Misplaced Pages

In the Well

Article snapshot taken from Wikipedia with creative commons attribution-sharealike license. Give it a read and then ask your questions in the chat. We can research this topic together.
You can help expand this article with text translated from the corresponding article in Czech. Click for important translation instructions.
  • Machine translation, like DeepL or Google Translate, is a useful starting point for translations, but translators must revise errors as necessary and confirm that the translation is accurate, rather than simply copy-pasting machine-translated text into the English Misplaced Pages.
  • Do not translate text that appears unreliable or low-quality. If possible, verify the text with references provided in the foreign-language article.
  • You must provide copyright attribution in the edit summary accompanying your translation by providing an interlanguage link to the source of your translation. A model attribution edit summary is Content in this edit is translated from the existing Czech Misplaced Pages article at ]; see its history for attribution.
  • You may also add the template {{Translated|cs|V studni}} to the talk page.
  • For more guidance, see Misplaced Pages:Translation.

In the Well (V studni) is an 1867 Czech-language comic opera by Vilém Blodek to a libretto by Karel Sabina, author of The Bartered Bride,

Plot

Following a folk tradition that a girl looking in the village well on Midsummer Eve will see the face of her true bridegroom reflected, Lidunka hopes to see the face of her beloved Vojtech, and not old Janek the wealthy preference of her mother, and consults the village sorceress, Veruna. Both suitors climb a tree to ensure that she sees their reflection, but Janek falls in the well just before she arrives, and his face comes out of the water. Eventually all is resolved and Lidunka marries Vojtech.

Music

John Warrack, reviewing the Stych version in Gramophone, commented "The music is agreeable and well made, and the work could certainly qualify for a ‘What next?’ suggestion attached to The bartered bride. However, it is by some way less tuneful, and some of it – for instance, a very attractive moonlight interlude – seems closer to the world of early nineteenth-century German opera than to anything specifically Czech."

Recordings

  • Milada Šubrtová, Štěpánka Štěpánová, Ivo Žídek, and Zdeněk Kroupa. The chorus and orchestra of the Prague National Theatre were conducted by František Škvor 1959 Stereo ADD Supraphon 1962
  • Karel Berman, Vojtech Kocián, Libuse Márová, Daniela Sounová-Brouková, Prague National Theatre Orchestra, Kühn Chorus, Kühn Children's Chorus, Jan Stych Supraphon Original booklet includes libretto and translations.

References

  1. John Tyrrell ·Czech Opera - 1988 Page 326
  2. May 1996 https://www.gramophone.co.uk/review/blodek-in-the-well
Category: