The author of the libretto, the writer and playwright Julius Zeyer, drew inspiration from Celtic myths, as recounted in works by the French historians and philologists Henri d’Arbois de Jubainville and Théodore Hersart de La Villemarqué, as well as the Scottish poet James Macpherson’s The Poems of Ossian. The mythical bard Ossian and his father Fingal (King Finn), as well as King Cormac, feature in Zeyer’s play and Ostrčil’s opera, depicting a gripping story of forbidden love, betrayal and revenge, set in Ancient Ireland.
The Legend of Erin has been undertaken by the conductor Robert Jindra, Music Director of the National Theatre Opera, and the stage director Jiří Heřman, artists well known to the Prague audience.
