Page 27 - Weiss, Jernej, ur. 2018. Nova glasba v “novi” Evropi med obema svetovnima vojnama ?? New Music in the “New” Europe Between the Two World Wars. Koper/Ljubljana: Založba Univerze na Primorskem in Festival Ljubljana. Studia musicologica Labacensia, 2
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janáček’s maestoso
Outside the European mainstream, maestoso was often harnessed to
a nationalist, patriotic, even triumphalist agenda. This can be seen for in-
stance in the final movement (marked Moderato e maestoso) of Elgar’s Sec-
ond Symphony (1911), dedicated to the memory of King Edward VII, and
in his Coronation March (for the new king George V, also 1911) with a Mol-
to maestoso opening. However it was in Czech nationalist music that the
patriotic maestoso came into its own. The more patriotically inflated sec-
tions of Smetana’s six-part cycle Má vlast [My Fatherland] are studded with
maestoso indications, as are parts of his heroic-patriotic operas Dalibor and
Libuše.
In his third opera, Dalibor (1865–7) Smetana accompanied the en-
try of the Czech hero Dalibor with maestoso music, a march for full or-
chestra. But even before then the opera began with a scene-setting Largo
maestoso (there is no prelude) to invoke the solemn scene as people await
the trial of Dalibor who, in avenging the death of his friend Zdeněk, has
killed his attacker. In this and other works Smetana associated the term
maestoso with notions of Czech kingship, so that King Vladislav, although
in some ways the villain of the piece, is generally accompanied with maes-
toso music: his arrival in Act 1 is announced by Subito maestoso trumpets.
His first utterance in the opera, sung over held chords, is marked maesto-
so, the opening of Act 3, with the entrance of King Vladislav and his court,
is marked Moderato maestoso and his exit at the end of the scene is again
maestoso.
What can be seen here are essentially two sorts of uses of patriotic
maestoso: an association with the Bohemian medieval kingdom and an-
other with the heroic character of Dalibor himself. Such notions recur in
Smetana’s next opera Libuše (1869–72), an opera about the beginnings of
the Czech kingdom, when the reigning princess Libuše chooses Přemysl as
her consort and together they found the first Czech dynasty. Apart from
a few bars of lento, the opening prelude is entirely maestoso. At the end
of Act 1, there is a long ensemble culminating in Libuše, “con somma es-
altazione”, proclaiming her love for the Czech nation. These five bars are
marked maestoso; and a short orchestral act-end that follows is Maesto-
so assai. Another important association comes towards the end of the op-
era when Libuše (a prophetess as well as a queen) foresees the future of the
Czechs. In Libuše’s prophecy, essentially a musical tableau vivant, one sec-
tion is devoted to the Hussite wars. The Hussites were a proto-Protestant
sect that arose from the teachings of the church reformer Jan Hus, mar-
25
Outside the European mainstream, maestoso was often harnessed to
a nationalist, patriotic, even triumphalist agenda. This can be seen for in-
stance in the final movement (marked Moderato e maestoso) of Elgar’s Sec-
ond Symphony (1911), dedicated to the memory of King Edward VII, and
in his Coronation March (for the new king George V, also 1911) with a Mol-
to maestoso opening. However it was in Czech nationalist music that the
patriotic maestoso came into its own. The more patriotically inflated sec-
tions of Smetana’s six-part cycle Má vlast [My Fatherland] are studded with
maestoso indications, as are parts of his heroic-patriotic operas Dalibor and
Libuše.
In his third opera, Dalibor (1865–7) Smetana accompanied the en-
try of the Czech hero Dalibor with maestoso music, a march for full or-
chestra. But even before then the opera began with a scene-setting Largo
maestoso (there is no prelude) to invoke the solemn scene as people await
the trial of Dalibor who, in avenging the death of his friend Zdeněk, has
killed his attacker. In this and other works Smetana associated the term
maestoso with notions of Czech kingship, so that King Vladislav, although
in some ways the villain of the piece, is generally accompanied with maes-
toso music: his arrival in Act 1 is announced by Subito maestoso trumpets.
His first utterance in the opera, sung over held chords, is marked maesto-
so, the opening of Act 3, with the entrance of King Vladislav and his court,
is marked Moderato maestoso and his exit at the end of the scene is again
maestoso.
What can be seen here are essentially two sorts of uses of patriotic
maestoso: an association with the Bohemian medieval kingdom and an-
other with the heroic character of Dalibor himself. Such notions recur in
Smetana’s next opera Libuše (1869–72), an opera about the beginnings of
the Czech kingdom, when the reigning princess Libuše chooses Přemysl as
her consort and together they found the first Czech dynasty. Apart from
a few bars of lento, the opening prelude is entirely maestoso. At the end
of Act 1, there is a long ensemble culminating in Libuše, “con somma es-
altazione”, proclaiming her love for the Czech nation. These five bars are
marked maestoso; and a short orchestral act-end that follows is Maesto-
so assai. Another important association comes towards the end of the op-
era when Libuše (a prophetess as well as a queen) foresees the future of the
Czechs. In Libuše’s prophecy, essentially a musical tableau vivant, one sec-
tion is devoted to the Hussite wars. The Hussites were a proto-Protestant
sect that arose from the teachings of the church reformer Jan Hus, mar-
25
