The Genesis of 'the Bartered Bride'

8/3/2019 The Genesis of 'the Bartered Bride'

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THE GENESIS OF 'THE BARTERED BRIDE'BY GERALD ABRAHAM

THOUGHa simple opera, 'The Bartered Bride' has had a fairlycomplicated history. Not as complicated as that of' Boris Godunov',certainly, nor as important as that of' Fidelio ', yet by no meanswithout interest. And its history all falls within the lifetime of itscomposer; it is not a tale of posthumous re-hashing like the latterpart of the eventful story of 'Boris' or, to take another comicopera (with a. somewhat tragic history), Cornelius's ' Barbier vonBagdad'. As it happens, the histories of the 'Bride' and the'Barber' are slightly interwoven. Both were written under the signof Liszt, and it was actually at Weimar, in September I857, that thefirst germ of the work-or of such a work-found its way intoSmetana's mind. There was a gathering of musicians and otherartists in connection with the Karl August centennial celebrations,and Cornelius, always at Liszt's and the Princess Wittgenstein'sbeck and call, his 'Barber' held up largely on their account sinceearly in the year, was called upon to arrange a great deal of hos-pitality. Among the guests was Smetana, making a detour on hisway back to Sweden, and on one of the two or three days he spentthere the conversation turned on the necessity of creating a moderntype of comic opera as a complement to Wagner's work. Can wedoubt that Cornelius and his 'Barber' were the occasion for thatturn in the conversation? And a little later the Viennese Herbeckremarked somewhat tactlessly that, whereas the Czechs wereexcellent performers, they seemed incapable of creating any music oftheir own.1 " That evening ", Smetana said in later years, "wasdecisive for my whole life; I swore there and then that no other thanI should beget a native Czech music." From that meeting at WeimarCornelius fled, without even taking leave of his friends at theAltenburg,2 to finish sketching out his 'Barber' at Johannisberg;Smetana collected his sick wife and family at Dresden to continuetheir journey to Sweden, but carrying with him those two fruitful1 Some accounts date Herbeck's remark from a later meeting at Weimar, in June1859, but we know at any rate that Herbeck attended the Karl August Centenary.2 There was a new threat to his creative leisure: Liszt was again toying with his oldidea of an opera based on ' Manfred ', and he wanted Cornelius to translate and adaptByron. 36


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THE GENESIS OF 'THE BARTERED BRIDE'ideas of " a modern type of comic opera " and " a native Czechmusic ".

As it happened, when Smetana finally returned to settle in hisnative land in May I86I, his first major composition-thoughCzech enough-was not a comic opera but the historical andpatriotic ' Brandenburgers in Bohemia ', written for a prize com-petition. But even before he put the finishing touches to the'Brandenburgers' on April 23rd 1863, he was noting downthemes for a comic opera. As early as October 1862, for instance, hewrote in his note-book sixteen bars (4-4, vivace,G major) marked" Chorus in comedy ", which later became the theme of the openingchorus of the 'Bride', " Proc bychom se netesili " (in Mrs. New-march's version: " Come then, let us all be merry "). On May 13th1863 he noted eight bars (2-4, A major) marked " In comic opera.Duetto! ", afterwards used for the duet "Verne milovani" (" Ifour love is strong and true "). Again in September he recordednineteen bars (2-4, allegro,A major) for the comic duet " Milostnezvifatko" (" Now my dear Sir Bruin "). By that time he had atleast got a libretto; his diary for 1863 contains an entry: "July 5th.I've bought from Sabina the text for the comic operetta, which stillhas no name ". But this was probably not in the form he actuallyset, for we know that Sabina-who was also the librettist of the' Brandenburgers '-originally wrote the text in one act and thathe expanded it to two at Smetana's request. We must not, therefore,blame Sabina if we find the action a little thin when spread, as itnow is, over three acts; it is recorded that he said: " If I had sus-pected what Smetana would make of my operetta, I should havetaken more pains and written him a better and more solid libretto ".The original ' Bartered Bride ' consisted of twenty numbers,including the overture, the dialogue being spoken:

