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The Bartered Bride 

An opera in Czech by Bedřich Smetana
Performed by Zoe Marie Hart 

In order to support the claim that music and literature influence one another through their similarities, I will now present a performance of an aria. It is necessary using the same analytic tools that one would typically use to discuss literature to discuss this aria so as to present an equitable format for analysis. A passage from a novel can simply be copied and pasted onto any document and the meaning translates verbatim. In order to achieve that same level of meaning with an aria, not only must the score and libretto be present, but so too must the actual performance. An essential part of the equation is how the singer interprets the text and chooses to perform it. Different performers will emphasize different sections of the piece, using a unique combination of facial expression, movement, and vocal techniques to portray their own interpretation of the text. The video will say as much about the performer as it will about the text.

 

 

This “two way street” provides valuable insight into yet another facet of how art reflects the human condition. Art is something that is meant to have more than one meaning. It is not only meant as an experience that is able to be interpreted many ways as the proliferous amount of literary criticism suggests and reviews of operas, but also something that is meant to be presented different ways. Authors have different styles of writing just as composers have different styles of composing. Ernest Hemingway avoided adjectives and adverbs to use the simplest combination of words to achieve a meaning that reaches beyond the text. Gioachino Rossini, composer of “The Barber of Seville,” crafts an artificial sense of time in his operas by mixing aria and parlante sections (singing with talking), ultimately controlling the comedic timing of the dramatic action through rhythm[9]. These artists have their own preferred tools of expression, although they are all more or less choosing from the same toolbox.

 

“Kdybych se co takového” is an aria from Czech composer Bedřich Smetana's famous opera, The Bartered Bride. Mařenka and Jenik are in love, despite the fact that Mařenka's parents have promised their daughter to another man. Although Marenka has chosen to disobey her parents wishes and be with Jenik, she realizes that she does not know much about his past. Suspicous, she sings him this area in which she warns him that if she finds out he is unfaithful, she would be heartbroken. Look below for a translation by University of Michgian SMTD Diction Professor, Timothy Cheek [10].

 

 

 

 

 

Zoe Hart

"Kdybych se co takového"

Aria

Libretto by Karel sabina

composed in 1866"

Kdybych se co takového o tobě dověděla

If I anything like that about you learned

 

co takového dověděla,

anything like that learned,

 

krutou pomstychtivou zlobou na tě bych zanevřela 

with cruel revengeful anger on you would I come to hate

 

na tě bych zanevřela

on you I would come to hate

 

krutou pomstychtivou zlobou na tě bych zanevřela

with cruel revengeful anger on you would I come to hate 

 

na tě bych zanevřela, na tě bych zanevřela 

on you i would come to hate, on you I would come to hate

 

Tedy pověz mi, Jeníčku proč jsi se tak rozhněval

Then tell me, Jenik, why you so were angry

 

že jsi domov svůj opustil a milence výhost dal,

that you abondoned your home and banished your sweetheart, 

 

a milence výhost dal?

and beloved banishment gave?

 

Pověz mi, pověz mi, pověz mi, pověz mi, Jeníčku,

Tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, Jenik, 

 

proč jsi se tak rozhněval?

why did you get so angry?

Czech-English Translation

© 2023 by Ralph Ellison

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