PERFORMANCE DETAIL

“My opera will be a puzzle for many critics...,” noted down Smetana during his work on The Devil’s Wall, which is a remarkable piece full of scenic and musical fantasy. It is a collage of Romantic flow, comicality, inner emotions of arias and duets, craftiness of musical ensembles, choruses, dissonance, and a concise account of the upcoming music of the 20th century.

The libretto was written by Eliška Krásnohorská, who was inspired by an old legend. It is a story of a devil that seeks his own profit and tries to prevent mister Vok from getting married and from preserving his family line. In his music, Smetana added to the story some strong autobiographical aspects. The music depicts his desire for love, hope, personal happiness, social rehabilitation, and destruction of his devil’s wall – the wall created by his deafness, tormenting hallucinations, and madness creeping into his life and killing him slowly.