Karel Husa - "Smetana Fanfare"

Today's post features Karel Husa's Smetana Fanfare. This piece for wind ensemble was commissioned by San Diego State University for a music festival honoring Czech composer Bedrich Smetana in 1984. It was premiered by the SDSU Wind Ensemble on April 3, 1984 in San Diego, during a centennial celebration of Smetana’s death. The work uses two excerpts from Smetana’s symphonic poem the Wallenstein’s Camp, completed during his exile from Prague in 1859 in Gotenberg, Sweden. For those who are a bit unfamiliar with Bedrich Smetana (perhaps most famous in the music history books for his work, Ma vlast), you can brush up on him here.

Below is a link to information on Smetana's Wallenstein’s Camp, the musical impetus for Husa's fanfare, as well as a recording of Husa's work performed by the Northwestern University Symphonic Wind Ensemble, conducted by Mallory Thompson.

Wallenstein's Camp

Karel Husa, Smetana Fanfare

Northwestern University Symphonic Wind Ensemble, Mallory Thompson, conductor

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