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Born in a brewery in the Bohemian town of Litomysl in 1824, Smetana<\/a><\/strong> took part in the 1848 Czech uprisings against the repressive Austro-Hungarian regime as a young man. However, the composer who would become known as the father of Czech took a while to make his mark on his home country. It was, in fact, only in his late-30s, after his return from a five-year stay in Sweden, that the masterpieces began to flow \u2013 these included the operas The Bartered Bride<\/em> and Libu\u0161e<\/em> in the 1860s, crowned by M\u00e1 Vlast<\/em> the following decade. Plagued by ill health, he died in 1884, at just 60 years old.<\/p> Nearly every country can boast at least one work that somehow embodies the spirit of that nation. Elgar<\/a><\/strong>\u2019s \u2018Nimrod<\/a><\/strong>\u2019, Gershwin<\/a><\/strong>\u2019s Rhapsody in Blue<\/a><\/strong> <\/em>and Chopin<\/a><\/strong>\u2019s mazurkas, for example, easily conjure up distinct aspects of England, the United States or Poland. Only a handful of works, though, have acquired almost anthemic status in their homelands \u2013 pieces that not only depict composers\u2019 countries but which have become central pillars in their cultural identity. Finlandia<\/em> by Sibelius<\/a><\/strong> is one example. Another is M\u00e1 Vlast<\/em>,(My Homeland), Smetana\u2019s cycle of six orchestral tone poems from the 1870s.<\/p>M\u00e1 Vlast – the work<\/h2>