Musicologica Olomucensia

The premieres of The Bartered Bride and Dalibor in Warsaw and Lviv, which took place between 1895 and 1902, became an opportunity for Polish music critics to compare these works with Stanisław Moniuszko’s operas, which in Poland played a similar role to Smetana’s operas in the Czechia, representing the national opera on the local and international forum. These comparisons were very critical of Moniuszko, which resulted from the fact that in the relevant period there was a coming to terms with the achievements of the previous decades, characterized by the decline of the national economy and culture. In the part of this discussion that concerned musical culture, Moniuszko – the composer active in the mid-19th century – even became a symbol of this decline, which creates a paradox in comparison with his image of a “national bard” functioning in popular circulation. The leitmotif of the discussion on the function of Smetana’s and Moniuszko’s works as representations of national opera was to recall the success of The Bartered Bride at the Theatrical and Musical Exhibition in Vienna (1892) and, at the same time, the failure of performances of Moniuszko’s operas at that forum. For Polish critics, who regularly downplay the value of Moniuszko’s works due to their technical deficiencies, unclear dramatic concept and outdated style of opera, Smetana’s works have become a symbol of the rise of national music to the European level. The obvious persuasive intention contained in such statements, often excessively critical of Moniuszko, became a pretext for in-depth reflection on the tasks that should be undertaken by modern composers of national operas who want to become known in Europe. The second important thread of reflection on Smetana’s operas staged in Poland is related to the general attitude of the then Poles towards Czechs. This aspect is also visible in the researched writings on Smetana, showing differences in the approach of critics who shared conservative or liberal political views.

Keywords: Bedřich Smetana; Stanisław Moniuszko; national opera in the 19th century; Czech national music culture in the 19th century; Polish national music culture in the 19th century