May14 2025 (Wed)
7:00 PM

The Bartered Bride

Opera by Bedřich Smetana

The National Theatre in Prague | Opera and Ballet

180 minutes | Available

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Date: May 14, 2025 | 19:00 (Wed)
Venue: The National Theatre in Prague
Duration: 180 minutes
Status: Available
Reviews: (6)
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Bedřich Smetana’s Bartered Bride presented by the acclaimed Prague National Theatre soloists

Czech original version with English surtitles 

For over 150 years, The Bartered Bride has been regarded as a jewel among Czech operas. Said to be now part of the Czech DNA, its popularity even eclipses that of Bedřich Smetana, its creator. Yet at the time when it came into being, in the 1870s, The Bartered Bride was a rather daring experiment.

Smetana and the librettist Karel Sabina masterfully mocked all those who expected the “national opera” to be an idyllic picture of the Czech countryside, with its inhabitants being virtuous and governed by high morals. The Bartered Bride is thus far more humorous than “national”. Nonetheless, its humour is precisely of the type Czechs so love, and hence Smetana’s opera, abounding in irony, scathing, occasionally even cynical, wit, as well as tenderness and simple joie de vivre, has ultimately become “national” in the best sense of the word ...

To date, the National Theatre in Prague has made 20 productions of The Bartered Bride. The 21st was entrusted to the film and stage director Alice Nellis. What will prevail now? Sentimental foregrounding of the life in a picturesque Czech village, or jest and the self-irony with which Smetana and Sabina imbued their opera? Don’t guess. Come and see for yourself!

Performing: 

National Theatre soloists
National Theatre Chorus
National Theatre Orchestra

National Theatre Opera Ballet 

Important:

  • 20 min. intermission
  • Purchased tickets cannot be returned or exchanged.
  • No discounts are provided. 
  • Theatre is a cultural institution. Please respect the common principles of appropriate behaviour and clothing.
  • The program may be subject to change.
  • The price includes service fee of 3,7 € (100,- CZK)

Prague opera and ballet 

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