The Promoting of Smetana’s Operas in Hamburg from 1881 to 1897

Pages	35–80
DOI	10.37520/muscz.2024.002
Keywords	Bedřich Smetana, Hamburger Stadttheater, Dvě vdovy (The Two Widows), Prodaná nevěsta (The Bartered Bride), Hubička (The Kiss), Dalibor, Gustav Mahler, Bernhard Pollini
Citation	VIKTOROVÁ, Kateřina. The Promoting of Smetana’s Operas in Hamburg from 1881 to 1897. Musicalia. Journal of the Czech Museum of Music / Časopis Českého muzea hudby . Prague: National Museum, 2024, 16(1-2), 35–80. DOI: https://doi.org/10.37520/muscz.2024.002. ISSN 1803-7828 (Print), 2533-5634 (Online). Also available from: https://www.nm.cz/en/periodicals/musicalia-journal-of-the-czech-museum-of-music-casopis-ceskeho-muzea-hudby/16-1-2/the-promoting-of-smetanas-operas-in-hamburg-from-1881-to-1897

Musicalia. Journal of the Czech Museum of Music / Časopis Českého muzea hudby | 2024/16/1-2

It was through the opera The Two Widows that Smetana’s operatic works were introduced to Germany’s stages during the 1881/1882 theatrical season at the Hamburger Stadttheater. After 1882, none of Smetana’s operas appeared on stage in Hamburg for a long time. That did not change until with the arrival of Gustav Mahler, who was engaged in 1891 by the managing director Pollini as the first Kapellmeister; Mahler remained in that position until 1897. From 1894 to 1896, Hamburg witnessed something like a little Smetana opera festival, when Mahler conducted four of the composer’s works: The Bartered Bride, The Two Widows, The Kiss, and Dalibor. The study is based upon research of sources from Hamburg, examining playbills, statistics on operatic productions, the full texts of period reviews, and the correspondence of the parties involved, and it deals in detail with the circumstances of the performing of Smetana’s operas on Hamburg’s theatrical stage.

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