Yurtdışında Yaşam

I celebrated Czech Independence Day with a trip to Národní Divadlo, to see a performance of Smetana’s opera, Libuše. Národní Divadlo’s website says this about the opera:

Smetana’s Libuše, dealing with the mythical story of the fabled Czech princess who prophesies glory for the Czech nation, is inextricably linked with Czech history and that of the National Theatre, where on many occasions in the past it has been presented as a work quite extraordinary in its humanistic and social message. The title role has always been performed by the ensemble’s principal soloists. In the current production, Libuše is sung by the Czech soprano of world renown Eva Urbanová.

Urbanová, who sang Libuše, was excellent, and I also especially liked Martin Bárta, who sang Přemysl. The opera itself was a great favorite with the Czech audience, who enthusiastically applauded Libuše’s first act prayer, invoking the blessings of the gods on the Czech nation, as well as the series of prophecies that closes the opera, concluding with the line, "My beloved Czech nation will not perish; gloriously she will vanquish the terrors of hell!"

I visited Národní Divadlo (the National Theater) to go to the opera, so now it was time to visit Státní Opera (the State Opera) to go the ballet. (To make this come full circle, I’d need to attend a play at the National Ballet, but, alas, there is no such theater. The National Ballet also performs at Národní Divadlo).

I went to see Phantom of the Opera, which recently premiered and which is billed as a "dancing horror love story". It follows the basic story line so familiar from Gaston Leroux’s original story and all the many dramatizations that have followed, except that, suitably enough, Christina is now a dancer, and the Phantom has composed a ballet to showcase her talents. (But so why, then, did they not call it Phantom of the Ballet?) The guiding force behind this production was Libor Vaculík.

I was reasonably pleased by the ballet. The music didn’t particularly impress me (and a few passages put me strongly in mind of Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber!), and while the dancing was of a fine calibre, the choreography emphasized more telling the story than dancing. I would very much more like to see how the company can dance than how it can act. They did manage to introduce a welcome note of humor into the drama, and I have no complaint with the dancers.

The theater itself is an exquisite little jewel box, and I look forward to returning. With both Státní Opera and Národní Divadlo, my mental standard for comparison is the San Francisco Opera House, which is downright cavernous by comparison. These theaters are much more intimate, and I don’t think that there can be a bad seat in the house.

The day was really quite nice: it’s a pity that I couldn’t have gone to the ballet yesterday and had today for my trip to Kŕivoklát!