Silver Coin 200 CZK Bedřich Smetana 200th Anniversary of Birth 2024 Proof

Bedřich Smetana - 200th anniversary of his birth

The reverse side of the coin bears the portrait of Bedřich Smetana. In the description at the right and upper edge of the coin there are the texts "BEDŘICH SMETANA", "1824 - 2024" and the initial of the author Jiří Hanuš, DiS., which is formed by the letter "H" in a frame.

On the obverse side of the bicentenary is a panorama of Prague with the silhouette of Hradčany and the text "I OWN". The description around the perimeter of the coin reads 'CZECH REPUBLIC' and the denomination with the abbreviation of the monetary unit '200 CZK'.

Bedřich Smetana (2 March 1824, Litomyšl - 12 May 1884, Prague) was an important Czech composer of the Romantic period.

He was born in Litomyšl into a relatively well-to-do German maltster family. From his childhood he devoted himself to music, especially piano playing and composition. His father was not sympathetic to his talent and forced him to study at a grammar school. He then studied with Josef Proksch and moved to Prague, where he worked as a concert pianist and music teacher from 1847. From 1856 to 1861 he stayed in Gothenburg, Sweden, where he worked as a music teacher and conductor.

After his return to Prague, he became involved in Czech cultural life. In 1866-1874 he worked as a bandmaster at the Provisional Theatre and as a music critic. His main musical role model was the composer and pianist Franz Liszt.

Smetana composed numerous piano pieces, polkas and vocal works for choirs. However, he was most successful as an opera composer.

He wrote eight operas of various genres. Among the best known are The Secret, The Crannogs in Bohemia, Libuše, The Mouthpiece and The Devil's Wall. The comic opera from a rural setting, The Bartered Bride, which is considered the prototype of Czech national opera, achieved the greatest popularity, also abroad.

At the age of fifty he became completely deaf, but even after his hearing loss he managed to compose a number of top works. Without hearing a single note, he composed the unique cycle of symphonic poems My Country (Vyšehrad, Vltava, Šárka, From the Bohemian Meadows and Groves, Tábor, Blaník) and String Quartet No.1. In June 1875, he moved from Prague to a hunting lodge in Jabkenice near Mladá Boleslav to visit his daughter Žofia.

But then his health suddenly deteriorated and he had to be transferred to a mental institution in Prague on 20 April 1884.

His compositional legacy in the field of opera, symphonic, choral and chamber music is still regarded as a treasure of Czech national music. He is buried at Vyšehrad, grave No. 57.

Each silver coin is stored in a protective plastic capsule and placed in a dark blue box along with a certificate of authenticity from the CNB.