MusiLLection

    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 confront...

The beautiful Prague where Smetana came to study. He'd rather watch the concerts than go to school. In 1848 liberal revolutions broke out throughout Europe. Most of them crashed, but their effect gave ordinary people an unprecedented pride in their national identity. This feeling was particularly strong in Bohemia, where the Czechs were for centuries under the rule of the Habsburgs, the monarchs of Austria. This revival of patriotism was conveyed by Bedřich Smetana to the music of Libuše 's three-act festival opera, which he wrote from 1869 to 1872. As Smetana was an excellent craftsman of the symphonic poem, his operas had freshness and dramatic intensity. Although deeply influenced by Richard Wagner and Franz Liszt , he created a highly personal, sensational music that praised the spirit of the Czech people. The opera refers to the legendary events that led to the establishment of the first Royal Bohemian Přemyslid dynasty in the 13th century. The opera was not just a stage...

  Wedding is generally a happy event and the music of The Bartered Bride , despite its title, is full of cheer. Composed between 1863 and 1866, based on a libretto by Karel Sabina, this undivided story with the romantic plot takes place in a village of Bohemia. It was the second of Smetana's eight operas and is part of his obsession to create the then non-existent national Czech opera. He composed no fewer than five variations between 1866 and 1870, developing the work from a simple operetta to the three-act work we know today. - Overture Bedřich Smetana was accused of imitating Richard Wagner 's monumental operas. Critics deemed him incapable of writing more upbeat music. With The Bartered Bride he disproved his critics with his comic opera in three acts. From the first chord of the Overture , the strings run through the scales, accompanied by the lively theme played successively by the various parts of the orchestra, until they take off together in a fast, rhythmic melody....

One only has to watch carefully the route of the Vltava River (Moldau), as it is described thoughtfully and spontaneously with the sounds of the homonymous symphonic poem by Bedřich Smetana , in order to understand the musical philosophy of the Bohemian composer, which was also a philosophy of life. Smetana proposes with his work a seductive model of programmatic music, a fair model of nationalist opinion and a bright model of coupling words and traditional music at the same time. Smetana's symphonic poem Vltava is certainly the most intimate example of the composer's musical writing, but it has condensed and concentrated all the structural characteristics that are detected in his works. The rhythmic energy that emerges from every breath of his works is assisted by music gentle, emotional, witty. Rhythm and melody, having deep roots in the tradition of bohemian land, creatively stimulate the imagination and provoke the immediate emotion of the listener. At a time when every inc...