Hakon Jarl (Smetana)

Hakon Jarl is the third and last of Smetana's so-called "Swedish" symphonic poems, composed during the years he spent in Gothenburg (1857–1861).

These insights are reflected in Hakon Jarl and the first two symphonic poems he wrote in Gothenburg: Richard III (1858), and Wallenstein's Camp (1859).

[1] The subject matter of Hakon Jarl, which was based on Oehlenschläger's 1804 play about a legendary Norse ruler and the triumph of Christianity over paganism in Scandinavia, was possibly chosen to appeal to Smetana's intended audience in Gothenburg.

However, according to musicologist Richard Taruskin, the work's poetic and musical themes show no particular Scandinavian colour and are "universally heroic and religious" in nature.

[2] In the end, Hakon Jarl and Smetana's previous two symphonic poems premiered in his Czech homeland instead of Sweden.