ACT I(i) Introductory chorus (with the little interlude for Mafenkaand Jenik, " Prodjsi tak zasmusila?"-" Why are you sosad to-day?").(2) Marenka's aria, " Kdybych se cos takoveho" (" If I thoughtyou would be faithless").(3) Duet, "Jako matka pozehnanim" (" Though a mother is ablessing ").(4) Kecal's "Jak vam pravim " (" As I said before, old crony ).3(5) Terzetto, " Mladik slu?ny" (" Such a pice lad ").(6) The ensemble " Tu ji mine " (" Here she comes ").(7) VaSek's" MAmatieka povidala " (" Mama said to me ").Kecal is never named in the composition sketch; he is always referred to simply asDohazovac (the marriage-broker), usually abbreviated to " Doh ".

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MUSIC AND LETTERS(8) Duet, " Znamt' j, jednu div6inu" ("I know of one lonelymaid ").(9) Duet, "Nuie, mily chasniku " ("Just a word with you, myboy "), with Kecal's "Kazdy jen tu svou " (" Ev'ry lover'sgirl ") and the duet " Znamt' jednu divku" (" I know amaiden ").(Io) Jenik's aria,'" Az uzfi " (" How could he ever dream?").(I ) Finale, " Pojd'te, lidiyky " (" Come here, neighboursall ").

ACTII(I) Vakek's "To mi v hlave lezi" ("With dread my wits arecumbered").(2) Couplets for Esmeralda and the Manager.(3) Duet, " Milostne zvihatko" (" Now, my dear Sir Bruin ").(4) Ensemble, "Jakze? Nechce ji! " (" What! What's this?"),with Mafenka's entry and the sextet.(5) Mafenka's recitative, "Ach, jak zial" (" Ah! Bitterness!")and Jenik's entrance, with the duet "Tak tvrdoijnou,divko, jsi " (" Now what a stubborn lass you are ").(6) Jenik's aria, " Uti se, divko " (" Take comfort, my dearest ")and the trio "Ted' pfivedu sem rodiCe" (" I'll summonback my people all ").(7) Ensemble, "Jak si se, Marenko, rozmyslila" ("Have youreflected?") as far as the entrance of the panic-strickenboys.(8) Finale, beginning with KruSina'swords, " Pomnete, kxnote "(" Come now, neighbour ").

Smetana appears not to have begun serious work on the com-position for nearly a year-perhaps because of the desired recastingof the text in two acts-though he seems to have written the overtureearlier; the musical paper ' Slavoj' (December ist 1863) reportsthe performance at the soiree of the Umelecka Beseda on NovemberI8th of a " comic overture by Smetana ", presumably at the piano.4The composition of the actual libretto seems to have been begunabout the end of August i864. Smetana's note-book contains anentry for I864:This year I have been composing a comic opera in two acts bySabina. I have tried to give it an entirely national character,as the action is from village life, where a bridegroomsells his sweet-heart, but really for himself-which calls for national6music.

4 Czech critics seem to agree in supposing that this " comic overture " was that to'The Bartered Bride '. But may it not have been the overture to the puppet play,'Doktor Faust' (for two horns, bass trombone, triangle, bass drum, strings and piano)composed in December 1862? Another puppet overture, to Kopecky's 'Oldfich aBczena ', for a similar collection of instruments, was written in December 1863 for theNew Year's Eve celebration of the Umelecki Beseda. Both overtures were published inminiature score by the Umelecka Beseda in 1945.b The word ncrodni,which I have here twice translated as " national ", is ambiguous:it may mean " national " or " popular ".

