František Kmoch

A well-known march of composer František Kmoch was originally a sad folk song

A beautiful song it was. The lyrics went: “Kolíne, Kolíne, na pěknej rovině / nejeden mládenec u tebe zahyne”. (Kolín, Kolín you are located in a nice flatland / not only one young boy will die in you). A girl was mourning her darling who was killed in the battle of Kolín in 1757….However, then Kmoch came and changed the sad folk song into a rambling brass-band music on the pattern of Austrian march songs.

It´s needed to say that this way František Kmoch (1848-1912) saved hundreds of Czech folk songs from being forgotten. He started composing music when he was ten years old, later he became a conductor of Kolín town orchestra (or Sokol brass-band orchestra) and he performed with his band both in Czech lands and abroad. He got offers to lead town orchestras from many cities, however, he was loyal to Kolín, the town where he was born.