Bedřich Smetana

The beginnings of the concept of Bedřich Smetana’s work date back to 1872, to the period of the last works on the opera Libuša. The monumental cycle “Má vlast” (My Country) “is a unique ode to the homeland, the land in which the existence of the nation is rooted, and a celebration of the landscape that was filled with mythical and historical memories associated with a vision of the future” (Marta Ottlová). Smetana succeeded in musically expressing the beauty of the Czech land and the ideals of the modern Czech nation. On the margin of the cycle “Má vlast”, Smetana wrote: “These compositions I wish to dedicate to the glorious city of Prague…, since it is here that I received my musical education, here I have performed publicly for many years, and it is here that I was struck by the most dreadful disease for a musician.” The selection of three parts of the cycle in the concept of Petr Altrichter could be heard at the Reduta in 2020. On the occasion of the celebrations of the year of Czech music and the 200th anniversary of the birth of Bedřich Smetana, this time the cycle of six symphonic poems will be performed in its entirety, spanning more than an hour.