MOLDAU from "My Country"

Vltava – The Vltava River
The most famous sentence from the cycle “My Fatherland” is the symphonic poem “Die Moldau/ The Moldau”. The famous Moldau theme is inspired by an Italian melody from the Renaissance, but this is again found in other nation songs. The whole part is based on the Moldau theme. Smetana describes how the water springs from its two sources, how it evolves into a river, pastures and festivals, flows over dangerous rapids and finally past the old Prague castle – here Smetana uses the Burgthema of the last time First part “Vysehrad” – until the river runs into the Elbe.