Czech operas

[Alan Howe]

Although I have some Czech operas (the usual suspects), I wonder whether friends have any recommendations/comments about the following, all available on Supraphon:
Blodek: In the Well
Dvorak: The Cunning Peasant; Kate and the Devil; The Stubborn Lovers; The Jacobin
Fibich: The Bride of Messina
Novak: Lucerna
Smetana: The Brandenburgers in Bohemia; The Devil's Wall; The Kiss; Dalibor

[Jamie]

For Dvorák, I strongly recommend the Supraphon recordings of The Devil and Kate and especially The Jacobin. The Jacobin is my close second favorite to Rusalka and is set in a town very similar to Nelahozeves, Dvorák's birthplace. In addition, the main female character, Terinka, shares her name with Terinka Liehmann, who was his first love and was the daughter of his first music teacher in 1857. The Orfeo version conducted by Gerd Albrecht is a good alternative.

For Fibich, I'm only familiar with Sárka in the Orfeo live recording conducted by Sylvain Cambreling. It is a magnificent work, based on the same tragic tale used by Smetana in Má Vlast.

[febnyc]

Alan - herewith from a friend who knows opera, and these Czech operas, quite well:

For Dvorak, The Stubborn Lovers and The Cunning Peasant are comedies from the 1870s. They both suffer from wordy librettos that offer little in the way of help to a composer setting them to music. However, they each contain moments of true Dvorakian brilliance. If one is a Dvorak completist like me, they are indispensable. If not they can be passed over. Kate and the Devil is from Dvorak's maturity and contains some memorable moments. But I find the awkward comedy of the libretto weighs it down a bit. Overall, worth a listen. The Jacobin is one of my favorite operas, period. The subject of exiles from the Czech lands missing their homeland was close to his heart and elicited some of the greatest music he ever wrote. Beware of the CD version however. Supraphon inexplicably made the cut between CD 1 and CD 2 in the MIDDLE of the famous duet, killing the emotional climax of the piece. Go with the LP if you have the option.

Blodek's In the Well is a charming, early romantic piece sure to raise a smile. Think the operas of Moniuszko for a reference.

Novak's The Lantern is in his later more modern idiom. There are great moments but overall I prefer his earlier masterpiece The Storm.

All of the Smetana operas are worthwhile. Smetana once joked that "first operas, like kittens, should be drowned." However The Brandenburgers in Bohemia is full fledged mature Smetana and very good. If one likes Libuse and Bartered Bride you'll find much to enjoy. The Kiss is a slighter work but charming nonetheless. Dalibor is in the heroic opera mold, think (Dvorak's Dimitri), and The Devil's Wall, his last work, is a little more modern, closer to the quartets than Bartered Bride. But they are all excellent operas.

Fibich's The Bride of Messina is in his more declamatory word setting style, unlike Sarka and some others. I think it is brilliant if you like that sort of opera style.

I hope this helps.

[Alan Howe]

This is an absolutely superb and helpful survey - thanks very much indeed!

[edurban]

Alan, I'm a fan of The Bride of Messina.  Fibich set Schiller's play directly, although translated and cut, and this eliminated the use of arias and set pieces.  Instead there are extended monologues for the characters and a set of identifying motives.  The plot is as tragic as it gets, of course, and the music is passionate and often colored by Czech folk music.  The third act is great stuff, with a magnificent funeral march that lasts almost 10 minutes (what a challenge for the director!) 

It's an opera I'm happy to own, but given its rather experimental structure-which perhaps only a truly great composer could have carried off, not everyone will want to drop the price of 2 Suprafon discs on it...

David