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THE GENESIS OF 'THE BARTERED BRIDE'Writing to a Swedish friend on October 12th 1865, the composertells her he has finished the pencil sketch. The scoring took another

five months, for the end of the score is dated March 5th i866. Andthe first version of' Prodana nevesta ' (literally, ' The Sold Bride ',which is of course more accurate6), was produced at the ProvisionalTheatre, Prague, on May 3oth, only two months after its com-pletion.The times were unfavourable; it was the eve of the Seven Weeks'War, and the audience was small.7 Smetana's friend Josef Srb-Debrnov did not go to the first performance, but he questioned theaudience as they came out of the theatre:One praised it, another shook his head, and one well-knownmusician, a celebrated organist, said to me: " That's no comicopera; it won't do. The opening chorus is fine, but I don't care forthe rest ".The second performance also had a poor audience and poor Thome,the director of the Theatre, told the composer: " Mit der' Prothana'ist nichts. You will be doing me the greatest pleasure if you cancelthe contract for the performance of this opera; otherwise I shallhave to pay you the 600 fl. out of my own pocket ". Yet the workhad a good press and when it was revived after the war-theEmperor Franz Josef was present at the third performance (Octo-ber 27th)-its success was beyond all doubt.But this was only the first version of the opera. Changes weremade from the very beginning. The prose dialogue had beendrastically cut even before the first performance and the coupletsfor Esmeralda and the Manager (No. 2 of Act II) were taken out.The need of a change of scene was also felt; for both acts wereplayed with the same scenery: the village square. Librettist andcomposer took counsel and January I869 saw the production of thesecond version of the 'Bride'. The first act was now divided,between Nos. 6 and 7, into two scenes of which the second wasplayed inside the inn and opened by a new drinking chorus. Theopening of the second act was enlivened by a polka-there were nodances in the first version-and after her recitative (No. 5) Mafenkawas given a new aria, " Ten lasky sen" (" Our dream of love ").A few months later further changes were made: the second part of

' Smetana's diary records that he himself gave it that name, " as the poet didn'tknow what to call it ".7 When news came of the crushing Austrian defeat at K6niggratz early in July,Smetana was thunderstruck. As composer of 'The Brandenburgers in Bohemia' heexpected to be shot when the Prussians entered Prague, or at best to be made to work withthe rest of the inhabitants at demolition of the fortifications. So he fled to the countrywith his family.

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MUSIC AND LETTERSAct I was made into a separate act, the polka was transferred fromthe beginning of the last act to the end of the first, the furiant-one of the few numbers based on actual folk-tunes-was insertedin Act II between the drinking-chorus and VaSek's first stutteringsong, and a third dance, the sko~na, was introduced in Act III.In this form-the third-' The Bartered Bride' was produced onJune ist 1869. Finally, in view of a forthcoming performance inRussian at the Maryinsky Theatre, St. Petersburg, Smetana replacedthe spoken dialogue by recitative, in which definitive form it wasgiven in Prague on September 25th I870.I have spoken above of the "pencil sketch" of the originalversion, finished in October I865. That sketch-in vocal score-was carefully preserved in the Bedrich Smetana Museum in Prague,and its recent publication in facsimile8 allows us some interestingglimpses of Smetana's method of work. On the whole it is veryclean, showing relatively few corrections, and there are hints hereand there-not very decided ones-that Smetana composed at thepiano. On that point the most reliable witnesses differ. Accordingto one Ferdinand Heller the 'Bride' was composed at the piano, whileSrb asserts that " Smetana never used the piano while composing;only when the work was finished would he go to the piano andplay it ". Obviously he did not need he piano, for three of his operasand all his best-known instrumental works were composed when hewas completely deaf. One piece of evidence, for what it is worth,is a recollection of Smetana's eighty-four-year-old nephew sent toMirko Ocadlik, the editor of the facsimile edition, in I94I. Thenephew, Alexander Kniesl, describes how as a six-year-old boystaying in the country in the summer of 1863 he often used to hearhis uncle playing on " an old black piano with a thin, hollowtone ": He would call me, a six-year-oldboy sitting on a little, low child'schair, to listen. " Do you like it? " my uncle would ask in a kindlyvoice.. . . Naturally at six I had no criticaljudgment-but it wasmusic and I would say, " Yes, I love it! "-But without realizing itI had an opportunity of watching my uncle compose. On the desklay manuscript paper partly written on and I saw how he wouldwrite the notes in pencil with the right hand while with the left hewould turn what he had written into music. It often happened thatmy uncle would cross out a bar that did not please him and sub-stitute another.-As a child I didn't pay much attention to all this,but years later I learned frommy cousin Zdenka Smetana that thesesketcheswere the humble beginningsof' The BarteredBride'.If this really happened in the summer of 1863, the sketches must

