Page:The music of Bohemia.djvu/44

30 Czech folk-melodies are preserved in very artistic and pianistic style. Smetana's best known composition, which is often played at concerts, is his étude By the Seashore, op. 17, a difficult but very effective piece of music snatching the spell of the Northern Sea.

In the last period of his creation Smetana expressed his love and admiration for his country and its history in poems in a cycle called My Country, consisting of six charming symphonic poems: Vyšehrad, the old castle, the seat of the first Bohemian ruler; Vltava, the river of Bohemia; Šárka, the Bohemian Amazon; From Bohemian Meadows and Woodlands, an idyll; Tábor and Blaník, which picture in tones the glorious past epoch of the Reformation. With this work the composer reached his goal. No greater tribute to his success is needed than Liszt's exclamation upon hearing of Smetana's death—"He was a genius!"

Anton Dvořák (1841–1904), the best known