Bedrich Smetana (1824 – 1884) was a Czech composer
who pioneered the development of a musical style which
became closely identified with his country's
aspirations to independent statehood. He is thus widely
regarded in his homeland as the father of Czech music.
Internationally he is best known for his opera The
Bartered Bride, for the symphonic cycle Má vlast ("My
Fatherland"), which portrays the history, legends and
landscape of the composer's native land, and for his
First String Quartet Fr...(+)
Bedrich Smetana (1824 – 1884) was a Czech composer
who pioneered the development of a musical style which
became closely identified with his country's
aspirations to independent statehood. He is thus widely
regarded in his homeland as the father of Czech music.
Internationally he is best known for his opera The
Bartered Bride, for the symphonic cycle Má vlast ("My
Fatherland"), which portrays the history, legends and
landscape of the composer's native land, and for his
First String Quartet From My Life.
In 1879, Smetana had written to a friend, the Czech
poet Jan Neruda, revealing fears of the onset of
madness. By the winter of 1882–83 he was experiencing
depression, insomnia, and hallucinations, together with
giddiness, cramp and a temporary loss of speech. In
1883 he began writing a new symphonic suite, Prague
Carnival, but could get no further than an Introduction
and a Polonaise. He started a new opera, Viola, based
on the character in Shakespeare's Twelfth Night, but
wrote only fragments as his mental state gradually
deteriorated. In October 1883 his behaviour at a
private reception in Prague disturbed his friends; by
the middle of February 1884 he had ceased to be
coherent, and was periodically violent. On 23 April his
family, unable to nurse him any longer, removed him to
the Kateřinky Lunatic Asylum in Prague, where he
died on 12 May 1884.
"Tři ženské sbory" (3 Female Choruses) was
composed by Smetana in 1878 and consists of 3
movements:
1.Má hvězda (My Star)
2.Přiletěly vlaštovičky (The Swallows
Have Returned)
3.Za hory slunce zapadá (The Sunset over the
Mountains)
Although this work was originally written for Choir (3
Female Voices), I created this arrangement for Bb
Clarinet Trio.
PARTITION