Fibich Orchestral music

[Kevin]

Well, Grove online is subscription based so I can't provide a link, all I could do is quote from the article.

[Alan Howe]

I'm sure an attributed excerpt would be OK.

[Kevin]

From Grove Music Online -  Authors: JOHN TYRRELL/JUDITH A. MABARY

While historians have often distinguished Fibich from Smetana and Dvořák because he seems less 'Czech', it should be noted that all three were significantly influenced by foreign models and all were, to some extent, followers of Wagner in their concern with programmatic content and their devotion to opera. But it was perhaps Fibich, more than his contemporaries, who proved to be the most tenacious in the search for extramusical inspirations and convincing means of translating them to music...

Broader aspects of Fibich's style can be related to three lines of development. Springtime subject matter and moods in his early music, culminating in the cantata Jarní romance ('A Springtime Tale', 1880–81), the tone poem Vesna ('Spring', 1881) and the F major Symphony (1877–83), stem from a love of nature formed during his youth and cherished throughout his life. He exhibits a fondness for the ballad and its melancholy, fearful and fatalistic moods, particularly in the works based on Erben's texts – the concert melodramas Štědrý den ('Christmas Day', 1875) and Vodník ('The Water Goblin', 1883) – and in the tone poem Toman and the Wood Nymph. In his operas this tendency is characterized by the prominent 'fate' themes that run from Bukovín (1870–71) to The Fall of Arkona (1898–9). A more intimate mode of expression was awakened by his liaison with Anežka Schulzová, resulting in the piano diary Moods, Impressions and Reminiscences (1892–9), which describes minute details of their relationship, as well as a series of female-centred operas, including Šárka, his most successful, to a libretto by Schulzová.

The three completed symphonies of Fibich's maturity were written over a period of 20 years, interspersed among the operas: no.1 in F, op.17 (1877–83), no.2 in E, op.38 (1892–3) and no.3 in E minor, op.53 (1898). Nos.2 and 3 belong to the period of Fibich's attraction to Schulzová. In fact, a central theme of the second movement of the Third Symphony comes from the piano diary. Ostensibly all three symphonies are conventional four-movement works, observing the formalities of sonata form in their outer movements. Fibich's melodic gifts are evident in the variety of themes in the expositions. His inventive craftsmanship is likewise apparent in the monothematic treatment of the first movement of no.2 in E, the first Czech cyclic symphony. Perhaps the most compelling first movement is found in the E minor symphony, however, where a persistent ostinato figure provides the tension that propels the movement forward...

[Alan Howe]

Thanks so much for these fascinating excerpts.

[Kevin]

My pleasure. Here's a final quote(the grove article is very long)

After Smetana and Dvořák he was the most prominent Czech composer of the second half of the 19th century, notably of operas and orchestral and piano music. His concert and stage melodramas were some of the most ambitious and effective ever written and prompted other Czech composers to write in the same genre, thus creating a sizable and unique repertory for Czech music. Among his compositional strengths were lucid portrayals of the dramatic, particularly apparent in the symphonic poems and concert overtures, a command of miniature forms reminiscent of Schumann and a gift for producing effective melodic lines that range from the straightforward and aggressive to the strikingly poignant.

[Mark Thomas]

I always find the 3rd Symphony's opening movement (picked out in the third quote above) a particularly memorable and satisfying piece.

[Kevin]

Yep, I agree. The 3rd symphony has been described as being from darkness(opening movement) into light(finale)