What is Bedřich Smetana?
{{no sources|date=January 2021}} [[File:FriedrichSmetana.jpg|upright|thumb|Bedřich Smetana]] '''Bedřich Smetana''' (b. Litomyšl, [[Bohemia]], March 2, 1824; d. [[Prague]] May 12, 1884) was a [[Czech Republic|Czech]] [[composer]]. He was a [[Romanticism|Romantic]] composer. Smetana, [[Antonín Dvořák|Dvořák]] and [[Leoš Janáček]] are the three most famous composers who wrote Czech [[nationalist music]]. His music is typical of the Czech people. His eight [[opera]]s are about Nationalist stories. He wrote six [[tone poems]] for [[orchestra]] called ''Ma Vlast'' which means “My Home Country”. == Youth and early career == Bedřich was the 11th child in a German-speaking family, although he was only the first of the children not to die before they grew up. His father was a [[brewery|brewer]] and a keen [[amateur]] [[violin]]ist. He learned the violin from his father and the piano from local teachers, but he soon played better than his teachers. Between the age of 12 and 20 he had no musical [[education]]. Then he went to Prague and heard [[Liszt]] playing. He wanted to leave school and study music but his father would not let him. He was sent to [[Plzeň]] where he finished his schooling. During this time he earned some money by playing the piano at the homes of rich people. He played for [[dancing]], and he liked to dance himself. He often danced with a girl called Kateřina Kolářová and he also played [[piano duet]]s with her. Later she married him. He returned to Prague and arranged to have lessons in [[harmony]], [[counterpoint]] and [[Composition (music)|composition]]. He gave a piano [[recital]], but nobody came to listen, so he decided to start a school of music, although he hardly had any money. In 1848, [[revolution]]s were taking place in central [[Europe]], including in Prague. A strong feeling of [[nationalism]] was growing. The Czechs (people who lived in [[Bohemia]] and [[Moravia]]) wanted to be able to express themselves in their own [[language]] instead of in German, which was still the [[official lan