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A POEM ABOUT CZECHIA
- victorshramko
- Nov 27
- 3 min read
NLWM No 31 27/11/2025
The Czech concert of Kuwait Music Academy soloists at DAI on Nov. 2nd, was a hit. I wrote about it with great satisfaction, recalling the two most famous Czech composers,
B. Smetana and A. Dvorak, whose works were presented there. Due to lack of space, I have barely mentioned the names of the other two composers, and now I'd like to introduce them too.
One of them achieved worldwide popularity thanks to a single piece. It was also performed at the mentioned concert. This is Zdenek Fibich's 'Poem'. The other is Bohuslav Martinu, a highly regarded 20th century neoclassical composer.
Born Among the Trees
Zdenek Fibich (1850-1900) was born 175 years ago in a forester's lodge where his father was a forester. His early life was spent on various wooded estates of the noblemen for whom his father worked. His mother started teaching him to play piano at the age of 6. At the age of 10, his parents sent him to a gymnasium in Vienna. (The Czech lands were then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.)
From the Forest to Capitals
Two years later, he moved to Prague. Thanks to great progress in music, the already 15-year-old boy was sent for 3 years to Leipzig to study under the famous Ignaz Moscheles. He concluded his studies in Paris and Mannheim. The next few years he spent with his parents in Prague, where he wrote his 1st opera 'Bukovina'.
Difficult Paths to Happiness
In 1873 he got married and went to Lithuanian Vilnius, where he became a choirmaster. After two happy years, the expedition ended tragically: his wife and newly born twins both died. Fibich returned to Prague, where he remained until the end of his life. The marriage to his sister-in-law, a singer, was unsuccessful. However, his 3rd relationship with his former student, Anežka Schulzova, was successful. She wrote the librettos of his operas (including the most known 'Sarka') and inspired a cycle of a few hundred instrumental pieces, including that still famous 'Poem'.
Patriotism, not Nationalism
He was a Romantic. In Prague, he was criticized for his early fascination with Wagner (like many European composers). But it was Fibich who was probably the first to make use of Bohemian folk melodies and dance rhythms in his rich output of hundreds of works: songs, instrumental pieces, chamber and symphonic works, and operas. His Czech patriotic symphonic poem inspired B. Smetana to compose the famous cycle of six poems 'Ma Vlast' (My Homeland). He was also the first to use the 'Polka' dance in his Quartet in A.
Polka is Good. Everywhere
Polka is a double beat dance. In spite of the typical Polish name (Polka means exactly: Polish woman), it emerged from the Bohemian peasant tradition and spread to Prague at the beginning of the 19th century. Its name comes from the Czech word 'pulka' (half), referring to the dance's half-step. After it was presented in Paris in 1840, it became a widespread European craze. Later, Polka was adopted as the Polish national dance and the official dance of the State of Wisconsin (USA)! Would you believe?
It's Easy to Get Dizzy
More: The most known composer of Polkas was an Austrian, Eduard Strauss, the youngest of the famous Viennese Composers Dynasty. 'Polka-schnell' means quick polka. Even more: The more prevalent and traditional Swedish dance is... 'Polska' (exactly - Poland). In a triple rhythm, like the truly Polish 'Mazurka'.
I think I'll focus on Bohuslav Martinu next time. And news for the Czech Friends from the 2026 Opera Oscars Gala in London.
Enough words.
Let us play:
Z. Fibich – Poem
Polka 'Skoda Lasky' or 'Rosamunde'
Written by
Cezary Owerkowicz
Co-founder of Kuwait Music Academy and
Director of Treasure of Talents Festival in Kuwait
