Despite heavy snowfall in and around Munich, all performances at the Bayerische Staatsoper will take place today. Please allow for longer travel times.
Bedrich Smetana
Composer Bedrich Smetana. Libretto by Karel Sabina.
In German with German and English surtitles. New Production.
Reduced tickets for children and young people are only available by telephone on T +49.(0)89.21 85 1920 or at the box office at Marstallplatz 5 and not directly online.
Seeing his love succeed against the will of the parents is pretty difficult in a rural setting. Especially when he is also considered an outsider, things do not look good with the parents-in-law, and there's a lot of money in the mix as well. But what Hans negotiates with Kezal the marriage broker, without discussing it with his beloved Marie, certainly requires a very special kind of chutzpah, and it very nearly goes all wrong – bartering his loved one to a certain person, which turns out through rhetorical trickery to be himself, only becomes evident as a good idea at the end. Which once again proves: The comedy is only a tragedy avoided at the very last minute.
The story from Smetana's successful opera The Bartered Bride of 1866 evolved into a hit around the globe via something of a detour – it is not the Czech original that made it into the repertoire, but rather and in particular the German translation by Max Kalbeck, which has the right popular song qualities. And the interplay between seriousness and comedy is as if made for director David Bösch, who is more than happy with ..., "I know a girl, she's got the money".
