It is fair day in Bohemia; the entire village is drinking and celebrating merrily – except Marie, who remains sad. Because of old family ties, her father insists that she marries a man she does not know. The matchmaker Kezal has arranged what appears to be a profitable deal for everyone involved, by which the wealthy Wenzel and Marie are to become a couple. But Marie has already sworn eternal fidelity to her beloved Hans and now steadfastly refuses to give in. Then, however, a new agreement is made: Kezal persuades Hans to give up Marie for 300 gulden. Everyone is shocked: Hans sells his bride! That everything ultimately turns out well, that love prevails and the dealmaker comes away empty-handed, is due not only to Marie’s strong will and a clever trick by Hans, but also to a traveling circus troupe and a bear costume.

“‚The Bartered Bride‘ soothes our nerves, shattered by Wagner, like a gentle balm,” declared the critic Eduard Hanslick. In 1866, Bedřich Smetana achieved the remarkable feat of composing a model comic opera, one that relies fully on melody, aria, recitative, duet, and ensemble, and does not deny its Italian predecessors. At the same time, the opera is entirely in step with the compositional standards of its time, combining the story of the supposed sale of a bride with lively choruses and dances. Soon PRODANÁ NEVĚSTA came to be regarded as a Czech national opera and, in the 1890s, became a highly sought-after export success. In the German-speaking world, THE BARTERED BRIDE was a sensational hit at the Theater an der Wien in 1893.

Since then, performance traditions have particularly emphasized the realistic aspects of the tightly knit village community that Smetana clearly outlines. Now, Oper Köln presents a new production by the internationally renowned director Laurent Pelly, who is especially known for his vibrant stagings of comic opera.