Bohemian Symphonies

• Smetana – Vltava (from Má Vlast)
• Smetana – From Bohemia’s Woods and Fields (from Má Vlast)
• Martinů – The Frescoes of Piero Della Francesca
• Smetana – Blaník (from Má Vlast)
• Dvořák – Slavonic Dances - Opus 46

The orchestra delve into three movements from Má Vlast, opening with Vltava. Arguably the best loved of the set of six symphonic poems composed by Bedrich Smetana, it depicts the journey of the river as it flows from the countryside through Prague and on eventually into the Elbe. The next movement is a musical portrait of the woods and fields of the Czech countryside. Our first half continues with a work by Bohuslav Martinů, also a Czech composer who studied at the Prague Conservatory but then moved to France and finally the United States, due to the turbulence of Czech politics of the time. He wrote his work Frescoes whilst living in Nice and having been inspired by the renaissance masterpiece he’d seen in Arezzo.

We return to the Má Vlast movements to open our second half. In true Bohemian fairytale style, Blaník depicts a mountain in which a huge army of knights sleep, awaiting a call to save their country when needed. We conclude our concert with Dvořák’s set of Slavonic Dances Op. 46, originally written for piano and inspired by Brahms’ Hungarian Dances. They were later orchestrated at Dvořák’s publisher’s request. Although the title is Slavonic Dances, they are in fact based in style and form of Bohemian folk music and are some of the most well-known and well-loved of Dvořák’s works.