Martinů received the commission to write Alexandre bis, H 255, either at the end of 1936 or at the very beginning of 1937, as the first mention of the new composition is in a letter to his family dated 12 January 1937. The libretto was written by the French communist writer and journalist André Wurmser (1899–1984), whom Martinů probably met through Miloš Šafránek [...].
The plot of the opera is set around 1900 and there is a humorous text full of puns and hyperbole. In his book “Fidèlement vôtre”, Wurmser states that Alexandre bis was originally part of the never published novel “Tour de Babel”. The opera's libretto was then published in Paris (Almanach ouvrier et paysan, 1939). In one of her notebooks, Charlotte Martinů gives the date of completion as “February 1937”, but this was probably the date of the composition's start, as the date of 8 March already appears in her subsequent diary, which is also written in the composer's hand on the last page of the autograph score. On 16 March 1937, Martinů sent the score to Henry Barraud, who was a commissioner in the music category at the World's Fair and was also a member of the General Commission of the Expo 1937. It is evident from this letter that Barraud had commissioned the opera from Martinů, and Martinů hoped that Barraud will succeed in having it placed in the “Comédie des Champs-Elysées”, where the “opera buffa series” ran from the first half of June to September 1937 as part of the World Exhibition. The one-act operas were performed on it a total of three times in one evening performance.
According to Šafránek and Wurmser, Martinů did not finish the opera on time, which is the reason why it was not performed at the World Exhibition, even though it was apparently prepared visually. Unfortunately, it has not been possible to find out when the creation of the one-act opera was announced by the promoters, nor by when the authors had to submit their scores. [...]
Martinů requested the manuscript back from Henry Barraud two years later. During the war the score probably stayed in Paris or in the French countryside, as we know from Martinů's letter to Jan Löwenbach. Martinů probably even thought that the score was lost during the war. However, shortly after its completion (in 1937 and 1938), and at a time when it was clear that it would not be performed in Paris, Martinů began to discuss its performance with Karel Šebánek and the Melantrich publishing house. It was supposed to be performed together with two other one-act operas, The Voice of the Forest, H 243, and Comedy on the Bridge, H 247, only when Alexandre bis would be “free” (it is not certain what exactly was meant by this; Alexandre bis was not publishing-bound, and if Martinů had any contract with Exp 1937 is not known). However, this performance did not happen either. There is no mention in the correspondence about when Martinů actually received the score from France. However, from his letter to Šafránek of August 1955 it can be understood that he probably had it with him in the USA, where, however, he could not present the opera based on a libretto by a very committed communist librettist in any way, given the political situation at the time. The premiere did not take place until 18 February 1964 at the Opernhaus Mannheim. [...] On 5 June of the same year, the Czech premiere took place at the theatre in Brno. On the occasion of these two performances, first a German translation by Kurt Honolka (which was also printed in the score) and then a Czech translation by Eva Bezděková were made.
Aleš Březina – Ivana Rentsch – Jitka Zichová – Pavel Žůrek. Dělat opravdové divadlo I. Komentované kritické vydání libret všech jevištních děl Bohuslava Martinů z let 1913–1937 a kritická notová edice jeho oper Mariken de Nimègue a Alexandre bis. In: Hudební věda, 4/59, 2022, p. 500–503 [shortened].