Bedřich Smetana Bedřich Smetana Bedřich Smetana (; 2 March 1824 – 12 May 1884) was a Czech composer who pioneered the development of a musical style that became closely identified with his country's aspirations to independent statehood. He has been regarded in his homeland as the father of Czech music. Internationally he is best known for his opera "The Bartered Bride" and for the symphonic cycle "Má vlast" ("My Homeland"), which portrays the history, legends and landscape of the composer's native country and contains the famous symphonic poem "The Moldau". Smetana was naturally gifted as a composer, and gave his first public
The Bride of Messina The Bride of Messina The Bride of Messina () is a tragedy by Friedrich Schiller; it premiered on 19 March 1803 in Weimar. It is one of the most controversial works by Schiller, due to his use of elements from Greek tragedies (which were considered obsolete at the time it was written). In the play, Schiller attempts to combine antique and modern theatre. It is set in Sicily, at a time when Paganism and Christianity meet, thus again outlining this theme. The work was notably adapted in two operas, "Nevěsta messinská", by composer Zdeněk Fibich (premiered in 1884), and "La