Opera Scotland

Libuše 1998Edinburgh International Festival

Read more about the opera Libuše

Companies from Prague (1964, 1970) and Bratislava (1990) visited the Festival bringing productions of little-known works from their national repertoire. None of those visits included Libuše, seen almost as a national icon, but not considered to be accessible to foreign audiences. So here it was, receiving its British premiere, and treated almost like an oratorio or pageant - not entirely inappropriate, since it is a static piece with massed choral effects. The challenge was for the Edinburgh Festival Chorus to learn their parts in Czech, a language they were unused to (since the Glagolitic Mass is in Old Slavonic). A pity that, having done so, they did not perform the work again after a year or two. Apart from the local orchestra, the other participants had the piece in their blood, indeed Urbanová, Kaupová and Dohnányi had recorded it for Supraphon a couple of years earlier.