Stephen M. Klugewicz
Rouget de Lisle sings la Marseillaise for the first time, painted by Isidore Pils
Perhaps the greatest of national anthems is France’s “La Marseillaise,” composed in 1792 by French officer Claude Joseph Rouget de Lisle, and arranged by Hector Berlioz for voices and orchestra in 1830. But in addition to the official anthems of the world’s nations, there are, of course, many other musical works that embody the spirit of their composers’ countries. In an era of resurgent nationalism, it seems timely to present ten of the greatest of these “unofficial” national anthems.
1. Bedřich Smetana: Má Vlast (My Fatherland)
Czech composers of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries embraced the spirit of nationalism, and Bedřich Smetana’s monumental cycle of tone poems about his native Bohemia is surely unsurpassed as the greatest single nationalistic work ever composed. Lasting some seventy minutes, the work is comprised of six movements: 1. “Vyšehrad” (“The High Castle”), whose opening harp solo sets a mood of nostalgia for the mighty Bohemian past; 2. “Vltava,” paints a vivid picture of the mighty river that flows through Prague and the Bohemian countryside; 3. Šárka tells the story of the legendary female warrior who leads an uprising of women against men; 4. “Z českých luhů a hájů” (“From Bohemia’s Woods and Fields”) depicts the beauty of the Bohemian countryside; 5. “Tábor” takes its name from the Bohemian city founded by the Hussites and honors the struggle of these Christian dissidents; 6. Blaník is the name of a mountain, which according legend, houses an army of knights that will rise up to defend the Czech nation in its most desperate hour.
2. Dvořák: My Home
Czech composer Antonín Dvořák, one of the great masters of melody, wrote the tuneful Czech Suite about his beloved Bohemia, as well as this overture, » Read More
https://theimaginativeconservative.org/2024/10/fatherland-ten-great-musical-works-home-country-stephen-klugewicz.html