FRIEDRICH

See also:

• FRIEDRICH SMETANA (1824-1884)

SMETANA (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 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 . 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, he returned to Prague after a successful concert tour . The death of his wife at Dresden on their return caused Smetana to change 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, 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; 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 deal of his pianoforte music is interesting, the Stammbuchbldtter, for example; while his series of symphonic poems, entitled Mein Vaterland (Vlast), and his beautiful string-quartet, Aus meinem Leben, have made the tour of the civilized world .