Bedřich Smetana

File:Smetana.JPG

Portrait of Bedřich Smetana

Bedřich Smetana March 2, 1824 - 12 May 12, 1884) is considered one of the greatest Czech composers of the 19th century. He is best known for his symphonic poem Vltava (The Moldau), the second in a cycle of six which he entitled Má vlast (My Country).

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Bedrich Smetana [26-01-2000] By Nick Carey

And now it's time for this week' edition of Czechs in History, in which we look at some of the great figures in the history of the Czech Lands. This week, Nick Carey takes a look at Czech composer Bedrich Smetana... Bedrich Smetana Bedrich Smetana I thought I would start off this week's Czechs in History on the banks of the Vltava River. Why? Well, as today's programme is about Bedrich Smetana, who is widely considered to be the Czech Republic's national composer, this seemed appropriate. Possibly his best known composition, the set of symphonic poems called Ma Vlast, or My Homeland, contains a piece dedicated to this river. As Vltava is probably Smetana's most famous piece, and also my favourite one, it seemed ideal for an introduction to the programme... Bedrich Smetana was born on March 2nd 1824 in the East Bohemian town of Litomysl, the seven child of a fairly wealthy man who was the head brewer in the Litomysl castle brewery. An interesting point about Smetana's childhood is that although he is the Czech Republic's national composer and wrote several operas in Czech, as a child he was not taught the language, as Jarmila Gabrielova, an associate professor of musicology at Charles University told me:

RealAudio Listen in RealAudio: Streaming - Download From a very early age he showed a great talent for music, which was encouraged within the family, and he played the piano at his first concert at the age of eight. Throughout his childhood, he also performed in a quartet at home, playing first violin, his father second. When Smetana's thoughts turned to studying music at a higher level, this was, however, not encouraged:

RealAudio Listen in RealAudio: Streaming - Download Once he completed his studies, Smetana obtained work as a music teacher, and began composing, but following the events of 1848, the year of revolutions around Europe, and political oppression in the 1850s, Smetana decided to leave Prague. In 1856 he moved to Gothenburg in Sweden to become a music teacher, and this was a time of mixed blessings for him:

RealAudio Listen in RealAudio: Streaming - Download Smetana's wife died on route to Prague in 1859. He did not settle in Prague permanently at first, and spent his time travelling back and forth to Gothenburg, before making Prague his home in 1863. During this time, Smetana composed his historical opera The Brandenburgers in Bohemia, which was first performed in 1864, and was an instant success. This was followed in 1866 by perhaps his most famous opera, the comedy The Bartered Bride. The Bartered Bride was an instant and enduring success. It was in the same year that Smetana became a conductor at the Provisional Theatre, the first theatre in Prague to hold performances in Czech, and he held this position until he went deaf in 1874. As a composer, how did Smetana deal with this situation? Jarmila Gabrielova:

RealAudio Listen in RealAudio: Streaming - Download Amongst the many compositions from this period were Ma Vlast, My Homeland, possibly Smetana's best known piece, a set of symphonic poems which evoked the beauty of the Czech countryside, plus the opera The Kiss, and a piece called The Czech Dances. Towards the end of the 1870s, Smetana's health continued to fail, and in 1883 he apparently suffered a mental breakdown, and was placed in a mental asylum in Prague, where he died shortly after his sixtieth birthday, on May 12th 1884. It is widely believed that in actual fact he died of syphilis. Now, we have heard about some of the pieces that Smetana composed, but what sort of style did he adhere to, and which composers influenced this style? I put this question to Jarmila Gabrielova:

RealAudio Listen in RealAudio: Streaming - Download As I mentioned at the beginning of the programme, Smetana is widely considered as being the Czech Republic's national composer. This was the task that he set himself, and in general his works were well received during his lifetime, with a few exceptions, such as his tragic opera Dalibor, written in 1867, which was heavily criticised. When did the Czechs begin to perceive him as their national composer?: http://www.radio.cz/en/article/37465

