Page:The music of Bohemia.djvu/36

22 imitation of folk-poetry and folk-melodies was approved as the real national art. It is astonishing how long this principle, violating the natural law of progress, could endure. All works of this feverish would-be-national period belong to history. They live no more, being but imitations. There is no room in this brief article for mention of their names or works.

Into the artificial edifice, without solid foundations, erected by this group of artists, struck a thunderbolt of genius, who tore down their flimsy structure and exposed their false theories. This genius was—Bedřich Smetana, the founder of modern Czech musical art.