The Bartered Bride followed by an unstressed one), matching the natural first-syllable emphasis in the Czech language. By October 1862, well before the arrival of any libretto or plot sketch, Smetana had noted down 16 bars which later became the theme of "The Bartered Bride's" opening chorus. In May 1863 he sketched eight bars which he eventually used in the love duet "Faithful love can't be marred", and later that summer, while still awaiting Sabina's revised libretto, he wrote the theme of the comic number "We'll make a pretty little thing". He also produced a piano version of the entire overture, which was
The Bartered Bride premiere "The Bartered Bride" has entered the repertory of all major opera companies, and is regularly revived worldwide. After several unsuccessful attempts to stage it in France, it was premiered at the Opéra-Comique in Paris in 1928, sung in French as "La Fiancée vendue". In 2008 the opera was added to the repertoire of the Paris Opera, in a new production staged at the Palais Garnier. In the English-speaking world, recent productions of "The Bartered Bride" in London have included the Royal Opera House (ROH) presentation in 1998, staged at Sadler's Wells during the restoration of the ROH's headquarters at