Otakar Hostinský Otakar Hostinský Otakar Hostinský (2 January 1847, Martiněves (near Litoměřice) – 19 January 1910, Prague) was a Czech historian, musicologist, and professor of musical aesthetics. He is known primarily for his support of composer Bedřich Smetana and his contributions to Czech aesthetic theory, which influenced many cultural figures in early twentieth-century Prague, including Zdeněk Nejedlý, Otakar Zich, and Vladimír Helfert. He also wrote the opera librettos to Zdeněk Fibich's masterpiece, "The Bride of Messina", and Josef Rozkosný's "Cinderella". "Art and Nationality", 1869 "Wagnerianism and Czech National Identity", 1870 "On "Program" Music", 1873 "Das Musikalisch-Schöne und das Gesamtkunstwerk vom Standpunkte der
The Bartered Bride commented that despite the colour and vigour of the music, there is little by way of characterisation, except in the cases of Kecal and, to a lesser extent, the loving pair and the unfortunate Vašek. The two sets of parents and the various circus folk are all conventional and "penny-plain" figures. In contrast, Kecal's character – that of a self-important, pig-headed, loquacious bungler – is instantly established by his rapid-patter music. Large suggests that the character may have been modelled on that of the boastful Baron in Cimarosa's opera "Il matrimonio segreto". Mařenka's temperament is shown in vocal flourishes which