6/15/2022 Personal Thoughts about Composers and Their Works - Smetana

Chapter 7 Friedrich Smetana

(1824-1884, died at 60 years old)

Born in a house of brewer in Litomyšl, Czech Republic, he went to Prague alone to study piano and composition. The Bohemia region was under Austrian control at the time, and while the Czech independence revolutionary movement was flourishing, Smetana also participated in the national movement and wrote marches for the brave army. During that time, he escaped and served as a conductor in Gothenburg, Sweden, for five years.

Among his works, "Moldau" is particularly famous and is most often performed. “Moldau” is the second piece of the serial symphonic poem "My Homeland" (6 symphonic poems in total) * ①. I re-listened to the whole piece (playing time of about 80 minutes). I think that "Moldau" is a masterpiece that well represents the torrent and small waves of the river upstream of the Elbe. The other five pieces represent the unity of the Czech people, and there are many areas where the struggle of people is expressed in the tunes and sounds. We are currently witnessing the unreasonable aggressions of Russia into Ukraine in the 21st century, thus musical intent of these five pieces are well understood, but if we listen to these pieces in peacetime, it might be very heavy to listen to.

The Vltava River is a long river with a total length of 1091 km that originates in the northern part of the Czech Republic, flows through the eastern part of Germany and flows into the North Sea. The main cities in the basin are Prague in the Czech Republic, Dresden, Magdeburg and Hamburg in Germany. I lived in Hamburg for five years, divided into two parts, in the 1960s and the 70s, so every time I listen to the work "Moldau", I remember it because I have various memories of the river Elbe.

* ① Series of symphonic poems "My Homeland"

1 "Vyšehrad": the name of the castle on the hill in Prague

2 "Vltava" (Die Moldau): The name of the river

3 "Šárka": The name of the female warrior

4 "Aus Bo" hmens Hain und Flur ": Landscape description

5 "Tábor": The name of the Hussite camp that fought hard

6 "Blaník": The name of the mountain where the fort was

* ② "Piano Trio in G minor" is a piece with an ethnic tune where the self-assertion and harmony of each instrument well intersects.

For your reference, the table below shows the list of works by the composer that I listened to.