The Bride of Messina is a tragic opera

Opera

Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...

 in three acts, op. 18, by composer Zdeněk Fibich

Zdenek Fibich

Zdeněk Fibich was a Czech composer of classical music. Among his compositions are chamber works , symphonic poems, three symphonies, at least seven operas , melodramas including the substantial trilogy Hippodamia,...

. The Czech language

Czech language

Czech is a West Slavic language with about 12 million native speakers; it is the majority language in the Czech Republic and spoken by Czechs worldwide. The language was known as Bohemian in English until the late 19th century...

 libretto

Libretto

A libretto is the text used in an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata, or musical. The term "libretto" is also sometimes used to refer to the text of major liturgical works, such as mass, requiem, and sacred cantata, or even the story line of a...

 by Otakar Hostinský

Otakar Hostinský

Otakar Hostinský was a Czech historian, musicologist, and professor of musical aesthetics...

 is based on Friedrich Schiller

Friedrich Schiller

Johann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller was a German poet, philosopher, historian, and playwright. During the last seventeen years of his life , Schiller struck up a productive, if complicated, friendship with already famous and influential Johann Wolfgang von Goethe...

's play Die Braut von Messina. Fibich’s most Wagnerian

Richard Wagner

Wilhelm Richard Wagner was a German composer, conductor, theatre director, philosopher, music theorist, poet, essayist and writer primarily known for his operas...

 opera, he composed the work between 1882–1883 for the purposes of submitting it in an opera competition sponsored by the National Theatre

National Theatre (Prague)

The National Theatre in Prague is known as the Alma Mater of Czech opera, and as the national monument of Czech history and art.The National Theatre belongs to the most important Czech cultural institutions, with a rich artistic tradition which was created and maintained by the most distinguished...

 in Prague

Prague

Prague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. Situated in the north-west of the country on the Vltava river, the city is home to about 1.3 million people, while its metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of over 2.3 million...

. The opera won first prize in the 1883 competition and it premiered at the National Theatre on 28 March 1884. At its first presentation music critics responded with high praise to the work and it is now considered to be Fibich's masterpiece. However, the opera's morose story, melancholy scoring and astringent style have hindered it from gaining wide popularity.

Roles

Role	Voice type	Premiere Cast, 28 March 1884 (Conductor:)
Donna Isabella	contralto Contralto Contralto is the deepest female classical singing voice, with the lowest tessitura, falling between tenor and mezzo-soprano. It typically ranges between the F below middle C to the second G above middle C , although at the extremes some voices can reach the E below middle C or the second B above...	Betty Fibichová Betty Fibichová Betty Fibichová was a Czechoslovak opera singer and the wife of composer Zdeněk Fibich. The greatest Czech operatic contralto of her day, she enjoyed close artistic partnerships with both Antonín Dvořák and Bedřich Smetana in addition to collaborating frequently with her husband.-Biography:Born...
Don Manuel	baritone Baritone Baritone is a type of male singing voice that lies between the bass and tenor voices. It is the most common male voice. Originally from the Greek , meaning deep sounding, music for this voice is typically written in the range from the second F below middle C to the F above middle C Baritone (or...	Leopold Stropnický
Don César	tenor Tenor The tenor is a type of male singing voice and is the highest male voice within the modal register. The typical tenor voice lies between C3, the C one octave below middle C, to the A above middle C in choral music, and up to high C in solo work. The low extreme for tenors is roughly B2...	Antonín Vávra
Diego	bass	Vilém Heš Vilém Heš Vilém Heš was a Czech operatic bass. He notably enjoyed a close artistic partnership with Gustav Mahler, singing in his opera company's in Hamburg and Vienna. He was blessed with a beautiful rich vocal tone, although at times his voice would take on a harsher quality in heavier repertoire.Heš...
Béatrice	soprano Soprano A soprano is a voice type with a vocal range from approximately middle C to "high A" in choral music, or to "soprano C" or higher in operatic music. In four-part chorale style harmony, the soprano takes the highest part, which usually encompasses the melody...
Cayetan	bass	Karel Čech
Bohemund	tenor

Synopsis

Act 1

Don Manuel and Don Cesar, the sons of Donna Isabella (the ruling Princess of Messina), are feuding with one another. Overwraught with the situation, Isabella summons her sons to her and manages to help make peace between them.

Act 2

Manuel and Cesar discuss their plans to present their future wives to their mother for her approval. Isabella reveals to her sons that they have an unknown sister, Beatrice. She secured Beatrice away in a convent after her late husband had a dream which foretold that Beatrice would bring about the deaths of her sons. Diego, Isabella's servant, is sent to fetch Beatrice but returns with the disturbing news that she has been kidnapped.

Act 3

It is revealed that Manuel is in fact Beatrice's kidnapper. He comes to the horrible realization that the girl he loves must be his missing sister. Cesar stumbles upon Manuel and Beatrice and is surprised to find them together, as Beatrice is also the girl that he is in love with. In a jealous rage Cesar kills Manuel before he can explain the truth of the situation. When the full truth is revealed to him, Cesar commits suicide.