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 Press comment was less critical; nevertheless, after one more performance the opera was withdrawn.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
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