Bedrich Smetana had a lasting influence on Czech opera history from the 1860s. As conductor at the Prozatímní divadlo (Provisional Theater) and as the composer of eight operas including Prodaná nevesta (The Bartered Bride) and Libuse, he championed Czech musical life in Prague throughout his life. How Smetana managed the balancing act between artistic ambition and practical possibilities with his operas is the subject of this volume. The aim is to place the composer and his stage works in the context of both European operatic practice and the institutional framework and political debates in Prague in the second half of the 19th century. In the threepart conception, Smetanas operatic aesthetics, which are to a large extent influenced by his experiences as a conductor at the Prozatímní divadlo, contemporary music theory, theatre practice and political ideals, take first place (Martin Nedbal, Arne Stollberg, Ivana Rentsch, Thomas Jaermann, Brian S. Locke). This will be followed by a second thematic area, the contemporary European opera repertoire in the Habsburg Empire and Smetanas engagement with it in the surviving sources (Axel Körner, Olga Mojzísová, Sandra Bergmannová, Milan Pospísil). As a counterpart to Smetanas European opera reception, the third part discusses the early reception of Smetana in Europe and beyond (David Brodbeck, Vincenzina Ottomano, Christopher CampoBowen, Michael Beckerman).

Ales Brezina is director of the Bohuslav Martinu Institute in Prague. Ivana Rentsch is professor of musicology at the University of Hamburg.