Musical nationalism began in nineteenth century Europe and used culture unique to a people or nation to evoke patriotic feelings and pride. Composers employed popular music, folk songs, folk dances and folklore, or music suggestive of folk and popular music, to conjure nationalistic feelings in audiences.
Like other Realists, nationalistic composers communicated extra musical ideas via descriptive titles, accompanying text or poems. Sometimes nationalistic pieces were linked to political movements but, more often, were a cultural reaction to the dominance of German Romanticism and other mainstream European styles. Thus, nationalism was attractive to composers working outside of the European cultural mainstream, especially Spanish, Russian and Czechoslovakian composers.
Exoticism
When a composer incorporates musical material from outside his or her culture, it is called Exoticism. A French composer using Japanese folk music in a symphony is an example of Exoticism. While the uninitiated listener may find Nationalism and Exoticism difficult to distinguish aurally, their origins are different: Nationalism draws on one's cultural roots while Exoticism appropriates the culture of others.
One of the most fascinating examples of musical nationalism occurred on the Iberian peninsula during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Flamenco—the folk music of Spanish Romani—was elevated to the center of Spanish identity. Nineteenth century Spanish art composers such as Isaac Albeniz and Enrique Granados appropriated the flamenco sound and used it as the basis for Spanish nationalism. Ironically, Spanish Romani, also known as gypsies, were social outcasts but invented the music viewed as the essence of Spanish culture.
Spain | Spain (red) is located in Europe (green) but only 13 km (8.1 miles) from North Africa | Wikimedia Commons
Life and Times of Albeniz
Isaac Albeniz (1869-1909), a Catalan pianist and composer, is best known for his piano works based on Spanish folk music idioms. A child prodigy, Isaac toured internationally under the protection of his father, a Spanish customs agent. In 1876, at age seven, he studied at the Leipzig Conservatory and, a few years later, at the Royal Conservatory of Brussels under a royal grant.
Albeniz wrote two hundred-fifty piano works. Although he composed operas and zarzuela (musicals with spoken and sung scenes), Albeniz is best known for his piano works, especially Chants d'Espagne (1892) and Iberia (1908), a suite of twelve piano pieces inspired by regions of Spain. Before you hear these pieces, you already know they are nationalistic because of the titles. And, because Spanish folk music revolves around the guitar, these piano pieces imitate textures, harmony and melodies of flamenco guitar. Composers such as Albeniz and Granados drew attention to authentic flamenco, eventually positioning flamenco as the de facto Spanish style.
Zambra
Zambra by Isaac Albeniz was composed for piano but is better known as a guitar piece. It evokes Spain through use of flamenco scales and harmony, open string pedal tones (drones), tremolo, rasgueado, ligado, etc. Unlike true flamenco, this piece is precisely composed in music notation and involves no improvisation.
Zambra from Piezas características Op. 92 (1888) | Isaac Albeniz
Bedřich Smetana
Bedřich Smetana (1824-1884) pioneered Czech musical nationalism by drawing upon folk songs, dances and folklore of his native Bohemia, now part of the Czech Republic. Nineteenth century Bohemia was ruled by Austrian overlords. They attempted to turn the people of Bohemia into Austrians by forcing them to speak German, rather than Czech. The heavy-handed rule and oppression of their culture by outsiders resulted in decades of unrest and helped generate intense feelings of nationalism among the Czech population.
Bedřich Smetana was the son of a brewer and the third wife of his father. Smetana’s musical gifts were evident as a child and he studied violin and piano with local teachers, reaching a high level of achievement. After secondary school, he was unable to afford a conservatory education but studied music theory and composition privately under Josef Proksch in Prague.
Early Nationalism
Smetana’s first nationalistic work was written during the 1848 Prague uprising, in which he participated as a member of the armed Citizen Corps. The revolution failed and the Austrian overlords came down hard on the resistance. There was little chance of a musical career under such oppression so Smetana fled to Sweden where he taught music and composed symphonic poems (single movement programmatic symphonies).
Smetana Bucks | Smetana is so revered in the Czech Republic that his likeness is on their money! | Wikimedia Commons
By the 1860s, the Austrians had made major concessions to the Czech people: released political prisoners, ceased censorship and allowed operation of theaters. Thus, Smetana returned and dove headlong into the musical life of Prague, producing successful nationalist Czech operas such as The Bartered Bride and working as a conductor, pianist and teacher.
Loss of Hearing
By the end of 1874, at the age of fifty, Smetana had become completely deaf and withdrew from conducting and theatre duties, devoting himself to composition. Ironically, like Beethoven, many of Smetana’s greatest works, e.g., Má vlast, were composed after his hearing loss.
Prague, Charles Bridge and the Vltava River | Adam August Müller, 1811-1844 | Wikimedia Commons
Vltava | The Moldau
A cycle of six symphonic poems, Má vlast (My Homeland), is among his finest achievements, depicting the history, legends, landscape and folk music of the Czech countryside. Our listening example, Vltava, is the second piece from the Má vlast cycle. It is known outside the Czech Republic under its German name, Die Moldau or in English, The Moldau, and was composed in 1874. Vltava is the name of a mighty river than flows through the heart of the Czech countryside, eventually reaching Prague and beyond. Smetana's symphonic poem, Vltava, was inspired by a cruise down the river near the St. John Rapids. He describes the message of Vltava:
The composition describes the course of the Vltava, starting from the two small springs, the Cold and Warm Vltava, to the unification of both streams into a single current, the course of the Vltava through woods and meadows, through landscapes where a farmer's wedding is celebrated, the round dance of the mermaids in the night's moonshine: on the nearby rocks loom proud castles, palaces and ruins aloft. The Vltava swirls into the St John's Rapids; then it widens and flows toward Prague, past the Vyšehrad, and then majestically vanishes into the distance, ending at the Labe (or Elbe, in German).
Individual themes and sections of the work depict the various scenes and activities along and in the river: movement of water, villagers dancing at a wedding, hunting horns, moonlight, etc. The ever present river is a narrator, and is symbolized by an epic recurring theme—the River Theme (see below at 01:11)
The instrumental requirements of Vltava are demanding, with scoring for piccolo, two flutes, two oboes , two clarinets, two bassoons, four French horns, two trumpets, three trombones, tuba, timpani, bass drum, triangle, cymbals, harp, and full string section.
Vitava River Scene Timeline
00:00 Source of the river: flutes begin with a rippling melodic passage
01:11 River Theme (repeated with variations)
03:15 Forest Hunt: hunting calls by French horns and trumpets)
04:10 Peasant Wedding: dance like music (polka)
05:49 Moonlight: Dance of water nymphs (woodwinds and sustained tones)
09:05 River Theme
10:03 St. John's Rapids: fortissimo orchestra, timpani rolls and cymbal crashes
11:19 River at widest point: fortissimo River Theme with variations and fast tempo
11:46 Ancient Castle (Vyšehrad): brass and woodwinds
12:40 River dies away (pianissimo descending and ascending strings)
Vltava (The Moldau) | Bedřich Smetana (14:40)
Smetana's melodies, textures and orchestration techniques are confident, full and vividly lush. However, the modern listener may find Smetana's style surprisingly familiar as he has been studied and emulated by countless Hollywood soundtrack composers seeking a romantic sound or suggestion of moving water.
Vocabulary
Nationalism, Exoticism, symphonic poem, Isaac Albeniz, Enrique Granados, Bedřich Smetana
Spain
Vltava | The Moldau
