The Bartered Bride

en.wikipedia.org /wiki/The_Bartered_Bride
The Bartered Bride
Opera by Bedich Smetana
Cover of
the
score,
1919

Native title

Prodan nevsta

Librettist

Karel Sabina

Language

Czech

Premiere

30 May 1866 (1866-05-30)

Provisional Theatre, Prague

The Bartered Bride (Czech: Prodan nevsta, The Sold Bride) is a comic opera in three acts by the Czech
composer Bedich 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 186366, 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. The opera was not
immediately successful, and was revised and extended in the following four years. In its final version, premiered
in 1870, it gained rapid popularity and eventually became a worldwide success.
Czech national opera until this time had been represented only by minor, rarely performed works. This opera,
Smetana's second, was part of his quest to create a truly Czech operatic genre. Smetana's musical treatment
made considerable use of traditional Bohemian dance forms such as the polka and furiant, and although he
largely avoided the direct quotation of folksong he nevertheless created music considered by Czechs to be
quintessentially Czech in spirit. The overture, often played as a concert piece independently from the opera,
was, unusually, composed before almost any of the other music had been written.
After a performance at the Vienna Music and Theatre Exhibition of 1892, the opera achieved international
recognition. It was performed in Chicago in 1893, London in 1895 and reached New York in 1909, subsequently
becoming the first, and for many years the only, Czech opera in the general repertory. Many of these early
international performances were in German, under the title Die verkaufte Braut, and the German-language
version continues to be played and recorded. A German film of the opera was made in 1932 by Max Ophls.

Context
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Until the middle 1850s Bedich Smetana was known in Prague principally as a teacher, pianist and composer of
salon pieces. His failure to achieve wider recognition in the Bohemian capital led him to depart in 1856 for
Sweden, where he spent the next five years.[1] During this period he extended his compositional range to largescale orchestral works in the descriptive style championed by Franz Liszt and Richard Wagner.[2] Liszt was
Smetana's long-time mentor; he had accepted a dedication of the latter's Opus 1: Six Characteristic Pieces for
Piano in 1848, and had encouraged the younger composer's career since then. [3] In September 1857 Smetana
visited Liszt in Weimar, where he met Peter Cornelius, a follower of Liszt's who was working on a comic opera,
Der Barbier von Bagdad.[4] Their discussions centred on the need to create a modern style of comic opera, as a
counterbalance to Wagner's new form of music drama. A comment was made by the Viennese conductor Johann
von Herbeck to the effect that Czechs were incapable of making music of their own, a remark which Smetana
took to heart: "I swore there and then that no other than I should beget a native Czech music."[4]
Smetana did not act immediately on this aspiration. The announcement that a Provisional Theatre was to be
opened in Prague, as a home for Czech opera and drama pending the building of a permanent National Theatre,
influenced his decision to return permanently to his homeland in 1861.[5] He was then spurred to creative action
by the announcement of a prize competition, sponsored by the Czech patriot Jan von Harrach, to provide
suitable operas for the Provisional Theatre. By 1863 he had written The Brandenburgers in Bohemia to a libretto
by the Czech nationalist poet Karel Sabina, whom Smetana had met briefly in 1848.[5][6] The Brandenburgers,
which was awarded the opera prize, was a serious historical drama, but even before its completion Smetana
was noting down themes for use in a future comic opera. By this time he had heard the music of Cornelius's Der
Barbier, and was ready to try his own hand at the comic genre. [7]

Composition history
Libretto
For his libretto, Smetana again approached Sabina, who by 5 July 1863 had produced an untitled one-act sketch
in German.[4] Over the following months Sabina was encouraged to develop this into a full-length text, and to
provide a Czech translation. According to Smetana's biographer Brian Large, this process was prolonged and
untidy; the manuscript shows amendments and additions in Smetana's own hand, and some pages apparently
written by Smetana's wife Bettina (who may have been receiving dictation).[8] By the end of 1863 a two-act
version, with around 20 musical numbers separated by spoken dialogue, had been assembled.[4][8] Smetana's
diary indicates that he, rather than Sabina, chose the work's title because "the poet did not know what to call
it."[8] The translation "Sold Bride" is strictly accurate, but the more euphonious "Bartered Bride" has been
adopted throughout the English-speaking world.[9] Sabina evidently did not fully appreciate Smetana's intention
to write a full-length opera, later commenting: "If I had suspected what Smetana would make of my operetta, I
should have taken more pains and written him a better and more solid libretto."[4]

