Going with the Flow of Smetana's The Moldau
The Best Moments
Vltava, JB 1:112/2
I am Bedřich Smetana, and what follows are the best moments of my Moldau. You'll listen for the St John's Rapids, where the whole orchestra surges and crashes, even though a reservoir has since flooded the real rapids. Come and join me in the Trainer , where my fellow composers and I teach you to recognize our pieces the moment they begin to play.
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Two Little Trickles With Big Plans
I begin The Moldau with two flutes rippling away, because my river starts out as two springs, the Cold and the Warm Vltava, and I wanted you to hear them bubbling along like two siblings who haven't yet realised they're headed the same way. Then the main tune sweeps in, in E minor, and I wrote all of it in Prague in 1874 while completely deaf, so every drop of that river had to be heard in my head.
A Party on the Riverbank
I carry the river next through the woods and past a country celebration, where the music turns bouncy and cheerful, like a party you can hear from the water and wish you'd been invited to. Then night falls, the sound becomes hushed and shimmering, and the moonlit water-nymphs come out to play, which is the calmest stretch of the whole journey.
Hold On to Your Hat
I save the wildest part for the St John's Rapids, where the whole orchestra crashes and churns as if the river has suddenly remembered it's late. After that the Vyšehrad motif returns, the river widens and heads on towards the Elbe, and since those rapids now lie under the Štěchovice Reservoir, you could say my music keeps them alive.
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Well, that is the river from its two small springs all the way out towards the Elbe, and I hope you enjoyed finding out about the best moments of The Moldau as much as I enjoyed telling you. When I look back at it now, I still think of a piece written in silence that was meant to be heard by everyone. I could not hear a single note of it myself, yet the audience in Prague welcomed it at once, and that has always meant a great deal to me. There is still plenty more to discover in The Moldau. The tune at its heart is much older than I am, and it has wandered into other songs and other countries since. The piece has also found its way into films, and it is often played on its own, even though it began as one part of a larger cycle called Má vlast. If any of that makes you curious, I would love for you to click on the links below and keep exploring. Then put the music on once more, close your eyes, and let the river carry you wherever it likes.
Recording: Musopen Symphony, Public domain