Baltimore Opera Company

Study Guide

The Bartered Bride
Prodaná Nevesta

At A Glance

Opera in three acts

Music – Bedrich Smetana

b. 2 March, 1824; Litomyšl , Bohemia (Western part of what is now the Czech Republic )

d. 12 May, 1884; Prague

Libretto – Karel Sabina

Premiere: 30 May, 1866; Prague

Principal Characters:

Marenka (Mar-ZSHANK-ah) a young peasant woman Soprano

Jeník (YAY-nick) her sweetheart Tenor

Kecal (KET-zahl) a marriage broker Bass

Vašek (VAH-shek) younger son of Mícha Tenor

Mícha (MEE-ka) a landowner Bass

Krušina (Kru-SHEE-nah) Marenka's father Baritone

Ludmilla (Lude-MIL-lah) Marenka's mother Mezzo soprano

Háta (HAH-tah) Mícha's second wife Mezzo soprano

The Bartered Bride takes place in a village in Bohemia (what is now the Czech Republic ) during the 19 th century.

Bed R ich Smetana

Born in a time of great nationalist beliefs, Bedrich Smetana was one of the dissidents of the Austrian rule in Czechoslovakia . The Austrians forced all Czechs to follow Austrian tradition and culture. Smetana was born in Bohemia in a town called Litomyšl. He was the first Czech composer to embrace the old traditions and folk songs from the Czech culture and incorporate them into his music for the public to enjoy.

Smetana showed great talent at an early age in music. He learned the skills of piano and, despite his parents' advice against it, went to study in Prague and Plzen in order to secure a career in music. He became a concert pianist and a piano teacher, which is how he made his living until 1848. At this point, Smetana became involved in the Prague Revolution, in which he guarded the street barricades. Soon afterwards, he married his first wife, Katerina Kolárová, who was another pianist. The new couple moved to Göteborg , Sweden , where Smetana created a music school. There he started composing symphonic tone-poems. Smetana and Kolárová had four children together, but three of them died during their childhood. To make matters worse for Smetana, even Kolárová died in 1858. After she died, he decided to remarry his brother's sister-in-law and move back to Sweden . Rising tensions surrounding Czech nationalism brought Smetana back to his home in Czech in 1861. He decided that he wanted to become a conductor at the newly opened nearby Prague Provisional Theatre. After some time, he started composing Czech nationalist operas for the theatre. Five years after his return home, Smetana used the libretto by Karl Sabina, a famous nationalist poet, in the composition of his first opera, Branibori v Cechách ( The Brandenburgers in Bohemia ). That same year, he composed and produced his most famous opera, Prodaná nevesta ( The Bartered Bride ), which contained traditional Czech dances. These two operas won him the title of conductor at the Prague Provisional Theatre, after which Smetana produced several more operas and more symphonic poems, each combining Czech history and culture with musical lyricism.


All of Smetana's musical talent, however, was almost brought to a complete halt after he became seriously ill with the infectious disease, syphilis. In the 1870s, he gradually lost his hearing to the point that one ear became completely deaf. Like Beethoven and Mozart before him, Smetana went on composing even after illness and difficulties. Smetana's “From My life” comprises of a very high pitched note in the last movement, which is supposed to resemble the undying note he heard in his head because of his illness. He wrote three more operas after deafness came upon him and also composed several more nationalistic symphonies until the year before his death. In 1883, his health condition became so severe that he was sent to the Prague lunatic asylum. He died a year later in May of 1884 after years of exhibiting his talent and genius, never denying his background and belonging to his country.

-Lily Friedman

Karel Sabina

Some believe that The Bartered Bride is Karel Sabina's confession of all his wrongdoings of the past. Before he wrote libretti, Sabina led a very interesting life, which few know much about. He was arrested in 1848 as a rebel and condemned to death. Thankfully, his sentence was changed to twenty years in prison. After he served his sentence and got out in 1857, he realized that he needed to find a way to make a living. He took on his old passion of writing essays, novels, and poetry, and even managed to write a few libretti on the side. Because of his rebellious past, not many people would speak to Sabina. Smetana, however, saw Sabina's potential and together they wrote and composed several operas including Sabina's most famous opera, The Bartered Bride . After eleven years of writing, he was accused of being a police spy by the nationalist party and he was banished from his homeland, the Czech Nation. He died in exile and in extreme poverty in 1871.

-Lily Friedman

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