Page 28 - 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
P. 28
nova glasba v »novi« evropi med obema svetovnima vojnama
tyred by the Catholics in 1415. When a Crusade was mounted against his
followers they successfully defended Prague and for the next couple of cen-
turies were able to maintain their distinctive Protestant-type religion. In
order to invoke the Hussites, Smetana quoted their most famous chorale,
“Ktož jsú boží bojovnici” [Those who are warriors of God] and marked it
Andante maestoso.
In Smetana’s symphonic cycle Má vlast the fifth movement, Tábor (the
name of the Hussite town) is devoted to the Hussites. Much of the time
in Tábor Smetana elaborates fragments of the chorale used in Libuše but
towards the end there is an exciting straight-through version of the cho-
rale, the culmination of the piece. At the climax of the movement, the Più
mosso is suddenly slowed down to a Lento maestoso before accelerating to
the close. This device goes back to the last movement of Beethoven’s Ninth
Symphony where in the middle of the final Prestissimo the tempo is held
back by a four-bar maestoso at the words “Tochter aus Elysium” – a sort of
grand ritenuto before the Prestissimo returns to bring the work to a swift
conclusion. Here the maestoso has a structural function. I shall call it an
“Eleventh-hour maestoso”.
As well as celebrating the heroic Hussites in the Tábor movement, Má
vlast repeats Smetana’s association with the Bohemian kingdom in the first
symphonic poem Vyšehrad, named after the Prague castle associated with
Czech kings. After the balladic harps that open the piece, the main theme
is given out Largo maestoso. The final symphonic poem in Má vlast is called
Blaník, named after the mountain where Czech warriors wait in readiness
to save the nation. At the end Smetana combined a grand version of the Vy-
šehrad theme with the Hussite chorale from Tábor in a passage marked Lar-
gamente maestoso, moving through a Grandioso, meno allegro to a Vivace
that concludes the piece, i.e. another “Eleventh-hour maestoso”.
By taking the majestic nature of the term maestoso and the type of mu-
sic associated with it and placing it against heroic moments in Czech histo-
ry and moments celebrating the ancient Bohemian kingdom, Smetana pro-
vided a musical reinforcement of such patriotic thoughts that would then
become an important trope for Czech music. I shall call this “heroic-patri-
otic maestoso”.
26
tyred by the Catholics in 1415. When a Crusade was mounted against his
followers they successfully defended Prague and for the next couple of cen-
turies were able to maintain their distinctive Protestant-type religion. In
order to invoke the Hussites, Smetana quoted their most famous chorale,
“Ktož jsú boží bojovnici” [Those who are warriors of God] and marked it
Andante maestoso.
In Smetana’s symphonic cycle Má vlast the fifth movement, Tábor (the
name of the Hussite town) is devoted to the Hussites. Much of the time
in Tábor Smetana elaborates fragments of the chorale used in Libuše but
towards the end there is an exciting straight-through version of the cho-
rale, the culmination of the piece. At the climax of the movement, the Più
mosso is suddenly slowed down to a Lento maestoso before accelerating to
the close. This device goes back to the last movement of Beethoven’s Ninth
Symphony where in the middle of the final Prestissimo the tempo is held
back by a four-bar maestoso at the words “Tochter aus Elysium” – a sort of
grand ritenuto before the Prestissimo returns to bring the work to a swift
conclusion. Here the maestoso has a structural function. I shall call it an
“Eleventh-hour maestoso”.
As well as celebrating the heroic Hussites in the Tábor movement, Má
vlast repeats Smetana’s association with the Bohemian kingdom in the first
symphonic poem Vyšehrad, named after the Prague castle associated with
Czech kings. After the balladic harps that open the piece, the main theme
is given out Largo maestoso. The final symphonic poem in Má vlast is called
Blaník, named after the mountain where Czech warriors wait in readiness
to save the nation. At the end Smetana combined a grand version of the Vy-
šehrad theme with the Hussite chorale from Tábor in a passage marked Lar-
gamente maestoso, moving through a Grandioso, meno allegro to a Vivace
that concludes the piece, i.e. another “Eleventh-hour maestoso”.
By taking the majestic nature of the term maestoso and the type of mu-
sic associated with it and placing it against heroic moments in Czech histo-
ry and moments celebrating the ancient Bohemian kingdom, Smetana pro-
vided a musical reinforcement of such patriotic thoughts that would then
become an important trope for Czech music. I shall call this “heroic-patri-
otic maestoso”.
26
