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
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