8 By Melantrich and the Bedrich Smetana Society. Prague, 1944.

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THE GENESIS OF 'THE BARTERED BRIDE'have related to Sabina's very first one-act version of the libretto,which Smetana found unsatisfactory.

The sketch begins directly with the opening chorus almostexactly as we have it now, though there is, for instance, no dominantseventh in bar 3: the tenors have D instead of C. After the firsteight bars Smetana does not bother to write the piano orchestralpart, which simply doubles the chorus, except in the interludes.These are always more abrupt than in the definitive version; forinstance, in the little interlude before the " Ouvej! " (" Heighho! ")episode-rather different in the sketch-Smetana originally tookonly two bars instead of four to change from major to minor (thereis an exact parallel in the transition after the sextet in the last act),while the transition back to the main theme is a perfunctory sketchof which only traces survive in the final sixteen-bar version. Theother G minor episode, for the two lovers, is essentially the same inthe sketch and the final version though the voice-parts, super-imposed on the orchestral background, show considerable differences-a remark which applies to many other passages. Smetananaturally does not trouble to write out the main choral tune in fullfor the third time: he draws a wavy line and starts again with themoltomoderatomusic of the coda, identical in substance with the longorchestral introduction to the first act, though now with chorusparts added. But why did not Smetana sketch out his orchestralintroduction first, instead of bringing in one of its themes as(apparently) an afterthought at the end of the chorus? The answeris that the essential part of the introduction had been written a goodmany years before 'The Bartered Bride' was even thought of.In 1849 Smetana's pupil, the Countess Marie von Thun-Hohen-stein, married; and as a wedding-present the composer dedicatedto her a suite of three 'Wedding Scenes' for piano: 'WeddingMarch', 'Bridegroom and Bride' and 'Wedding Festivities'.Now the middle part of the' Wedding Festivities' is a tempodipolka,and it was this which Smetana fifteen years later used as a frame forthe opening number of his opera. One interesting point is that theoriginal key of the polka was F, the key of the overture to the ' Bride ';but in the opera it had to be transposed to G, the key of the openingchorus, and was therefore provided with a ten-bar prelude modu-lating from F to G. The introduction as a whole therefore consists of:

10 bars on the chorus theme, modulating;57 bars taken note for note (with a few one- and two-bar inserts)from the ' Wedding Scenes';8 bars rounding off the polka;22 bars of allegromoltoon the chorus tune.

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MUSIC AND LETTERSMafenka's aria "Kdybych se co takoveho" (" If I thoughtyou would be faithless "), like most of the set numbers, lacks

the orchestral introduction which in the finished product anticipatesthe vocal melody, but is otherwise identical except in unimportantdetails with the final version. But even the facsimile betrays aconsiderable amount of rubbing-out in the opening bars, and theeditor has been able to decipher some twenty bars of the earlier sketchwhich he prints in the notes to the facsimile. I quote the opening:'El- & rrr F I C

