DEVIL'S WALL

With the rocky landscape by the Vltava River around Rožmberk in the background, a story evolves of the characters around the powerful but kind Lord Vok of Růže, whose life is influenced by the devil himself. In his last completed opera, Bedřich Smetana vividly portrayed the lyrical, historical and fairy-tale features of Eliška Krásnohorská's charming libretto with youthful inspiration. Although it emphasizes mainly the comic side, Krásnohorská wrote to Smetana in one of her letters: "I leave the appearance of the whole work on stage to the effects of your magical music." The composer put his own experiences and sorrows into his last opera, and his music, whose effect is truly magical, is thus characterised by deep intimacy.

This unjustly neglected work, where Vok is one of the most beautiful baritone roles in the opera repertoire, returns to Pilsen after twenty-seven long years.