In the Well


In the Well is an 1867 Czech-language comic opera in one act by Vilém Blodek to a libretto by Karel Sabina, author of The Bartered Bride.

Plot

Following a folk tradition that a girl looking in the village well on Midsummer Eve will see the face of her true bridegroom reflected, Lidunka hopes to see the face of her beloved Vojtech, and not old Janek the wealthy preference of her mother, and consults the village sorceress, Veruna. Both suitors climb a tree to ensure that she sees their reflection, but Janek falls in the well just before she arrives, and his face comes out of the water. Eventually all is resolved and Lidunka marries Vojtech.

Music

John Warrack, reviewing in Gramophone the 1981 recording conducted by Jan Štych, commented: "The music is agreeable and well made, and the work could certainly qualify for a 'What next?' suggestion attached to The Bartered Bride. However, it is by some way less tuneful, and some of it – for instance, a very attractive moonlight interlude – seems closer to the world of early nineteenth-century German opera than to anything specifically Czech."

Recordings