Bohuslav Martinů began working on his opera The Day of Charity in late 1930 in Paris. By April 1931, the scores for Act 1 and, with the exception of the final scene, Act 2 were already complete. We do not yet know exactly what the composer’s intentions were for The Day of Charity. We know for certain that he offered it, along with the opera Three Wishes, to the publisher B. Schott’s Söhne Mainz for publication. There, however, the opera was rejected on the grounds that the libretto was too simple. The unconventional instrumentation of a chamber orchestra without flute or french horn, but with piano and numerous percussion instruments, might support the assumption that Martinů had specific performers in mind. However, no evidence to support this hypothesis has yet been found in European theaters, nor does the composer explicitly mention such a possibility in his letters. Martinů completed his work on the opera in April 1931. Both the score and the compositional approach reveal a clear creative intent, although – naturally – the composer achieved greater stylistic purity in his later works. The orchestration is highly various and, at the time, provocative (that is supported by the frequent use of several keys at the same time); the opera is written in a highly theatrical style with an accent on the vocal component. Martinů’s characteristic musical language is already evident and functionally enriched with references to French folk melodies and urban folklore. In The Day of Charity, we clearly hear Martinů’s moving lyricism, rhythmically electrifying passages, and richly colorful symphonic elements. The premiere of the work took place on March 28, 2003, at the South Bohemian Theater in České Budějovice, directed by Josef Průdek and conducted by Milan Kaňák.
Milan Kaňák, Bohuslav Martinů: Le Jour de Bonté (Den dobročinnosti), Czech Radio Plzeň + ArcoDiva, 2010.