Bedřich Smetana tried before. To musicologist John Clapham, the cycle presents "a cross-section of Czech history and legend and impressions of its scenery, and ... conveys vividly to us Smetana's view of the ethos and greatness of the nation." Despite its nationalistic associations this work has, according to Newmarch, carried Smetana's name further afield than anything he wrote, with the exception of "The Bartered Bride" Overture. Smetana dedicated "Má vlast" to the city of Prague; after its first performance in November 1882 it was acclaimed by the Czech musical public as the true representation of Czech national style. Its "Vltava" (or "The
Czech name Czech name Czech names are composed of a given name and a surname. Czechs typically get one given name – additional names may be chosen by themselves upon baptism but they generally use one. With marriage, the bride typically adopts the bridegroom's surname. In the Czech Republic, names are simply known as "jména" ("names") or, if the context requires it, "křestní jména" ("Baptism names"). The singular form is "jméno". Generally, a given name may have Christian roots or traditional Slavic pre-Christian origin (e.g. Milena, Dobromira, Jaroslav, Václav, Vojtěch). In the past, it was common to give only officially recognized names