BEDRICH SMETANA (1824–1884)

 

The Bartered Bride

 

Comic opera in three acts

Libretto by Karel Sabina, English version by Kit Hesketh-Harvey

 

Krusˇina, a farmer ................................................................................................Neal Davies baritone

Ludmila, his wife.............................................................................Yvonne Howard mezzo-soprano

Marˇenka, their daughter ................................................................................Susan Gritton soprano

Mícha, a smallholder ..........................................................................................Geoffrey Moses bass

Háta, his wife...................................................................................Diana Montague mezzo-soprano

Vasˇek, their son............................................................................................Timothy Robinson tenor

Jeník, Mícha’s son from his first marriage ..........................................Paul Charles Clarke tenor

Kecal, a village marriage-broker ................................................................................Peter Rose bass

Ringmaster ..........................................................................................................Robin Leggate tenor

Esmeralda, circus artist ...............................................................................Yvette Bonner soprano

Indian, circus artist ............................................................................................Kit Hesketh-Harvey

 

Philharmonia Orchestra

The Royal Opera Chorus/ Sir Charles Mackerras

 

Composing The Bartered Bride was quite a struggle for Smetana, and his second opera was received at its premiere with frigid indifference. It took seven years, four rewrites and a significant political change in Central Europe before it achieved the popular acclaim which ensured its survival in the repertoire. Smetana’s revisions were comprehensive. In the original, the dramatic action was entirely carried forward by speech – as it is in The Magic Flute or Cornelius’s The Barber of Baghdad. By giving the recitatives an orchestral accompaniment, Smetana shifted the piece firmly away from the territory of operetta or opéra comique, converting what is in some respects a formulaic comedy into a score that hints at darker emotions underneath.The original work was cast in two acts and made a rather lightweight evening’s entertainment. In restructuring

it, Smetana split the opera into three, with an opening scene in Act II which is a virtual miniature folk festival. Even the original opera was permeated with folk melodies and rhythms, but by building an entire scene from traditional dances, Smetana fashioned a form of vernacular musical theatre which spawned imitations for the next half century.  And his transformation of the overture’s development section into the complex comic finale to Act II is as inventive as anything by Rossini.

 

In today’s Prague, it is still heresy to suggest that Dvoˇrák was the more profound creator of romantic opera and Janáˇcek the more penetrating and heart-rending musical dramatist.Where Smetana excels is in reflective lyrical writing. The extended ensemble at the centre of Act III does nothing to forward the drama, but searches into the souls of the principal characters and more than compensates for the opera’s lack of dramatic

development.We do not go to Smetana for psychology or spiritual depth, but there is no need for special pleading when the drama is dressed in such inebriating rhythms and such melodic grace. It is these qualities which ensure that The Bartered Bride is the one opera by Smetana which will always find a place in any theatre and in any language.

 

Smetana's Bartered Bride used to be a popular repertoire work in the UK but lately has fallen from favour. This splendid recording - part of Sir Peter Moores's Opera in English series - conducted with passion and idiomatic authority by Mackerras, and cast with skill - should do much to restore the work's reputation. A delightful undertaking.

Gramophone

 

Chandos Opera in English 2cds CHAN3128-2