Kdybych se co ta-ko- ve - ho o tobe' do-e-de - la

XJ^i.r ' - ? *? ."~~~~~?~~~J1"~~~~~$8,~~~~~~iThe ensuing duet differs entirely from that in the sketch:Smetana has scribbled at the head of the latter " original; later

re-composed ". Almost the only thing common to both settings ofthe words is that they fall into two sections, minor and relativemajor: in the sketch C minor and Eb major, in the publishedversion G minor and Bb major. Now the odd point is that thelulling, rocking theme in Bb, of which the opening theme of theoverture is perhaps a sparkling transformation, had been noteddown long before (see supra) in A major and actually marked" In comic opera. Duetto! ". (" In comic opera " may, of course,have meant " in some comic opera ", even though Smetana seemsalready at that time to have been at least discussing the 'Bride'subject with Sabina; he often noted themes before he thought ofthe works in which to embody them; for instance, the note-booksfor I863 also contain two themes afterwards used in 'The TwoWidows', though he did not make the acquaintance of Mallefille'scomedy, much less think of composing it, till I868.). But in thecomposition sketch we find instead:

Ex. 2 1t r ) h i r - I

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THE GENESIS OF 'THE BARTERED BRIDE'

slo - vo jsme si na vzdy da - li;

(Lj\' (sic.)VFP11IEc~And when, later in the first act, Mafenka comments sottovoce" Mamuz jineho" (" I have a lover ") the orchestra underlines the remarkwith Ex. 2 in the sketch, not with the Bb theme as in the publishedversion. But there is one other passage in the published versionwhere the orchestra refers back to the love-duet: just after Marenka'sagitated entry in the last act, when she is crushed by the apparentproof of her lover's baseness. And here in the sketch we find, not acorresponding allusion to Ex. 2, but a snatch of the Bb theme,incomplete and in 4-4 time, but in the right key and with the rathercloying orchestral sixths:

lak ~ PJ' I 'J e '1 [.-Ex.a31__. 0

It is worth noting that Smetana preserved the semiquaver accom-paniment of Ex. 2 when he substituted the Bb tune and that x isechoed in one of the melodic cadences of the final version. On theother hand, if this feature already appears in the A majorversion of 1863, which I have not seen, we must put it that xis the echo; but it is a typical Smetana trait, familiar in ' Vltava 'and occurring in the closing bars of' The Bartered Bride '-to lookno further.I have already spoken of Smetana's alteration of voice-parts overan unchanged orchestral background. This is particularly true ofdeclamatory passages, which he often re-writes completely, oftenfor the sake of more comfortable range and tessitura, though in atleast one case-Mafenka's passionate outburst in the last act,"0 jaky ial, kdyz srdce oklamano" (" Ah! bitterness! Whenhearts have trusted vainly ")-a passage lying within a diminishedfifth is expanded to cover a tenth. But it is also true of arias

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44 MUSIC AND LETTERSand ensembles, as in the trio " Mladik slusny" (" Such a nicelad "):(sketch) P i" -Ex. 4 Mladik sluS - ny a mra-vuvfc ti -chych(final) _h b I - -

(sketch)

vbiF ^^ F f^and the quartet from the next scene, from which Ipassage for one voice: quote

a typical

4 e i - Ir Ii e tiNe-bu - de-li se tit I - I - I _ IsJ

+li-bit,ko - si - cek mu das, ko-si-cek mu das.~-^ _ .>l, " - '

Ne-bu - de-li se ti i - bit, ko-si-cek mu di11'~"r:n =~r 'I -

(sketch)Ex.5

(finalversion,

(sketch)

(sketch)

(finalversion,

(sketch)

I'i~~T~~f pqCt. 4

)

