Bedřich Smetana recorded in his diary that he “began” work on “Vyšehrad,” the first symphonic poem of his cycle Má vlast (My homeland), in September of 1874. Yet scholars have challenged the composer's chronology for over a century, suggesting both earlier and later start dates and nuancing the definition of “began.” Václav Zelený argued in his 1894 memoir that Smetana actually first conceived “Vyšehrad’s” main motive—“a persistent four-note germ cell”—on October 20, 1874. Vladimír Helfert combined sketch studies and a November 1872 report from Hudební listy (Music news) that the composer “intended” to write new orchestral compositions called “Vyšehrad” and “Vltava” to argue that Smetana began work on the movement in that month. Mirko Očadlík echoed (without directly acknowledging) Helfert's study, also claiming that Smetana began “Vyšehrad” in 1872. Most recently, Brian Large presented his own sketch study of “Vyšehrad” to further support the 1872 dating.

These authors’ investment in correcting Smetana's own noted starting date for “Vyšehrad” reflects more than a desire to render history accurately. Their newly-proposed timings each coincide with critical moments in Smetana's biography that reinforce a mythology framing him as the lone originator of a specifically Czech music. Zelený's dates correspond to Smetana's first recorded experience of definitive hearing loss. This chronology positions “Vyšehrad” as a manifestation of the most romantically tragic and Beethovenian component of Smetana's “genius”—his deafness. Helfert's claim, by contrast, hinges on musical interrelationships within Smetana's output. The author argues that Smetana incorporated themes from his most deliberately nationalistic work, the opera Libuše, into “Vyšehrad” (a comparison made easier if Smetana began “Vyšehrad” just after completing Libuše in 1872) and asserts that Smetana must have intended both works as “magnificent national apotheoses.” Očadlík also situates “Vyšehrad” as an extension of Libuše's greatness and cites the report in Hudební listy to argue that Smetana began the movement in 1872. Large similarly underscores connections between “Vyšehrad” and Libuše, but focuses in particular on distancing “Vyšehrad” from the possibility of an additional, less desirable connection.