Smetana: Ma Vlast

Nationalism, patriotism, cultural identity, a sense of home;
these are concepts and ideas whose popularity have ebbed and
flowed throughout history. Nationalism has been seen as a natural
expression of cultural identity and pride, and it also has been
at the core of virulent racism and xenophobia. Patriotism has
been used as a cudgel by all sides of the political spectrum for
good and evil, and a sense of home has led to cultural explosions
and also to some of the bloodiest wars of all time. For Bedrich
Smetana, these concepts were extremely multi-layered. He was a
proud Bohemian nationalist for much of his life, but he also
barely spoke Czech(German was the lingua franca among educated
classes in Prague), and he was also disenchanted with the Prague
musical establishment due to their cool reception of his
Wagnerian/Lisztian style. He even left Prague for a time to work
in Gothenburg Sweden, writing curtly to his parents: “Prague did
not wish to acknowledge me, so I left it.” But only 6 years
later, he wrote again to a friend: "My home has rooted itself
into my heart so much that only there do I find real contentment.
It is to this that I will sacrifice myself." Stirred to patriotic
and nationalistic sentiments, Smetana began studying the Czech
language in earnest, and his second opera, The Bartered Bride,
became the first Czech opera to enter the mainstream repertoire
around Europe. It was a piece fully in Czech style, and even
though Smetana battled to the end of his life with different
members of the Prague musical establishment, he is still thought
of today as the founder of the Czech national sound. This is even
before we begin talking about the topic for today, Ma Vlast,
which is commonly translated to My Fatherland, My Country, or My
Homeland. Ma Vlast is a massive, nearly hour and a half long work
that amalgamates Wagnerian and Listzian ideas of a tone poem
along with nationalistic music that has stirred not only the
Czech soul but the souls of people all around the world. As
Semyon Bychkov, the great Russian conductor and current Music
Director of the Czech Philharmonic says: “The core subject of
this piece is home and the meaning of home; everything else is
the gravy.” Today on the show we’ll begin by talking about
Smetana’s tragic experience of deafness, and then we’ll go
through each movement of his huge piece, talking about the msuic
from the perspecitve of nationalism and also Wagnerian ideas of
leitmotifs as well as orchestration and style. Join us!


Recording: Czech Philharmonic conducted by Rafael Kubelik