Libuše

 Libuše , Libussa or, historically Lubossa, is a legendary ancestor of the Přemyslid dynasty and the Czech people as a whole. According to legend, she was the youngest but wisest of three sisters, who became queen after their father died; she married a ploughman, Přemysl with whom she founded the Přemyslid dynasty, and prophesied and founded the city of Prague in the 8th century.

Legend

Libuše is said to have been the youngest daughter of the equally mythical Czech ruler Krok. The legend goes that she was the wisest of the three sisters, and while her sister Kazi was a healer and Teta was a magician, she had the gift of seeing the future, and was chosen by her father as his successor, to judge over the people. According to legends she prophesied from her castle at Libušín, though later legends say it was Vyšehrad.

Legend says that Libuše came out on a rocky cliff high above the Vltava and prophesied: "I see a great city whose glory will touch the stars." On the site she ordered to build a castle and a town called Prague.

Libuše (name)

Libuše is female given name. It is an old Czech name. It is derived from the adjective libý, the base of which is Slavonic ljub meaning "love", "lovable". Related names are Ljuba, Liběna and Liboslava. Pronounced LI-buw-sheh.

Name days

Other variants

Famous bearers

Libuše (opera)

 Libuše  is a '"festival opera" in three acts, with music by Bedřich Smetana. The libretto was originally written in German by Josef Wenzig, and was then translated into Czech by Ervin Špindler. In Czech historical myth, Libuše, the title character, prophesied the founding of Prague. The opera was composed in 1871–72 for the coronation of Franz Josef as Czech king. This did not happen and Smetana saved Libuše for the opening of the National Theatre in Prague, which took place nine years later on 11 June 1881. After the destruction of the National Theatre in a fire, the same opera opened the reconstructed theatre in 1883. The first US performance was reported to have occurred March 1986, in a concert version at Carnegie Hall with Eve Queler and the Opera Orchestra of New York.

Commentators have noted the pageant-like nature of the opera and the influence of Richard Wagner in the music.

Roles

Synopsis

Act 1

The brothers Chrudoš and Sťáhlav are fighting over the settlement of their father's estate, with Queen Libuše as arbiter. Czech law dictates either co-management or equal division of the land. German law, which Chrudoš, the elder, favours, would demand primogeniture, where the elder sibling would inherit the entire property. Libuše decides in favour of equal division, to the anger of Chrudoš, who leaves. Because some of her male subjects, including Chrudoš, do not fully accept the idea of a woman as their ruler, Libuše then asks her subjects to choose her husband. They say that she should make her own decision on her spouse, where it turns out that she prefers the farmer Přemysl. The act ends as the subjects worry about Chrudoš and the possibility that he will sow discord.