Page 208 - (DK) The Classical Music Book - Big Ideas Simply Explained
P. 208
206
MY FATHERLAND
MEANS MORE TO ME
THAN ANYTHING ELSE
THE BARTERED BRIDE (1866),
ˇ
BEDRICH SMETANA
he second and best-loved Marenka are united in the end, and
IN CONTEXT of Czech composer Bedrˇich Jenik is revealed as the long-lost
T Smetana’s operas, The son of Vasek’s rich father. The opera
FOCUS Bartered Bride (Prodaná nevesta), is is a melding of French and Italian
19th-century Czech opera
about two young lovers—Marenka influences with inspiration from
BEFORE and Jeniken—in a Bohemian Czech folk settings and traditions,
1826 František Škroup’s village. They want to marry, but particularly dances such as the
Drátenik (The Tinker), widely Marenka’s parents, swayed by the polka and the furiant.
regarded as the first Czech village marriage broker, intend her
opera, has its premiere. to wed Vasek, the simple-minded A new Czech identity
son of a wealthy landlord. Jenik and During the 1860s and 1870s,
1842–1845 Czech poet Smetana almost single-handedly
and historian Karel Erben created Czech opera by writing
publishes a pioneering operas in the Czech language.
collection of Bohemian Czech culture had long been
folk songs. influenced by the Habsburg
Empire. By the mid-19th century,
1865 Karel Sebor’s opera The Bartered Bride is only however, nationalist aspirations
Templari na Morave a toy and composing it was were strong, and these grew in
(The Templars in Moravia) is merely child’s play! … At the 1860 when the imperial authorities
performed to local acclaim at time of writing, it was handed greater powers to the
Prague’s Provisional Theatre. my opinion that not Czech parliament in Prague. Funds
even Offenbach could were raised to build a theatre for
AFTER compete with it! Czech drama and opera, and it was
1901 Rusalka, Antonín Bedrˇich Smetana here that Smetana’s first two operas
Dvorˇák’s most successful were premiered. He completed six
opera, is premiered at Prague’s more operas, along with a cycle of
National Theatre. symphonic poems called Má vlast
1904 Leoš Janá cˇ ek’s opera (My Fatherland), celebrating Czech
Jen u °fa is performed for the first landscapes and culture. ■
time in the Czech city of Brno.
See also: The Magic Flute 134–137 ■ The Barber of Seville 148 ■
Der Freischütz 149 ■ La traviata 174–175 ■ The Ring Cycle 180–187
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