| Content | THE SOLDIER AND THE DANCER, Komische Oper von Martinů:
The music is really buoyant, yet he can say nothing else positive, since it is not original. The style, basically Smetana-like, is coloured with a little bit of polytonality and jazz. The subject is similar – a simple matter, with stage wits passing out from the frame through the frivolities of the text, sometimes intentionally. He has doubts as to its effect on stage, as Soufleur, stage director, Plautus and others intervene in the piece. When reading, it appears quite interesting, but in literary terms it is not intended for the stage. With regard to the simplicity of the entire piece, the opera is too long. Act 3 comes “post festum”, the story finishes for him by Act 2. And he also considers the music of the numerous dance insertions really weak. |