About the work
Zwei Witwen (Czech: Dvě vdovy, The Two Widows) is a comic opera in two acts by Bedřich Smetana to a libretto by Emanuel Züngel, based on the one-act play “Les deux veuves” by the French playwright Félicien Mallefille. Smetana composed the work between 1873 and 1874 and conducted its premiere himself on 27 March 1874 at the Provisional Theatre in Prague.
Plot
The wealthy widow Karolína urges her reserved, still-grieving cousin Anežka to open herself to life again, and has the landowner Ladislav — whom she wrongly suspects of poaching — placed under arrest to bring the two together. Only when Ladislav sings a love song from his confinement does Anežka recognise her feelings for him, spurred on by Karolína’s own flirtatious interest in him. The evening closes with a celebration at which two couples are united, including the secondary pair Lidka and Toník.
Cultural significance
Prague’s conservative critics initially found the through-composed, Wagner-influenced score unsettling; in 1877 Smetana thoroughly revised the opera, replacing spoken dialogue with recitative and adding new numbers. In this second version, “Zwei Witwen” has remained a staple of the Czech operatic repertoire ever since.