Bedřich Smetana’s 195th Birthday

Today’s Doodle celebrates the son of an amateur violinist who became an eminent composer and conductor. Bedřich Smetana’s operas and symphonic poems, which are still performed all over the world, captured the character of his homeland and helped define the Czech national style of music.

Born in Leitomischl, Bohemia (now Litomyšl, Czech Republic) on this day in 1824, Smetana was performing as a pianist by the time he was six years old. His childhood friend (and future wife) Katerina Kolar helped him secure piano lessons with the composer Josef Proksch. In 1840 he wrote in his diary that he aspired to be “a Mozart in composition and a Liszt in technique." His early compositions impressed Franz Liszt enough that the Hungarian composer offered to find him a publisher.

Smetana spent several years in Sweden conducting the Gothenburg Philharmonic. It was during a visit with Liszt that he was inspired to become an original Czech composer, using music to tell stories drawn from history and literature. Smetana returned home in 1861 where his second opera, Prodaná nevěsta (The Bartered Bride), became a major success and he eventually became conductor of the national opera. Even after losing his hearing due to illness, he continued composing at a prolific rate. “In these three years of deafness,” he later remarked, “I have completed more music than I had otherwise done in ten.”

During this period he completed what many consider to be his greatest work, Má Vlast (My Homeland), a series of six tone poems. One of these tone poems, Vltava (The Moldau), is featured in today’s animated video Doodle and has been compared to watching the Czech river flow from its source in the mountains and through the city of Prague. Today’s Doodle explores this journey, depicting imagery such as the river, the Czech countryside, a farmers wedding, and views of Prague — all ending with look at Smetana conducting his iconic work.

Smetana’s original manuscripts are preserved at a museum in Prague and his legacy lives on through the music to which he devoted himself.

Happy 195th birthday, Bedřich Smetana!

Audio of “Vltava (Die Moldau)” courtesy of Musopen Symphony