Blodek – V studni (In the Well)

[Wheesht]

From Europa Disc's weekly column 'The Spin Doctor':

For many years (before the post-war 'discovery' of Janáček), Czech opera was known to international audiences almost exclusively through Smetana's comic opera The Bartered Bride. To native Czechs, however, one work came close to rivalling The Bartered Bride in popularity: the one-act comedy In the Well (V studni) by Vilém Blodek (1834–1874). A Prague native, Blodek started studying at the city's Conservatory even before he reached his teens: piano, and later flute and composition. His early career was as a music teacher in Galicia, before returning to Prague as a choir director. The only preparation he had for opera (apart from In the Well, his only other work in the genre was the historical comedy Zítek, left incomplete at his early death) was as a composer of incidental music for Prague's Czech and German theatres.

The libretti for both Blodek's operas were written by Karel Sabina, who was also responsible for The Bartered Bride. But In the Well is a rather different kettle of fish from Smetana's famous work. Based on a Slovene folk legend also common to neighbouring Slav lands, its compact dimensions are coupled with a musical style that has more in common with 19th-century German opera than any folk-influenced Czech style. Its small cast and modest forces made it ideal for amateur performance in provincial theatres, which was a significant readon for its huge popularity.

A 1981 Supraphon recording conducted by Jan Štych, with veteran bass Karel Berman in the comic role of the elderly farmer, will be familiar to many collectors. But the newly reissued 1959 recording by Prague National Theatre forces under František Škvor, only the second complete opera to be recorded by the state-owned record manufacturer Gramofonové závody using pioneering stereo technology, has only ever been issued previously in mono on vinyl. (It was preceded by Jaroslav Krombholc's recording of Janáček's Káťa Kabanová, and followed by Zdeněk Chalabala's still critically acclaimed account of The Bartered Bride.) Now at last this neglected gem gets the chance to shine in stereo, and Jan Lžičař has done a marvellous job of remastering from the original tapes.

The cast of just four soloists is headed by the lovely soprano of Milada Šubrtová as the young maiden Lidunka, with contralto Štěpánka Štěpánová as the wise Veruna, the ringing, honeyed and distinctly Czech tenor of Ivo Žídek as Lidunka's sweetheart Vojtěch, and bass Zdeněk Kroupa as the hapless elderly widower Janek. This was the first Czech opera to be 'through-composed' (i.e. without any punctuating dialogue, though still retaining traditional 'numbers'), and although there is little genuinely Czech flavour to the music itself, the entertaining score contains many delights, not least a scene-setting intermezzo depicting moonrise on Midsummer Eve, and some jolly choruses. Škvor conducts a sparkling account of this compact opera, which will be a welcome treat for lovers of Czech opera.


Blodek - V studni (In the Well) SU43412