Bedřich Smetana, Libuše (1881)

It's my two hundred fifty-fifth opera. You know what that means, don't you? It means that if this were The Legend of Zelda, and I'd maxed out my money, and each opera cost one rupee to watch, now I'd have to go around slaughtering octoroks if wanted to watch any more. Well, I guess that would've happened earlier, given that I've seen some in multiple productions. BUT LOOK, let's just accept that if you pay to see one once, you own it; future viewings are free. BE REASONABLE. So obviously this is important, but it is NOTHING compared to what it'll be like when I see my sixty-five thousand five hundred thirty fifth opera. That'll be a momentous occasion for sure. Good lord, is all this Coronavirus bullshit making me even more flakey than usual? A frightful thought.

Smetana is best-known for his extremely delightful comic opera The Bartered Bride. I somehow never got around to writing about it here, but rest assured: it's one of the funnest things you'll see, and this production from Garsington Opera is one of the best I've seen on Operavision. It's still up, so what are you waiting for?

Anyway, this one is considerably less well-known. I think this Operavision production--which is long-removed--was the only way you could've seen it. However, I suspect that the composer, and probably a lot of other Czechs at the time, would've thought it was more significant, as it's one of these patriotic operas about a country's history. Libuše is a legendary figure in Czech history who is supposed to have started a dynasty and founded the city of Prague. The opera starts with two brothers, Chrudoš and Šťáhlav, arguing about their inheritance. Chrudoš, being the elder brother, thinks he should inherit everything, whereas Šťáhlav naturally would prefer something more egalitarian. They take their grievance to the queen, Libuše, who finds in favor of the latter. The former gets pissed off and wonders why he should accept judgment from a dumb girl. She decides that she should get married so she'd be seen as more legitimate. She asks the people to choose a husband for her, but they tell her that she should decide for herself--seems fair--so she chooses a farmer named Přemysl, a childhood friend who--lucky break--is also in love with her. We learn why Chrudoš was so grumpy: it's not just because he's a jerk; it's that he's in love with a woman, Krasava, and she's in love with him, only he was kind of clumsy and awkward and took his sweet time in telling her, so for revenge, she pretended to be in love with his brother instead, which seems somewhat perverse. Anyway, they work things out and both couples are married. Libuše has visions about the future of the Czech people. That is all.

For a foreigner with no vested interest in Czech-ness, this was nonetheless not a wholly unpleasant experience to sit through, in its extremely low-stakes way. I don't think the music is as good as in The Bartered Bride, but maybe that's at least in part because that one is telling a more interesting story. But here's the thing: this opera is almost three hours long, and very little actually happens in it. Such plot as there is is basically confined to the first half; after that, it's basically everyone just celebrating. Apparently, this is reserved for special occasions in its homeland; this production was put on to celebrate the centenary of an independent Czechoslovakia. So...fair enough, I suppose; this is emphatically not being aimed at me, so I shouldn't cavil. Still, most humans, like me, are not Czechs, and I suspect that they, like me, will find this of more academic interest than anything else. I mean really, if done responsibly, celebrating your national identity is all good fun and all, but I feel like a more engaging work like The Bartered Bride, even if it doesn't specifically center on the topic, might be a better way to do that.