TOMKINNIBURGH (Bass)
THE BARTERED BRIDE, which is always considered to be Smetana's best Opera, is a comedy — in parts, indeed, more a Musical Comedy than an Opera. It is full of humorous incidents of Bohemian peasant life. and reproduces on the stage a village festival, gipsy jugglers, a comic village band and the like, with, of course, some village love-making of a light-hearted sort.
THE IMPRESARIO is a short work which
Mozart modestly called 'a comedy with music.' It is all about the trials and troubles of a theatrical manager who has to put up with the foibles and jealousies of ' star ' performers. Mozart must have written it with gusto, for he had a good deal to do with operatic singers, who were thorns in the flesh of composers and managers alike.
The Opera in its original form only had occasional performances, owing chiefly to a good deal of foolish dialogue which it contained. Adaptations were tried with but little success, until Mr. Kingsley Lark recently made a new translation and arrangement from the original German, and the work in this improved form was broadcast a year or two ago.
It contains some of Mozart's best music.
The Overture is (considering the small size of the work as a whole) surprisingly long and complex. It starts showily, and goes on to treat some charmingly vivacious tunes.