The Bartered Bride he had written "The Brandenburgers in Bohemia" to a libretto by the Czech nationalist poet Karel Sabina, whom Smetana had met briefly in 1848. "The Brandenburgers", which was awarded the opera prize, was a serious historical drama, but even before its completion Smetana was noting down themes for use in a future comic opera. By this time he had heard the music of Cornelius's "Der Barbier", and was ready to try his own hand at the comic genre. For his libretto, Smetana again approached Sabina, who by 5 July 1863 had produced an untitled one-act sketch in German. Over the
A Bride from the Bush Raffles. When he published the novel "Peccavi" in 1900, a critic from "The Advertiser" wrote a scathing review, writing that Hornung should go back to Australia so he would be inspired to write something as good as "A Bride from the Bush" again. Upon Hornung's death, a tribute in "The Freeman's Journal" called "A Bride from the Bush" "the best and the best known" of Hornung's Australia-related stories. In 1924 André Cœuroy and Theodore Baker argued in "The Musical Quarterly" that Hornung's characterisation of the novel's hero as being pitiable for being unable to appreciate anthems demonstrates that "A Bride