Louisina Polka
Bedřich Smetana
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Browse piano sheets by Bedřich Smetana on Zen Virtual Piano. Bedřich Smetana was introduced to music by his father František, a violin player in a string quartet, and gave his first public performance in October 1830, at the age of six. Smetana became convinced, once Liszt had given a series of piano recitals, that only a musical career would satisfy him; in his journal he wrote of wanting to be a Mozart in composition and a Liszt in technique. Composition lessons began with Josef Proksch, then head of the Prague Music Institute, after Kateřina Kolářová's mother made the introduction. A child performer in a musical household hints at how early the path was set. A journal entry naming Mozart and Liszt hints at how large his ambitions were. Smetana's earliest complete surviving composition is Louisa's Polka in E-flat major. It was inspired by his distant niece Louisa, with whom he fell in love during a stay with relatives in Nové Město nad Metují. Liszt replied cordially when Smetana dedicated work to him, promising to help find a publisher without offering money, and that began a friendship of great value to Smetana's later career. A polka inspired by a niece, beside a promise of help finding a publisher, may suggest efforts that were both personal and professional. A journal wish to become a Liszt in technique, beside Liszt's cordial reply to a dedication, may suggest that Liszt mattered to him both as a model and as a contact. Between 1854 and 1856 Smetana suffered a series of personal blows, among them the death of his second daughter, Gabriela, from tuberculosis in July 1854. Prague saw the production of his first opera, The Brandenburgers in Bohemia, in 1866; on May 30 that year came his second, The Bartered Bride, which later established his reputation as a distinctively Czech composer. Descriptive writing marks his later music: apart from the operas, every major work follows a program, and many are autobiographical. Two operas produced in one year may point to a turning point in his career. Personal blows in the mid-1850s, beside autobiographical works in his later music, may hint that his life and his music were linked. Smetana was a virtuoso pianist from early in life, and for many years most of his works were written for the piano. Add the more mature piano pieces from his hard final years, and the result is a significant body of piano literature. Several events in his final years celebrated the recognition he had gained as the leading voice of Czech national music. The Bartered Bride, beside later events celebrating Czech national music, may suggest the opera and the celebrations share one thread. A wish to be a Liszt in technique, beside virtuoso piano playing, may suggest his ambition fits his instrument.
Browse piano sheets by Bedřich Smetana on Zen Virtual Piano.
Bedřich Smetana was introduced to music by his father František, a violin player in a string quartet, and gave his first public performance in October 1830, at the age of six. Smetana became convinced, once Liszt had given a series of piano recitals, that only a musical career would satisfy him; in his journal he wrote of wanting to be a Mozart in composition and a Liszt in technique. Composition lessons began with Josef Proksch, then head of the Prague Music Institute, after Kateřina Kolářová's mother made the introduction. A child performer in a musical household hints at how early the path was set. A journal entry naming Mozart and Liszt hints at how large his ambitions were.
Smetana's earliest complete surviving composition is Louisa's Polka in E-flat major. It was inspired by his distant niece Louisa, with whom he fell in love during a stay with relatives in Nové Město nad Metují. Liszt replied cordially when Smetana dedicated work to him, promising to help find a publisher without offering money, and that began a friendship of great value to Smetana's later career. A polka inspired by a niece, beside a promise of help finding a publisher, may suggest efforts that were both personal and professional. A journal wish to become a Liszt in technique, beside Liszt's cordial reply to a dedication, may suggest that Liszt mattered to him both as a model and as a contact.
Between 1854 and 1856 Smetana suffered a series of personal blows, among them the death of his second daughter, Gabriela, from tuberculosis in July 1854. Prague saw the production of his first opera, The Brandenburgers in Bohemia, in 1866; on May 30 that year came his second, The Bartered Bride, which later established his reputation as a distinctively Czech composer. Descriptive writing marks his later music: apart from the operas, every major work follows a program, and many are autobiographical. Two operas produced in one year may point to a turning point in his career. Personal blows in the mid-1850s, beside autobiographical works in his later music, may hint that his life and his music were linked.
Smetana was a virtuoso pianist from early in life, and for many years most of his works were written for the piano. Add the more mature piano pieces from his hard final years, and the result is a significant body of piano literature. Several events in his final years celebrated the recognition he had gained as the leading voice of Czech national music. The Bartered Bride, beside later events celebrating Czech national music, may suggest the opera and the celebrations share one thread. A wish to be a Liszt in technique, beside virtuoso piano playing, may suggest his ambition fits his instrument.
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Bedřich Smetana
Common questions
Smetana was a Czech composer and pianist who gained recognition as the leading voice of Czech national music.
It is his earliest complete surviving composition, inspired by his distant niece Louisa, with whom he fell in love.
It was produced on May 30, 1866, following his first opera The Brandenburgers in Bohemia, which was produced in Prague.
He became totally deaf in his right ear and then lost all hearing in his left ear as well.