Scan 241
The American history and encyclopedia of music .., 1908
8 lines. Read by computer on 10 September 2026. Printed page 167. See the scan on archive.org.
1Smetana (1824-1884) was the first really great national composer of the Bohemians. He wrote much which is purely national music including operas, the best known of which are "Prodana Nevesta" ("The Bartered Bride") and "Hubicka" ("The Kiss"). His orchestral cycle of symphonic poems entitled "Ma Vlast" ("My Fatherland"), consists of six pictures taken from the old Bohemian legends. In them he has succeeded wonderfully in painting the scenes of mediæval times, picturing vividly in tones the festivals, sylvan scenes, hunts and battles of the age of chivalry. He introduced into his works many of the old folk-songs and dances, thus further nationalizing his art.
3Following Smetana, though less distinctly national, came his pupil Dvorak (1841-1904), who has endeared himself to America by his "Aus der neuen Welt" ("From the New World") symphony. Dvorak introduced two of the national dances, the dumka and furiant into the symphonic form. America owes him thanks for the impetus he gave its art music through the use of some of the negro melodies and rhythm in his works. Other Bohemian composers of note are Fibich, Novak and Nedbal.
5The Poles have been an unfortunate people and, as a result, their music shows a wild strain of intense melancholy, best expressed by the Polish word "zal," a word evidently of eastern origin and having a very subtle meaning. Liszt says it means "all the tenderness, all the humility of a regret with resignation and without a murmur; excitement, agitation, rancor, revolt full of reproach, premeditated vengeance, menace never ceasing to threaten if retaliation should ever become possible, feeding itself meanwhile with a bitter, if sterile hatred." The music of Chopin, the great Pole, exhales "zal" from mazurka to polonaise.
7For centuries the Poles were continually fighting, with the Germans and Russians for political independence and with the Turks for religious freedom. Contact with the East has made Polish music half Oriental, and it is today a mixture of both East and West, the Polish dances being of
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