Gustav Klimt, Auguste Rodin, René Magritte and now for a kiss less well-known and, sadly, not nearly so erotic. No kissing please, we’re Moravian-Silesian, was evidently the norm in the 19th century.
Bedřich Smetana, a major figure in Czech opera, composed The Kiss after he had tragically lost his hearing and when his marriage was breaking up. The opera premièred in Prague in 1876 and is the second most frequently performed opera in the Czech Republic, second only to Smetana’s The Bartered Bride.
The plot is based on a simple folk tale published by Karolína Světlá in 1871. A young couple, Lukáš (Martin Šrejma) and Vendulka (Veronika Rovná), living in a mountain village, were in love; but Lukáš’s father forced him to marry another woman. The couple renewed their relationship when Lukáš’s wife died, leaving him a widower with a baby to bring up.
Vendulka is a strong-willed, highly principled woman who refuses to kiss Lukáš before they are married out of respect to his dead wife. This leads to the couple quarrelling and him behaving badly, getting drunk and whooping it up with the local girls. Lukáš feels miserable and guilty about his behaviour. His brother-in-law (Jiří Rajniš) gives him good advice: “just ask for her forgiveness.” Their duet is one of the opera’s high spots.
Jiří Nekvasil’s production, conducted by Marek Šedivý and designed by Jakub Kopecký, is very artificial. The villagers, strangely costumed, dressed all in white, look like they might be chefs. The scenes in the dark forest have a peasant fairy tale supernatural quality. The smugglers, with their massive beards and hats, look like a religious sect. The Border Guard behaves as if he has stepped out of a children’s comic book.
There’s little plot; but Smetana’s beautiful melodies, pleasantly sung, give Lukáš and Vendulka’s on-off relationship an unexpected psychological depth. Unfortunately, Šrejma is not young and alluring enough; and he and Rovná never convince that they are sexually atttracted to each other.
National Moravian-Silesian Theatre’s The Kiss can be watched free on the OperaVision channel.