Mats Norrman:

>I recall reading that Smetana in a letter describes that he got a loud
>tone in his ear, that drove him crazy (his own words).  The tone wasn't
>pure (somewhere between Eb and D) and the poor man had a perfect pitch.

This is the reason for the sudden interruption for a single insistent note
in the last movement of the first string quartet, subtitled "From My Life".

Richard Pennycuick
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