The Bartered Bride is a dramatic opera by the celebrated Czech composer Bedřich Smetana, set over the course of a single day in a traditional Bohemian village during festival time.
Act I begins: It is the end of the harvest. The cheerful villagers prepare for the forthcoming celebrations and discuss the ups and downs of married life. Only Marenka is sad; she tells her sweetheart Jenik that the husband her parents have chosen for her is due to arrive that day — Vasek, son of Micha. Troubled by Jenik’s seemingly half‑hearted response, she declares she will remain faithful to him, even though she knows so little of his past or origins. Jenik explains that his mother died young and his wealthy father remarried; despised by his stepmother, he was driven from home and forced to travel, working as a farmhand. Jenik and Marenka reaffirm their love and loyalty to one another.
Marenka’s parents, Krusina and Ludmila, then arrive with the marriage‑broker Kecal, who boasts of his expertise and reminds them of the bargain they once struck: years earlier, Krusina had been unable to repay a debt to the wealthy farmer Tobias Micha and was compelled to pledge his only daughter in marriage to one of Micha’s sons. Krusina asks which son is intended as the bridegroom. Kecal replies that it is the younger, Vasek, as the elder son is a good‑for‑nothing who has vanished without trace. He reassures them that although Vasek is somewhat timid and dim‑witted, he has many virtues.
Marenka enters, and Kecal informs her that he has found her a husband. Ludmila hopes Marenka will at least be permitted to give her consent, but Marenka insists that she already has a lover to whom she has sworn faithfulness. Convinced this poses no obstacle, Kecal decides to speak to Jenik himself.
The villagers bring in the harvest crown and dance a lively polka as the festivities begin… | 
