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Presented on Feb. 8 for the second time this season, Bedrich Smetana's gay opera, "The Bartered Bride," occasioned further rejoicings over its restoration to the repertoire after an absence of many years. While the leaven of comedy is not lacking in the Metropolitan productions, there is nothing that has quite the quality of happy insouciance that pervades this score. The abounding vitality and ebullient humor of the music exert an irresistible charm, and the opera stands out as a delectable example of folk-music and folk-spirit incorporated in an art-form.

When one turns from general enjoyment of this diverting work, and directs attention at the individual artists concerned, one must give first place to Michael Bohnen as Kezal and George Meader as Wenzel. Their fidelity in portraiture and their deftness in comedic acting are admirable. Mr. Bohnen's self-confident and blustering marriage broker gains by the peculiarities of exaggeration that sometimes obtrude superfluously upon his serious roles, and his predilection for parlando stands him in good stead. In the duet of the second act and in other cantin?ne passages, he shows with what finesse he can phrase melodic lines. Mr. Meader's transformation into a stuttering yokel with vacant mind is proof of his artistic versatility and his singing is always its own justification.

Maria Muller was a piquant Marie with a fresh and lovely quality of tone, and Rudolf Laubenthal was personally and vocally a romantic Hans. Marion Telva as Ludmilla, Gustav Sch?tzendorf as Mieha, Phradie Walls as Agnes, Max Bloch as Springer, Louise Hunter as Esmeralda and Arnold Gabor as Muff completed the cast. Artur Bodanzky conducted with evident enjoyment.

Search by season: 1925-26

Search by title: The Bartered Bride,

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