“The Czechs live through music” – Bedřich Smetana (1824-1884)
Bedřich Smetana is a central authority in Czech music. His life story, in the predominantly German culture of Bohemia, aptly reflects this difficult era. Smetana contributed significantly to the emancipation of Czech musical life, and to the development of Czech musical identity. Browse our sheet music and scores, and explore all his magnificent music today!
Bedřich Smetana came from a German-speaking family from Litomyšl, where his father worked as a brewer. The boy was not a good student, but he devoted himself intensively to the study of music and gave concerts with the local string quartet as early as 1830. After 1842 Smetana began to compose more intensively, initially smaller piano pieces such as Polkas, later also first orchestral works.
From 1843 Smetana lived in Prague, where he first studied composition and piano, and later, from 1848 he taught at his own music institute. Over the years, Smetana gained a good reputation in Prague circles as a solo pianist and teacher, but for a long time he was dissatisfied with his position. After the tragic death of three of his four daughters, he decided to accept an offer from Sweden, where he was appointed director of the Gothenburg Philharmonic Society from 1856 to 1861. There he gained valuable experience as a conductor and pianist. On the concert stage, he performed a wide range of classical and romantic compositions.
Smetana’s greatest influence, however, was the encounter with Franz Liszt and his Faust symphony. Smetana was fascinated by the programmatic form, the symphonic poem. He first composed a trio of Swedish symphonic poems, and later a cycle of symphonic poems, “Mein Vaterland”, “Má Vlast”, in six movements, the most famous of which is Vltava, The Moldau.
After his return from Sweden, Smetana took a position as Kapellmeister at the Provisional (later National) Theater in Prague. This is where he began composing operas, there are a total of eight Operas by Smetana, the best known is the comic opera “The Bartered Bride”. Smetana has long been criticized in Czech circles for his ’Wagnerian’ approach to opera, however it is indisputable that he was instrumental in the development of Czech opera, introducing many new musical and theatrical elements. Smetana’s greatest role models were Richard Wagner, Franz Liszt, and Frédéric Chopin.
Towards the end of his life, like Ludwig van Beethoven, he suffered a severe blow, when he completely lost his hearing in 1874. Gradually he had to withdraw from public life, and gave up his work as a conductor and teacher. Paradoxically, however, this was one of the most fruitful periods in Smetana’s composing life. The autobiographical programmatic string quartet From My Life from 1876 is one of Smetana’s greatest works of reflection.
“I still want to give to the nation, that what I still owe, and what I have in my heart, in a work of great scope, for that, I have to keep all my strength in my sad state!”
After 1881, Smetana’s mental health began to deteriorate. In 1883 Smetana witnessed the opening of the National Theater in Prague, which was celebrated with the premiere of his festive opera “Libuše”. A year later he was admitted to a psychiatric hospital, where he died a few months later. His funeral became an unmistakable manifesto for a Czech nation, who, young and old alike, accompanied their Czech-Maestro on his last journey.
