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Bedřich Smetana was one of the first composers to explicitly define himself as Czech. In this respect, he is considered the founder of a tradition that continues to this day, from Antonín Dvořák, Leoš Janáček and Josef Suk to Bohuslav Martinů. Smetana was part of the Czech emancipation movement, which campaigned for the political and cultural independence of the region against the dominance of the Habsburg Monarchy and the German-speaking minority. However, the musician – who learned German as his first language and had been christened Friedrich – took a long time to master the Czech language.

Smetana trained as a pianist and composer in Prague. From 1856 to 1861, he lived in Gothenburg, Sweden, and later worked as a choirmaster and conductor in Prague. An important event for Czech culture was the construction of the National Theatre, which opened in 1881 with the premiere of Smetana’s opera Libuše. Smetana’s life was marked by numerous strokes of fate. Three of his six daughters died as children, and his first wife also died young. In 1874, the composer, who spent his last days in a psychiatric clinic, lost his hearing. Central to his work were operas in the Czech language and symphonic poems. His piano trio and his two string quartets are autobiographical testimonies of great emotional power. Smetana’s commitment to the Czech cause meant that for a long time he was underestimated outside his homeland. His opera The Bartered Bride, his string quartet From My Life and the symphonic poem Vltava (The Moldau) from the cycle Má vlast (My Country) have achieved international renown. To celebrate the 200th anniversary of Smetana’s birth in 2024, the Berliner Philharmoniker and chief conductor Kirill Petrenko gave performances of Má vlast in Berlin and Prague.

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