Bedrich Smetana

Most likely, Smetana composed the two pieces of Z domoviny (From My Homeland) in the spring of 1880, shortly after finishing his huge cycle of tone poems, Má vlast (My Country). By this time, the composer was totally deaf. Z domoviny was printed in 1881 by the Hamburg publisher, Hugo Pohle, who was averse to publishing anything with a title in a language other than German. Although Smetana wished the pair of pieces to be printed with the title in both German and Czech, it appeared only as Aus der Heimat. The work is dedicated to Prince Alexander Thun-Taxis.

Smetana wrote only one other piece for the combination of violin and piano, the Fantasie sur un air bohémien, or Sil jsem proso (I Sowed Millet), of 1843. Of the two violin-and-piano duos that make up Z domoviny, Smetana wrote: "They are written in a simple style, with a view to being performed in the home rather than at concerts....They are genuinely national in character, but with my own melodies."

In A major, the main theme of the first piece bears a striking resemblance to the horn theme in the composer's tone poem, From Bohemia's Woods and Fields (part of Má vlast) and is a similar song of yearning for one's bucolic homeland. Like many Moravian folk songs, the duo alternates between major and minor modes. Unlike Moravian folk songs, however, its central section provides a moment of contrast to the warm, intimate atmosphere that pervades the piece.

The second piece is in G minor and is more complex than the first. The overall tone is more dramatic, and the contrast between aggressive and gentle sections makes for a more formally interesting work. One of these is a lively 2/4 dance called a skoèná, while another pastoral and canonic section resembles a similar passage in Smetana's tone poem, Blaník.