 km northwest of Hamburg...
(or ElbeElbeThe Elbe is one of the major rivers of Central Europe. It rises in the Krkonoše Mountains of the northwestern Czech Republic before traversing much of Bohemia , then Germany and flowing into the North Sea at Cuxhaven, 110 km northwest of Hamburg...
, in German).
La Mantovana
La Mantovana is a sixteenth century song composed by the Italian tenor Giuseppe Cenci, also known as Giuseppino del Biado, to the text Fuggi, Fuggi, Fuggi da questo cielo. Its earliest known appearance in print is in del Biado's 1600 collection of madrigals...
, attributed to the Italian renaissance tenor
Tenor
The tenor is a type of male singing voice and is the highest male voice within the modal register. The typical tenor voice lies between C3, the C one octave below middle C, to the A above middle C in choral music, and up to high C in solo work. The low extreme for tenors is roughly B2...
Giuseppe Cenci (also known as Giuseppino), which, in a borrowed Moldova
Moldova
Moldova , officially the Republic of Moldova is a landlocked state in Eastern Europe, located between Romania to the West and Ukraine to the North, East and South. It declared itself an independent state with the same boundaries as the preceding Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic in 1991, as part...
n form, was also the basis for the Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
i national anthem
National anthem
A national anthem is a generally patriotic musical composition that evokes and eulogizes the history, traditions and struggles of its people, recognized either by a nation's government as the official national song, or by convention through use by the people.- History :Anthems rose to prominence...
, Hatikvah
Hatikvah
"Hatikvah" is the national anthem of Israel. The anthem was written by Naphtali Herz Imber, a secular Galician Jew from Zolochiv , who moved to the Land of Israel in the early 1880s....
. The tune also appears in major in an old folk Czech song Kočka leze dírou ("The Cat Crawls Through the Hole") and Hans Eisler used it for his "Song of the Moldau".
Šárka
The third poem was finished on 20 February 1875 and is named for the female warrior ŠárkaŠárka
The story of Šárka is a character in the so-called "Maidens' War" in Bohemian tradition. It first appeared in the twelfth-century Chronica Boëmorum of Cosmas of Prague, and later in the fourteenth-century Dalimil's Chronicle....
, a central figure in the ancient Czech legend of the Maidens' War. Šárka ties herself to a tree as bait and waits to be saved by the princely knight Ctirad, deceiving him into believing that she is an unwilling captive of the rebelling women. Once released by Ctirad, who has quickly fallen in love with her, Šárka serves him and his comrades with drugged mead
Mead
Mead , also called honey wine, is an alcoholic beverage that is produced by fermenting a solution of honey and water. It may also be produced by fermenting a solution of water and honey with grain mash, which is strained immediately after fermentation...
and once they have fallen asleep she sounds a hunting horn: an agreed signal to the other women. The poem ends with the warrior maidens falling upon and murdering the sleeping men.
Z českých luhů a hájů
Smetana finished composing this piece, the title of which means "From Bohemia's woods and fields", on 18 October 1875 and received its first public performance nearly eight weeks later, on 10 December. A depiction of the beauty of the Czech countryside, the tone poem tells no real story, but includes, after a section evoking the grandeur of the forest, the depiction of a village festival in full swing.Tábor
This piece, which was finished on 13 December 1878 and premiered on 4 January 1880, is named for the city of TáborTábor
Tábor is a city of the Czech Republic, in the South Bohemian Region. It is named after Mount Tabor, which is believed by many to be the place of the Transfiguration of Christ; however, the name became popular and nowadays translates to "camp" or "encampment" in the Czech language.The town was...
in the south of Bohemia
Bohemia
Bohemia is a historical region in central Europe, occupying the western two-thirds of the traditional Czech Lands. It is located in the contemporary Czech Republic with its capital in Prague...
founded by the Hussite
Hussite
The Hussites were a Christian movement following the teachings of Czech reformer Jan Hus , who became one of the forerunners of the Protestant Reformation...
s and serving as their center during the Hussite Wars
Hussite Wars
The Hussite Wars, also called the Bohemian Wars involved the military actions against and amongst the followers of Jan Hus in Bohemia in the period 1419 to circa 1434. The Hussite Wars were notable for the extensive use of early hand-held gunpowder weapons such as hand cannons...
. The theme for the piece is quoted from the first two lines of the Hussite hymn, "Ktož jsú boží bojovníci" ("Ye Who Are Warriors of God").
Blaník
Blaník was finished on 9 March 1879 and premiered on 4 January 1880. It is named for the mountain BlaníkBlaník
Blaník is a mountain in the Czech Republic. Its height is 638 meters above sea level. The surrounding area is a small natural reservation.Ancient legends are associated with this mountain. The legend says that a huge army of Czech knights led by St. Wenceslas sleeps inside the mountain. The knights...
inside which a legend says that a huge army of knights led by St. Wenceslas
Wenceslaus I, Duke of Bohemia
Wenceslaus I , or Wenceslas I, was the duke of Bohemia from 921 until his assassination in 935, purportedly in a plot by his own brother, Boleslav the Cruel....
sleep. The knights will awake and help the country in its gravest hour (sometimes described as four hostile armies attacking from all cardinal direction
Cardinal direction
The four cardinal directions or cardinal points are the directions of north, east, south, and west, commonly denoted by their initials: N, E, S, W. East and west are at right angles to north and south, with east being in the direction of rotation and west being directly opposite. Intermediate...
s).
Musically, Blaník begins exactly as Tábor ends, "hammering" out the motto which was left unresolved, but now continuing on, as if in the aftermath of the battle. Thus these last two tone poems of the cycle form a cohesive pair, as do the first two; the High Castle's theme returns as the Vltava's river journey triumphantly reaches that same destination, and again returns triumphantly at the end of Blaník. Once again, the Hussite hymn used in Tábor is quoted, though this time it is the third line which rings out in the march at the end of the piece. The original lyrics to this line in the hymn are "so that finally with Him you will always be victorious," a reference to the eventual victorious rise of the Czech state.
External links
- A symphonic poem to the nation Czech Radio programme in English by Christian Falvey
- Full score of the second poem Vltava
- Sheet music of piano duet version (arranged by the composer)
- "Oi Scha" A Rumanian folksong about the oxen wagon, perhaps the source for the Vltava tune
- Ates Orga Má vlast (comparative CD review, 2006)