The Bartered Bride
Friday Jun 19
Župančičeva 1
He wrote eight operas, leaning predominantly on Czech cultural tradition. The most known among them is The Bartered Bride (1866). The composer was praised for the last time in 1881, when the new national theatre was inaugurated in Prague with his opera Libuše. Until then The Bartered Bride, which had already seen about a hundred productions in its homeland, was becoming more and more popular outside its borders as well, both for its joyful story about love that conquers all troubles and its music, masterfully coloured with the elements of folklore.
Smetana's masterpiece came to life on the Ljubljana Opera stage already in 1894 where it was very popular until the First World War. On 3 December 1918 the Ljubljana Opera Ensemble was Joined in this performance by professional Ballet Ensemble for the first time. The performance remained on their repertoire even later. The last staging, which was warmly welcomed by our audience as well, took place on this stage in 1998. The new production of The Bartered Bride in our opera theatre will be entrusted to a renowned Czech stage director Jiří Nekvasil and a guest conductor from the National Theatre in Prague, David Švec.
Text from www.opera.si.