Bedřich Smetana

Born on March 2, 1824, Leitomischl, Bohemia,

Austrian Empire(now Litomyšl, Czech Republic)
Died May 12, 1884, Prague
Bohemian composer of operas and symphonic poems
Founder of the Czech national school of music
Bohemian nationalist composer
Smetana studied music under his father, an amateur
violinist. He early took up piano under a professional
teacher and performed in public at the age of six. He
continued his studies and later became music teacher to the
family of Leopold, Count von Thun. Encouraged by Franz
Liszt he opened a piano school in Prague in 1848 and the
next year married the pianist Kateřina Kolářová. In 1856
he wrote his first symphonic poems and in the same year
was appointed conductor of the philharmonic society of
Gothenburg (Sweden), where he remained until 1861. He
then returned to Prague, where he played the leading part
in the establishment of the national opera house.
 Smetana’s first opera, Braniboři v Čechách (The
Brandenburgers in Bohemia), was produced in Prague in
1866. This was followed by the production on May 30, 1866,
of his second opera, Prodaná nevěsta (The Bartered Bride),
which later established Smetana’s reputation as a
distinctively Czech composer. His later operas were less
successful. Dalibor, written under the influence of Wagner,
was performed in 1868. Libuše, named after a legendary
figure in the history of Prague and intended to celebrate the
projected coronation (which never took place) of the
emperor Francis Joseph as king of Bohemia, was not
produced until 1881. In 1874 Smetana’s health began to
deteriorate as a result of syphilis.
Greatly concerned, he resigned his conductorship of the
Prague Opera. He became totally deaf in late 1874, but
between that year and 1879 he wrote the cycle of six
symphonic poems bearing the collective title Má vlast (My
Country), which includes Vltava (The Moldau), Z českých
luhů a hájů (From Bohemia’s Meadows and Forests), and
Vyšehrad (the name of a fortress in Prague). From this
period also came the string quartet to which he gave the
title Z mého života (From My Life), considered among his
finest works; Hubička (The Kiss), successfully produced in
1876; Čertova stěna (The Devil’s Wall), performed in
1882; and a number of piano solos, including many polkas.
 Smetana had been, from early in life, a virtuoso performer on
the piano, and for many years most of his works were composed
for it. Those compositions, augmented by the more mature
piano pieces of his difficult last years, constitute an important
body of piano literature. Following attacks of depression and
symptoms of mental instability, Smetana entered an asylum at
Prague and died there.

 The Smetana Society, founded in Prague in 1931, maintains a

museum containing the composer’s manuscripts and sponsors
the publication and performance of his works. Smetana’s works,
notably The Bartered Bride, My Country, and the piano trio,
continue to be performed throughout the world.