102. Years after writing the comic opera The Bartered Bride , the Czech
composer Bedrich Smetana claimed that he wrote that work in reaction
to contentions that he was too much like the German composer Richard
Wagner and could not write anything lighthearted. But Smetana must have
either misremembered or misrepresented the facts, since music critics
did not begin to publish commentary comparing Smetana to Wagner until
some time after The Bartered Bride was first performed.
Which of the following is an assumption on which the argument depends?
A Smetana never intentionally imitated the style of Wagner's operas.
B Smetana did not write The Bartered Bride simply in response to
unpublished opinions of his friends.
C Music critics did not begin to pay attention to Smetana's work until
after he wrote The Bartered B ride .
D Most music critics of Smetana's time favored lighthearted operas
over more serious operas.
E Some music critics considered The Bartered Bride to be too much
like Wagner's operas to succeed as a comedy.
