About the work
Bedřich Smetana's three-act opera, the most-performed Czech opera of all, was premiered in Prague in 1866 — and revised in several steps until in 1870 the version familiar today, with sung recitatives, was finalised. Karel Sabina's libretto is a rural comedy centred on the marriage of the young Mařenka.
Plot
In a Bohemian village at the time of the church fair, Mařenka and Jeník are in love. Mařenka's parents, however, have promised the marriage broker Kecal that they will marry their daughter to the stammering Vašek, son of the wealthy farmer Mícha by his first marriage. Mařenka persuades Vašek to renounce her freely. Kecal then offers Jeník three hundred gulden to give Mařenka up — Jeník apparently agrees, with the condition that she may marry only a son of Mícha. The arrival of a travelling circus troupe brings in the comic dancing bear. The secret is revealed: Jeník is the long-lost first son of Mícha — the condition is therefore fulfilled, Mařenka marries Jeník, and Vašek joins the circus troupe.
Cultural significance
The Bartered Bride is the iconic Czech national opera and a key work of the late nineteenth century. The Polka, Furiant and Dance of the Comedians belong to the concert repertoire. The opera fuses folk character (with quoted Bohemian dances) with high compositional refinement and, together with Smetana's symphonic poem „The Moldau", established the Czech musical sense of identity.