Smetana's Political Career: Serving The Austrian Government?

Bedřich Smetana was a Czech composer who is considered the father of Czech music. He was born in 1824 in the town of Litomyšl, then part of the Austrian Empire. German was the official language of Bohemia, and Smetana himself was ignorant of correct Czech until later in life.

Smetana's first public performance was at the age of six, and he went on to study music in Prague. He was involved in the 1848 Prague uprising, during which he joined the Citizens' Army to defend the city against attack. He wrote patriotic music, including The Song of Freedom.

In 1848, Smetana founded a piano school in Prague, which became fashionable among supporters of Czech nationalism. He also married a young pianist, Katerina, with whom he had four daughters. However, three of his daughters died in infancy, and Katerina contracted tuberculosis.

In 1856, Smetana left for Gothenburg, Sweden, where he became conductor of the Gothenburg Society for Classical Choral Music. He remained in Sweden for several years, during which time he composed his first symphonic poems.

Smetana returned to Prague in 1863, where a strong nationalist movement was growing. He was appointed conductor of the newly established Czech national opera house in 1866, a position he held until 1874 when he became completely deaf and was forced to retire. During his time as conductor, he composed several operas, including The Brandenburgers in Bohemia and The Bartered Bride.

Despite his deafness, Smetana continued to compose, producing some of his greatest works in the last years of his life, including the cycle of six symphonic poems My Country. He died in 1884.

Did Smetana have any political affiliations?

The Czech composer Bedřich Smetana is regarded as the father of Czech music, and his work is closely identified with the political and cultural "revival" of his native Bohemia.

Smetana's political leanings were nationalist. He was born in 1824 in a small Bohemian town 85 miles east of Prague, which at the time was controlled by Austria. German was the official language of Bohemia, and it was the language spoken in Smetana's household. However, the political upheaval of the 1840s, including the 1848 Prague uprising, inspired Smetana to join a Citizens' Army formed to defend the city against attack. He wrote patriotic music dedicated to the Czech National Guard, and a piece called The Song of Freedom.

In 1848, Smetana founded a piano school in Prague, which became fashionable among supporters of Czech nationalism. He also wrote a very nationalistic opera, The Brandenburgers of Bohemia, and threw himself into the cultural revival of Bohemia, declaring: "If we are gifted, it is our duty to work for the glory of our country."

Smetana's second opera, The Bartered Bride, premiered in 1866, and has become his best-known work. It is regarded as a turning point in Czech history, with an original, Czech musical style, and it was the first Czech work to enter the international repertoire.

Smetana's operas were criticised by some for being too similar to Wagner, and not Czech enough. However, despite these criticisms, Smetana's work has endured, and he is revered in the Czech Republic, even if he is not as well-known internationally as his contemporary, Antonín Dvořák.

What was Smetana's role in the 1848 Prague uprising?

Bedřich Smetana was a Czech composer who played a role in the 1848 Prague Uprising. In the climate of political change and upheaval that swept through Europe in 1848, a pro-democracy movement in Prague led by Smetana's old friend Karel Havlíček urged an end to Habsburg absolutist rule and more political autonomy. A Citizens' Army ("Svornost") was formed to defend the city against possible attack. Smetana wrote a series of patriotic works, including two marches dedicated to the Czech National Guard and the Students' Legion of the University of Prague, and The Song of Freedom to words by Ján Kollár. In June 1848, as the Habsburg armies moved to suppress rebellious tendencies, Prague came under attack from Austrian forces led by the Prince of Windisch-Grätz. As a member of Svornost, Smetana helped to man the barricades on the Charles Bridge. The uprising was quickly crushed, but Smetana avoided the imprisonment or exile received by leaders such as Havlíček. During his brief spell with Svornost, he met the writer and leading radical, Karel Sabina, who would later provide libretti for Smetana's first two operas.

Smetana's first nationalistic music was written during the 1848 Prague Uprising, in which he briefly participated.

What was Smetana's relationship with Liszt?

The Czech composer Bedřich Smetana was a great admirer of Franz Liszt, and the two composers met and corresponded frequently. Liszt was Smetana's unofficial patron and musical role model, particularly in the genre of the symphonic poem. Liszt was a great model for Smetana, as documented by a note in the Czech composer's diary: "With God's grace and help, one day I will be like Liszt in technique and like Mozart in composition."

In 1848, Smetana sent Liszt the manuscript of his Six Characteristic Pieces for piano, along with a letter requesting permission to dedicate the work to Liszt, begging for his assistance with publishing the music, and asking for a loan to establish a piano school in Prague. Liszt accepted the dedication and secured its publication in Leipzig, but ignored the request for financial assistance. This encouragement was the beginning of a friendship that was of great value to Smetana in his subsequent career.

