The Singing Libuše

The monograph presents the fascinating story of the mythical Czech princess Libuše in European opera from the seventeenth to the twentieth century. In the three parts of the book, the authors analyse the transformations of the character of Libuše in Italian Baroque, German Romantic, and Czech patriotic operas. Operatic (rarely also cantata) performances of Libuše were always significantly charged in a political way, thematising the question of female and male rule and intended as coronation operas. The extensive study explores this remarkable phenomenon in a new way through interdisciplinary research by musicologists, historians, and literary historians, revealing new and hitherto neglected contexts.