Smetana - The Moldau

“The Moldau” (1874) stands as one of the six symphonic poems that make up the work, Má vlast (My Country), by the Czech composer, Bedřich Smetena (1824-1884), each of the tone poems meant to depict an element of Bohemian nature, history, or folklore.
“The Moldau” is named after the Moldau (or Vltava) River which runs through Prague and eventually merges with the Elbe River, which, itself, flows through Dresden and empties into the North Sea.
Here’s how Smetena described this piece:
“This composition follows the course of the Moldau. We hear the sounds of its two sources of origin, the ‘warm’ and the ‘cold’ water streams which are then united and flow through meadows and groves, and on through places where country folk are celebrating their festivals. Water nymphs perform their dances in the silvery moonlight; we float past proud fortresses, fine castles and noble ruins, overgrown like the craggy rocks on which they stand. The Moldau froths and eddies over the rapids of St. Johann, then streams on in a broad torrent towards Prague, with the castle of Vyšehrad coming into sight on its bank. The Moldau surges majestically onward, disappearing from view and finally flowing into the Elbe.”
The photograph shows personifications of the Rivers Moldau (right) and Elbe (left) as sculptures of the Athena Fountain located in front of the Austrian Parliament Building in Vienna.
...
Recorded in 1968 with the Berlin Philharmonic, Herbert von Karajan conducting.
Quotation from The Moldau: In a Simple Arrangement for Piano, edited by Hans-Günter Heumann.

[@CFEusylvania]

Join us on Telegram: t.me/eusylvania