SMETANA, FRIEDRICH (1824-1884)

This article appears in Volume V25, Page 253 of the Encyclopedia Britannica.

Encyclopedia Britannica - Main :: SIV-SOU

SMETANA, FRIEDRICH (1824-1884) , Bohemian composer and pianist, was born at Leitomischl in Bohemia on the and of

March

1824. He made such rapid progress in his studies under Ikavec, at Neuhaus, that at the age of six he appeared in public as pianist so successfully that his father's opposition to a musician's career was overcome. He then went to Proksch, at Prague, until he left for

Leipzig

LEIPZIG

to make the acquaintance of Schumann and Mendelssohn. Limited means prevented him from studying with the latter, and he returned to Prague, where he at once became Konzert-meister to the Emperor Ferdinand. In 1848 he married Katharina Kolar, pianist, and with her founded a music school at Prague. At the same time he met Liszt, who subsequently influenced him greatly, and with whom he afterwards stayed at

Weimar

WEIMAR

. In r856 Smetana accepted Alexander Dreyschock's suggestion to go as conductor of the Philharmonic Society at Gothenburg. There he remained five years, when, owing to his wife's ill-

health

HEALTH

, he returned to Prague after a successful concert tour. The death of his wife at Dresden on their return caused Smetana to

change

CHANGE (derived through the Fr. from the Late Lat. cambium, cambiare, to barter; the ultimate derivation is probably from the root which appears in the Gr. «a urmu', to bend)

his mind, and he went back to Sweden. But the opening of the Interims Theater in 1866, and the offer of its conductorship, induced his return. In Sweden he had already written Hakon Jarl, Richard III., and Wallenstein's Lager, and had completed his opera Die Brandenburger in BOhmen (5th January 1866). Five months later it was followed by his best-known opera, Die verkaufte Braut, and in 1868 Dalibor was given. Between 1874 and 1882 he produced Zwei Witwen, Hubicka (Der Kuss), Tajewstvi (Das Geheimnis), Certova Siena, and Die Teufelsmauer, as well as the " grand prize " opera Libuse, written for the opening of the National Theatre at Prague, rith June 1881. In Die Teufelsmauer were clear signs of decay in Smetana's

powers

POWERS, HIRAM (1805-1873)

, he having already in 1874 lost his sense of hearing. To celebrate his sixtieth birthday a fete was arranged by the combined Bohemian musical

societies

SOCIETIES, LEARNED

; but on that day Smetana lost his reason and was removed to a lunatic asylum, where he died on the r 2th of May 1884. A

great

GREAT

deal of his pianoforte music is interesting, the Stammbuchbldtter, for example; while his

series

SERIES (a Latin word from serere, to join)

of symphonic poems, entitled Mein Vaterland (Vlast), and his beautiful

string

STRING

-quartet, Aus meinem Leben, have made the tour of the civilized world. He was an admirable pianist, and in many ways justified his countrymen's title of the " Czechisch Beethoven."

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