Baerenreiter Verlag String Quartet No. 1 in E Minor ''from My Life'' - Smetana - Set of Parts, Urtext Edition - String Quartet String Quartet No. 1 in E Minor ''from My Life'' - Smetana - Set of Parts, Urtext Edition - String Quartet

Composer: Bedrich Smetana
Editor: Frantisek Bartos / Karel Solc / Josef Plavec
Format: Set of parts, Urtext edition
Instrumentation: String quartet
Scoring: Violins (2), Viola, Violoncello

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.
The musical text of the new edition is based on the "Study Edition of the Works of Bedrich Smetana", Volume XV - Chamber Music Works.