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The Czech music specialist John Tyrrell has observed that, despite
the casual way in which The Bartered Bride's libretto was put
together, it has an intrinsic "Czechness", being one of the few in the
Czech language written in trochees (a stressed syllable followed by
an unstressed one), matching the natural first-syllable emphasis in
the Czech language.[10]

Composition
By October 1862, well before the arrival of any libretto or plot sketch,
Smetana had noted down 16 bars which later became the theme of
The Bartered Bride's opening chorus. In May 1863 he sketched eight
bars which he eventually used in the love duet "Faithful love can't be
marred", and later that summer, while still awaiting Sabina's revised
libretto, he wrote the theme of the comic number "We'll make a pretty
little thing".[4] He also produced a piano version of the entire overture,
which was performed in a public concert on 18 November. In this, he
departed from his normal practice of leaving the overture until last.[8]

The tune of the opening chorus to The Bartered

Bride (English and German texts, published 1909)

The opera continued to be composed in a piecemeal fashion, as

Sabina's libretto gradually took shape. Progress was slow, and was interrupted by other work. Smetana had
become Chorus Master of the Hlahol Choral Society in 1862, and spent much time rehearsing and performing
with the Society.[11] He was deeply involved in the 1864 Shakespeare Festival in Prague, conducting Berlioz's
Romeo et Juliette and composing a festival march. [12] That same year he became music correspondent of the
Czech language newspaper Nrodn listy. Smetana's diary for December 1864 records that he was continuing to
work on The Bartered Bride; the piano score was completed by October 1865. It was then put aside so that the
composer could concentrate on his third opera Dalibor.[13] Smetana evidently did not begin the orchestral
scoring of The Bartered Bride until, following the successful performance of The Brandenburgers in January
1866, the management of the Provisional Theatre decided to stage the new opera during the following summer.
The scoring was completed rapidly, between 20 February and 16 March.[13]

Roles
Role

Voice type

Premiere Cast, 30 May 1866 [14]

Conductor: Bedich Smetana

Kruina, a peasant

Baritone

Josef Paleek

Ludmila, his wife

Soprano

Marie Prochzkov

Maenka, their daughter

Soprano

Eleonora von Ehrenberg

Mcha, a landowner

Bass

Vojtch ebesta

Hta, his wife

Mezzo-soprano

Marie Pisaovicov

Vaek, their son

Tenor

Josef Kysela

Jenk, Mcha's son by a former marriage

Tenor

Jindich Polk

Kecal, a marriage broker

Bass

Frantiek Hynek

Principl komediant, Ringmaster

Tenor

Jindich Mona

Indin, an Indian comedian

Bass

Josef Ktn

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Esmeralda, dancer and comedienne

Soprano

Terezie Ledererov

Synopsis
Act 1
A crowd of villagers is celebrating at the church fair ("Let's rejoice
and be merry"). Among them are Maenka and Jenk. Maenka is
unhappy because her parents want her to marry someone she
has never met. They will try to force her into this, she says. Her
desires are for Jenk even though, as she explains in her aria "If I
should ever learn", she knows nothing of his background. The
couple then declare their feelings for each other in a passionate
love duet ("Faithful love can't be marred").
As the pair leave separately, Maenka's parents, Ludmila and
Open-air performance at the Zoppot Waldoper, near
Danzig, July 1912
Kruina, enter with the marriage broker Kecal. After some
discussion, Kecal announces that he has found a groom for
Maenka Vaek, younger son of Tobi Mcha, a wealthy landowner; the older son, he explains, is a worthless
good-for-nothing. Kecal extols the virtues of Vaek ("He's a nice boy, well brought up"), as Maenka re-enters. In
the subsequent quartet she responds by saying that she already has a chosen lover. Send him packing, orders
Kecal. The four argue, but little is resolved. Kecal decides he must convince Jenk to give up Maenka, as the
villagers return, singing and dancing a festive polka.

