Libuše

5 things to know about Libuše

1. The stuff of legends

In his Chronica Boemorum (Chronicle of Bohemians), Cosmas of Prague offered a history of Bohemia from the creation of the world to April 1125. He died later that year. His magnum opus includes the first written description of the legendary foundation of Bohemia around the year 600. According to the legend, Krok, the first judge of the Czech people, had three daughters: Kazi, who was a healer; Teta, who was a magician; and Lubuše, who had the gift of seeing into the future. Lubuše was the youngest but wisest of the three, and Krok chose her as his successor. She prophesied a great city and commanded her councillors to found it, which she named Prague.

Despite being fair and just, the tribesmen were displeased that their new ruler was a women and demanded that she marry. Fortunately for Lubuše, she had already fallen in love - with a ploughman named Přemysl. From among the people who worked the land, the Přemyslid dynasty was thus established. Their descendants continued as the native rulers of Bohemia until King Wenceslaus III was murdered in 1306, after which the crown passed on to the Luxembourgs and ultimately to the Habsburgs.

2. Ambitious intentions

Josef Wenzig was a notable figure of the Czech 19th-century national movement. An educator, politician and author, he played a key role in the development of the Czech education system. It was Wenzig who adapted the Lubuše myth into a German-language libretto and presented it to Bedřich Smetana. Just as in the case of his third opera Dalibor, on which he was working at the time, Smetana had the text for Libuše translated by Wenzig’s pupil, the Czech poet and journalist Ervín Špindler. And just as in the case of Dalibor, it was Špindler’s Czech translation rather than Wenzig’s original German libretto that Smetana decided to set to music.

Libuše was the composer’s most ambitious work to date. Written between 1869 and 1872 at a time when European music was in the grip of Wagner fever, it was inevitable that the German composer’s influence would make it into the Czech opera. The result was three acts full of pageantry that Smetana labelled a ‘festival opera’. From the beginning of his work on Libuše, he wanted it to be used for a special event of nationwide importance. He had in mind the coronation of Emperor Franz Joseph I as King of Bohemia but due to opposition from German-Bohemians and Hungarians the coronation never took place. Smetana decided instead to keep his opera for the anticipated opening of the new National Theatre in Prague.

3. National celebrations

The First Czechoslovak Republic was founded on 28 October 1918. This production of Libuše, and this performance in particular, is the National Theatre Opera’s major contribution to the celebrations marking its centenary. Smetana’s opera is also a supremely suitable opera to celebrate the National Theatre’s own role during the era of the Czech national revival.

In the 1850s the construction of an independent Czech theatre was perceived as one of the leading priorities of Czech society by members of all of its classes, from aristocrats to peasants, with everyone offering money so as to make the idea come true. The plan was also supported by Emperor Franz Joseph I, who gave donations towards the construction of the theatre during his numerous visits to Prague, as did his son, Crown Prince Rudolph.

4. A grand opening

In 1881, the National Theatre finally opened with Libuše. Smetana had kept his opera for the occasion despite finishing it nine years earlier. He had not been given a ticket for the performance but at the last minute was invited into the theatre director’s box. Another 11 performances were presented after that, then the theatre was closed down to enable the completion of the finishing touches. While this work was underway a fire broke out, which destroyed the copper dome, the auditorium and the stage of the theatre. Smetana helped to raise funds for the rebuilding, and the theatre was subsequently reconstructed and reopened in 1883, again with Libuše. Ever since, the Neo-Renaissance building on the right bank of the river Vltava has been one of the architectural landmarks of Prague.