Secret, The (Tajemstvi / Das Geheimnis)
Comic Opera in Three Acts by Elisabeth Krasnohorska. English Version by Ernest Warburton.
Composer: Smetana, Bedrich 1824 - 1884
Version: English version by Ernest Warburton.
The Secret (Tajemství) was fist performed on September 18, 1878 at the Nové Ceské Divadlo (New Czech Theatre) in Prague, and was composed under the strain of Smetana’s deteriorating health, financial troubles and progressive deafness. The opera returns to the village life of the composer’s earlier success The Bartered Bride (1866), with rustic merrymaking for musical and pictorial colour, and with a central theme of love triumphing over the trivial concerns of money and family. SYNOPSIS: Two couples are divided - in different ways - by the same family feud. The story ends with both couples united: the titular secret is a treasure map, left by a wise old monk, which takes middle-aged Councilor Kalina through a tunnel to the cellar of his old love’s house - a way of telling him that the real treasure he seeks could be his for the asking.
Instrumentation
2+picc.2.2.2. / 4.2.3.0. / timp / bells / gtr / str
Format
F/S V/S C/P O/S
Publisher
JW