Elaine Alvarez & Timothy Farrell. Photo by Carol Rosegg

For its spring production, the Manhattan School of Music (MSM) Opera Theater probed a bona fide rarity, Czech composer Bohuslav Martinu’s “ Mirandolina,” in its American premiere, and it proved a worthy find. The last time this listener heard a Martinu opera, it was in an American premiere production as well, when the Indiana University School of Music Opera Theater brought “The Greek Passion,” to the Metropolitan Opera House on April 26, 1981. The grim “Greek Passion” (1958), after Nikos Kantzakis’ novel, centers around a Passion Play put on by Greek villagers who all but become the religious figures that they portray. The much happier “Mirandolina,” completed in 1954 and first given in 1959, is based on Carlo Goldoni’s 1753 comedy “La locandiera” (“The Mistress of the Inn”). In play and opera, a comely, eminently sensible innkeeper, who might be kin to Rossini’s Rosina (“Il barbiere di Siviglia” ) or Donizetti’s Norina (“Don Pasquale”), is pursued by preposterous suitors, seduces a misogynist just for the hell of it, and finally proposes to her modest jack-of-all-trades, a true dark horse. Martinu employed Goldoni’s own words and “Mirandolina” was sung, as written, in Italian. The premiere performance, on April 28, is discussed here.

Taking a 20^th Century look at an 18^th Century subject, “Mirandolina” boasts a sweeping, Strauss-like neo-classicism, rather than the spare neo-classical idiom of Stravinsky, in “The Rake’s Progress,” and its waltzes frequently brought “ Der Rosenkavalier” to mind. As in “Rosenkavalier”’s “ sister” opera, “Arabella,” the music periodically pauses for spoken dialogue. “Mirandolina” also reminded of Martinu’s countryman, Janácek’s “Jenufa,” with its Eastern European folk-like strains and restless repetitions of phrases. Under David Gilbert’s baton, “Mirandolina” sparkled and musical highlights included a jaunty drinking song for Mirandolina and Cavaliere di Ripafratta, her woman-hating swain; the bustling second act octet finale, in which he appeared to reform before our eyes; and the dulcet love motif that accompanied Mirandolina’s proposal.

Overstating the farce, perhaps, director Sam Helfrich and designers Miranda Hoffman (costumes) and David Newell (sets), too, juxtaposed old and new elements. A servant in powdered wig and frock coat shared the stage with a muscleman in gym shorts and tank top and Mirandolina wielded an old-fashioned flat iron while her intended, Fabrizio, watched television. The inn was a sunny yellow, with burgeoning cupboards, hitherto unnoticed, that opened suddenly to reveal jewels, linens, bottles and goblets, and, for the wedding at the end, boxes of Uncle Ben’s rice.

Two casts alternated. Endearing as the eponymous sly paragon at the premiere, Elaine Alvarez displayed a vibrant lyric soprano and commanded the stage in true budding diva fashion. Liam Bonner limned a posturing, arrogant Cavaliere in a strong, clear lyric baritone. Deputizing for Jinho Hwang, who was to have sung all performances, tenor James Schaffner made a sweet-voiced Fabrizio.

Buffo singers Charles Temkey, bass, and Trey Cassels, tenor, who impressed as Bottom and Flute in Britten’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” at MSM earlier in the season, amused as Mirandolina’s disheveled admirer, Marchese di Forlimpopoli, and Conte d’Albafiorita, who squanders his money, showering her with jewelry. Our heroine gladly bequeaths them to Ortensia and Deianira, actresses passing themselves off as aristocrats, dressed by Hoffman in ballooning, clownish costumes and given over-the-top, mincing performances by soprano Meredith Flaster and mezzo-soprano Nicole Mitchell. Timothy Farrell was Ripafratta’s servant; Jon-Michael Ball, a jeweler; and Raymond Ayers, Pablo Henares, and Michael McGee, principals of the second cast, played Mirandolina’s silent suitors in modern dress.

120 Claremont Avenue

April 28 & 30 at 8 pm, May 2 at 2:30 pm

Tickets $15-20 212/749-2802, extension 4428