Bedřich Smetana

Bedřich Smetana (pronounced ; 2 March 1824 - 12 May 1884) was a Czech composer. He is best known for his symphonic poem Vltava (better known as The Moldau from the German), the second in a cycle of six which he entitled Má vlast ("My Country"), and for his opera The Bartered Bride. Smetana was the son of a brewer in Litomyšl in Bohemia, then part of the Austrian Empire. He studied piano and violin from an early age, and played in an amateur string quartet with other members of his family. Smetana attended a high school in Pilsen from 1840-1843. He studied music in Prague, despite initial resistance from his father. He secured a post as music master to a noble family, and in 1848 received funds from Franz Liszt to establish his own music school. September 1855 marked the death of his second child, his beloved four-year-old daughter Bedřiska. When his third child died nine months later, he committed himself to composition, producing the Piano Trio in G minor. This piece is full of...