Act 2
The men of the village join in a rousing drinking song ("To beer!"), while Jenk and Kecal argue the merits,
respectively, of love and money over beer. The women enter, and the whole group joins in dancing a furiant.
Away from the jollity the nervous Vaek muses over his forthcoming marriage in a stuttering song ("My-my-my
mother said to me"). Maenka appears, and guesses immediately who he is, but does not reveal her own identity.
Pretending to be someone else, she paints a picture of "Maenka" as a treacherous deceiver. Vaek is easily
fooled, and when Maenka, in her false guise, pretends to woo him ("I know of a maiden fair"), he falls for her
charms and swears to give Maenka up.

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Meanwhile, Kecal is attempting to buy Jenk off, and after some verbal
fencing makes a straight cash offer: a hundred florins if Jenk will renounce
Maenka. Not enough, is the reply. When Kecal increases the offer to
300 florins, Jenk pretends to accept, but imposes a condition no one but
Mcha's son will be allowed to wed Maenka. Kecal agrees, and rushes off to
prepare the contract. Alone, Jenk ponders the deal he has apparently made
to barter his beloved ("When you discover whom you've bought"), wondering
how anyone could believe that he would really do this, and finally expressing
his love for Maenka.
Kecal summons the villagers to witness the contract he has made ("Come
inside and listen to me"). He reads the terms: Maenka is to marry no one but
Mcha's son. Kruina and the crowd marvel at Jenk's apparent self-denial,
but the mood changes when they learn that he has been paid off. The Act
ends with Jenik being denounced by Kruina and the rest of the assembly as
a rascal.

Act 3
Vaek expresses his confusions in a short, sad song ("I can't get it out of my
head"), but is interrupted by the arrival of a travelling circus. The Ringmaster
The celebrated Czech opera singer
introduces the star attractions: Esmeralda, the Spanish dancer, a "real Indian"
Emmy Destinn in the role of Maenka,
sword swallower, and a dancing bear. A rapid folk-dance, the skon, follows.
circa 1917
Vaek 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. Vaek is soon persuaded to take the job, egged on by Esmeralda's
flattering words ("We'll make a pretty thing out of you").
The circus folk leave. Vasek's parents Mcha and Hta arrive, with Kecal.
Vaek tells them that he no longer wants to marry Maenka, having learned
her true nature from a beautiful, strange girl. They are horrified ("He does not
want her what has happened?"). Vaek runs off, and moments later
Maenka arrives with her parents. She has just learned of Jenk's deal with
Kecal, and a lively ensemble ("No, no, I don't believe it") ensues. Matters are
further complicated when Vaek returns, recognises Maenka as his "strange
girl", and says that he will happily marry her. In the sextet which follows
("Make your mind up, Maenka"), Maenka is urged to think things over. They
all depart, leaving her alone.
In her aria ("Oh what grief"), Maenka sings of her betrayal. When Jenk
appears, she rebuffs him angrily, and declares that she will marry Vaek.
Kecal arrives, and is amused by Jenk's attempts to pacify Maenka, who
orders her former lover to go. The villagers then enter, with both sets of
parents, wanting to know Maenka's decision ("What have you decided,
Maenka?"). As she confirms that she will marry Vaek, Jenk returns, and to
The opera singer Otto Gortiz as Kecal,
great consternation addresses Mcha as "father". In a surprise identity
circa 1913
revelation it emerges that Jenk is Mcha's elder son, by a former marriage
the "worthless good-for-nothing" earlier dismissed by Kecal who had in fact
been driven away by his jealous stepmother, Hta. As Mcha's son he is, by the terms of the contract, entitled to
marry Maenka; when this becomes clear, Maenka understands his actions and embraces him. Offstage
shouting interrupts the proceedings; it seems that a bear has escaped from the circus and is heading for the
village. This creature appears, but is soon revealed to be Vaek in the bear's costume ("Don't be afraid!"). His
antics convince his parents that he is unready for marriage, and he is marched away. Mcha then blesses the
marriage between Maenka and Jenk, and all ends in a celebratory chorus.

