Hry o Marii ("The Plays of Mary", sometimes referred to as "The Miracle of Our Lady") is a Czech-language opera cycle in four parts, by Bohuslav Martinů.
[1] The first performance was on 23 February 1935 at the National Theatre in Brno, with Antonín Balatka conducting, and stage direction by Rudolf Walter.
[4] In the operas the composer broadened the scope of Czech operatic possibilities by drawing on medieval folk drama and binding together traditional elements into a dramatic whole.
[5] The work enjoyed instant recognition, but its folk-style and religious elements displeased both Nazi and Communist regimes.
The 'miracle' Mary of Nijmegen, uses a libretto by Henri Ghéon, 1933, after the Flemish legend, in a Czech translation by Vilém Závada.
The Nativity of our Lord, (described as a 'pastoral') sets Moravian folk poetry; in the first scene the Virgin seeks a lodging but is turned away by a blacksmith.
This is a more dramatic episode, also with dancing, where Pasqualina, entranced through the devil, absconds her convent with a knight and lives a life of sin.