206
See also: The Magic Flute 134 –137 ■ The Barber of Seville 14 8 ■
Der Freischütz 149 ■ La traviata 174 –175 ■ The Ring Cycle 180 –187T
he second and best-loved
of Czech composer Bedrˇ ich
Smetana’s operas, The
Bartered Bride (Prodaná nevesta), is
about two young lovers—Marenka
and Jeniken—in a Bohemian
village. They want to marry, but
Marenka’s parents, swayed by the
village marriage broker, intend her
to wed Vasek, the simple-minded
son of a wealthy landlord. Jenik andMarenka are united in the end, and
Jenik is revealed as the long-lost
son of Vasek’s rich father. The opera
is a melding of French and Italian
influences with inspiration from
Czech folk settings and traditions,
particularly dances such as the
polka and the furiant.A new Czech identity
During the 1860s and 1870s,
Smetana almost single-handedly
created Czech opera by writing
operas in the Czech language.
Czech culture had long been
influenced by the Habsburg
Empire. By the mid-19th century,
however, nationalist aspirations
were strong, and these grew in
1860 when the imperial authorities
handed greater powers to the
Czech parliament in Prague. Funds
were raised to build a theatre for
Czech drama and opera, and it was
here that Smetana’s first two operas
were premiered. He completed six
more operas, along with a cycle of
symphonic poems called Má vlast
(My Fatherland), celebrating Czech
landscapes and culture. ■MY FATHERLAND
MEANS MORE TO ME
THAN ANYTHING ELSE
THE BARTERED BRIDE (1866),
BEDR^ ˇICH SMETANAIN CONTEXT
FOCUS
19th-century Czech operaBEFORE
1826 František Škroup’s
Drátenik (The Tinker), widely
regarded as the first Czech
opera, has its premiere.1842–1845 Czech poet
and historian Karel Erben
publishes a pioneering
collection of Bohemian
folk songs.1865 Karel Sebor’s opera
Templari na Morave
(The Templars in Moravia) is
performed to local acclaim at
Prague’s Provisional Theatre.AFTER
1901 Rusalka, Antonín
Dvorˇ ák’s most successful
opera, is premiered at Prague’s
National Theatre.1904 Leoš Janá cˇ ek’s opera
Jen u°fa is performed for the first
time in the Czech city of Brno.The Bartered Bride is only
a toy and composing it was
merely child’s play! ... At the
time of writing, it was
my opinion that not
even Offenbach could
compete with it!
Bedrˇ ich SmetanaUS_206-207_Smetana_Mussorgsky_JA.indd 206 26/03/18 1:01 PM