Smetana: String Quartet No. 1 in E Minor ("From My Life")
Composer: Bedřich Smetana (1824-1884) Editors: František Bartoš, Josef Plavec, Karel Šolc Instrumentation: String Quartet (Violin I, Violin II, Viola, Cello) Work: String Quartet No. 1 in E Minor ("From My Life"), JB 1:105 Binding: ISMN: 9790260102842 Size: 9.6 x 12.2 inches Pages: 61 Urtext / Critical Edition Description The composition of the first string quartet "From My Life" was preceded by a period of fateful changes in Smetana's life. in 1874 he lost his hearing. Two years later he moved with his family to Jabkenice in the countryside, which seemed to him like an expulsion; he suffered from his deafness and missed contact with like-minded company. He presented the string quartet as a conversation within a close circle of four friends who discuss what is tormenting them. It is a kind of passionate and resigned dialogue between a spirited person and his destiny. Smetana's first string quartet soon became one of the most frequently performed works in the quartet repertoire.