Esmeralda

František Matej Hilmar (1803-1881) comes from the area of Königgrätz. He belongs to the musical genereation of Josef Labitzky who was called the "bohemian Strauss". His Polkas might have influenced Bedrich Smetana in his younger years.

The name of his Polka Esmeralda from 1838 is taken from "The Hunchback of Notre-Dame" by Victor Hugo. Esmeralda is an intelligent and ravinshingly beautiful gipsy. And she is the only friend of the ugly hunchback "Quasimodo".

The music of the polka expresses the shrewdness of the spirited Esmeralda, her sparkling, sly eyes, but also her charm and friendliness.

Hilmar distributed his compositions in manuscripts and copies to anyone who was interested. From the 1840s, his works were published more and more. His first polka, the “Esmeralda”, appeared in 1838 in the collection “Prague's Favorite Galops for the Pianoforte No. 52” by Berry Publications. Hilmar thus became the composer of the first ever printed polka.