Furiant Furiant A furiant is a rapid and fiery Bohemian dance in alternating 2/4 and 3/4 time, with frequently shifting accents; or, in "art music", in 3/4 time "with strong accents forming pairs of beats". The stylised form of the dance was often used by Czech composers such as Antonín Dvořák in the eighth dance from his "Slavonic Dances" and in his 6th Symphony, and by Bedřich Smetana in "The Bartered Bride" and in his second volume for piano of Czech Dances ("České tance 2"), published in 1879 (Op. 21). The use of the furiant by central European composers closely parallels
The Bartered Bride at the church fair ("Let's rejoice and be merry"). Among them are Mařenka and Jeník. Mařenka is unhappy because her parents want her to marry someone she has never met. They will try to force her into this, she says. Her desires are for Jeník even though, as she explains in her aria "If I should ever learn", she knows nothing of his background. The couple then declare their feelings for each other in a passionate love duet ("Faithful love can't be marred"). As the pair leave separately, Mařenka's parents, Ludmila and Krušina, enter with the marriage broker Kecal. After