Smetana’s campaign to save his prestigious conducting job is unexpectedly derailed. With Donald Macleod.

The title of Smetana’s most popular work, ‘Ma Vlast’, gives us a clue to what drove him through much of his career. It translates as ‘My Homeland’ and the music is Smetana’s ardent tribute to the Czech sprit of his beloved Bohemia. The composer was deeply involved with his people’s struggle for cultural and political independence from the Hapsburg empire. He pledged his art to those aims, and he even took to the streets to fight on the barricades, on one occasion.

Smetana’s life was also beset by great misfortunes. When times were hardest, he always turned to music, even after illness made composing an almost impossible exertion. He created some of his most extraordinary works under the most painful circumstances. This week, Donald Macleod follows Smetana as he grows from naïve revolutionary into one of the foundational figures in Czech music.

Today, Smetana fights to defend his position as Prague’s leading music voice. The political battles that ensue are even more vicious than the musical ones. Then, just as matters seem to be resolving, tragedy strikes in his life once again.

Dalibor: Act I Scene 1
BBC Singers
BBC Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Jiří Bělohlávek

Festive Overture in C
Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Robert Stankovsky

The Two Widows: Act 2: Scene 3
Marchela Machotková, soprano (Anežka)
Jiří Zahradníček, tenor (Ladislav)
Prague National Theatre Orchestra, conducted by František Jílek

Má Vlast: 2. Vltava & 4. Z českých luhů a hájů.
Czech Philharmonic, conducted by Jiří Bělohlávek Show less