Bedřich_Smetana's '''String Quartet No. 1''', written in 1876, is a four-movement Romantic work in E_minor. It has four movements: *Allegro vivo appassionato *Allegro moderato à la Polka *Largo sostenuto *Vivace It was given a private premiere in 1878 in Prague with Antonín_Dvořák as violist, and its public premiere in 1879, played by Ferdinand Lachner, Jan Pelikan, Josef Krehan and Alois Neruda. It is semi-autobiographical and composed of sketches of parts of Smetana's life, as is suggested by its subtitle '''Z mého života''' ("From My Life"). Its notable features include a prominent Viola solo in the very beginning of the first movement, and a high, sustained Harmonic E on the first violin in the last movement, which represents the ringing presage of his deafness in Smetana's ears (though the actual ringing was a chord of A). Category:Compositions_by_Bedřich_Smetana Smetana ==References== *Notes by Joseph Way *Notes to a performance by the La Jolla Music Society {{classical-composition-stub}}