Posted on 01/09/2016 12:00:06 PM PST by WhiskeyX
01. Souvenirs de Boheme en forme de Polka - Op. 12 No. 2 0:01
02. Souvenirs de Boheme en forme de Polka - Op. 13 No. 1 04:17
03. Souvenirs de Boheme en forme de Polka - Op. 13 No. 2 06:11
04. Souvenirs de Boheme en forme de Polka - Polka poétique Op. 7 No. 2 11:24
05. Souvenirs de Boheme en forme de Polka - Polka de salon Op. 7 No. 1 14:57
06. Reves (Dreams) - La bonheur éteint 18:19
07. Reves (Dreams) - La consolation 22:28
08. Reves (Dreams) - En Boheme, scene champetre 26:34
09. Reves (Dreams) - Au salon 31:02
10. Reves (Dreams) - Pres du Chateau 35:09
11. Reves (Dreams) - La Fete des paysants bohemians 39:51
12. Reves (Dreams) - Am Seegestade, Concert Study Op. 17 44:25
13. Reves (Dreams) - Freundliche Landschaft (Skizzen Op. 5 No. 3) 49:55
14. Reves (Dreams) - Macbeth und die Hexen 50:59
15. Reves (Dreams) - Sehnsucht (Charakterstücke Op. 1 No. 4) 59:52
16. Reves (Dreams) - Hirtenweise (Charakterstücke Op. 1 No. 3) 1:03:24
17. BOOK I - Polka in F sharp minor 1:07:12
18. BOOK I - Polka in A minor 1:11:04
19. BOOK I - Polka in F major 1.13:45
20. BOOK I - Polka in B flat major 1:17:33
21. BOOK II -- Furiant 1:20:30
22. BOOK II - Slepicka (Little Hen) 1:25:53
23. BOOK II - Oves (Grain Dance) 1:28:57
24. BOOK II - Medved (Bear Dance) 1:34:28
25. BOOK II - Cibulicka (Little Onion) 1:37:49
26. BOOK II - Dupák (Stamping Dance) 1:42:37
27. BOOK II - Hulán (Lancer) 1:46:26
28. BOOK II - Obkrocák (Stepping Dance) 1:51:10
29. BOOK II - Sousedská (Neighbour's Dance) 1:54:05
30. BOOK II - Skocná (Hop Dance) 1:58:37
(Excerpt) Read more at youtube.com ...
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
BedÅ™ich Smetana (Czech pronunciation: [ˈbÉ›drÌɪx smɛˈtana] ( listen); 2 March 1824 - 12 May 1884) was a Czech composer who pioneered the development of a musical style which became closely identified with his country's aspirations to independent statehood. He is thus widely regarded in his homeland as the father of Czech music. Internationally he is best known for his opera The Bartered Bride and for the symphonic cycle Má vlast ("My Homeland"), which portrays the history, legends and landscape of the composer's native land.
Smetana was naturally gifted as a pianist, and gave his first public performance at the age of six. After his conventional schooling, he studied music under Josef Proksch in Prague. His first nationalistic music was written during the 1848 Prague uprising, in which he briefly participated. After failing to establish his career in Prague, he left for Sweden, where he set up as a teacher and choirmaster in Gothenburg, and began to write large-scale orchestral works. During this period of his life Smetana was twice married; of six daughters, three died in infancy.
In the early 1860s, a more liberal political climate in Bohemia encouraged Smetana to return permanently to Prague. He threw himself into the musical life of the city, primarily as a champion of the new genre of Czech opera. In 1866 his first two operas, The Brandenburgers in Bohemia and The Bartered Bride, were premiered at Prague's new Provisional Theatre, the latter achieving great popularity. In that same year, Smetana became the theatre's principal conductor, but the years of his conductorship were marked by controversy. Factions within the city's musical establishment considered his identification with the progressive ideas of Franz Liszt and Richard Wagner inimical to the development of a distinctively Czech opera style. This opposition interfered with his creative work, and may have hastened the health breakdown which precipitated his resignation from the theatre in 1874.
By the end of 1874, Smetana had become completely deaf but, freed from his theatre duties and the related controversies, he began a period of sustained composition that continued for almost the rest of his life. His contributions to Czech music were increasingly recognised and honoured, but a mental collapse early in 1884 led to his incarceration in an asylum and his subsequent death. Smetana's reputation as the founding father of Czech music has endured in his native country, where advocates have raised his status above that of his contemporaries and successors. However, relatively few of Smetana's works are in the international repertory, and most foreign commentators tend to regard AntonÃn Dvořák as a more significant Czech composer.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bed%C5%99ich_Smetana
ping
I’ve heard that his name translates as Frederick Sour Cream.
BTW, what do Smetana, Schubert, Schumann, Hugo Wolf, Delius, and possibly Beethoven have in common?
Ping
They are all currently decomposing?
Their guitarist sucks.
RANDY RHOADS #1
You can also add Mozart, E. T. A. Hoffmann, Gaspare Spontini, Gaetano Donizetti, Mikhail Glinka, Edward Macdowell, and Scott Joplin to the list.
Bedrich Smetana M4L
Started listening to the first selection and Scott Joplin popped into my mind.
Did this Smetana fellow have an influence on Ragtime?
Not Smetana directly, but his fellow Czech successor Dvorak’s US visit in 1892-1895 was a catalyst for American composers turning to American home-grown musical idioms for their inspiration (as opposed to exclusively aping European musical styles). This led to the flowering of “American styles” in classical and other genres shortly after that. In fact, Dvorak’s first batch of students taught Gershwin, Ellington, among others....
Dvorak went deep int the American heartland, spending months in Spillville, Iowa, where there is a small Dvorak museum along with a huge collection of carved clocks.
Yes, spending time with the Czech immigrant community there. He was homesick throughout his US sojourn...
Why was not Die Mouldau among those listings ?
Gotta save something good for the future....
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