About the work
Der Kuss (Czech: Hubička, The Kiss) is a folk opera in two acts by Bedřich Smetana to a libretto by Eliška Krásnohorská, based on a story by Karolína Světlá. Smetana wrote the score between February and July 1876, by then completely deaf; it premiered on 7 November 1876 at the Provisional Theatre in Prague.
Plot
The widowed farmer Lukáš wants to marry the farmer’s daughter Vendulka, but out of respect for his late wife she refuses to kiss him before the wedding. Stung, Lukáš kisses another woman instead, sending the outraged Vendulka fleeing into the mountains to a band of smugglers. Only after some turmoil are the two reconciled, clearing the way for their betrothal kiss.
Cultural significance
“The Kiss” was Smetana’s first fully through-composed opera without spoken dialogue and without a direct Wagnerian model, and it has remained one of his most popular works, especially cherished in Bohemia to this day.