不详 · Public domain
1824–1884
Bedřich Smetana
Bedřich Smetana · 捷克
19th-century Czech composer, hailed as the "father of Czech music" (1824–1884).
Born in Litomyšl, he went to Prague in 1843 to study piano and composition, taught and conducted in Gothenburg, Sweden, in 1856–1861, and returned to Prague in 1861 as chief conductor of the Provisional Theatre; his representative works are the operas *The Bartered Bride* and *Dalibor* and the cycle of symphonic poems *Má vlast* (*My Country*), in which *Vltava* depicts the Vltava River flowing from its source through Prague; after losing his hearing in 1874, he completed *Má vlast* while deaf.
People & stories
Places in their life
Birthplace Litomyšl; place of activity and burial Prague (buried in Vyšehrad Cemetery).
People
Cultural significance
The first composer to systematically bring Czech subjects, figures, and landscapes into music; *Má vlast* has become a symbol of Czech national music.