Born: 2 March 1824, Litomysl,
Czech Republic (Bohemia) Died: 12 May 1884, Prague, Czech
Republic (Bohemia)
Smetana, Bedrich
A prominent nationalist composer
who dedicated his work to the music of Czech
(Bohemia).
With Dvorák,
his successor to the national music, he is considered the most important
Bohemian composer.
Clara Schumann,
Robert Schumann's
wife, encouraged the young musician and Liszt
assisted in publishing his music and even helped him financially. He was
affected by Liszt's ideas and wrote different symphonic
poems.
After years of wandering also in Sweden,
he returned to Prague,
where he wrote a few operas,
such as "The Bartered Bride",
a popular opera and overture
to this very day.
Like Beethoven
in his time, Smetana became deaf in later
life, and yet wrote his great works, like
the string quartet
"From My Life",
"Czech Dances"
and the symphonic collection "My Country"
("Ma vlast"), that
includes the symphonic poem "Moldau"
("Vltava"), describing
the waters of the famous river by this name, and the images seen as the
river flows along the Czech landscape.
It might be interesting to know
- the same Eastern European
folk song that is the basis for the famous musical theme from the "Moldau"
was also the source of the State of Israel's
national anthem's ("Ha-Tiqvah")
melody.
