Thu, 19. 9. 2024, 19.00 hrs

M1 MÁ VLAST

Venue: Zlín Congress Centre  |  Organizer: Filharmonie Bohuslava Martinů, o.p.s.  |  Price: 690,- 590,- 500,-

Throughout the year 2024, the Bohuslav Martinů Philharmonic Orchestra is actively involved in celebrating the Year of Czech Music, an important periodic cultural initiative marked every 10 years to reflect major anniversaries of key figures in Czech music. The event dates back to 1924 when Bedřich Smetana's birth centenary was celebrated for the first time, since when the Year of Czech Music has been marked regularly, with a few exceptions, in every year ending with the number 4.

The Year of Czech Music, focusing primarily on the music of this country, is a proud reflection of our cultural heritage and musical art, so the inaugural evening of the concert inevitably features a work that occupies an absolutely privileged position for us as one of the most prized treasures of Czech cultural history. Má vlast, Bedřich Smetana’s cycle of six symphonic poems, is our supreme manifesto of patriotism combining the ideas of homeland, nation and glory. The piece, whose concept is steeped in Czech legend, is a celebration of our history (Vyšehrad, Šárka, Tábor) and landscape (Vltava, From Bohemia’s Woods and Fields), and at the same time predicts the glorious future of the Czech nation (Blaník). With this work, Smetana took the symphonic poem genre to new heights in that it was not based thematically on a literary or other subject, but was a direct attempt to express through music a programme of his own choosing. The cycle, written between 1874-79 at a time when Smetana was already showing signs of total deafness, is nonetheless immensely rich in its melody, structural logic and scale. The first performance of Má vlast as a complete set took place in 1882 at the Žofín Palace in Prague, although the constituent pieces had been performed individually earlier.

The work, a foundation stone of Czech symphonic music and one of the most important Czech musical symbols, is performed by the Bohuslav Martinů Philharmonic Orchestra under its chief conductor Robert Kružík.