The Bartered Bride language newspaper "Národní listy". Smetana's diary for December 1864 records that he was continuing to work on "The Bartered Bride"; the piano score was completed by October 1865. It was then put aside so that the composer could concentrate on his third opera "Dalibor". Smetana evidently did not begin the orchestral scoring of "The Bartered Bride" until, following the successful performance of "The Brandenburgers" in January 1866, the management of the Provisional Theatre decided to stage the new opera during the following summer. The scoring was completed rapidly, between 20 February and 16 March. A crowd of villagers is celebrating
The Poor Bride The Poor Bride The Poor Bride (, Romanized as Bednaya nevesta) is a play by Alexander Ostrovsky, written in 1851 and first published in the No.4, 1852 issue of "Moskvityanin" magazine. It was his first play to be staged at the Maly Theatre, where it premiered on 20 August 1853. "The Poor Bride", his second large play, caused Ostrovsky much trouble. Later he wrote: "I've had an iron-like creative prowess when I was learning how to write, but still, after having worked for a year and a half on "The Poor Bride" (my second one) I came to detest it