Bedřich Smetana is considered to be the founder of modern Czech music not only for his world-known compositions but also for his organisational and conducting activities. As principal conductor of the Prague Provisional Theatre between 1866 and 1874, Smetana gave birth to the first permanent Czech opera ensemble—the Prague National Theatre’s opera ensemble! In 1874, however, Smetana had to give up this work due to health issues, but he never stopped composing. During this period, Smetana completed not only three operas but also major chamber works such as two string quartets or the violin duets From the Homeland and, above all, the cycle of symphonic poems My Fatherland.
Opera works are the cornerstone of Bedřich Smetana’s remarkable oeuvre. He completed a total of eight operas, each of which is a mature, consistent, and in terms of dramaturgy highly original work presenting a different musical and dramatic universe. There are few world-class composers whose relatively extensive operatic oeuvre can be presented as a collection of equivalent compositions, even though each piece differs in its dramaturgy and genre.
The Ostrava opera company first presented all of Smetana’s complete operas in the sixth year of its existence in 1924, later in 1956, and for the last time in 1984! At that time, the Prague National Theatre performed the Smetana cycle as well, but no other opera house here or anywhere else in the world has attempted it since then. Since 1989, Smetana’s operas have largely disappeared from the repertoires of Czech opera houses and have only been performed very sporadically, less frequently than they deserve.
The dramaturges of National Moravian-Silesian Theatre’s opera company have decided for a major change and devised a systematic project to revive Bedřich Smetana‘s eight complete operas over the course of a decade as of 2014. In the 2023/2024 season, all the operas will be phased in until February 2024 and in view of the composer’s birth and death anniversaries on 2 March and 12 May staged as a complete cycle in two terms: 2–10 March and 4–12 May 2024.
Jiří Nekvasil
intendant of the National Moravian-Silesian Theatre