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Reception and performance history

Premiere
The premiere of The Bartered Bride took place at the Provisional Theatre on 30 May 1866. Smetana conducted;
the stage designs were by Josef Macourek and Josef Jii Kolr produced the opera.[15] The role of Maenka was
sung by the theatre's principal soprano, Eleonora von Ehrenberg who had refused to appear in The
Brandenburgers because she thought her proffered role was beneath her. [16] The parts of Kruina, Jenk and
Kecal were all taken by leading members of the Brandenburgers cast. [17] A celebrated actor, Jindich Mona,
was engaged to play the Ringmaster, a role which involves little singing skill.[15]
The choice of date proved unfortunate for several reasons. It clashed with a public holiday, and many people had
left the city for the country. It was an intensely hot day, which further reduced the number of people prepared to
suffer the discomfort of a stuffy theatre. Worse, the threat of an imminent war between Prussia and Austria
caused unrest and anxiety in Prague, which dampened public enthusiasm for light romantic comedy. Thus on its
opening night the opera, in its two-act version with spoken dialogue, was poorly attended and indifferently
received.[18] Receipts failed to cover costs, and the theatre director was forced to pay Smetana's fee from his
own pocket.[9]
Smetana's friend Josef Srb-Debrnov, who was unable to attend the performance himself, canvassed opinion
from members of the audience as they emerged. "One praised it, another shook his head, and one well-known
musician ... said to me: 'That's no comic opera; it won't do. The opening chorus is fine but I don't care for the
rest.'"[9] Josef Krej, a member of the panel that had judged Harrach's opera competition, called the work a
failure "that would never hold its own."[18] Press comment was less critical; nevertheless, after one more
performance the opera was withdrawn. Shortly afterwards the Provisional Theatre temporarily closed its doors,
as the threat of war drew closer to Prague.[18]

Restructure
Smetana began revising The Bartered Bride as soon as its first performances were complete. [9] For its first
revival, in October 1866, the only significant musical alteration was the addition of a gypsy dance near the start
of Act II. For this, Smetana used the music of a dance from The Brandenburgers of Bohemia.[19] When The
Bartered Bride returned to the Provisional Theatre in January 1869, this dance was removed, and replaced with
a polka. A new scene, with a drinking song for the chorus, was added to Act I, and Maenka's Act II aria "Oh what
grief!" was extended.[19]
So far, changes to the original had been of a minor nature, but when the opera reappeared in June 1869 it had
been entirely restructured. Although the musical numbers were still linked by dialogue, the first act had been
divided in two, to create a three-act opera.[19] Various numbers, including the drinking song and the new polka,
were repositioned, and the polka was now followed by a furiant. A "March of the Comedians" was added, to
introduce the strolling players in what was now Act III. A short duet for Esmeralda and the Principal Comedian
was dropped.[19][20] In September 1870 The Bartered Bride reached its final form, when all the dialogue was
replaced by recitative.[19] Smetana's own opinion of the finished work, given much later, was largely dismissive:
he described it as "a toy ... composing it was mere child's play". It was written, he said "to spite those who
accused me of being Wagnerian and incapable of doing anything in a lighter vein."[21]

