Question 1

True or false: Bedřich Smetana composed the famous piece 'The Moldau' as part of a larger cycle called 'Má vlast'.

Accepted Answer

True. 'The Moldau' (Vltava) is the second of six symphonic poems in Smetana's patriotic cycle 'Má vlast' (My Fatherland).

Question 2

True or false: Smetana went completely deaf before writing his most famous opera, 'The Bartered Bride'.

Accepted Answer

True. Despite total deafness by 1874, Smetana composed 'The Bartered Bride' in 1866, relying on inner hearing and memory.

Question 3

True or false: Smetana was a close personal friend of fellow composer Antonín Dvořák, and they often collaborated.

Accepted Answer

False. They met briefly but were not close friends; Dvořák admired Smetana from afar, and their careers overlapped little.

Question 4

True or false: Smetana originally trained as a violinist and never learned to play the piano.

Accepted Answer

False. Smetana was a prodigious pianist and even performed as a child; his piano works are central to his legacy.

Question 5

True or false: Smetana lost his hearing due to a sudden illness but continued composing for years afterward.

Accepted Answer

True. In 1874, he suddenly became deaf from what was likely syphilitic labyrinthitis, yet composed many masterpieces thereafter.

Question 6

True or false: Smetana's opera 'The Bartered Bride' was initially a flop and only became popular after his death.

Accepted Answer

False. It was an immediate success at its 1866 premiere and quickly became a Czech national treasure, not a posthumous hit.

Question 7

True or false: Smetana was the first composer to use folk melodies in classical music from the Czech lands.

Accepted Answer

False. Earlier Czech composers like František Škroup used folk elements; Smetana popularized them but wasn't the first.

Question 8

True or false: Smetana died in a mental institution after suffering from syphilis-induced insanity.

Accepted Answer

True. In 1884, Smetana died in a Prague insane asylum, likely due to tertiary syphilis causing dementia and paralysis.

Bedřich Smetana Trivia Questions