2 Dances from The Bartered Bride

Polka

Dance of the Comedians

One reason why Smetana’s comic opera The Bartered Bride almost failed on its first performance in Prague in 1866 is that the original version of the score contained none of the dances which are now among its principal attractions. The first to be added was the Polka which, in the final version of the opera, occurs at the end of the first act - to no dramatic purpose but to considerable musical effect as its graceful melodies accumulate more and more orchestral colour and more and more rhythmic vigour.

The so-called Comedians’ Dance comes from a colourful circus scene which, though it has little to do with the tortuous love affair of Marenka and Jenik at the centre of the plot, supplies a welcome touch of razzmatazz near the beginning of the third act. The dancers (clowns or acrobats rather than comedians) burst into life with an energetic gesture from the orchestra and perform their act to a brilliantly scored bustle of activity in the strings and tuneful encouragement in woodwind and brass. The teasing ending is as effective as the explosive beginning.