Czech Music of the Romantic Era

Frantisek Skroup This period saw the advance of the National Revival in the Czech Lands. The greatest display of these revivalist tendencies in the spirit of Romanticism appeared primarily in Czech opera. The resounding success of Weigl's "singspiel" Swiss Family in 1823 inspired Chmelensky and Frantisek Skroup (1801 - 1862) to compose their own Czech variations of the genre. Skroup was born at Osice u Pardubic and began to compose while still in school there, continuing during his studies of philosophy and law in Prague. After the performance of his eclectic singspiel Dratenik (1826), he became the conductor of the Theater of the Estates. With Chmelensky he composed other the Czech operas Oldrich a Bozena (1826) and Libusin snatek (1835) (the Marriage of Libuse). The music for Tyl's play Fidlovacka (Spring Festival) is the memorable song Kde domov muj(Where is My Home).

One of the most important authors of this period is Bedrich Smetana (1824-1884)

Bedrich SmetanaBedrich Smetana was born in Litomysl from the third marriage of Master Brewer Frantisek Smetana to Barbora Linkova. The family was constantly on the move, and young Bedrich went to high school in Jindrichuv Hradec, Jihlava, Havlickuv Brod, Prague and Plzen, where he graduated under the supervision of his cousin. He appeared as a pianist for the first time in 1830 at the Litomysl Academy of Philosophy. A deciding factor in Smetana's artistic development was his period studying under Josef Proksch in Prague, from 1843. After completing his studies, he founded his own private piano school in Prague, and a year later married his teenage love Katerina Kolarova.

During this period, he devoted his compositional efforts almost exclusively to the piano. The peak of his production from this period is his Klavirni trio g moll (1855) (Piano trio in g minor), which reflected his grief over the death of his daughter Bedriska. In an attempt to escape a place where everything reminded him of his loss, Smetana decided to move abroad, and in 1856 he moved to Goteborg in Sweden. The northern climate accelerated Katerina's illness and she died in 1859. A year later he married again to the 20-year-old Bettina Ferdinandiova.

Smetana was a great admirer of Franz Liszt, and they were in frequent contact through correspondence and personal meetings. He was gripped by Liszt's idea of the symphonic poem. This gave rise to such works as his Richard III., Valdstynuv tabor (Waldstein's Camp) and Hakon Jarl. After the easing of the political situation in the Czech lands, he hurried home, although things did not immediately go well for him. But in 1863 he finished the singspiel Branibory v Cechach (Brandenburgers in Bohemia,with a libretto by Karel Sabina), which was a great success - and brought its author some much-needed finances. He completed Prodana nevesta (The Bartered Bride) in 1866 and conducted it himself.

In 1873, Smetana also became the chief director of opera and drama atthe Provisional Theater, where he focused primarily on opera. The fruit of these efforts are such works as Dalibor, Rolnicka, Libusin soud and others. During this period, after three years of work, he completed his masterpiece Libuse. The opera emerged from his awareness of his responsibility to his nation, and his firm belief in its future.

On the night of October 19 to 20, 1874, as a result of a long illness, Smetana was inflicted with the worst misfortune that can befall a composer: absolute deafness. Despite his catastrophe he managed to realize his long-held creative project: to celebrate his homeland and nation with a cycle of symphonic poems. The result was the cycle Ma vlast (My Homeland), consisting of the parts Vysehrad, Vltava, Sarka, Z ceskych luhu a haju (From Czech Fields and Groves), Tabor and Blanik. Towards the end of his life, he composed another great string of operas, Hubicka (1876) (The Kiss), Tajemstvi (1877) (The Secret) a Certova stena (1879 - 82) (The Devil's Wall). Bedrich Smetana died on May 12, 1884 in the Prague Institute for the Mentally Ill.

Antonin Dvorak The other great figure of Czech Romanticism is Antonin Dvorak. He was born on September 8, 1841 in Nelahozeves, where he grew up in an atmosphere of village musicianship. At sixteen, he came to Prague to attend organ school, and he later became a violist in Komzak's ensemble, with which he came to the Provisional Theater. His first work was Hymnus from Halek's Dedici Bile hory (Inheritors of White Mountain). He won a state scholarship and Johannes Brahms, the most influential member of the panel, recommended him to the Berlin publisher Simrock, for whom he composed his first piece in 1878 Slovanske tance (Slavonic Dances), which immediately became famous all over the world. His symphonic works were promoted by Bulow, Richter and others, and his oratorios and cantatas became representative pieces for domestic choral ensembles as well as at important festivals in England. In 1890 and 1891, Dvorak was awarded honorary doctorates at Cambridge and Prague universities. In 1891 he was awarded the title of professor, from 1892 to 1895 he was the artistic director for the National Conservatory in New York City, and he then became artistic director for the Prague Conservatory. Honored as one of the greatest composers of his time, Dvorak died in Prague on May 1, 1904.

