e to her alone the selection of a
husband. Don Diego granting this, she answers: "Then I choose him who
conquered pride through pride." "And who may this happy mortal be?"
says Cesar. "You ask? It's you my tyrant," she replies, and with
these words sinks into her lover's open arms.

{363}

THE SOLD BRIDE.

Comic Opera in three acts by FR. SMETANA.

Libretto by K. SABINA.

German text by MAX KALBECK.

Poor Smetana! Nature had put on his brow the stamp of genius, but he
never lived to see his glory. After grief and sorrow and direst need
he died in a madhouse, and now posterity heaps laurels on his grave.
The Sold Bride has been represented in Prague over 300 times, and it
begins to take possession of every noted stage in Europe.

The subject forms a simple village-idyll, without any strong contrasts,
its ethical motive lies in its representation of quaint old customs and
in the deep-rooted patriotic love; but the whole opera is literally
steeped in euphony.

The overture has its equal only in Figaro, and a perfect stream of
national airs flows through the whole.

The first chorus "See the buds open on the bush" is most original, the
national dance in the second act is full of fire and the rope dancers'
march is truly Slavonic in its quaintness.

The scene is laid in a village in Bohemia. It is Spring-Kirmess, and
everybody is gay. Only Mary, the daughter of the rich peasant
Kruschina carries a heavy heart within her, for the day has come, on
which the unknown bridegroom, chosen by her parents will claim her
hand. She loves Hans, known to her as a poor servant, who has come to
her village lately, and who is in reality her bridegroom's {364} half
brother. He consoles her, beseeching her to cheer up and be faithful
to him, and then tells her, that he comes of wealthy people. Having
lost his mother early, his father wedded a second wife, who estranged
his heart from the poor boy so, that he had to gain his daily bread
abroad. She deeply sympathizes with him, without guessing his real
name.

Meanwhile Mary's parents approach with the matchmaker Kezul, a
personage common in Bohemia, who has already won Kruschina's consent to
his daughter's marriage with Wenzel, son of the rich farmer Micha by a
second marriage. Mary's mother insisting that her child's will is to
be consulted before all, the father consents to let her see the
bridegroom, before she decides. Kezul, though angry at this unlook