Musically, Bedřich Smetana’s The Bartered Bride is marvellous, vivid, dance-infused work. In the second performance of the run, conductor Jac van Steen and the Philharmonia Orchestra were achieving ...

Although in The Bartered Bride Smetana largely avoided the direct quotation of folksong, the music he composed was considered to be Czech in spirit, meaning that he succeeded in his aim of creating a ...

It’s a sure sign of disaster when the loudest cheer during an opera comes in response to a circus divertissement. Sadly, this was the case in this, the Royal Opera’s second revival of Francesca ...

And it has an anti-hero in the person of a youth with a stammer, who gets laughed at and ends up as a circus bear. The fact that the proposed sale is a trick to enable a genuine love match is the sort ...

The Bartered Bride is coming to The National Theatre in Prague next month. Bedřich Smetana's The Bartered Bride is a true evergreen of Czech theatre and music. Every single Czech should see the opera ...

Here is the background to creation of one of the icons of Czech culture, Bedřich Smetana’s The Bartered Bride.

Comic operas rarely seem comic, but this overture's riotous tempo hints at a farcical story of frivolity. Smetana adds a dollop of Czech dances to the mix and cooks up a fun-filled feast.

These days, more performances of music from Bedrich Smetana's opera The Bartered Bride come from the concert stage than from the opera pit. The opera is nearly defunct, but these dances have survived.