Václav Smetáček |

Václav Smetacek

The activities of Vaclav Smetacek are closely connected with the heyday of one of the best symphony orchestras in Czechoslovakia – the Symphony Orchestra of the Main City of Prague, as it is officially called. This orchestra was founded in 1934, and Smetachek led it during the difficult years of the war. In fact, the conductor and the team grew up and improved their skills together, in everyday painstaking work.

However, Smetachek came to the orchestra already having a serious and comprehensive training. At the Prague Conservatory he studied composition, playing the oboe and conducting with P. Dedechek and M. Dolezhal (1928-1930). At the same time, Smetachek listened to lectures on philosophy, aesthetics and musicology at the Charles University. Then the future conductor worked for several years as an oboist in the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, where he learned a lot, performing under the direction of V. Talich. In addition, starting from his student days, he was a member and soul of many chamber ensembles, including the Prague Brass Quintet, which Smetacek founded and directed until 1956.

Smetachek began his conducting career while working at the radio, where he was first the secretary of the music department, and then the head of the sound recording department. Here he conducted orchestras for the first time, made his first recordings on records and at the same time was the choirmaster of the famous Prague Verb choir. So the work with the Symphony Orchestra of the Main City of Prague did not cause technical difficulties for Smetachek: there were all the prerequisites for him to grow into one of the largest figures of the Czech performing art after the liberation of the country.

And so it happened. Today Praguers know and love Smetachek, listeners of all other cities of Czechoslovakia are familiar with his art, he was applauded in Romania and Italy, France and Hungary, Yugoslavia and Poland, Switzerland and England. And not only as a symphony conductor. For example, music lovers in little Iceland heard Smetana’s “The Bartered Bride” for the first time under his direction. In 1961-1963 the conductor successfully performed in various cities of the USSR. Often Smetachek tours with his team, which, by analogy with the Vienna Symphony Orchestra, in contrast to the Prague Philharmonic, is also called the “Prague Symphonies”.

Smetachek owns perhaps the largest number of recordings on records among his Czechoslovak colleagues – more than three hundred. And many of them have received high international awards.

Smetachek not only nurtured and brought his orchestra among the best ensembles in Europe, he made it a true laboratory of modern Czechoslovak music. In his performance for more than two decades, everything new that is created by the musicians of Czechoslovakia has been sounding; Smetachek has conducted premieres of dozens of works by B. Martinu, I. Krejci, J. Capra, I. Power, E. Suchon, D. Kardos, V. Summer, J. Cikker and other authors.

Václav Smetáček also revived many works of ancient Czech music on the concert stage, and was an excellent performer of monumental oratorio-cantata works of national and world classics.

L. Grigoriev, J. Platek, 1969