The Sold Bride

The Sold Bride (original title in Czech, Prodaná nevěsta) is an Opera buffa in three acts with music by Bedřich Smetana and libretto in Czech by Karel Sabina. The opera is considered to have been a great contribution to the development of Czech music. It was composed during the period 1863–66, and first performed at the Provisional Theatre, Prague, on May 30, 1866 in a two-act format with spoken dialogue. Set in a village and with realistic characters, it tells the story of how, after one last surprise revelation, true love prevails over the combined efforts of ambitious parents and a scheming matchmaker. The opera was not immediately successful, and was revised and expanded over the next four years. In its final version, released in 1870, it gained rapid popularity and eventually became a worldwide success.

The Czech national opera had until then been represented only by a number of minor, rarely performed works. This opera, the second of a total of eight operas that Smetana composed, was part of his quest to create a truly Czech operatic genre. Smetana's musical treatment makes considerable use of traditional Bohemian dance forms such as the polka and furiant, though he largely avoids directly quoting folk songs. Despite everything he creates music very similar to folklore, considered by the Czechs as essentially Czech in spirit. The overture, often performed as a concert piece independently of the opera, was, unusually, composed before most of the rest of his music.

After a performance at the 1892 Vienna Theater and Music Exhibition, the opera achieved international recognition. Performed in Chicago in 1893, in London in 1895, and in New York in 1909, it subsequently became the first, and for many years the only, Czech opera in the general repertoire. Many of these early international performances were given in German, under the title Die verkaufte Braut, and the German-language version continues to be performed and recorded. Max Ophüls made a film with the opera in 1932.

Context

Until the middle of the XIX century, Bedřich Smetana was known in Prague mainly as a teacher, pianist and composer of salon pieces. His failure to achieve wider recognition in the Bohemian capital led to his departure in 1856 for Sweden, where he spent the next five years. During this period he extended his compositional range to large-scale orchestral works in the descriptive style advocated by Franz Liszt and Richard Wagner. Liszt was Smetana's long-time mentor; accepted a dedication of his Opus 1, Six Characteristic Pieces for Piano of 1848, and encouraged the young composer's career from that time on. In September 1857 Smetana visited Liszt in Weimar, where he met Peter Cornelius, a follower of Liszt who was working on a comic opera, Der Barbier von Bagdad. Their discussions reportedly centered on creating a modern style of comic opera, as a counterbalance to the new Wagner's form of musical drama. The Viennese conductor Johann von Herbeck commented to the effect that the Czechs were incapable of making their own music, a comment that struck a chord with Smetana: "I swore there and then that no one but myself would produce a native Czech music."

Smetana did not immediately act on this inspiration. The announcement that a Temporary Theater was to be opened as the venue for a Czech national opera and drama, contingent on the construction of a permanent National Theatre, factored into his decision to return permanently to his homeland in 1861. He was then encouraged in his creative action by announcing a prize competition, championed by the Czech patriot Jan von Harrach, to provide suitable operas for the Provisional Theatre. By 1863 he had written The Brandenburgers in Bohemia after a libretto by the Czech nationalist poet Karel Sabina, whom Smetana had met briefly in 1848. The Brandenburgers in Bohemia, which received the opera prize, was a serious historical drama, but even before it was finished Smetana was jotting down themes for use in a future comic opera. By then he had heard the music of Cornelius's Der Barbier, and was prepared to try his hand at the comic genre.

Characters

Plot

	Obertura de The Bride Sold Interpreted by the London Philharmonic Orchestra in 1930
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Set in a village and featuring realistic characters, it tells the story of how, after a late surprise reveal, true love prevails.

Act I

Village square.
The opera begins with a chorus of peasants talking about the customs of the Czech folk hymen (Let's have fun).

Initial cut.

Among them are Mařenka and Jeník. Mařenka is sad because her parents want to marry her off to a stranger. She loves Jeník even though, as she explains in her aria "If she ever knew", she knows nothing of her background. A passionate love duet follows (& # 34; Loyal love cannot be harmed & # 34;), in which they express their love for each other.

As the couple leaves separately, Mařenka's parents, Ludmila and Krušina, enter with Kecal, a matchmaker. After some discussion, Kecal announces that he has found a boyfriend for Mařenka, Vašek, a fatuous and stuttering boy, son of Tobías Mícha, a wealthy landowner. The eldest son, he explains, is a despicable tarambana. A trio between him and Marenka's parents follows, beginning with a wild and catchy matchmaker aria, repeating the words "všecko je hotovo" ("the deal is done"), trying to convince the parents. Kecal paints Vasek as a boy with a stutter, the exact opposite of him ("He's a nice boy, well educated"). Marenka arrives and they propose to her, and in the subsequent foursome she reveals her intense love for Jeník. Kecal says that he has a contract with Mícha signed in front of witnesses and that the union must be done, to which Marenka responds coldly. Kecal and Marenka's mother grieve over what happened, and hope they can fix it, one trying to convince her daughter and the other talking to Jeník. After the trio and the little dialogue spoken between Kecal and the mother, the young people of the town burst onto the scene and dance the polka. The boys dance joyfully and carefree.

