The Bartered Bride May 2009 production at the Cutler Majestic Theatre, Opera Boston transplanted the action to 1934, in the small Iowan town of Spillville, once the home of a large Czech settlement. Although much of the music of "The Bartered Bride" is folk-like, the only significant use of authentic folk material is in the act 2 furiant, with a few other occasional glimpses of basic Czech folk melodies. The "Czechness" of the music is further illustrated by the closeness to Czech dance rhythms of many individual numbers. Smetana's diary indicates that he was trying to give the music "a popular character, because
The Bride (album) in a series of piano-focused ballads that, while uniformly beautiful [...] aren't distinctive enough songwriting-wise to stand out from one another", adding that "Khan may have prioritized the concept over the listening experience as a whole." Slant Magazine's Sal Cinquemani wrote, "That "The Bride" works best as a song cycle rather than a collection of pop hooks is a testament to its cohesion and intrinsic intertexuality, but what's missing here is Khan's knack for grafting avant-art-rock concepts onto mainstream forms." "The Bride" debuted at number nine on the UK Albums Chart with 8,242 copies sold in its first week, becoming