Bedrich Smetana (1824 - 1884)
The
"father of Czech music" suffered through the
revolt of June 1848 in Prague, continuing to support Czech nationalism
in all of his music. Smetana was strongly influenced by
Franz Liszt, who praised his music, and his symphonic writing shows
a pronounced feeling for scene setting and drama, even containing some
of the "Leitmotiv" technique of Richard
Wagner.