Prague National Theatre Orchestra & Zdeněk Košler - Smetana: The Secret and Viola (fragment) (2024) [Digital Download 24/96]

In May 1876, even before the premiere of The Kiss, eliška Krásnohorská offered Smetana a subject that combined a story set in a folk environment with elements of fairy tale, magic, and superstition. The action was very complicated, and the material was not used, but certain motifs from it found their way into the libretto for their next opera together, The Secret. Like in The Bartered Bride, the story features two peasants with differing personalities. Atmosphere is provided by the mysterious surroundings of the ruins of old Bezděz Castle, and the plot’s various snares and pitfalls combine a realistic story with a tall tale. Old love amounts to a powerful motif. Somewhere below Bezděz Castle live two widowers, Kalina and Malina, who bear a mutual grudge for reasons lying in the distant past, when the poor man Kalina asked for the hand of Róza, the rich peasant Malina’s sister, but he was rejected by her family. He then married a poor girl, and because he was industrious and, above all, defiant, he managed to build a house, which is just about to be finished.