But although
Smetana's music is Bohemian to the core, he brings about his effects
like a true artist. The national colour is not laid on in smudges, but
tinges the whole fabric of the score. Smetana's other works are less
known outside Bohemia. 'Das Geheimniss' and 'Der Kuss' are comic operas
of a thoroughly national type, while 'Dalibor' and 'Libusa' deal with
stirring episodes of Bohemian history.
More famous than his master is Smetana's pupil Dvorak (1841-1904), yet
the latter seems to have had little real vocation for the stage. His
operas, 'Der Bauer ein Schelm' and 'Der Dickschaedel,' appear to follow
the style of Smetana very closely. They have been favourably received in
Bohemia, but the thoroughly national sentiment of the libretti must
naturally militate against their success elsewhere.
In Russia the development of opera, and indeed of music generally, is of
comparatively recent date. Glinka (1803-1857), the founder of the
school, is still perhaps its most famous representative, although his
operas, in spite of frequent trials, seem never to succeed beyond the
frontiers of Russia. The splendid patriotism of 'Life for the Czar'
(1836), his most famous work, endears him to the hearts of his
countrymen. The scene of the opera is laid in the seventeenth century,
when the Poles held Moscow and the fortunes of Russia were at the lowest
ebb. Michael Fedorovich Romanov has just been elected Czar, and upon him
the hopes of the people are centred.
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