Act II

Interior of the inn
It opens with an orchestral piece, a toast from Jeník with his friends under the watchful eye of Kecal. In the tavern, everything is joy and toast, with a high-pitched note from Jeník in the phrase "a jediná na světě radost" ("it is the most beautiful joy in the world"), referring to love. The joy and general uproar lead to a second orchestral piece, a "Furiant", a small and vigorous dance. Vasek appears, stuttering and half stupid, who only attends to his mother. Marenka recognizes him as her future husband and then, without making herself known, warns him that if he marries Marenka, she will treat him very badly, that he has to marry a young lady from the village who is crazy about him, but for him to accept it has to fervently reject Marenka. He agrees, very scared. Kecal continues with his plan. He invites Jeník to a drink and tells her his intention: to sell his girlfriend for money. He is indignant with her, and replies that he would not sell her for a million gulden. But he changes his mind when he finds out who the buyer is: Tobías Mícha's son. When he finds out, a radical change occurs in him and he sells the bride to the said buyer for 300 gulden. The contract is closed in front of the townspeople, to a boisterous chorus repeating the words "Hanba, hanba!" ("What a shame! What a shame!"), incessantly in one of the finales that repeat more the chopped notes of a sostenuto finale.

Act III

Same square as Act I.
It opens with an aria by Vasek, which expresses his fear of a possible female attack. The town is celebrating, some comedians have arrived and announce their show to the sound of drums and recorders. They give a sample of their circus while the orchestra thunders with the third and last known dance of the work: "The Dance of the Comedians". When the actors finish, they lament that they have lost the actor who played the bear, one of the main attractions of the circus. They see the silly boy and try to take advantage of him to play the role of a bear (disguised), without paying him anything, just making a false promise: that Esmeralda, the pretty girl from the circus, will love him. He comically utters: "Oh, já ne... nešt'astný! Všecky mne chtějí mi... mi... milovat a... a zabít!" ("Oh! What a wr... miserable I am! All the ch... ch... gals love me, but they... want to ma... ma... kill me!&# 3. 4;). Vasek's parents, Tobías Mícha and Hata, appear and tell him that he has to marry Marenka, which he fearfully rejects, remembering Marenka's own words when she was cheating on him by posing as someone else. Finally, Marenka comes onstage and Vasek reveals that she was the girl who warned him against Marenka. When he understands who Marenka is, he accepts the engagement. Marenka rejects him. Kecal shows him the contract by which Jeník, her love, sold her for 300 gulden to Tobías Mícha's son. Desperate, she asks for a while to reflect and think about what to do. She laments her misfortune in an aria filled with intense lyricism and pain, and she decides to take revenge on Jeník by marrying Vasek. But at that moment Jeník arrives, and proves the love of his girlfriend. She rejects him, insults him, although he tries to explain everything to her. In this duet Jeník sings the folk song under the words "Tak tvrdošíjná, dívko, jsi, že nechceš pravdu zvědět! Což mohl bych do tváří tvých tak směle primo hledět? Tak tvrdošíjná, dívko jsi,že nechceš pravdu zvědět!" ("Are you so stubborn that you deny the truth? Will I be able to look at you frankly and without being ashamed?") and she, for her part, sings "Tak ošemetný muž jsi ty, nechci o tobě vědět, ni do falešných tváří tvých co živa více hledět!" ("You are a complete liar! I do not want to know anything about you, nor look into your eyes as long as I live!"). Everyone bursts onto the scene. When everything seems lost for Marenka, and everyone is harassing her to marry Vasek, Jeník comes in and reveals her tremendous secret: he is also the son of Tobías Mícha, because he got a woman pregnant before going to war! And in the sales contract he did not specify the name of Vasek, but only that of Tobías Mícha's son. Mícha is tremendously glad to get his son back. Marenka hugs Tobías Mícha's son, Jeník. Suddenly, a regiment of kids run terrified by the presence of a bear. The town is alarmed. The bear arrives, but with the head of a man: it is Vasek in disguise. Everyone laughs at him, who is happy playing. Mícha blesses the union of his son with Marenka, whose parents also agree. The work closes with a joyous final chorus.

Recordings

On the Operadis website there are 34 recordings of the opera. The following selection from the discography is made including those mentioned in The Ideal Opera Nightclub, The Ideal Classical Music Nightclub and The New Penguin Guide to Compact Discs and Cassettes.