The Czech composer, conductor, pedagogue and public figure, Bedřich Smetana, is considered as the patriarch of Czech musical culture.
Even as a child Smetana began to develop his talent and show interest in music.
In his teenage diary, he wrote: "I want to be a composer like Mozart and a virtuoso like Liszt."
Smetana became an ally of the ideas of the so-called "awakeners" - the Czech national movement for the revival of the mother tongue and emancipation from Austrian influence, and remained their supporter for the rest of his life.
