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 Cunning Peasant The Cunning Peasant The Cunning Peasant ("Šelma sedlák" in Czech) is an opera by Antonín Dvořák. The Czech-language libretto is by Josef Otakar Veselý. "The Cunning Peasant" was written at a time when there was a lack of high-quality Czech dramatic writers. In his 1995 notes to the Supraphon recording, Milan Pospíšil indicates that Veselý did not solve that problem. His libretto demonstrates talent but also uncritical self-confidence and recycles traditional plot elements and even the names of characters. Both Jeník and Václav, for example, are based on models with similar names in "The Bartered Bride". The influence of the