Smetana: The Bartered Bride Overture

Wake up! Last week’s lullaby is over and it’s time for more spirited fare.

This coming week finds Professor Carol in Prague for the start of her boat tour down the Elbe for Smithsonian Journeys. It’s such tough duty that I have decided to wave good-bye at the dock. For a couple of days before the tour we will recover from jet-lag and film a supplemental scene for the Early Sacred Music course.

And what could be more Czech than Bedřich Smetana? Smetana (1824-1884) composed what might be considered his country’s signature work: Ma Vlast (My Homeland). The most famous movement in that collection of tone poems is The Moldau. And indeed, Professor Carol sets sail on the Moldau, the river in Prague which then merges into the Elbe and cuts a path across Eastern Germany.

But the performance pick for this week is not The Moldau (this is getting confusing), but rather the overture to Smetana’s opera The Bartered Bride. Why? Because we need something rousing after last week’s lullaby.

The Bartered Bride is also a milestone in Czech music. It represents Smetana’s successful attempt to compose an authentically Czech opera. Now remember what we said several weeks back about Nationalism and how composers turned to the folk styles to create an authentic national sound. You will surely hear the sound of peasant dances in this overture.