Bedřich Smetana was a Czech composer, pianist, conductor, teacher and public figure, active in the sphere of music. He started performing as a pianist from the age of 6 and composing small pieces at the age of 8, but began systematic studies of music only at the age of 20. He started giving concerts as a pianist in 1830 and as a conductor in 1853. During the1860s he became the chief proponent of the independent national development of Czech music and took an active part in the administration of the opera theater. He composed 9 operas, of which the most famous are “The Bartered Bride” (1866), “Dalibor” (1868) and “Libuše” (1872), the cycle of symphonic poems “Má Vlast” (performances of it open the “Prague Spring” festival each year), many other orchestral, chamber instrumental and vocal compositions. The second stage of National Theater and the major concert hall in Prague have both been named after Bedřich Smetana.
