Composer (MIDI)

Bedrich Smetana (1824-1884); BOH

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Smetana, Bedřich (b Litomyšl, 1824; d Prague, 1884). Bohem. composer, pianist, and conductor, regarded as the founder of Czech music. Played in str. qt. at age 5, pf. recital at 6, and wrote first comp. at 8. Settled in Prague in 1843, working as teacher to aristocratic family while having lessons from J. Proksch. Heard Liszt play and became close friend. Took part in fighting at barricades during abortive 1848 nationalist uprising. Set up mus. sch. but in 1856 went to Sweden as dir. of Göteborg Phil. Soc. Visited Liszt in Weimar and comp. 3 symphonic poems on Lisztian lines, incl. Wallenstein's Camp (1858-9). Returned to Prague 1861 but, through financial instability, toured Europe as concert pianist until 1863, coinciding with reawakening of Cz. nationalist fervour after Austria's defeat by Hungary. Became cond. of a Prague choral soc. and critic for daily newspaper. His patriotic opera The Brandenburgers in Bohemia, was prod., after much controversy, at Prague Provisional Th. (est. 1862) in 1866 and won him public success. Smetana was appointed cond. of the th. and dir. f.p. of The Bartered Bride (1866), which was a failure. For laying of foundation-stone of permanent Prague Nat. Th. in 1868 he comp. the opera Dalibor. This, too, was a failure and was criticized as insufficiently nationalist because of Wagnerian influences on score, but his comic opera The Two Widows was a success in March 1874. Resigned conductorship of Provisional Th. in 1874 because of total deafness, the result of venereal disease. Over next 5 years comp. his cycle of 6 symphonic poems Má Vlast (My Country) and in 1876 wrote his E minor str. qt. subtitled ‘From My Life’, in which the high-pitched note heard in finale represents the noise in his head which he experienced continually during onset of deafness. Living in isolation in the country, he comp. choral pieces and two operas, The Kiss and The Secret. During 1880s nat. celebrations marked his achievement and his opera Libuše was chosen to inaugurate Prague Nat. Th. in 1881. Encouraged, comp. last opera, The Devil's Wall, but this was a failure in 1882, though it contains some of his best mus. He worked on Viola, an adaptation of Shakespeare's Twelfth Night which had occupied him for many years, but wrote only 363 bars before he became insane and died in asylum.

Smetana was buried as a nat. hero. With The Bartered Bride he wrote the incomparable masterpiece of folk-opera. His other operas had to wait until many years after his death for a proper appreciation of their virtues. Inevitably there was a Germanic influence on his work, since he grew up under Austrian domination of Czech culture, but although Janáček and later composers are more truly ‘Czech’, the ground was furrowed by Smetana, and his mus. has freshness and strength which ensure its popularity. Prin. works:

OPERAS: The Brandenburgers in Bohemia (Branibori u Čechách) (1863); The Bartered Bride (Prodaná Nevěstá) (1863-6, rev. 1869 and 1869-70); Dalibor (1865-7, rev. 1870); Libuše (1869-72); The Two Widows (Dvě vdovy) (1873-4, rev. 1877, 1882); The Kiss (Hubička) (1875-6); The Secret (Tajemstvì) (1877-8); The Devil's Wall (Čertova Stěna) (1879-82); Viola (unfinished, 1874, 1883-4).

ORCH.: Triumph Symphony in E (1854); sym.-poems: Richard III (1858), Wallenstein's Camp (1858-9), Hakon Jarl (1861); Festival Overture (1868); Má Vlast (1872-9); Carnival in Prague (1883).

CHAMBER MUSIC: pf. trio in G minor (1855, rev. 1857); str. qts.: No.1 in E minor (Z mého života, Eng. From my Life, Ger. Aus meinem Leben) (1876); No.2 in D minor (1882-3); From my Home, duets, vn., pf. (1880).

VOCAL: Male vv.: The Three Horsemen (1882), The Renegade (1864), The Farmer, Peasant Song (1868), Sea Song (1877), The Dower, Prayer (1880). Female vv.: 3 Choruses (1878). Mixed vv.: Song of the Czechs, cantata with orch. (1878), Our Song (1883).

PIANO: 6 Characteristic Pieces (1848), Album Leaves (1851), Sketches (1856-7), 3 Polkas, 3 Poetical Polkas (1855), Memories of Bohemia (1859-60), At the Seashore (1862), Dreams (1874-5), 14 Czech Dances (1877-9, orch. by others).