Page:The music of Bohemia.djvu/35

Rh Besides the Polka, there is another Czech folk-dance with characteristic wild rhythm: The Furiant, which means a boasting farmer. Dvořák in his First Symphony introduced this dance, its rhythm only, instead of the usual Scherzo. The most brilliant examples of the Polka and Furiant are those in Smetana's opera The Bartered Bride.

It is no wonder that the richness of folk-art was overestimated in Bohemia at the beginning of the last century, and led to an error. Folk-art was confused with nationality in art. A false principle was constructed that "national art" must be based upon folk-music. Thus the