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THE GENESIS OF 'THE BARTERED BRIDE'Incidentally, in the sketch the trio and Scene IV are separatedby a ten-bar sketch for Vasek's first stuttering song-marked" Scene VI-Vasek (dressed as bridegroom) "-in 3-4 time andquite different from the ultimate version; Smetana has drawnbrackets round it and left it. The right version duly appears in itsproper place in the score, though still incorrectly marked " SceneVI" (instead of V), without its prelude and with its postludeshortened, but otherwise pretty much as we know it.Both the duets for Marenka and Vasek and for Jenik and Kecalappear in the sketch very much as we know them, not only inmelody but in harmony and details of figuration; only the passagein the first duet, where Marenka threatens Vasek with his fictitiousadmirer's suicide, is entirely different. Jenik's aria, "Az uzris"(" How could he ever dream "), shows more substantial changes.For once Srietana sketched a four-bar introduction-perhapsbecause it was not to anticipate the vocal melody-though it haspractically nothing in common with the longer passage that replacedit. And the voice-part begins with quite a different melody, setto the words treated as recitative in the printed score:Ex.6 rf r IJ 1 r \Az uz-r[s kom-us kou-pil nev- s- tu smut-ne nas-tou-pis,

X P I r -smut-ne nas-tou-pis zpa-tec - ni ces - tu!of which an echo remains in the final version at the words " pronejz mi neni nic obtizneho " (" No more shall that old huckstervex ") for the sixteen bars beginning " Drahou Mafenku" (" 0lodestar of my soul ") were taken over from twelve bars of theoriginal sketch. A parallel case, also in the part of Jenik,occurs in the last act where in the duet "Tak tvrdosijnou divko,jsi " (" Now what a stubborn lass you are ") his melody originallybegan:Ex.7 =

Tak tvr-do-si-jnou,dlv-ko,jsi, ze nechces pravdu zvedet

continued for another six bars exactly as in the final version, andthen diverged again.Vol. XXVIII. D

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MUSIC AND LETTERSThe finale of Act I (that is, of Act II of the published score)originally began with four orchestral bars anticipating Kecal's call

to the neighbours, instead of with seventeen bars more or lessidentical with the opening of the overture, and was written in 2-4time instead of 4-4. The substance of the finale is generally the same,though there are the usual differences in the voice-parts and theoriginal lacks the colourful modulation underlining Jenik's sig-nificant reference to " the son of Tobias Micha ". On the otherhand, a little later at the reference to the " three hundred crowns ",Smetana softened his original modulation to A major (from themain key of F) into a simple dominant modulation to C.The sketch for Act II (III in the published score) begins straightaway with VaSek's first words, gives his lament pretty much as weknow it, and then goes straight on to the ensemble, " Aj ! Jak ienechce ji? " (" What's this? You refuse? "), omitting not only thesko6na-of course-but the music for the entry of the players, thelost couplets for Esmeralda and the Manager and their duet," Milostne zviratko " (" Now, my dear Sir Bruin "), although thetheme of the last-named number was one of the first Smetana noteddown (see supra). We may conclude from this that originally neitherEsmeralda nor the Manager was intended to be a singing part, andthat although in September I863 Smetana noted the theme after-wards used for their duet he had at that time no definite idea how orwhere he was going to introduce it.I have mentioned one instance-the two quotations of the loveduet-where the device of thematic reminiscence is used far moreeffectively in the final version than in the sketch. (I say " thematicreminiscence" advisedly, for there are no Leitmotivein the true,Wagnerian sense in ' The Bartered Bride '.) But there is one case ofthe reverse, of a theme having its outline so smoothed out in theprinted score that two later references to it-perfectly obvious inthe sketch-probably pass unnoticed by the audience, possibly evenby students of the score. This is the theme, first heard in theensemble "Aj! Jak ie, nechce ji? ", as it appears in the sketch:

Ex. 8 I J).d .I JJL I I I{(> ?:u J p- I --*Y


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THE GENESIS OF 'THE BARTERED BRIDE'and this is the final form:

