1848: Composing a Country

1848, Prague. Smoke hangs over the Vltava as gunfire echoes across Charles Bridge. Among the revolutionaries defending the barricades is a 24-year-old composer named Bedřich Smetana. Across Europe, uprisings are challenging empires and monarchies, while new ideas about nationhood and self-determination are beginning to reshape the continent.

Although many of the revolutions of 1848 are ultimately defeated, their cultural impact proves lasting. In Italy, Verdi's operas become closely associated with the cause of unification. In Bohemia, Smetana helps create a distinctly Czech musical voice, drawing on language, folklore and landscape. Across Europe, composers increasingly look beyond the Austro-German tradition, seeking ways to express national identity through music.

From the revolutionary fervour of the Risorgimento to the Czech National Revival, music becomes a powerful means of expressing belonging, memory and political aspiration. The echoes of 1848 can be heard in some of the nineteenth century's most enduring works, including Smetana's Má vlast, Dvořák's Slavonic Dances and Verdi's great opera choruses.

Gillian Moore is joined by a roster of distinguished historians for this major new BBC Radio 3 series, charting a course through 1000 years of classical music history. For the next eight programmes, historian Kate Williams is in the chair, as together they explore the rich musical world of the nineteenth century.

Producer: Megan Jones
Academic Consultant: Professor Laura Tunbridge, University of Oxford
Story Consultant: Kate Leys
Series Editor for BBC Audio: Emma Harding

Key Changes theme tune composed by Joseph Howard and performed by the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, conducted by Kerem Hasan.

MUSIC DETAILS

Bedřich Smetana: Grande Overture
Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra
Vladimir Válek (conductor)

Giuseppe Verdi: Macbeth – "Patria oppressa!"
Ambrosian Opera Chorus
New Philharmonia Orchestra
Riccardo Muti (conductor)

Johann Strauss I: Radetzky March
Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra
Herbert von Karajan (conductor)

Giuseppe Verdi: Attila – "Cara patria"

Johanna Kinkel: Abendlied nach der Schlacht, Op. 21 No. 5

Bedřich Smetana: The Bartered Bride – Overture
Philharmonia Orchestra
Sir Charles Mackerras (conductor)

Bedřich Smetana: Má vlast – Vltava
Czech Philharmonic Orchestra
Jiří Bělohlávek (conductor)

Antonín Dvořák: Slavonic Dance, Op. 46 No. 4
Czech Philharmonic Orchestra
Sir Simon Rattle (conductor)

Giuseppe Verdi: Nabucco – "Va, pensiero"
Chorus and Orchestra of La Scala Theatre
Claudio Abbado (conductor)

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