Dalibor

Composer: Bedrich Smetana
Librettist: Josef Wenzig
Company: Fisher Center for the Performing Arts at Bard College

Synopsis

Time: 15th century
Place: Prague
Act 1
Dalibor, a Czech Knight is on trial before the king for having murdered the burgrave of Ploskovice in revenge for execution of his friend, the musician Zdenek. At the trial, the king calls upon the burgrave's sister, Milada, who demands his execution. As Dalibor is brought in, the crowd rises in support of him. When Dalibor tells of his friend's capture and murder the court reduces his sentence from death to lifetime imprisonment. Milada painfully realized that she is falling in love with Dalibor, and in collusion with Jitka, an orphan befriended by the knight, she resolves to set him free.

Act 2
After a scene in a mercenary camp, where Jitka and her lover Vítek plot to free Dalibor, Milada enters the prison disguised as a boy and finds employment with Dalibor's jailer, Beneš. She charms the jailer into allowing her into dungeon where Dalibor is being held, to give him his friend's violin. The knight is dreaming, and initially thinks Milada is a reincarnation of his beloved Zdenek. Then in a passionate duet, they sing of their joy in having found each other.

Act 3
In the dungeon, Dalibor looks forward to escape (singing his famous Song to Freedom) but feeling it is a bad omen when one of the strings of Zdenek's violin breaks. The plot to bribe Beneš fails, and the jailer informs the king of their attempted escape. Taking the advice of his council, the king orders Dalibor's death. Milada, waiting outside the prison, hears the tolling of the bell that signals Dalibor's execution. Accompanied by her followers, she storms the castle, where, after rescuing Dalibor, she is wounded and dies in his arms. Dalibor stabs himself and is united in death with his beloved. An alternative ending has Dalibor executed before Milada can rescue him.