The opera Vina (Guilt), by the Czech composer Otakar Zich (1879–1934), was one of the most highly anticipated—and hotly debated—musical premieres at Prague’s National Theatre in 1922. Composed between 1911 and 1915, Vina's full-length, three-act score reflects many trends of its time, including a post-Wagnerian motivic web, lush Straussian orchestration, and a quasi-tonal harmonic content derived mostly from a linear, contrapuntal texture. Zich compiled the prose libretto from the 1896 play of t...