Photo: J.Broukal, Národní divadlo, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0 DEED
When it premiered at Prague’s Provisional Theatre on 7 November 1876, The Kiss was greeted with great enthusiasm. By then, Bedřich Smetana had already lost his hearing completely, yet he went on to create a work that would become one of the most popular Czech operas. Inspired by a short story by Karolina Světlá, it brought to the stage the world of the Czech countryside, with its humour, love and stubbornness. A century and a half later, The Kiss remains Smetana’s second most frequently performed opera, after The Bartered Bride, and one of the symbols of Czech musical culture.
At first glance, the story revolves around a minor disagreement between two people in love.
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