SMETANA, FRIEDRICH (1824-1884), Czech composer and pianist, was born at Leitomischl in Bohemia on March 2, 1824. He studied under Proksch, at Prague, and later at Leipzig. On returning to Prague, he became Konzertmeister to the Em peror Ferdinand. In 1848 he married Katharina Kolar, pianist, and with her founded a music school at Prague. At the same time he met Liszt, who subsequently influenced him greatly, and with whom he afterwards stayed at Weimar. In 1856 Smetana went to Gothenburg as conductor of the Philharmonic Society. There he remained five years, when, owing to his wife's ill-health, he returned to Prague after a successful concert tour. The death of his wife at Dresden on their return caused Smetana to change his plans, and he went back to Sweden; but the opening of the Interim theatre in 1866, and the offer of its conductorship, brought him home again. In Sweden he had written Hakon Kul, Richard III., and Wallenstein's Lager, and had completed his opera Die Brandenburger in &Amen (Jan. 5, 1866). In the same year he
produced his best-known opera, Die verkaufte Braut ("The Bartered Bride"). The "grand prize" opera Libuse, was written for the opening of the National Theatre at Prague, on June 11, 1881. In 1874 Smetana lost his sense of hearing. To celebrate his sixtieth birthday a fete was arranged by the combined Bohem ian musical societies; but on that day Smetana lost his reason and was removed to a lunatic asylum, where he died on May 12, 1884. Smetana was the founder of the Czech school of composers. He exercised a great influence over the younger men of his gen eration and is still held in great esteem. A great deal of his piano forte music is interesting, the Stammbuchbliitter, for example; while his symphonic poems in six parts, entitled Mein Vaterland (Vlast), and his beautiful string quartet, Aus meinem Leben, have made the tour of the civilized world.