Later performances

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In February 1869 Smetana had the text translated into French, and
sent the libretto and score to the Paris Opera with a business
proposal for dividing the profits. The management of the Paris Opera
did not respond.[22] The opera was first performed outside its native
land on 11 January 1871, when Eduard Npravnk, conductor of the
Russian Imperial Opera, gave a performance at the Mariinsky
Theatre in St Petersburg. The work attracted mediocre notices from
the critics, one of whom compared the work unfavourably to the
Offenbach genre. Smetana was hurt by this remark, which he felt
downgraded his opera to operetta status,[23] and was convinced that
press hostility had been generated by a former adversary, the
Russian composer Mily Balakirev. The pair had clashed some years
earlier, over the Provisional Theatre's stagings of Glinka's A Life for
the Tsar and Ruslan and Lyudmila. Smetana believed that Balakirev

The Metropolitan Opera, New York, around the

time of The Bartered Bride's New York premiere
under Gustav Mahler in 1909

had used the Russian premiere of The Bartered Bride as a means of exacting revenge. [24]
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.[15] Since the
Czech language 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. [25] The opera was introduced to the
Hamburg State Opera in 1894 by Gustav Mahler, then serving as its director; [26] a year later a German company
brought a production to the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane in London. [27] 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.[26] 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).[26] When he
became Director of the Metropolitan Opera in New York in 1907 he added the opera to its repertory. [26] 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 I
and II, so that latecomers might hear it.[28]

Modern revivals
The opera was performed more than one hundred times during Smetana's lifetime (the first Czech opera to
reach this landmark),[29] subsequently becoming a permanent feature of the National Theatre's repertory. On 9
May 1945 a special performance in memory of the victims of World War II was given at the theatre, four days
after the last significant fighting in Europe.[30]
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 Opra-Comique in Paris in 1928, sung in French as La Fiance vendue.[31][32] In 2008 the
opera was added to the repertoire of the Paris Opera, in a new production staged at the Palais Garnier.[33]
In the English-speaking world, recent productions of The Bartered Bride in London have included the Royal
Opera House (ROH) presentation in 1998, staged at Sadler's Wells during the restoration of the ROH's
headquarters at Covent Garden. This production in English was directed by Francesca Zambello and conducted
by Bernard Haitink; it was criticised both for its stark settings and for ruining the Act II entrance of Vaek. It was
nevertheless twice revived by the ROH in 2001 and 2006, under Charles Mackerras.[34][35]

Music
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Although much of the music of The Bartered Bride is folk-like, the only significant use of authentic folk material is
in the Act II furiant, [38] with a few other occasional glimpses of basic Czech folk melodies. [39] The "Czechness"
of the music is further illustrated by the closeness to Czech dance rhythms of many individual numbers.[15]
Smetana's diary indicates that he was trying to give the music "a popular character, because the plot [...] is taken
from village life and demands a national treatment."[13] According to his biographer John Clapham, Smetana
"certainly felt the pulse of the peasantry and knew how to express this in music, yet inevitably he added
something of himself."[39] Historian Harold Schonberg argues that "the exoticisms of the Bohemian musical
language were not in the Western musical consciousness until Smetana appeared." Smetana's musical
language is, on the whole, one of happiness, expressing joy, dancing and festivals.[40]
The mood of the entire opera is set by the overture, a concert piece in its own right, which Tyrrell describes as "a
tour de force of the genre, wonderfully spirited & wonderfully crafted." Tyrrell draws attention to several of its
striking features its extended string fugato, climactic tutti and prominent syncopations.[15] The overture does
not contain many of the opera's later themes: biographer Brian Large compares it to Mozart's overtures to The
Marriage of Figaro and The Magic Flute, in establishing a general mood. [41] It is followed immediately by an
extended orchestral prelude, for which Smetana adapted part of his 1849 piano work Wedding Scenes, adding
special effects such as bagpipe imitations.[15][42]
Schonberg has suggested that Bohemian composers express melancholy in a delicate, elegiac manner "without
the crushing world-weariness and pessimism of the Russians."[40] Thus, Maenka's unhappiness is illustrated in
the opening chorus by a brief switch to the minor key; likewise, the inherent pathos of Vaek's character is
demonstrated by the dark minor key music of his Act III solo.[15] 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.[43]
Large has commented that despite the colour and vigour of the music, there is little by way of characterisation,
except in the cases of Kecal and, to a lesser extent, the loving pair and the unfortunate Vaek. The two sets of
parents and the various circus folk are all conventional and "penny-plain" figures.[43] In contrast, Kecal's
character that of a self-important, pig-headed, loquacious bungler is instantly established by his rapid-patter
music.[15][43] Large suggests that the character may have been modelled on that of the boastful Baron in
Cimarosa's opera Il matrimonio segreto.[43] Maenka's temperament is shown in vocal flourishes which include
coloratura passages and sustained high notes, while Jenk's good nature is reflected in the warmth of his music,
generally in the G minor key. For Vaek's dual image, comic and pathetic, Smetana uses the major key to depict
comedy, the minor for sorrow. Large suggests that Vaek's musical stammer, portrayed especially in his opening
Act II song, was taken from Mozart's character Don Curzio in The Marriage of Figaro.[44]

