Smetana Moldau Vltava
Smetana The Moldau Vltava Program Notes
Bedřich Smetana wrote the tone poem The Moldau between 1874 and 1879. The Tone Poem (invented by Franz Liszt) is a somewhat free-form piece for symphony orchestra that has a story of some kind. In Smetana’s set of six, My Country, he depicts various Bohemian (Czech) scenes or stories, commencing with Vyšehrad, a high rock once occupied by an ancient Czech castle. Musically, one main motif embodies the castle, and it returns near the end of The Moldau, and again at the end of the cycle. Meaning for the six to be performed independently, they can make a good concert by themselves. Smetana’s intention to write classical music with a distinctively Czech sound was provocative, since the German-speaking Austro-Hungarian Empire ruled Bohemia. Smetana writes: The composition describes the course of the Vltava, 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 Labe (or Elbe, in German). Born: March 2, 1824, Litomyšl, Czech Republic Died: May 12, 1884, Prague, Czech RepublicVltava, known in German as Die Moldau, is a tone poem by Czech composer Bedřich Smetana, depicting the course of the Vltava River from its source in the Bohemian mountains to the city of Prague. It is the second and most famous movement of his cycle of six tone poems called Má vlast (My Homeland).
Smetana composed Vltava in 1874, completing it in just 19 days. The complete Má vlast cycle was premiered in Prague on November 5, 1882, conducted by Adolf Čech.
A typical performance lasts approximately 12 to 13 minutes.
The work opens with two flutes representing the two streams that join to form the river, then the famous main theme emerges in the strings — broad, flowing, and magnificent. Listen for the episodes depicting a hunt in the forest, a peasant wedding, and moonlit water nymphs before the river reaches Prague and the theme swells to its most glorious statement.
Smetana composed Vltava after becoming completely deaf — one of the cruelest fates that can befall a musician. He heard the music entirely in his imagination, drawing on memories of the Czech landscape he could no longer experience with his full senses. The resulting score is a triumph of creative imagination over physical adversity.
