Soundtracks:
Metropolitan
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Vltava (The Moldau River)
 About
"My Country"
The "Moldau" is taken from a set of 6 symphonic poems called
"My Country". They were written between the years 1874 and 1879.
Being a national composer, who explored his people's music and tried reflecting
his homeland in his composition, it was only natural for this piece to
be called by Smetana "My Country". The second symphonic poem
"the Moldau", is dedicated to the river crossing Bohemia (today
Czech Republic) and describes the landscapes seen from it.
About "The Moldau"
In this famous masterpiece, Smetana sings an ode to Bohemia's landscape.
It is a romantic, calm image. Its description: "gold flows from two
fountains, one of which is gushing and warm, the other - quiet and cold
(flutes and clarinets, and later a viola). The sound of the cheerful waves
flowing between the rocks. The waves of springs unify, and reflect the
light of the rising sun. The brook flows and becomes a big current - the
Moldau river (violins and woodwinds in a beautiful melody). On its way,
it passes thought big forests from which echoes of hunting journeys sound
(roaring blasts). It goes through fields and pastures, and prairies, where
weddings are celebrated with singing and dancing (a polka dance). At nighttime,
nymphs fade away - the water nymphs and the forest nymphs - to the light
of the moon on the shining waves reflecting knights' fortresses, reminding
us of glorious battles of the past. In a fast flow, the river glides over
to the "Johanis currents", through waterfalls (The main melody
repeats once again, but this time in a major key), plowing itself a way
to the wide river's creek. Then, it gracefully reaches Prague, bringing
blessings (woodwinds), and then goes away and vanishes in the horizon...
Why does "The Moldau" resemble Israel's national anthem
- "HaTikvah"?
Both Smetana and Naftali Hertz-Imber (writer of the Israeli national
anthem) are based on a Gypsy tune (some say Rumanian), sung in Europe for
centuries. Also based on the same melody is an old Swedish nursery rhyme
'The dog crawls through the window, the cat through the hole'. Smetana
introduced this beautiful melody into "the Moldau", whereas Naftali
Hertz-Imber, writer of "HaTikvah", used it as the melody for
the Jewish national anthem.
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