Fun
Gorgeous Smetana
Dear Kay,
For this week’s Knit to This, I humbly present music that got me through one of the snarlier traffic jams on I-40 East in Nashville the other day.
This piece, “Vltava,” is by the 19th-century Czech composer Bedřich Smetana. This is one of the six symphonic poems that make up Smetana’s composition Má Vlast (My Country).
I think my blood pressure actually dropped ten points during the 14 minutes that this silky, glorious music floated around the interior of my traffic-marooned Toyota.
Smetana lived from 1824 to 1884. He wrote Má Vlast shortly after completely losing his hearing in 1874.
I wish that this brilliant composer, who suffered mightily at the end of his life, could know that 135 years later, the Gimnazija Kranj Symphony Orchestra—young players in Slovenia—would play the heck out of his work.
And a crabby woman in Nashville would listen to it with a grateful heart.
Love,
Ann
My favorite symphony of all time! I plan to knit to it today – thanks! Beethoven’s Pastoral is 2nd, so I think I’ll queue that up too.
I listen to classical music on the way to work in the morning. It never fails to calm me down and get me ready for the daily stress.
One of my favorites
Thank you! Lovely!
Appreciative tears on my knitting. Thank You for staring my Saturday with knitting and beauty.
Amazing.
My heart soared, listening. I’ll be knitting to this a lot. Thank you, Ann.
From the moment I saw the title of this morning’s letter, this beautiful melody began flowing through my body. My Saturday will be all the better for it. Thank you. You never fail to know exactly what I need.
I’ve conducted so many wonderful symphony orchestras while stopped for red lights. Just yesterday we performed Prokofiev’s Montagues and Capulets for the folks at 144th and Pacific Streets.
Bravo! Love your choice.
I love this! Have you listened to the Sticky Notes podcast? Worth it.
Just looked it up. I’ll be listening to it this morning during my drive to a meeting! Thanks for sharing!
One of my all time favorites!
well what I thought was going to be a snap to knit in a month maybe a snap to knit in 2 or perhaps 2 1/2. I didn’t realize when I started the meryton that even though I’ve knit for years I would struggle with an intermediate pattern but alas I am. Perhaps it will go faster once I get the chart done which I am going to try and do today then it’s just stockinette which I can do almost without looking at. It will be beautiful when it’s done I’ll say that.
Thanks. I am surprised this piece isn’t more widely performed -or is it? The days in which classical music on the radio was heard in every doctor’s office, snob food emporium and art supply store are long gone. I really enjoyed this, thanks again.
That brought back memories from the days of listening to our son’s high school orchestra perform. Son got out his violin and played along, pizzacato, with a big smile on his face. Thanks for starting our day with smiles on our faces. ( A lot of knitting took place during those high school days.)
I’ve never heard of this composer before. I’m listening to this now as I wait for my migraine medicine to kick in; this music is additional medicine–so lovely. Thanks for sharing, Ann.
There is a community near my hometown in Texas named Smetana, I had no idea there was a composer with that name. It’s a Czech community – https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/hns54
I had to put my knitting down…just for a moment -to listen and watch. Did you see the flute players at the end?It was lovely. Thank you, Ann!
I LOVE this music — used to listen to it al the time, but haven’t in ages. I’m so glad he had those flute players stand up first at the end — this is a tour de force for them! Thank you, Ann.
Lovely, thanks for sharing
As a flutist, I always wanted to play this work, because it was always included in orchestral excerpts books for flute. However, it was listed as “The Moldau”, which is a river (the German name for it, I think). The piece starts at the origin of the river and the river becomes more and more mighty as you travel downstream. I think that this piece of trivia helps when listening to the piece. At the time I was playing flute a lot, this wasn’t scheduled to be played very often. I’m happy that we hear it more now. And it’s really a good knitting accompaniment. Thanks.
Thank You for sharing this beautiful piece of music. I knew the music but had no idea who had written it…
This is really lovely, and makes me so thankful for all the talented people around the world who work so hard to make beautiful music!
One of my favorite classic pieces. I spend Sunday mornings knitting to sacred choral music and barouque pieces on my local public radio station.
This symphony / musical poem is one of the most famous for visitors to Prague / Czech Republic. You can listen to it when you land the plane at the airport. When you run the Prague Marathon, you hear him on the starting line and when you finish. Yes, Bedřich Smetana wrote many operas, symphonies, songs, but Ma homeland and Vltava are the best. Listening to the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra while playing the entire symphonic ballad is an incredible experience.
Wow! Thank you for sharing this stunning piece!!!
Thank you for reminding me of this amazing work from my countryman! I’m sure it’s very good for your blood pressure.
One extra piece of info from a Czech fan (me) of both (you and Smetana) – the word “Smetana” means “cream” in Czech 🙂 – hope it makes your listening experience even more delicious…
Fantastic! I enjoyed every second. It was a wonderful antidote to the news which can be as frustrating as a traffic jam. Thanks so much!
Anybody else hear the melody of Hatikvah in this???
This is one of my favorite pieces of music. I invariably find myself taking a deep, deep breath when the strings first come in. Goosebumps follow shortly thereafter.
❤ Thanks for the wonderful recommendation!