Ex.9 f t tII Ff

I4 AIuYl7 F'9r II j:;i;t 9i422@W:itik 2it

Bar 4 of Ex. 9, I should add, is anticipated in Hata's part in Ex. 8,which otherwise more or less doubles the orchestral part I haveactually quoted. The words are " Neni v tom nikdo nez ten pacholeksam" (" 'Tis no other than the boy himself"--or, as Mrs. New-march puts it, " All this story of some pretty lady sounds like astupid lie "). Now this is appropriately quoted in the next scenewhen Vagek notices Marenka and cries " A ta to byla " (" There'sthe very girl "): Ex. 8 in the sketch, Ex. 9 in the score. The themeis obviously associated with Marenka. But when Smetana refersto it once again in the orchestral interjections to her recitative"Oh jaky zal" (" Ah! bitterness! "), he quotes in a form on thewhole nearer to Ex. 8, which no one in the audience has heard, thanto Ex. 9,'which is not very distinctive anyhow.It is impossible in the scope of a short study to mention a hun-dredth of the interesting points of detail that strike one in comparingsketch with score, but one other important number must at least bementioned: the famous sextet. One fact revealed by the sketch isthat Smetana originally intended it to be a quintet; the number isheaded "Quintetto-Micha, Hata, Vag (tenor), Kru?, Doh".Yet, although five singers are specified, the music is strictly in fourparts until Mafenka's entry near the end; probably

" Micha " was,a slip for " Mafenka ", especially as he-a bass-is mentioned first,otherwise the preponderance of men's voices would have beeaoverwhelming. Ultimately VaSek was taken out and Ludmila, asoprano, substituted. The original version of the music was singu-larly flat and uninspired; I quote the opening:

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MUSIC AND LETTERS& L

Ros-mys-li si, Ma- ren - ko, roz-mys-li,k L I t _

rr-F r -roz-mys-li si, Ma - ren ko, roz-mys-li,

i ^ f - 5 - t r rThe final form of the sextet is also considerably expanded; bars14-26, for instance-the repeat of the first thirteen bars withdifferent distribution of the parts-were an afterthought.The composition sketch breaks off rather oddly near the begin-ning of the opening chorus of the finale. Ten bars are written forsopranos and altos, with a blank stave for the tenor and bass parts;then another ten bars or so are indicated for sopranos only-and therest is blank music-paper. The original form, erased but still legible,was:

Ex.i1Jak si se,Ma-ren-ko, roz-mys-li-la, mluv, mluv,

romysli-a, by se b - -- mlumuVVl rv Fr lrozmysli-la, by sev'c dob're u - kon-Zi-la, mluv, mluv,

Smetana changed this to:Ex.12 o~(P ~ ~mlII J% .J II -T^pi.--r'9:AfD

But the printed version differs from both except in rhythm-aninteresting sidelight on Smetana's approach to his text. Even theultimate key, A major, for once differs from that in the sketch.Does the sketch throw any penetrating light on Smetana'screative processes? To a limited extent only. After all, this is the

A 11

Ex. 10I( ^ J j^ Mffz z i-

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THE GENESIS OF 'THE BARTERED BRIDE 'sketch for only one work and a work of early rather than full maturityat that. But the rhythmic identity of Exs. i and 12, and theirrhythmic identity with the final version, is typical. When Smetanaalters a voice-part he is more likely, one observes, to change themelodic rise and fall than the rhythmic pattern. Alterations in therhythmic pattern are more often modifications than completechanges. I have quoted instances (Exs. 4 and 5) of voice-partsrewritten over an unchanged instrumental passage, and the harmonicalmost-identity of Exs. 8 and 9 will not have escaped the reader'snotice. Can we conclude that Smetana's basic method of compo-sition, at any rate in ' The Bartered Bride ', was a species of pianoimprovisation to the words? I suggest that his first care was to get acontinuous musical texture underlying the words on to music-paper; afterwards came the polishing of the vocal line. The alwayssimple harmony usually came right the first time; sometimes eventhe figuration and quite often the part-writing. But only once inthe whole sketch is there any indication of scoring: the word Cornomarking the doubling of the voice-part an octave lower at the words"Ni za tisice " (" Not for a gold-mine ") in Jenik's " Az uzfis"aria.

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The Genesis of 'the Bartered Bride'

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