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The Bedřich Smetana Má vlast (My Country) exhibition at the National Museum in Prague commemorates the personality of Bedřich Smetana and one of his most important compositions. Through authentic notes, correspondence and, above all, scores, it presents the individual symphonic poems as the composer himself conceived them, the historical context in which they were composed and the reactions that accompanied them at later important historical moments in Czech history.
In the exhibition, you can look forward to unique items from the National Museum collection displayed in nine thematic stops. At the beginning, the exhibition will introduce you to the personality of Bedřich Smetana, whose life you will be able to glimpse through his personal objects, such as glasses, a desk, writing utensils, a calamus, a peephole or a hearing aid. The second stop will immerse you in the time and circumstances in which the My Country cycle was created between 1874 and 1879 and will also remind you of the first ensemble performance on 5 November 1882 at Žofín in Prague. Other parts of the exhibition are devoted to the six individual poems – Vyšehrad, Vltava, Šárka, From the Czech Meadows and Groves, Tábor and Blaník. You will learn, for example, that the score for Vltava was written in 19 days, when he added the note “being completely deaf” to the score. The ninth stop recalls performances of the work associated with important historical moments.
In addition to the composer’s personal objects, you will be able to see various musical materials and sheet music, photographs, sculptures, paintings, letters, books, illustrations, musical instruments – for example, there will be a harp to play. The exhibition also includes historical artefacts such as replicas of Hussite weapons from the 19th century. My Homeland in Stones is also on display, so you will be able to touch rocks from Blaník or pebbles from the Vltava River. Of course, the exhibition also focuses on the sound experience. It includes a listening map of the Vltava and audio islands with entire symphonic poems. The central themes can be heard in short excerpts.
Part of the Year of Czech Music and the 200th anniversary of the composer’s birth.
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