Marie Červinková-Riegrová (1854–1895)

Librettist, poet, dramatist, daughter of leading politician František Ladislav Rieger, granddaughter of František Palacký. For her time, an extremely well-educated woman, she spoke several world languages, and she applied herself to literary, artistic and charitable pursuits. She was the first to translate the libretto of Tchaikovsky’s opera Eugene Onegin into Czech. For Dvořák she wrote the librettos for the operas Dimitrij and The Jacobin and was in close contact with the composer when they worked on the operas together. Her surviving handwritten Memoirs (Zápisky), which she kept for most of her life, provide a wealth of information about social, cultural and political life at that time.