Olga Mojžíšová
How did Bedřich Smetana Evaluate His Own Works?
This article draws on archival sources to examine how and with what financial effect Bedřich Smetana, through his published writings, managed to espouse and evaluate his own opera productions. His operas were performed with varying degrees of frequency, primarily at the Provisional Theatre (Prozatímní divadlo). They were performed partly by theatre companies based outside of Prague, and only two went on to be performed abroad. Smetana usually received a 10% royalty from individual performances, or else sold the performance rights on a one-off basis. He won prizes in some opera competitions, we well as receiving honorary financial contributions for rare benefit performances. While the sources document the number of performances of operas and their financial returns in detail, there are no detailed records for published musical compositions. While most of his compositions were released in this fashion, it was mainly by domestic publishers with limited financial possibilities, and in many cases we do not know what royalties the composer received. It is only to a very limited extent that Smetana was able to reach the international public.
Keywords: Bedřich Smetana - Smetana's operas - publication of musical compositions
design by Bedřich Vémola
