Žofín Palace

This guide to Žofín Palace in Prague centers on November 5, 1882, when composer Bedřich Smetana sat in this riverside hall for the first complete performance of his symphonic cycle Má Vlast, unable to hear a single note of it. You'll hear how his deafness had set in years earlier, and how a conductor led the orchestra in his place while Smetana watched the crowd for a reaction he could only see. The hall's earlier history turns up too, with Wagner conducting here, and Berlioz, Liszt, Tchaikovsky and a young Dvořák all taking this same stage.