Well, according to Smetana, “The composition describes the course of the Vltava, starting from the two small springs, the Cold and Warm Vltava, to the merging of both streams into a single current, the course of the Vltava through woods and meadows, through landscapes where a farmer’s wedding is celebrated, the round dance of the mermaids in the night’s moonshine: on the nearby rocks loom proud castles, palaces and ruins aloft. The Vltava swirls into the St John’s Rapids; then it widens and flows toward Prague, past Vyšehrad, and then majestically vanishes into the distance.” (Huscher, 5) Thus, the composition describes scenes that might have looked something like this:
With that being said, one might wonder how the tone poem can portray all these images- as it’s “just some sounds.” However, the tone poem isn’t just a jumble of sounds, rather it’s an array of sounds that tell a story- thus making it program music. (Program Music, 1) With that being said, the piece can “easily” be explained through the use of instruments- here’s how:
- The piece starts with two flutes- each flute representing one of the two small springs. At the beginning, each flute plays separately as one plays “cold” and the other plays “warm” (while strings are lightly added to produce a water effect.)
- As the song continues, the two flutes start to overlap each other and the strings start to pick up- as a way to show that the current is merging together and picking up speed.
- The music is then swiftly taken down the river, following the current, and is overwhelmed with a melody that represents the river.
- That melody is then interrupted by horns- as the horns showcase a hunt in the woods.
- After the hunt, the music subsides a bit- as it gets down to a single note by the viola.
- At this point, the music swifts to a bouncy, polite, dancing form of music as the river flows by.
- Then the strings and the woodwinds start to play up very high and shimmer to represent the mermaids dancing in the moonlight.
- After that, the river comes back and the woodwinds start to exaggerate the dance- the round dance rhyme.
- The river then comes back and the rivers melody plays once more.
- Then the music comes to the St. Johns rapids and the strings run up and down as the horns play “ba ba ba ba” to represent the water swirling.
- After the rapids, the melody of the river is changed from minor key to major key to show the widening of the river to Prague.
- The music then passes by the castle, triumphantly (as played by the bass section), and then disappears- as all of the instruments fade out.
The Moldau 