Musicologica Olomucensia

No Compromise by Notes - Prodaná nevěsta [The Bartered Bride] in Vienna in the Years 1893 and 1896

The study is dedicated to the reception of the first German performances of the opera Prodaná nevěsta by Bedřich Smetana in Vienna - in 1893 in the Theater an der Wien, and later in 1896 in Hofoper. Smetana's comic opera came to the Viennese stage as late as almost thirty years after its birth. The work, which was already perceived in Bohemia as part of autonomous Czech music culture as well as a prototype of the national opera of that day, was performed in Vienna during a nationally and politically tense period when Czech society still felt disillusion after the collapse of the Austro-Bohemian compromise in the 1870s. The issue of the position of the Czech Lands within the monarchy had become topical once again by that time. The year 1890 saw a new (and until the outbreak of World War I also the last) attempt at strengthening the centralism, which was rejected by the (non-uniform) opposition in the Czech Lands. In this situation, the Czech National Theatre was visiting the International Exhibition of Music and Theatre (Internationale Ausstellung für Musik- und Theaterwesen) organized in Vienna 1892, where Smetana's Prodaná nevěsta clearly won. This performance was followed by the both above-mentioned premieres on the Viennese stages: first in Theater an der Wien, led by private lessors, and three years later on the official court scene. Based on documents from the archives of the Court Opera, the contemporary press and other sources, the study presents examples of the political context of both the premieres and their reviews by the contemporary satire.

Keywords: Bedřich Smetana, opera, reception, political contexts, The Bartered Bride