Good To Know & Brief Overview

In his search for a specifically Czech sound, Bedřich Smetana also tried to do justice to his love and admiration for the musical comedies of Mozart and Wagner - with astonishing success.

The work matured from a two-act Singspiel version with spoken dialog, first performed in 1866, to its through-composed, three-act form, which was premiered in 1870. The Bartered Bride owes its breakthrough to its Viennese performance at the then Court Opera in 1896 and was a core part of the Viennese opera repertoire until 1991.

On the one hand, the new production builds on the earlier Viennese tradition by deciding to produce the piece in a German translation. On the other hand, it breaks away from it to a certain extent, as Max Kalbeck's historical translation hardly does justice to the linguistic peculiarities of the original, its simplicity, poetry and directness.

A new version was therefore created in close collaboration with the musical and stage direction of the new production.

The work depicts the state of emergency in which an entire Czech village finds itself during a Kirtag and the seemingly hopeless struggle of young Mařenka for her seemingly betrayed and sold love for Jeník.

The utopian counter-world of a traveling circus holds up a mirror to the out-of-control desires of the villagers, their dependencies, fears and hopes.