After becoming deaf, Smetana moved in 1876 from Prague to Jabkenice. He still hoped that the handicap would not be permanent. In the autumn of that year, he began to compose a new work. It was to be his intimate confession, a work depicting the course of his life, "... using four instruments speaking among themselves in something like a friendly circle".

Date of composition 1876
Premiered 1879, March 29th in Prague, Czech Republic
First published 1880 in Prague, Czech Republic
Type String Quartet
Tonality E Minor
Instruments Viola
Cello
2x Violin
Autotranslations beta Bedřich Smetana: Quatuor à cordes n°1 en mi mineur "From My Life"
Bedřich Smetana: Quartetto d'archi n. 1 in mi minore "From My Life"
Bedřich Smetana: Streichquartett Nr. 1 e-moll "From My Life"