Bedřich Smetana - String Quartet No. 1 in E minor

 

 Smetana’s fondness for the polka is reflected in the rhythmic vitality of String Quartet No. 1, where dance becomes a symbol of youthful joy and memory.

The intensity of this deeply autobiographical work, infused with elements of Czech national identity, reveals an emotional depth unparalleled elsewhere in Smetana’s output.

The first signs of Smetana’s hearing loss appeared as early as 1847, in the form of a persistent and unbearable ringing in his ears—what would later be identified as tinnitus. When, in 1876, he finally realized that his hearing would never return, he began composing the String Quartet No. 1, a four-movement chamber work through which he sought to express musically the anguish and suffering caused by his encroaching deafness.

More than twenty years had passed since his last chamber composition, the Piano Trio in G minor, written in response to the death of his four-year-old daughter. Once again, Smetana turned to chamber music as a means of confronting personal tragedy, finding in the intimate medium of the string quartet a vehicle for confession and reflection.

Smetana himself described the quartet as “a picture of my life” and as a testimony to the destruction brought about by absolute deafness. Each of the first three movements reflects a stage of his youth, a time when dreams and aspirations were still possible. The passionate lyricism of the opening movement evokes his devotion to art, while the lively rhythms of the second movement—rooted in the polka—affirm his lifelong love of dance music.

Sunny images

These bright and optimistic images reach maturity in the third movement, which reveals the deep affection Smetana felt for his first wife, Kateřina Kolářová. In the final movement, however, the sense of triumph he experienced as one of the founders of Czech national music is abruptly shattered by the realization of his irreversible deafness.

A long, piercing sustained high E in the finale vividly depicts the relentless ringing that preceded his complete loss of hearing. Yet, despite this devastating intrusion, the quartet concludes with a serenity that seems almost inexplicable in light of the composer’s condition. For a fleeting moment, there appears to be hope—soon extinguished by the knowledge that recovery will never come. As the final sound fades, what remains is a profound and painful awareness of all that has been lost.

Smetana composed the String Quartet No. 1 in just three months, between October and December 1876. It was published in 1880 in Prague by František Augustin Urbánek. The reception was overwhelmingly enthusiastic, and the work marked the beginning of a powerful tradition of Czech chamber music in which composers expressed their most intimate emotions with striking honesty.