About the work
Die Braut von Korea (The Bride of Korea) is a ballet in four acts and nine scenes by Josef Bayer, with a libretto by Heinrich Regel and choreography by Josef Hassreiter. It premiered on 22 May 1897 at Vienna's Court Opera (Hofoperntheater), a few years after the First Sino-Japanese War, against whose backdrop the plot is set.
Plot
The Prince of Korea falls in love with Daisha, a servant's daughter, but before a decisive battle has an opium den foretell his prospects in war. At the harbour he marries a veiled woman who turns out to be Daisha in disguise; Japanese troops capture her, but she frees herself and the prince through a ruse, and the couple flees to Seoul for the royal wedding celebration.
Cultural significance
The production was known for its lavish costumes and sets; a "Pagoda Polka" drawn from the score was published separately as a salon piece by the Berlin publisher Schlesinger. The ballet's exoticised East Asian subject remains the focus of a dedicated scholarly monograph published in 2014.