Bedrich Smetana's Braut!

[uffeviking]

Die verkaufte Braut - The Bartered Bride - is one of those operas I can live without rather nicely because I have seen it live many times at my hometown Stadttheater when I was younger and it was very popular in those days. Most of the music we hear nowadays and are familiar with, is connected to the circus scene, and one or two of the duets featuring Bohemian folkloric sounds.

When DG issued the DVD of a 1982 performance at the Wiener Staatsoper with Siegfried Jerusalem in he male lead I knew I had to see my favorite Wagnerian tenor in this comic opera. In 1982 he was still singing mostly lighter roles but soon received high praise for his roles in Wagner operas in Vienna and then Bayreuth. It was great fun watching 'Parsifal', 'Siegfried', and 'Tristan' cavorting on the Vienna stage as 'Hans', singing with gusto Smetana's music and acting as the carefree and deliriously in love young country lad.

Another drawing point is Adam Fischer's conducting; that's a 26 year younger man, than the one we are now admiring. A rather chubby Lucia Popp sang so sweetly as Jerusalem's object of faithful love and adoration.

Otto Schenk is the director and he didn't disappoint me: Realistic, traditional, boring sets, without a tad of inspiration. But it was Jerusalem I wanted to see and hear, and with the exception of two minor glitches, probably caused by too much enthusiasm, he is a joy to see. I am happy to have this DVD in my collection.