The Music Chamber (n.d.) describes how, during the
Romantic era, composers such as Dvorak, Borodin
and Rimsky-Korsakov began composing music themed on the dances, legends, folk
songs and history of their own countries.
The theme of ‘national identity’ became very popular and composers from
many countries including Germany, Poland, Spain, Sweden, UK and Mexico began
creating works in their countries’ name.
Frederic Chopin was
a major composer of Polish National music, including writing scores from
traditional poems and the inclusion of nationalistic rhythms in his mazurkas
and polonaises. Herman
(n.d.) writes that,
“For
nineteenth-century Polish listeners, Chopin’s music came to symbolize their
national struggle, helping to foster the Polish spirit at a time when the
country was without political status.”
Edvard Grieg, Jean Sibelius and Hugo Alfven all wrote
pieces expressing the national identity of music from the Scandinavian
countries, whilst composers such as Elgar and Vaughan Williams are credited
with composing British nationalist music during this period. Each of these composers seems to have fused
together distinct legends, folklore and literature to convey their pride in
their national identity.
A good example of this is Vaughn-Williams’ Fantastia on Greensleeves (1934), which
makes use of the infamous melody written by King Henry VIII, adding an array of
harmonic embellishments to paint a very strong and picturesque scene of
Britain.
However, for the purposes of this exercise I have chosen
to look more closely at two pieces composed by Edvard Greig and Bedrich
Smetana, representing Norway and the former Czechoslovakia respectively. These notes can be found within my listening
log.
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