I'm not a fan of Schirmer scores or translations. I feel like the sometimes leave out important bits and there are always mistakes in the notation. However, Bartered Bride is a charming little comic piece. Boy loves girl, boy loses girl, stuttering boy is betrothed to girl, girl wants first boy instead, stuttering boy joins the circus and dresses up as a bear to impress girl, first boy demonstrates that he is long lost brother of stuttering boy in bear costume, all is forgiven and boy gets girl back, everyone parties.

The aria sung by Vasek, the stuttering nebbish, is pure genius, and the Furiant is one of my all-time favorite operatic dance breaks.

Adorable. ( )