Bedrich Smetana was born in
Bohemia in 1824. He studied
violin
from a young age and had picked up
piano enough to be performing in
public by age six. In his mid-twenties
he moved to
Prague where he taught at a piano school. While there, he
met his future wife,
Katerina Kolárová, and they were married in
1849.
Up until 1856, Smetana had not had much luck in either his personal or
professional life. Three of four young daughters died in a span of two
years. He had failed attempts at starting both a music school and a
concert career in Prague. He left his home again to make something of
himself - this time headed to
Sweden.
In 1856 he became the
conductor of the
Philharmonic
Society of Goteborg, where he stayed until 1861. Here he
composed his
first symphonic poems. His wife's waning health took him back
towards
Bohemia in 1859,
but she died in
Dresden en route.
By this time a
Czech nationalist movement was surfacing in Bohemia. After
a few unsuccessful revolts against the
German House of Habsurg since the reinstatement of German rule in the early 17th century, the movement
was building momentum with help, in part, by artists like
Smetana.
Smetana returned to Prague in 1861 to find no more favor with the people
than he previously did. He took the conductor position at the Prague
Opera, and, in 1866 released "
The Brandenburgers in Bohemia", which was
enthusiastically recieved. "
The Bartered Bride" soon followed and was
speedily put into production. While he enjoyed success from these (and
subsequent) operas, foreign performances were uncommon.
in 1866, Smetana became the principal conductor of the
Provisional Theatre and, during his tenure there, added 42 operas to his
repertoire, including his two most nationalistic: "
The Two
Widows" and "
Dalibor and Libuse". He resigned in 1874 to care for
himself; he was suffering severely from
syphilis. He went deaf soon
after.
It was the next five years of his life that he created some of his best
work. He composed the six
nationalistic symphonic tone poems known as
Má
Vlast. This collection of works includes probably his most widely-known
piece,
Vltava. He also composed a string quartet against
doctor's orders titled "
Z mého zivota" and numerous piano solos.
Bedrich Smetana died at the age of 60 in an asylum from
complications of
his
disease.