McKenzie Hamlin

MCKENZIE HAMLINPower Point Presentation

Bedrich Smetana

Bedrich Smetana

. Bedrich lived from 1824-1884

. Bedrich was best known for his opera the Bartered Bride (Movlast and a series of tone poems.

He was born in Litamysl Bohemia on March 2nd

Bedrich Smetana

His family came from Kralove region of Bohemia.

His father was a brewer and had been quite successful during the Napoleonic war.

His father managed several breweries before coming to where he was born in 1823.

Bedrich Smetana

Bedrich was introduced to music by his father.

At the age of 6 he gave a public performance on the piano.

In 1831 He moved to south Bohemia where he attended school and studied violin and piano.

This school is also where he discovered Mozart and Beethoven.

Bedrich also began composing simple pieces himself at a very young age.

Bedrich Smetana

In 1835 his father retired and they moved back to Prague.

Bedrich was not happy in school, he spent his time listening , playing in a string quartet and composing music.

His father pulled him out of school and made him leave Prague.

Bedrich Smetana

Bedrich completed his schooling in 1843 in Plzen.

He studied under Proksch, and became a music teacher to the family of Count Thun.

Bedrich had a very busy social and musical life in Plzen.

Bedrich Smetana

Bedrich married Katrina Kolarova on the 27th of Aug 1849. They had six daughters together only three of which survived.

He grew up against a background of political unrest, and Bohemia was fighting against the Hapsburg control.

During the uprisings in 1848 the revolution failed, Smetana was crushed, he left Bohemia for a position as a conductor in Sweden, where he became a teacher and choir master in Gothenburg.

He then returned home in the early sixties.

Bedrich Smetana

Throughout Smetana’s life he composed national music, the Bartered Bride and the Brandenburgers.

At age 50 he became deaf but continued to compose many major pieces including Mavlast.

By the winter of 1882 he started experiencing loss of speech, dementia etc, because of his illness syphilis.

He died in the insane asylum in Prague on May 12th 1884.

Bedrich Smetana

On the whole Smetana did not get the recognition he deserved before he died.

A permanent memorial to Smetana’s life and work is in the Smetana museum in Prague.

History of the Moldau

Program music is the instrumental music associated with a story, poem, idea or scene like the sounds and motions of nature in the Moldau.

My country is both a romantic example of nature and a display of Czech nationalism.

The Moldau has a fresh relaxing mood to it. It represents the river beginning from its two sources one cold and the other warm.

The Moldau falls into contrasting musical sections that represent different scenes and episodes.

It has a very serene melody in high muted strings. It has a folk like theme that repeats several times,

Smetana connects the symphonic poem by running notes evoking the movement of water.

History of the Moldau

Smetana “I took all excursions to the St Johns rapids where I sailed in a boat through huge waves…. The view of the landscape was both beautiful and grand” music an Appreciation by: Roger Kamien McGRAW-Hill Company 1976)

Smetana’s trip inspired his famous symphonic poem the Moldau.

This orchestral work which depicts Bohemia’s main river as it flows through the country side is a part of a cycle called my country, this symphonic poem is both a romantic representation of nature and a display of Czech nationalism.

He wrote the Moldau in three weeks, shortly after he became deaf.

History of the Moldau

Program music was a creation of the romantic period, in that it was usually written in one movement accompanied by a text.

This piece is considered a symphonic poem because it was written for a full symphony.

The text and the music together depicts emotions, characters, and events, particular stories or sounds and motions of nature.

The symphonic program music has more flexibility of form than Bedrich Smetana the composer of the Moldau.

Moldau timeline

The second symphonic poem from my country, it is in 6/8 triple and 2/4 duple simple compound.

It begins in E minor and towards the end it switches over to major.

It is an orchestral piece in one movement and includes, piccolo,flutes,oboes,clarinets,bassoons,horns, trumpets,trombones,tuba,timpani,bass drum,triangle,cymbals,harp,violin1 and 2,viloa,cello and basses. It is about 12 and a half minutes.

Moldau timeline

“The composition depicts the course of the river, beginning from its two small sources, one cold and the other warm, the joining of both streams into one then the flow of the Moldau through forests and across meadows through the country side where merry feasts are celebrated , water nymphs dance in the moonlight on nearby rocks can be seen the outline of ruined castles, proudly soaring into the sky, Vltava swirls through the St. John rapids and flows in broad stream towards prague. It passes Vysehrad where an ancient castle one stood, and finally the river disappears in the distance as it flows majestically into the Elbe”. (music and appreciation by: Roger Kamien, McGRAW-Hill Company, 1976.)

Vltava swirls through the St. John rapids and flows in broad stream towards Prague. It passes Vysehrad where an ancient castle once stood, and finally the river disappears in the distance as it flows majestically into the Elbe.

Moldau Timeline

0:0 introduction Two springs allegro moderato.

(Unhurried 6/8 E minor. It begins quietly as the flutes play running notes in counterpoint.

The violins and harps are playing pizzicatos, the flutes are the two springs.

Moldau Timeline

1:00- with descending notes the clarinets softly join in running notes. The lower strings and clarinets lead into the river theme.

1:10- The river- The violins bring in the river theme and the running notes accompaniment is in strings. The triangle plays intermittent single notes, the music is becoming louder and fuller.

1:35- listen for the second part of the theme. As the theme repeats and develops more instruments are added including more triangle, strings, French horn and drums. The upper strings decrescendo into the repeat of the theme. As is broadens there is always a repetition of running notes.

Moldau Timeline

3:00- Forrest Hunt- the river then disappears while the running notes continue in the strings. The horns take over as the brass and percussion follow creating an aver whelming feeling because of the intensity of the sound.

4:00- The strings take over in the running notes as it decrescendos into the cadence.

4:10- Pheasant wedding- A new theme develops played by the strings. It is played in 2/4 which is duple compound it feels like a dance going from one soft note to louder, and then triangles come in.

Moldau Timeline

5:45- Water Nymphs- The woodwinds and flutes brings us into a slower pace, tranquil feeling and its back into 6/8. The woodwinds are sustained, there are high and soft violins playing the smooth new theme. There is a harp accompaniment, its all very quite, the brasses come in with violin melody it crescendos and the woodwinds lead us into the river theme.

8:25- Main river theme- The violins take over the river theme, the lower strings play the running note accompaniment.

Moldau Timeline

9:20- Rapids- The trumpets and the brass becomes very loud. The whole orchestra plays the brass and the tympani take over. It feels like a storm , cymbals are crashing and the tympani is rolling and you can hear the piccolo and the triangles with their high pitches. With the decrescendos the strings come in, and then there is a quick crescendos.

11:00- The river at its widest point- The full orchestra plans extremely loud and gets faster, also changes to the major mode. It plays the main river theme.

Moldau Timeline

12:00- Vysehrad, the ancient castle- Brasses and woodwinds come in really loud. It stretches out the melody and it has long sustained notes with cymbal crashes. It decrescendos several times becoming quieter. The violins play by themselves and the full orchestra plays two closing chords very loud!

Resources

"Bedřich Smetana." Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Web. 10 Feb. 2011. .

"Composers." Essentials of Music. Web. 10 Feb. 2011. . Gammond, Peter. Classical Composers. Surrey

[England: CLB Pub., 1995. Print. Kamien, Rodger. Music: and Appreciation. New York:

McGraw-Hill, 1976. Print. Machlis, Joseph. The Enjoyment of Music: an

Introduction to Perceptive Listening. Revised ed. New York: Norton, 1977. Print.

Welch, Roy Dickinson. The Appreciation of Music. Revised ed. New York: Harper and Brothers, 1945. Print.