It‘s really just about a kiss?
Author: Bedřich Smetana
Musical Preparation: Jakub Klecker
Conductor: Jakub Klecker
Director: Linda Keprtová
Set Design: Eva Jiřikovská
Costume Design: Marie Blažková
Movement Collaboration: Ladislava Košíková
Chorus Master: Klára Roztočilová
First night: 4th December 2015
Performed in the original Czech with Czech and English surtitles
Along with The Bartered Bride, Smetana’s The Kiss is one of his most frequently performed operas. Despite the fact that Smetana was deaf when he composed it and had experienced tragedy in his life, in The Kiss he created another poetic image of the Czech countryside filled with catchy melodies. The libretto about the stubborn Vendulka and Lukáš, whose love is almost destroyed by an argument about a prenuptial kiss, was written by the famous Czech poet Eliška Krásnohorská, based on a humorous short story of the same name by Karolína Světlá. Apparently, this was based on a true story from a village in Podještědí. To begin with, Smetana was unsure about the composition and doubted whether it contained enough dramatic ideas, but in the end he let himself be convinced. The 1876 premiere at the Provisional Theatre in Prague met with great success and it quickly travelled the world. It still has not lost any of its charm or truth – for isn’t it so often the little things which complicate our lives? Or was it more than just a kiss...?
