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Dalibor

This portfolio concerns a new libretto for Bedřich Smetana’s opera, Dalibor (1868). The libretto was commissioned by Moravian Opera Olomouc (CZ); première 12/12/08, directed by Michael Tarant and in repertoire for 2 years, including performance at the National Opera Biennale, Prague. The production is available on DVD.

The commission came on the basis of my expertise in libretto writing for the Ensemble Opera Diversa (a professional opera and music company I co-founded in 2003).

The new libretto reflects my original research into the cultural history and politics of Smetana’s operas and their production history developing Dalibor as a national cultural myth; Smetana’s Dalibor used the period christological imagery of redemption through suffering and self-sacrifice and the popular Marian cult (published also as (3) and (5)). In the process of adaptation/rewriting, Smetana’s sources were reimagined, namely Beethoven’s Fidelio, which was banned from the Czech stage but was invoked by structural and motivic similarities (common theatergrams) as well as by casting a soloist renowned for singing Leonora in Germany. The new version also reflects the gender politics and homoerotic dimension of the original libretto: Milada as an erotic symbol and a Virgin Mary character, or Dalibor’s dead friend as an epitome of perfect/homoerotic friendship.

On a performative level, the libretto summarises my experience in composition, sung lyrics and acting, which had been developing since 1992 in: songwriting (rock and folk styles), theatre music (semi-professional), composition and commedia acting, and music theatre and opera activities with the Diversa. The libretto reflects on temporal semantics and versology appropriate for sung Czech; character/actor impersonation and embodiment (and the measure of viscerality/sublimity); actor individuality and the script (catering for individual singers’ needs); proper pronunciation and theatre acoustics (which had been the primary trigger for the commission); and the changing opera aesthetics and dramaturgy.