“The Czechs live through music” – Bedřich Smetana (1824-1884)
Bedřich Smetana is a central authority in Czech music. His life story, in the predominantly German culture of Bohemia, aptly reflects this difficult era. Smetana contributed significantly to the emancipation of Czech musical life, and to the development of Czech musical identity. Browse our sheet music and scores, and explore all his magnificent music today!
Bedřich Smetana came from a German-speaking family from Litomyšl, where his father worked as a brewer. The boy was not a good student, but he devoted himself intensively to the study of music and gave concerts with the local string quartet as early as 1830. After 1842 Smetana began to compose more intensively, initially smaller piano pieces such as Polkas, later also first orchestral works.
From 1843 Smetana lived in Prague, where he first studied composition and piano, and later, from 1848 he taught at his own music institute. Over the years, Smetana gained a good reputation in Prague circles as a solo pianist and teacher, but for a long time he was dissatisfied with his position. After the tragic death of three of his four daughters, he decided to accept an offer from Sweden, where he was appointed director of the Gothenburg Philharmonic Society from 1856 to 1861. There he gained valuable experience as a conductor and pianist. On the concert stage, he performed a wide range of classical and romantic compositions.
Smetana’s greatest influence, however, was the encounter with Franz Liszt and his Faust symphony. Smetana was fascinated by the programmatic form, the symphonic poem. He first composed a trio of Swedish symphonic poems, and later a cycle of symphonic poems, “Mein Vaterland”, “Má Vlast”, in six movements, the most famous of which is Vltava, The Moldau.
After his return from Sweden, Smetana took a position as Kapellmeister at the Provisional (later National) Theater in Prague. This is where he began composing operas, there are a total of eight Operas by Smetana, the best known is the comic opera “The Bartered Bride”. Smetana has long been criticized in Czech circles for his ’Wagnerian’ approach to opera, however it is indisputable that he was instrumental in the development of Czech opera, introducing many new musical and theatrical elements. Smetana’s greatest role models were Richard Wagner, Franz Liszt, and Frédéric Chopin.
Towards the end of his life, like Ludwig van Beethoven, he suffered a severe blow, when he completely lost his hearing in 1874. Gradually he had to withdraw from public life, and gave up his work as a conductor and teacher. Paradoxically, however, this was one of the most fruitful periods in Smetana’s composing life. The autobiographical programmatic string quartet From My Life from 1876 is one of Smetana’s greatest works of reflection.
“I still want to give to the nation, that what I still owe, and what I have in my heart, in a work of great scope, for that, I have to keep all my strength in my sad state!”
After 1881, Smetana’s mental health began to deteriorate. In 1883 Smetana witnessed the opening of the National Theater in Prague, which was celebrated with the premiere of his festive opera “Libuše”. A year later he was admitted to a psychiatric hospital, where he died a few months later. His funeral became an unmistakable manifesto for a Czech nation, who, young and old alike, accompanied their Czech-Maestro on his last journey.
for: 5 brass winds
Score, Parts
Item no.: 241567
for: Symphonic orchestra
Violin 2 (orchestral part)
Item no.: 639124
for: Symphonic orchestra
Double bass (orchestral part)
Item no.: 639018
for: Symphonic orchestra
Violin 1 (orchestral part)
Item no.: 336088
for: Symphonic orchestra
Study score
Item no.: 104231
for: 2 violins, viola, cello (string quartet)
Study score
Item no.: 104200
for: Concert band
Score, Parts
Item no.: 888518
for: Concert band
Score
Item no.: 1067948
Symphonisches Gedicht (Ouvertüre und Polonaise)
Taschenpartitur 181
for: Symphonic orchestra
Study score
Item no.: 1535214
for: Organ
Music score
Item no.: 998820
The Great Classics
for: Concert band
Score, Parts
Item no.: 1211287
for: Concert band
Score, Parts
Item no.: 1145597
for: Small wind band; choir ad lib.
Score, Parts
Item no.: 368530
for: Piano
Item no.: 104021
for: Symphonic orchestra
Study score
Item no.: 114226
aus der Oper "Die verkaufte Braut"
for: Male choir (TTBB), piano
Piano score
Item no.: 463578
for: Symphonic orchestra
Study score
Item no.: 104229
Piano reduction
Item no.: 104149
for: Piano
Item no.: 104019
Score (facsimile hardcover)
Item no.: 1701634
from Bartered Bride
for: Symphonic orchestra
Score, Parts
Item no.: 867132
for: Symphonic school orchestra
Set of parts
Item no.: 1351320
for: Symphonic orchestra
Score
Item no.: 1212078
Thema aus der Sinfonischen Dichtung Nr. 2 "Mein Vaterland"
for: Piano
Music score
Item no.: 1566009