Document - Bedrich Smetana

SMETANA, Bedrich. Document signed ('Bedr. Smetana'), acknowledging the receipt of proceeds from The Bartered Bride, n.p. [?Prague], 15 March 1871. 

In Czech. One page (115 x 210mm) printed form completed in manuscript, laid down with tape onto letterhead paper (145 x 240mm), (two paper reinforcements). 

Smetana receives the financial rewards from The Bartered Bride, one of the cornerstones of Czech national opera. He confirms to the directors [of the Czech Provisional Theatre] that he has received 18 zlatnik/78 koruna or 10% of the income from The Bartered Bride.

Even before he became the principal conductor of the Prague Provisional Theatre in September 1866, Smetana was acutely aware of the need for a new body of Czech works for the Prague stage. The theatre was still in its infancy when he took up his baton, having been founded just four years previously, and Czech national opera was in a similar position. The Bartered Bride was the second of his operatic works composed with this in mind: it had first premiered in 1866 at the Provisional Theatre, to an audience hungry for original Czech opera, but only became truly successful once Smetana presented a revised version in 1870.

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