Dalibor

Bedrÿich Smetana (1824-1884).
Opera in three acts, 1867.
Libretto by Josef Wenzig.
First performance at the Prague New Town Theatre on 16th May 1868.

Based on events in Czech history, the opera deals with the arraignment of the knight Dalibor before King Vladislav, accused of the killing of the Burgrave of Ploskovice, whose sister Milada pleads for vengeance. Dalibor had killed the Burgrave, seeking revenge for the death of his friend, the musician Zdenek. Dalibor is condemned to prison for life, but Milada, moved by his account, now intercedes for him, and the peasant-girl Jitka proposes means for his escape. In the second act she tells her lover Vítek how Milada has disguised herself as a musician and gained admission to the castle where Dalibor is held. Dalibor's thoughts, in his dungeon, of Zdenek are interrupted by the appearance of Milada, now in love with him. Fearing imminent rebellion, Vladislav now orders the death of Dalibor, who is expecting freedom. Milada dies in an attempt to rescue him, and Dalibor himself dies in battle against his enemies, hoping now to be re- united in death with Zdenek and Milada.

With distinct echoes in its plot of Beethoven's Fidelio, Smetana's Dalibor celebrates heroic friendship rather than the eternal feminine. Its Czech subject, with certain Czech elements in the score, give the work national importance, with The Bartered Bride.