The Bartered Bride member of the panel that had judged Harrach's opera competition, called the work a failure "that would never hold its own." Press comment was less critical; nevertheless, after one more performance the opera was withdrawn. Shortly afterwards the Provisional Theatre temporarily closed its doors, as the threat of war drew closer to Prague. Smetana began revising "The Bartered Bride" as soon as its first performances were complete. For its first revival, in October 1866, the only significant musical alteration was the addition of a gypsy dance near the start of act 2. For this, Smetana used the music of a
Otakar Mařák in "The Bartered Bride", "Dalibor", Ladislav Podhajský in "The Two Widows", Lucas in "The Kiss" as well as in traditional world repertory which saw Mařák play Don Ottavio in "Don Giovanni", Massenet's "Werther", Cavaradossi in "Tosca" and Alfred Germont in "La Traviata". He often took on the role of Don José in Bizet's "Carmen". He died on 2 July 1939 in Prague. Together with Emmy Destinn and Karel Burian, Mařák completed the trio of well-known early 20th century Czech singers. "This article is based on a in the Czech Wikipedia" Otakar Mařák Otakar Mařák (5 January 1872 Esztergom, Hungary –