Film and other adaptations

A silent film of The Bartered Bride was made in 1913 by the Czech film production studio Kinofa. It was produced
by Max Urban and starred his wife Andula Sedlkov.[45] A German-language version of the opera, Die
verkaufte Braut, was filmed in 1932 by Max Ophls, the celebrated German director then at the beginning of his
film-making career.[46] The screenplay was drawn from Sabina's libretto by Curt Alexander, and Smetana's music
was adapted by the German composer of film music, Theo Mackeben. The film starred the leading Czech opera
singer Jarmila Novotn in the role of Maenka ("Marie" in the film), and the German baritone Willi DomgrafFassbaender as Jenk ("Hans").[47][48]
Ophuls constructed an entire Czech village in the studio to provide an authentic background. [46] Following the
film's US release in 1934, The New York Times commented that it "carr[ied] most of the comedy of the original"
but was "rather weak on the musical side", despite the presence of stars such as Novotn. Opera-lovers, the
review suggested, should not expect too much, but the work nevertheless gave an attractive portrait of Bohemian
village life in the mid-19th century. The reviewer found most of the acting first-rate, but commented that "the

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photography and sound reproduction are none too clear at times."[49] Other film adaptations of the opera were
made in 1922 directed by Oldrich Kminek (Atropos), in 1933, directed by Jaroslav Kvapil, Svatopluk Innemann
and Emil Pollert (Espofilm), and in 1976, directed by Vclav Kalk (Barrandov).[50]

List of musical numbers

The list relates to the final (1870) version of the opera.
Number

Performed by

Title (English) [51]

Title (Czech)

Overture

Orchestra

Act I
Opening Chorus

Villagers

Pro bychom se
netili

"Let's rejoice and be merry"

Aria

Maenka

Kdybych se co
takovho

"If I should ever learn"

Duet

Maenka and Jenk

Jako matka
poehnnm ...
Vrn milovn

"While a mother's love..." (leading to)

"Faithful love can't be marred"

Trio

Ludmila, Kruina, Kecal

Jak vm pravm,
pane kmote

"As I was saying, my good fellow"

Trio

Ludmila, Kruina, Kecal

Mladk slun

"He's a nice boy, well brought up"

Quartet

Ludmila, Kruina, Kecal,

Maenka

Tu ji mme

"Here she is now"

Dance: Polka

Chorus and orchestra

Pojd' sem, holka,

to se, holka

"Come, my darlings!"

Act II
Chorus with
soloists

Chorus, Kecal, Jenk

To piveko

"To beer!"

