Bedřich Smetana
composer (1824–1884)
Bedřich Smetana was a Czech composer, conductor and critic. In the developmental process of modern Czech culture in the 19th century, Bedřich Smetana, both for his works as well as for his ongoing activities in Czech musical life, occupies a key position.
In the 1840s and 1850s when he was starting to build up a career as an artist, his possibilities were still quite limited. He found better conditions for earning a living and gaining recognition for his various abilities in Gothenburg in Sweden (1856–1861), where he introduced a number of major initiatives into its musical life and where he himself acquired important practical experience that proved helpful in his future activities.
He returned to his homeland in the early 1860s when a more relaxed political situation in the Austrian monarchy made possible the development of a modern, confident Czech society. Culture and art – and that included music and new Czech cultural and music institutions – became a major manifestation of the efforts at national emancipation as well as a means of displaying them.
His eight operas established a canon of Czech operas to serve as models for Czech nationalist opera and have remained in the Czech repertory ever since. Such was the force of his musical personality that his musical style became synonymous with Czech nationalist style, his name a rallying point for the polemics which were to continue in Czech musical life into the next century.
Titles for sale:
Louise's polka, From student's life, Jiřinková polka - Bedřich Smetana/instr. Iša Krejčí
Prague Carnival
Scenes from Macbeth - Bedřich Smetana / instr. Otakar Jeremiáš
Publication:
Bartered Bride