Bohuslav Martinu

Mariken de Nimègue H 236/2 I

Bohuslav Martinu composed the one-act opera "Mariken de Nimègue" based on a medieval Dutch Marian miracle during his stay in Paris in 1933 to a French text by Henri Ghéon. This is the unpublished and unperformed first version of the opera. The second and final version was created in 1934, which Martinu included in his Czech-language opera cycle "Hry o Marii" (Marian Plays) H 236. The reason for creating the second version was therefore the need to adapt the music to the Czech translation of Vilém Závada's libretto. The first version of the opera differs from the Czech version largely in the orchestration, the setting of the French text and the extensive original musical material, which Martinu no longer used in the second version.

The foreword describes the complicated genesis and fate of the first version of the opera, including the composer's difficulties in finding a suitable librettist. Martinu had originally intended the Czech poet Vítezslav Nezval to be the librettist (a complete sketch of Nezval's libretto can be found in the "Documents" section).

The selected facsimile pages of the autograph score and the vocal score document the composer's cuts and complicated passages in the edition. The Critical Commentary presents all the music and text sources relevant to the edition, including their evaluation.