Smetana: The Bartered Bride

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Smetana: The Bartered Bride

Smetana: The Bartered Bride

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The dance sequences are no less striking, especially the ‘Furiant’ of Act 2 where the chorus variously jive and do the Twist, and a young mother-to-be gives the glad-eye to the embarrassed vicar. It’s all meticulously crafted and leaves you wanting more. If only conductor Jac van Steen could have found his dancing shoes and peppered those Bohemian rhythms with a little more spice, the dance episodes would have had the audience tapping their feet. Kecal, who fears for his share of the dowry, tries to persuade Jeník to abandon Mařenka. Jeník agrees against an indemnity of 300 guldens and under the condition that Mařenka may only marry the son of the peasant Mícha. Kecal, who is not aware that Mícha has got another son, accepts. When Mařenka is informed of the deal, Jeník no longer exists for her. At last he tells her about his identity and the game he played with Kecal, but she only believes him when Mícha, too, recognizes Jeník to be his son and embraces him. In the years since its American premiere The Bartered Bride has entered the repertory of all major opera companies, and is regularly revived worldwide. After several unsuccessful attempts to stage it in France, it was premiered at the Opéra-Comique in Paris in 1928, sung in French as La Fiancée vendue. [30] [31] In 2008 the opera was added to the repertoire of the Paris Opera, in a new production staged at the Palais Garnier. [32] The Bartered Bride was not performed abroad again until after Smetana's death in 1884. It was staged by the Prague National Theatre company in Vienna, as part of the Vienna Music and Theatre Exhibition of 1892, where its favourable reception was the beginning of its worldwide popularity among opera audiences. [10] Since Czech was not widely spoken, international performances tended to be in German. The United States premiere took place at the Haymarket Theatre, Chicago, on 20 August 1893. [24] The opera was introduced to the Hamburg State Opera in 1894 by Gustav Mahler, then serving as its director; [25] in 1895 the Coburg Company brought its production to the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane in London. [26] In 1897, after his appointment as director of the Vienna State Opera, Mahler brought The Bartered Bride into the Vienna repertory, and conducted regular performances of the work between 1899 and 1907. [25] Mahler's enthusiasm for the work was such that he had incorporated a quote from the overture into the final movement of his First Symphony (1888). [25] When he became Director of the Metropolitan Opera in New York in 1907 he added the opera to its repertory. [25] The New York premiere, again in German, took place on 19 February 1909, and was warmly received. The New York Times commented on the excellence of the staging and musical characterisations, and paid particular tribute to "Mr. Mahler", whose master hand was in evidence throughout. Mahler chose to play the overture between acts 1 and 2, so that latecomers might hear it. [27] Modern revivals [ edit ] Schonberg has suggested that Bohemian composers express melancholy in a delicate, elegiac manner "without the crushing world-weariness and pessimism of the Russians." [39] Thus, Mařenka's unhappiness is illustrated in the opening chorus by a brief switch to the minor key; likewise, the inherent pathos of Vašek's character is demonstrated by the dark minor key music of his act 3 solo. [10] Smetana also uses the technique of musical reminiscence, where particular themes are used as reminders of other parts of the action; the lilting clarinet theme of "faithful love" is an example, though it and other instances fall short of being full-blown Wagnerian leading themes or Leitmotifs. [42]

Vašek expresses his confusions in a short, sad song ("I cannot get it out of my head"), but is interrupted by the arrival of a travelling circus. The Ringmaster introduces the star attractions: Esmeralda, the Spanish dancer, a "real Indian" sword swallower, and a dancing bear. A rapid folk-dance, the skočná, follows. Vašek is entranced by Esmeralda, but his timid advances are interrupted when the "Indian" rushes in, announcing that the "bear" has collapsed in a drunken stupor. A replacement is required. Vašek is soon persuaded to take the job, egged on by Esmeralda's flattering words ("We'll make a pretty thing out of you").The Bartered Bride (Czech: Prodaná nevěsta, The Sold Bride) is a comic opera in three acts by the Czech composer Bedřich Smetana, to a libretto by Karel Sabina. The work is generally regarded as a major contribution towards the development of Czech music. It was composed during the period 1863 to 1866, and first performed at the Provisional Theatre, Prague, on 30 May 1866 in a two-act format with spoken dialogue. Set in a country village and with realistic characters, it tells the story of how, after a late surprise revelation, true love prevails over the combined efforts of ambitious parents and a scheming marriage broker. Prodaná Nevěsta; 팔려간 신부; Проданная невеста; La Fiancée vendue; La novia vendida; Satılmış Nişanlı; La núvia venuda; Myyty morsian; La sposa venduta; Prodaná nevěsta; Die verkaufte Braut; 売られた花嫁; Prodana nevesta; Продадена невеста; Brudköpet; Den solgte brud; Cô dâu bị bán đi; Prodana nevjesta; Վաճառված հարսնացուն; Sprzedana narzeczona; La Promesa venduda; הכלה המכורה; Az eladott menyasszony; Продана наречена; Η ανταλλαγμένη νύφη All this sends Marenka on a roller-coaster emotional journey, and Pumeza Matshikiza plays her with an endearing attitude while singing with gorgeously rich tone, even if her voice is not entirely under control. Oliver Johnston brings an idiomatically plangent tenor to the cunning Jenik. The stammering Vasek can be problematic today, with the humour drawn from his speech impediment, but here he is sympathetically portrayed as simply the product of too much mollycoddling by the excellent tenor John Findon. It’s always a pleasure to zip along the M40 for 45 minutes from West London to the Getty family’s stunning Wormsley Estate in the Chiltern Hills. The home of Garsington Opera, the summer opera festival was founded in 1989 by Leonard and Rosalind Ingrams at Garsington Manor, near Oxford, moving to the Wormsley Estate in 2011 after Leonard’s death. I’m reviewing Czech composer Bedrich Smetana’s three-act comic opera The Bartered Bride, the final opera of four in Garsington’s 2023 season, with director Rosie Purdie staging a revival of the 2019 production by Paul Curran, an early 1960s English village hall Bartered Bride that transplanted this rural Bohemian idyll to the more familiar world of the Woman’s Institute.

A New York Metropolitan staging was in 1996 under James Levine, a revival of John Dexter's 1978 production with stage designs by Josef Svoboda. In 2005 The Bartered Bride returned to New York, at the Juilliard School theatre, in a new production by Eve Shapiro, conducted by Mark Stringer. [35] In its May 2009 production at the Cutler Majestic Theatre, Opera Boston transplanted the action to 1934, in the small Iowan town of Spillville, once the home of a large Czech settlement. [36] Music [ edit ] Brandow, Adam (April 2005). "Czech Spirit Enlivens J.O.C.'s Bartered Bride". The Juilliard Journal Online. New York: Juilliard School. XX (7). Archived from the original on 21 November 2008 . Retrieved 21 June 2009. Think of John Philip Sousa, for example. At home in America, marches such as "The Stars and Stripes Forever" stir deep, patriotic sentiment. Overseas, those same pieces may seem little more than rousing diversions. Listed at 8:00PM on ABV Channel 2 at Google News Archive, a clip also appears on YouTube with poor sound quality

You might also enjoy

Mitchell, Donald (1997). "Mahler and Smetana". In Hefling, Stephen E. (ed.). Mahler Studies. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9780521471657.



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