Czech nationalism

The artistic movement in 19th-century Bohemia that sought to express Czech cultural identity through music, drawing on folk dance rhythms (furiant, polka, dumka), folk melodies, and national subjects. Dvořák, alongside Smetana, was the central figure in this movement, elevating Czech folk idioms into the international concert repertoire without quoting actual folk tunes.

When playing Dvořák, listen to the specific rhythmic patterns — the hemiola of the furiant, the alternating tempos of the dumka, the lilt of the polka — and treat them as primary expressive material, not as decorative coloring. These rhythms carry the cultural weight of the music.