Bedřich Smetana the Czech opera repertory, but of these only "The Bartered Bride" is performed regularly outside the composer's homeland. After reaching Vienna in 1892, and London in 1895, it rapidly became part of the repertory of every major opera company worldwide. Newmarch argues that "The Bartered Bride", while not a "gem of the first order", is nevertheless "a perfectly cut and polished stone of its kind." Its trademark overture, which Newmarch says "lifts us off our feet with its madcap vivacity", was composed in a piano version before Smetana received the draft libretto. Clapham believes that this has few precedents in
The Bride of Messina (opera) The Bride of Messina (opera) The Bride of Messina (Czech: "Nevěsta messinská") is a tragic opera in three acts, op. 18, by composer Zdeněk Fibich. The Czech language libretto by Otakar Hostinský is based on Friedrich Schiller's play "Die Braut von Messina". Fibich’s most Wagnerian opera, he composed the work between 1882–1883 for the purposes of submitting it in an opera competition sponsored by the National Theatre in Prague. The opera won first prize in the 1883 competition and it premiered at the National Theatre on 28 March 1884. At its first presentation music critics responded with high praise to