King and Charcoal Burner, Op. 14, is a three-act comic opera by the Czech composer Antonín Dvořák. The first version of the opera was written in 1871 to a libretto by Bernard J. Lobeský. That same year the composer offered the finished opera to the Czech Provisional Theatre in Prague. Bedřich Smetana, who was in charge of the opera at that time, returned the work to Dvořák the following year, claiming it was unperformable. Dvořák created entirely new music to the same libretto – without using any of the original material. This new version was finished in 1874 and the première took place on 24 November 1874. By that time, Smetana already was no longer the chief conductor. Despite a good reception from both critics and audience, the opera was withdrawn after only four performances. Dvořák made another substantial revision in 1887, the premiere of which was conducted on 15 June 1887 by Mořic Anger. The libretto was partially refashioned by Václav Juda Novotný and Dvořák made modifications particularly to the third act. In 1914 a heavily reworked and cut edition of Dvořák's 1887 version was prepared by Karel Kovařovic, and this forms the basis of all currently available recordings.
Roles
Synopsis
The theme of the opera is from old legend of the rescue of a Czech ruler who gets lost in the woods of Křivoklát. One of the main characters – the charcoal burner Matěj – was taken by Lobeský from the puppet theatre play Feast Day in Hudlice. Lobeský also replaced the Přemyslid king with the Habsburg Emperor Matthias. As Matěj is the familiar form of Matthias in Czech, Dvořák gained two characters with the same names – one poor, one rich. The king mingles incognito among the common folk, so the plot is based on the merging of the worlds of the aristocracy and the common folk.
Recordings
1948: '. Bořek Rujan, Karel Kalaš, Ludmila Hanzalíková, Oldřich Kovář, Štefa Petrová, Antonín Votava, Bohuš Holubář, Jan Soumar. Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra and Chorus, c. František Dyk 1960: '. Jindřich Jindrák, Eduard Haken, Ivana Mixová, Milan Karpíšek, Libuše Domanínská, Oldřich Spisar, Jiří Joran, Rudolf Vonásek. Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra and Chorus, c. František Dyk 2005: '. Dalibor Jenis, Peter Mikuláš, Lívia Ághová, Michelle Breedt, Michal Lehotsky, Markus Schäfer. WDR Sinfonieorchester Köln, WDR Rundfunkchor Köln, Prague Chamber Choir, c. Gerd Albrecht. 1989: '. René Tuček, Dalibor Jedlička, Drahomíra Drobková, Viktor Kočí, Jitka Svobodová, Miroslav Kopp, Štěpán Buršík, Jaroslav Prodělal. Prague National Theatre Orchestra and Chorus, c. Josef Chaloupka. ' 1951': "Here am I, a lover waiting" ''. Marie Tauberová. CD release 2015 on Prague Radioservis 2-CD "Czech Romantic Opera".
