The establishment of the Czech Provisional Theatre in 1862 seemed to offer Smetana the opportunity he needed, and which he seized with the composition of his first operas, The Brandenburgers in Bohemia and The Bartered Bride. He was not appointed principal conductor until 1866, and then was to encounter constant critical hostility. In 1874 came the first signs of deafness, the result of a supposed venereal infection contracted earlier in life, and by October of the same year his hearing had gone completely. His last decade brought financial difficulties, but saw also the composition of that remarkable series of symphonic poems that make up Má Vlast. By 1882, Smetana's health had deteriorated markedly, leading to aphasia, hallucinations and final insanity from which he was relieved by death on 12 May 1884.

On 30 May 1866, four months or so after the first performance of The Brandenburgers in Bohemia, the new opera The Bartered Bride was staged, without dances in its first version. It was revised in 1869, when, among other additions, the Polka of Act II was included. Further revision followed, with the final version staged at the small Prague Provisional Theatre in September 1870. The Bartered Bride of the title, Mařenka, is to marry the son of Tobias Mícha, who turns out to be the simpleton Vašek. She already has a handsome lover, Jeník, who barters her away with the marriage broker, agreeing, for a consideration, that Mařenka should marry only a son of Mícha. All complications are finally resolved when it turns out that Jeník, always aware of his own true identity, is Mícha's long lost son. Vašek, meanwhile, has found his own delight in the circus dancer Esmeralda, and a role for himself playing the part of a performing bear in the circus. The opera opens with a sparkling Overture. The Polka and the Furiant, in the final version of the opera, provide dances for the villagers, while the so-called Dance of the Comedians introduces the travelling circus of Act III.

Writer: Keith Anderson