Bedřich Smetana

Bedřich Smetana is known as the father of Czech music, producing world-renowned operas and breathtaking classical music pieces. He helped to define the Czech people’s cultural identity, which was closely linked to the political aspirations of his homeland during his time. To this day, the Czech Republic remains known for Smetana’s contributions to classical music and the many talented musicians who followed in his footsteps. In fact, the year 2024 has been pronounced as the Year of Czech Music, coinciding with the 200^th anniversary of Smetana’s birth.

Photo: Bedřich Smetana 

Two hundred years ago in 1824 on March 2, Smetana was born into a wealthy brewing family in the Bohemian town of Litomyšl, under the Habsburg Empire, now situated in the Czech Republic. Learning to play music from his father, Smetana presented his first public piano recital at age six and began composing folk music by eight! As was common at that time, his education and higher upbringing was in the German language. He bounced around different schools, being sent to Prague at age fifteen. Missing classes due to bullying for being from the countryside, he attended various concerts, becoming entranced by Franz Liszt. His father then sent him to complete his formal education in Plzeň, where he met the love of his life, pianist Kateřina Kolářová.

Photo of Bedřich Smetana in Grammar School

His father finally agreeing to his son pursuing a music career, Smetana learned musical theory and composition from 1844 to 1847 at the Prague Music Institute, headed by Josef Proksch. Steadfast in his ambition, Smetana wrote in his journal, vowing, “By the grace of God and with His help, I shall one day be a Liszt in technique and a Mozart in composition.” During his studies, he was composing and supported himself by teaching piano to the children of Count Leopold von Thun. During the 1848 uprisings, Smetana sided with the revolutionaries, composing marching music and fighting at the barricades of the Charles Bridge. Escaping prosecution, Smetana opened a successful piano school in Prague, with Liszt and even the Emperor attending its concerts. 

Photo: Oil painting of Bedřich Smetana by Johan Per Södermark, 1858

Achieving financial stability and recognition on Prague’s musical scene, Smetana married his beloved, Kateřina Kolářová, in August 1849. Between 1851 and 1855, the couple had four daughters. Smetana was appointed as the Court Pianist at Prague Castle. However, tragedy struck when his second daughter died of tuberculosis in 1854. A year later, his eldest daughter, who had musical talent, died of scarlet fever. Heartbroken, Smetana wrote his Piano Trio in G minor in tribute. Right after, his fourth daughter died too. His work, the Triumphal Symphony, was not well received. Then in 1956, Smetana’s wife was diagnosed with tuberculosis. To add to the sorrow, the political climate in Prague turned sour as hopes of social reform faded.  

Photo: Johan Per Södermark's oil painting of Kateřina Smetanová, First wife of Bedřich Smetana, 1858

At 32 years old, feeling dissatisfied with his career in Prague, Smetana left for Sweden to become the director of the Gothenburg Philharmonic Society in 1856. Smetana saw the move as a chance to make an impact. He opened a music school, gave concerts, and achieved professional recognition. For artistic inspiration, he visited Liszt in Weimar who encouraged him to write on a larger scale. However, tragedy struck again when his father died in 1857, and then his wife passed in 1859 en route to Prague! A single father of one, his daughter Žofie, he quickly remarried a year later to Barbora Ferdinandiová, sixteen years his junior. The couple would have two daughters.  

Photo: Bedřich Smetana and his second wife Bettina. Photography by Wilhelm Rupp, 1860

By 1861, the Habsburg Empire had weaken, absolutism was abolished, and Prague was experiencing a wave of nationalism. Seeing opportunity again, Smetana, by now an accomplished composer and director, decided to return, acknowledging, "my home has rooted itself into my heart.. It is to this that I will sacrifice myself." Wanting to contribute to the Czech national identity, Smetana set out to create Czech music, influenced by folk tradition. True to his endeavor, he also learned the Czech language. In 1863, he completed his first opera, The Brandenburgers in Bohemia, about heroic Czechs resisting a foreign regime. It premiered in 1866 in the newly constructed Prague Provisional Theatre, built specifically for Czech drama and opera. The same year, his second opera, The Bartered Bride, a deliberately light comedy, as opposed to his first opera, premiered there.  

Photo: Bedřich Smetana in circle of friends in 1865, 1923. In the collection of the Bedrich Smetana Museum, Prague. Artist František Dvořák (1862-1927).

The Bartered Bride, a story about true love in a rural village, sealed Smetana’s reputation as a distinctively Czech composer.Albeit the opera’s first performance was poorly attended due to hot weather and political instability, it eventually became a huge success and remains popular to this day. Finally achieving prestigious recognition, he became the conductor at the Prague Provisional Theatre. Still, Smetana’s next opera, Dalibor, a romantic tragedy about a knight seeking justice and performed at the laying of the foundation stone of the National Theatre in 1868, was met with opposition. Smetana was criticized for being influenced by German opera, particularly Richard Wagner. Thinking it a failure, the opera became a success only after his death. 

Photo: 1919 cover of an edition of The Bartered Bride (Prodaná Nevesta by Bedřich Smetana), by S. Novak.

Despite the criticism, Smetana set out to write his most ambitious and monumental opera, Libuše, about the legendary Czech Princess, who prophesized the founding of Prague and married a commoner. Albeit written in 1872, Smetana held off the premier of his “festival opera” as the score’s focus holds national significance; the opera even ending with Princess Libuše underscoring, “My beloved Czech nation will not perish!” It premiered in 1881 at the newly constructed National Theatre, which is the “embodiment of the will of the Czech nation for a national identity and independence.” A horrific fire destroyed the theater only two months later; yet, it reopened again in 1883 with “Libuše.” Today, the opera’s opening serves as the fanfares for the President of the Czech Republic! The maestro would go on to compose four more operas: The Two Widows, The Kiss, The Secret and The Devil's Wall. 

Photo: Title page of the programme for the premiere of Bedřich Smetana's opera Libuše (June 11, 1881)

In 1874, Smetana fell ill, complaining of a rash and throat infection, which led to deafness in both ears, forcing him to retire from the Provincial Theater with annual payment for performing rights, at the age of 50. Albeit much marital trouble over money, his young family moved with him to Jabkenice village to live with his eldest daughter Žofie. In spite of his disability, he continued to compose, producing his major work, From My Life (1876), String Quartet No. 1 in E minor. Most significantly, he wrote between 1874-1879 the world famous set of six symphonic poems, My Fatherland, about the Czech countryside, history and legends. The most famous composition is perhaps The Moldau, which describes the course of the powerful Bohemian river from its springs, through the landscape, towards Prague, past the Vyšehrad castle ruins and beyond. 

Bedřich Smetana founded Czech classical music, inspiring and opening the doors for many generations of Czech composers, including Antonín Dvořák, LeošJanáček, and Josef Suk. By 1882, The Bartered Bride celebrated its 100^th performance, which was unprecedented in the history of Czech opera. Unfortunately, unable to finish his next opera, Smetana was experiencing depression and hallucinations, probably caused by syphilis. His family moved him to an insane asylum in Prague, where he died on May 12, 1884. Today, his legacy is revered as he formed Czech national identity through music during the emergence of the modern nation-state. His statue stands on the bank of his beloved Moldau River in Prague next to the Bedřich Smetana Museum, which is part of the Czech Museum of Music.