After Hába successfully resolved instrumental and theoretical problems with the quarter-tone system in the 1920s, he started to compose fully in that style.
His work is bi-chromatic and in some folklore-inspired scenes and recitative parts of the score Hába approached to the intonational diction of the folk dialect.
The opera is strongly connected to Moravian ethnic traditions and takes advantage of local dialect and music.
Daniel Albright describes it as, "a remarkable work: slightly in awe of its own daring, in that Hába seemed more fascinated by the quarter-tone scale themselves than by any melody that might be construed from them, and yet resolute in refusing to employ the small intervals in the expected way, as a resource for denoting pain and disorientation [ expressionism ]," instead Hába intended the opera as a peasant comedy in the tradition of Smetana's Bartered Bride (1866).
With her maternal love, she eventually succeeds in breaking the defiant nature of her husband, accustomed to physical work and satisfaction.