Beside Smetana and Dvorak, the most distinctive figure of this period was Zdenek Fibich (1850 - 1900). His work was dedicated to hugely diverse subjects. His songs (Sestero pisni - Six Songs), Jarni paprsky (Spring Rays) and duets have an intimate charcter. His compositions for piano are represented by such pieces as the lyrical cycle Z hor (From the Mountains) and the four-handed Sonata in B Major. His orchestral production encompassed all the genres of the era; his Third Symphony in E minor can be classed alongside Dvorak's symphonies as among the best Czech symphonies of the 19th century. The most important of Fibich's operas are Nevesta mesinska (The Bride of Messina) and Sarka. Fibich is also famous for his melodramas - Stedry den, Pomsta kvetin, (Christmas Eve, Revenge of the Flowers) and so on. http://www.radio.cz/en/html/hudba_romantismus.html

Life

The Smetana monument in Litomyšl

Smetana was the son of a brewer in Litomyšl in Bohemia, then part of the Austrian Empire. He studied piano and violin from an early age, and played in an amateur string quartet with other members of his family. Smetana attended a high school in Pilsen from 1840-1843. He studied music in Prague, despite initial resistance from his father. He secured a post as music master to a noble family, and in 1848 received funds from Franz Liszt to establish his own music school.

September 1855 marked the death of his second child, his beloved four-year-old daughter Bedřiska. When his third child died nine months later, he committed himself to composition, producing the Piano Trio in G minor. This piece is full of sadness and despair, making use of phrases that are cut short, possibly in resemblance to his daughter's own life.

In 1856, Smetana moved to Gothenburg, Sweden, where he taught, conducted and gave chamber music recitals. In 1863, back in Prague, he opened a new school of music dedicated to promoting specifically Czech music. By 1874 he had become deaf from syphilis, but he continued to compose; Má vlast was written after his deafness had developed. As if plain deafness were not enough, Smetana also suffered from tinnitus, which caused him to hear a continuous, maddening high note which he described as the "shrill whistle of a first inversion chord of A-flat in the highest register of the piccolo."

Smetana's Tomb

From 1875 he lived in small village of Jabkenice.

His string quartet in E minor, Z mého života (From My Life, composed in 1876), the first of only two quartets, is an autobiographical work. The final movement is punctuated by a piercing high E in the first violin which, Smetana explained, represents the devastating effects of his tinnitus. He may also be hinting at this personal misfortune with the piccolo scoring in Má vlast. In 1883 Smetana, suffering further progressive neurological effects of his illness, finally became insane, and was taken to a mental hospital in Prague, where he died the following year. He is interred in the Vyšehrad cemetery in Prague.

Smetana is noted as being the first composer to write music that was specifically Czech in character. Many of his operas are based on Czech themes and myths, the best known being the comedy The Bartered Bride (1866). He used many Czech dance rhythms and his melodies sometimes resemble folk songs. He was a great influence on Antonín Dvořák, who similarly used Czech themes in his works.

Works

A complete chronological list of Smetana's operas:

• Braniboři v Čechách (Brandenburgers in Bohemia)
• Prodaná nevěsta (The Bartered Bride)
• Dalibor
• Libuše
• Dvě vdovy (The Two Widows)
• Hubička (The Kiss)
• Tajemství (The Secret)
• Čertova stěna (The Devil's Wall)

External links

• The Composers of Bohemia
• Free Public Domain Sheet Music by Smetana at IMSLP

Sources

• Jiří Ramba: Slavné české lebky, antropologicko-lékařské nálezy jako pomocníci historie (Famous Czech Skulls, anthropological-medical findings as helpers of history), Galén, 2005, Prague, ISBN 80-7262-325-7

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