Má vlast (My Country)

The programme begins with two spring streams, one warm and lively, the other cool and sluggish, that join to form the river. The score opens with two flutes marked solo over pizzicato strings. The clarinets join them in the running figures that follow.

At bar 40 the first violins, with the oboes, play the main theme in 6/8. It begins with an upbeat B, then E–F♯–G–A and a repeated B. The second violins, violas and cellos run in semiquavers marked sempre ondeggiante.

Smetana’s right ear had already failed when he lost the hearing in his left on the morning of 20 October 1874. He began Vltava on 20 November and finished it on 8 December.

In the programme Smetana approved, the river flows through dark forest, where the horns sound a hunt.

The programme next passes meadows where country people hold a wedding feast, with cheerful tunes and a round dance.

Vltava was first played on 4 April 1875 at the Žofín hall in Prague under Adolf Čech. The concert was Smetana’s own, given to pay for consultations with specialists about his hearing.

In the programme, nymphs dance in a ring at night over the silver surface of the river, and old castles look down in silence.

In the programme, the river is hemmed in by rocks and hills and foams through a narrow valley, forming rapids and dangerous whirlpools.

After the rapids, the programme has the river flow in majestic breadth towards Prague.

After the first complete performance of Má vlast on 5 November 1882, Smetana wrote to the conductor Adolf Čech: “It was as if I had heard one piece after another, in spirit but almost in reality.”

In the programme the river flows towards Prague, where the famous old Vyšehrad greets it from its rock, and then loses itself in the far distance.