from: Má vlast (My Fatherland)
Bärenreiter Urtext
for: Symphonic orchestra
Score (Urtext edition)
Item no.: 675062
for: 2 violins, viola, cello (string quartet)
Book
Item no.: 164802
for: Concert band
Item no.: 311953
for: 2 pianos 8 hands
Score, Parts
Item no.: 366035
Große Komponisten und ihre Zeit 21
Book (Hardcover)
Item no.: 768495
Bärenreiter Urtext
for: Symphonic orchestra
Score (Urtext edition)
Item no.: 627127
für 2 Klaviere zu 8 Händen
Originalkomposition
for: 2 pianos 8 hands
2 Performance scores
Item no.: 384029
from: Má vlast (My Country)
Bärenreiter Urtext
for: Symphonic orchestra
Score (Urtext edition)
Item no.: 691984
for: Symphonic orchestra
Study score
Item no.: 261270
Muzika Ensemble Music
for: Variable Wind Ensemble and Piano
Score, Parts
Item no.: 329298
Ensemble Music 58
for: Flexible ensemble (5 parts), piano (school orchestra)
Score, Parts
Item no.: 289435
Muzika Ensemble Music
for: Flexible wind band
Score, Parts
Item no.: 348545
Ensemble Music 58
for: Flexible ensemble (5 parts), piano (school orchestra)
Score, Parts
Item no.: 1671189
from: Má vlast (My Country)
Bärenreiter Urtext
for: Symphonic orchestra
Score (Urtext edition)
Item no.: 679915
Southern Music
for: Concert band
Score
Item no.: 927486
Polka
for: Symphonic orchestra
Set of parts
Item no.: 894963
for: Violin, cello, piano (piano trio)
Book
Item no.: 164910
for: Concert band
Score, Parts
Item no.: 1382883
for: Voice, piano
Item no.: 1659108
for: String orchestra
Score, Parts
Item no.: 1384643
autorisierte Archivkopie
for: Piano
Music score
Item no.: 114547
Partitur
for: Symphonic school orchestra
Score
Item no.: 1351318
Young Band 7
Die Serie für junge Bläsergruppen
for: Wind ensemble
Score, Parts
Item no.: 138607
Symphonische Dichtung Nr. 2 aus dem Zyklus "Mein Vaterland" (Ma Vlast)
Eulenburg Orchestral Series - Urtextausgabe
for: Symphonic orchestra
Score
Item no.: 189734
for: Symphonic orchestra
Score, Parts
Item no.: 272340
The Orchestra Musician's CD-ROM Library - Full Score DVD-ROM
for: Score Orchestra
DVD-ROM
Item no.: 1204375
Komische Oper in drei Akten
Bärenreiter Urtext
for: Soloists, mixed choir, orchestra
Piano reduction (Urtext edition)
Item no.: 564546
for: Concert band
Score
Item no.: 986472
John Kinyon Mini Score Series For Young Bands
for: Youth concert band
Item no.: 339197
Beginning String Orchestra
for: String orchestra
Score, Parts
Item no.: 609082
Comic opera in three acts
for: Soloists, mixed choir, orchestra
Piano reduction
Item no.: 480257
Bärenreiter Urtext
for: Symphonic orchestra
Study score (Urtext edition)
Item no.: 1615931
Orchestersatz ohne Partitur
for: Symphonic school orchestra
Set of parts
Item no.: 1351320
for: String orchestra
Score, Parts
Item no.: 1381115
for: Symphonic orchestra
Score, Parts
Item no.: 1385638
Bärenreiter Urtext
for: Symphonic orchestra
Harmony parts (complete winds)
Item no.: 691986
for: Fanfare
Score, Parts
Item no.: 1011890
for: Concert Band
Score, Parts
Item no.: 1186089
for: Small wind band; choir ad lib.
Score, Parts
Item no.: 368530
for: Concert band
Score, conductor's part, orchestral parts
Item no.: 680359
Má vlast (all six symphonic poems in two volumes in A4 format)
Orchestra
for: Symphonic orchestra
Item no.: 1344506
for: Symphonic orchestra
Score, Parts
Item no.: 339628
Klassik
for: Symphonic orchestra
Score, Parts
Item no.: 1213764
Klassik
for: Symphonic orchestra
Score, Parts
Item no.: 1213587
Klassik
for: Symphonic orchestra
Score, Parts
Item no.: 1212979
Symphonische Dichtung Nr. 2 aus dem Zyklus "Mein Vaterland" (Ma Vlast)
Eulenburg Orchestral Series - Urtextausgabe
for: Symphonic orchestra
Harmony parts (complete winds)
Item no.: 639038
for: String Orchestra and opt.Violin or Viola and Piano
Score, Parts
Item no.: 648916
for: Brass band
Sheet music
Item no.: 1581134
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