Dance: Furiant

Orchestra

Aria

Vaek

M ma-ma
Matika

"My-my-my mother said to me"

Duet

Maenka and Vaek

Znm j jednu
dvinu

"I know of a maiden fair"

Duet

Kecal and Jenk

Nue, mil
chasnku, znm
jednu dvku

"Now, sir, listen to a word or two"

Aria

Jenk

A uz Jak
mona vit

"When you discover whom you've

bought"

Ensemble

Kecal, Jenk, Kruina,

Chorus

Pojte lidiky

"Come inside and listen to me"

Act III
Aria

Vaek

To-to mi v hlav
le-lei

"I can't get it out of my head"

March of the
Comedians

Orchestra

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Dance: Skon
(Dance of the
Comedians)

Orchestra

Duet

Esmeralda, Principl

Milostn zvtko

Quartet

Hta, Mcha, Kecal, Vaek

Aj! Jake? Jake? "He does not want her what has
happened"

Ensemble

Maenka, Kruina, Kecal,

Ludmila, Hta, Mcha,
Vaek

Ne, ne, tomu

nevm

"No, no, I don't believe it"

Sextet

Ludmila, Kruina, Kecal,

Maenka, Hta, Mcha,

Rozmmysli si,
Maenko

"Make your mind up, Maenka"

Aria

Maenka

, jak al ... Ten

lsky sen

"Oh what grief"... (leading to) "That

dream of love"

Duet

Jenk and Maenka

Maenko m!

"Maenka mine!"

Trio

Jenk, Maenka, Kecal

Uti se, dvko

"Calm down and trust me"

Ensemble

Chorus, Maenka, Jenk,

Hta, Mcha, Kecal,
Ludmila, Kruina,

Jak jsi se,

Maenko
rozmyslila?

"What have you decided, Maenka?"

Finale

All characters and Chorus

Pomnte, kmote
... Dobr vc se
podaila

"He's not grown up yet..." (leading to) "A

good cause is won, and faithful love has
triumphed."

"We'll make a pretty thing out of you"

Recordings
See The Bartered Bride discography.

References
Notes
1. ^ Large, pp. 6769
2. ^ Clapham, p. 138
3. ^ Clapham, p. 20
4. ^ a b c d e f Abraham, pp. 2829
5. ^ a b Clapham. p. 31
6. ^ Large, p. 43
7. ^ Large, p. 99
8. ^ a b c d Large, pp. 16061
9. ^ a b c d Abraham, p. 31
10. ^ Tyrrell, John. "The Bartered Bride (Prodan nevsta)" . In Macy, Laura (ed.). Grove Music Online,.
Retrieved 10 June 2009. (subscription required)
11. ^ Large, pp. 12125
12. ^ Clapham.p. 32
13. ^ a b c Large, pp. 16364

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14. ^ "Prodan nevsta". Toulky operou. Retrieved 28 March 2012. (in Czech)
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Online. Retrieved 10 June 2009. (subscription required)
16. ^ Large, p. 144
17. ^ Large, p. 164
18. ^ a b c Large, pp. 16566
19. ^ a b c d e Large, pp. 399408
20. ^ This duet is reproduced in Large, pp. 40913
21. ^ Large, p. 160
22. ^ Large, pp. 16869
23. ^ Large, p. 171
24. ^ Large, p. 210
25. ^ Holden, Amanda (editor), with Kenyon, Nicholas and Walsh, Stephen (1993). The Viking Opera Guide.
London: Viking. p. 989. ISBN 0-670-81292-7.
26. ^ a b c d Hefling, pp. 11112
27. ^ Newmarch, pp. 6768
28. ^ "Bartered Bride at Metropolitan" . The New York Times. 20 February 1909. Retrieved 20 June 2009.
29. ^ Large, pp. 35657
30. ^ Sayer, p. 235
31. ^ Nichols, p. 17
32. ^ Mars, p. 48
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The Juilliard School). Retrieved 30 November 2015.
37. ^ Eichler, Jeremy (2 May 2009). "Smetana's buoyant Bride". The Boston Globe. Retrieved 22 June 2009.
38. ^ Large, pp. 18687
39. ^ a b Clapham, p. 95
40. ^ a b Schonberg, p. 78
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48. ^ "Die verkaufte Braut (1932)". IMDb. Retrieved 14 May 2016.

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External links

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Wikimedia Commons has media related to The Bartered Bride.

Die verkaufte Braut Public domain copy of Max Ophls 1932 film at Internet Archive.

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