Smetana was also drawn to Liszt's idea of the symphonic poem, which gave rise to his own compositions Richard III, Wallenstein's Camp, and Hakon Jarl. Liszt's piano works and Smetana's piano music have much in common, and both composers were superb pianists with the piano playing a significant role in their lives and artistic development.

In 1857, Smetana visited Liszt in Weimar, where he attended performances of Liszt's Faust Symphony and the symphonic poem Die Ideale, which invigorated and inspired him. Liszt was Smetana's principal teacher throughout his creative life, and at this time was crucially able to revive his spirits and rescue him from the relative artistic isolation of Gothenburg, where he had been living since 1856.

Smetana's nationalist sensibilities were strongly aroused by the political situation that followed the abortive 1848 Revolution, in which Bohemia ultimately failed to disentangle itself from the autocratic rule of the Austrian Habsburgs. He had grown up exclusively speaking German, but the brutally repressive behaviour of the Austrian occupiers during the following decade provoked him to forcefully assert his Slavic roots and begin the slow process of mastering the Czech language.

Smetana's first opera, The Brandenburgers in Bohemia, proved to be a milestone. The opera's scenario takes place during the medieval era at the time Prussian invaders were occupying the Czech lands. It opens with a powerful recitative set to the words 'we can no longer suffer foreign troops in our country'. The message that 'it was now time to take arms to expel the Brandenburgers who ruin our land and blunt our language' was unequivocally targeted towards the ruling Austrian authorities.

Smetana's second opera, The Bartered Bride, became immensely popular, but the composer came to resent its success, believing that it deflected attention unfairly away from his other operatic achievements.

Smetana's death in 1884 inspired an outpouring of national mourning. Liszt lamented his passing with the declaration that 'he was undoubtedly a genius'.

How did Smetana's time in Gothenburg influence his work?

Bedrich Smetana's time in Gothenburg was a period of tremendous productivity for the composer. It was in Gothenburg that Smetana began to write large-scale orchestral works, producing three symphonic poems: Richard III, Wallenstein's Camp, and Hakon Jarl. He also composed the harmonically daring piano fantasia Macbeth and the Witches, placing him among the most stylistically advanced members of the New German School of Liszt and Wagner.

Smetana's time in Gothenburg was also significant in that it allowed him to escape the stifling atmosphere of Prague, where he had faced personal tragedy and professional disappointment. In Gothenburg, Smetana achieved both professional and social recognition, becoming conductor of the Gothenburg Society for Classical Choral Music and finding an outlet for his patriotic sentiments in his compositions.

Smetana's time in Gothenburg was brief, lasting only a few years, but it was a pivotal period in his development as a composer. It was during this time that he honed his compositional skills and developed a more mature style, drawing inspiration from the works of Liszt and Berlioz.

Upon returning to Prague in 1862, Smetana brought with him the experience and confidence gained during his time in Gothenburg, which helped shape his subsequent career. He went on to become a leading figure in the Czech nationalist music movement, with his operas and orchestral works firmly establishing his reputation as the father of Czech music.

What was Smetana's role in the creation of a Czech national identity?

Bedřich Smetana is considered the father of Czech music. He was a Czech composer who pioneered the development of a musical style that became closely identified with his people's aspirations to a cultural and political "revival".

Smetana's first nationalistic music was written during the 1848 Prague uprising, in which he briefly participated. He wrote a series of patriotic works, including two marches dedicated to the Czech National Guard and a piece called The Song of Freedom.

In the early 1860s, a more liberal political climate in Bohemia encouraged Smetana to return permanently to Prague. He threw himself into the musical life of the city, primarily as a champion of the new genre of Czech opera. In 1866, his first two operas, The Brandenburgers in Bohemia and The Bartered Bride, were premiered at Prague's new Provisional Theatre, the latter achieving great popularity. In that same year, Smetana became the theatre's principal conductor.

Smetana's most famous work is the symphonic cycle Má vlast ("My Fatherland"), which portrays the history, legends and landscape of the composer's native Bohemia. It contains the famous symphonic poem "Vltava", also known as "Die Moldau" ("The Moldau" in English).

Smetana's music has been described as nationalist, naturalist, and revolutionary. He drew on the folk music traditions of his native Bohemia, incorporating Slavic harmonies, boisterous rhythms, and raucous percussion into his scores. Notably, he is considered the progenitor of Czech-language opera, which was practically non-existent as a genre until Smetana became its determined champion.

Smetana's music sustained the Czech people through Nazi occupation, communist oppression, and the freedom promised by the Velvet Revolution. Works like Má vlast have become a part of the history of the Czech Philharmonic and are connected with Czech history and identity.

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