Czech Philharmonic: Smetana: Libuše (Live 1939) - CD
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Czech Philharmonic: Smetana: Libuše (Live 1939) - CD
A unique recording from the performance of Smetana' s opera Libuše on May 29, 1939 at the National Theater in Protectorate Prague.
Overture (recorded 1940) and fragments from the 3rd act, including “Libušina prophecy“. At the end, the audience sings the Czech national anthem .
Marie Podvalová (Libuše), Stanislav Muž (Přemysl), Vilem Zitek (Chrudos), Josef Vojta (Šťáhlav), Ota Horakova (Krasava), Marta Krasova (Radmila), Jaroslav Veverka (Lutobor), Josef Křikava (Radovan). Choir and orchestra of the National Theater in Prague, choirmaster Jan Mario Ouředník, Czech Philharmonic (Overture), conductor Václav Talich.
The recording of Talich' s concert performance of Smetana' s My Homeland (SU 4065-2) on June 5, 1939 from the National Theater in Nazi-occupied Prague attracted considerable attention around the world (Gramophone Special Historic Award 2012) - and this seemed to definitively close Talich' s discography.
However, another unique thing emerged from the estate of the soprano and representative of Libuše Marie Podvalová. Exactly one week before My Homeland, on May 29, 1939, a recording of Talich' s performance of Libuše was made at the National Theater. From the foils almost miraculously preserved to this day, it was possible to reconstruct fragments of the third act of the opera (they are supplemented on CD with a film of the overture from 1940).
Libuša' s final prophecy must have sounded to the ears of the Czechs in 1939 as the most courageous declaration of national pride and bravery. Despite the incompleteness and low sound quality of the recording, it is a unique value. It presents Talich' s only opera recording, the oldest surviving opera broadcast from the Prague National Theater and the penultimate performance of Libuše during the Nazi occupation before the strict ban on its further performance.
The never-ending stormy applause and spontaneous singing of the national anthem testify to the enormous emotional power of the moment and give the film unrepeatable energy.
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Specifications can be changed without notice. Images are for illustrative purposes only.
