Bedrich Smetana: Myth, Music, and Propaganda

Interpretations of Czech composer Bedřich Smetana and his music have shifted as frequently as the political contexts in which they were written. This book examines not just Smetana, but also the scholar-politicians who have imagined and reimagined him and his works since the nineteenth century. During the 1870s, Smetana helped found a powerful nationalist organization called the Umelecka beseda (＂Artistic Society,＂ or UB), whose members produced the earliest scholarship on the composer as part of their calls for political action. Within the increasingly radicalized discourses of the twentieth century, individuals including future Minister of Culture and Education Zdenĕk Nejedly attacked the UB for not being nationalistic enough, producing their own revisionist histories of Smetana and his works. Kelly St. Pierre investigates Smetana as both nationalist composer and national symbol, revealing the composer’s legacy as a dynamic figure whose mythology has been rewritten time and time again to suit changing political perspectives. Kelly St. Pierre is assistant professor of musicology at Wichita State University.