Hubička. Der Kuss. Prostonáro dní opera Volksoper. [Piano-vocal score]
- Praze - Prag: Fr. A. Urbánek [PN 24], 1880
Praze - Prag: Fr. A. Urbánek [PN 24], 1880. Folio. Full black cloth with small contemporary label to upper titled in manuscript, original illustrated title lithographed by Engelmann & Mühlberg in Lipsku [Leipzig] bound in. 1f. (recto title, verso cast list), 3-181, [i] (blank) pp. Text in Czech and German.
The attractive full-page title, printed on an olive green ground, depicts a scene from the opera.
Slightly worn; light uniform browning; minor creasing to corners; blank inner margin of title slightly abraded. First Edition.
The Kiss, a folk opera in two acts to a libretto by Eliška Krásnohorská after the short story by Karolina Svetlá, was first performed in Prague at the Provisional Theatre on 7 November 1876. It was Smetana's sixth opera, composed in 1875-1876 shortly after his becoming totally deaf, and became the most popular of his operas after The Bartered Bride.
"Non-Czech commentators have often dismissed the plot of The Kiss as trivial and improbable, hinging as it does on Vendulka's refusal to grant her future husband a kiss. Nevertheless this opera is one of Smetana's most successful. Its fervent lyricism is unforced (remarkably so, considering that this was Smetana's first stage work after he became deaf), the psychological penetration of the characters profound. Its appeal to Czech audiences ever since its first performance owes something to its genre description as a 'folk opera' (underpinned by Lukáš's polka, Vendulka's two lullabies and other genre pieces), but equally to its gentle message of reconciliation, a feature of all of Smetana's late operas and those of many later Czech composers." John Tyrell in Grove Music Online
"Though The Kiss is notable for the way the central figures emerge with a sense of reality, it is remarkable in being the first Smetana opera to treat large scenes as entities and not, as in the case of The Bartered Bride and The Two Widows, as mere songs and choruses. Indeed, so continuous is the musical flow that it would have been possible to play The Kiss without intervals had the Provisional Theatre been equipped with facilities for rapid scene changes. ... Tragically, increasing deafness and cerebral complications were to rob Smetana's later works of the very qualities which make The Kiss so endearing, and because some commentators see it as the last work to be written before his mental collapse, the opera has assumed a special place in his output." Large: Smetana, pp. 314, 316.
The attractive full-page title, printed on an olive green ground, depicts a scene from the opera.
Slightly worn; light uniform browning; minor creasing to corners; blank inner margin of title slightly abraded. First Edition.
The Kiss, a folk opera in two acts to a libretto by Eliška Krásnohorská after the short story by Karolina Svetlá, was first performed in Prague at the Provisional Theatre on 7 November 1876. It was Smetana's sixth opera, composed in 1875-1876 shortly after his becoming totally deaf, and became the most popular of his operas after The Bartered Bride.
"Non-Czech commentators have often dismissed the plot of The Kiss as trivial and improbable, hinging as it does on Vendulka's refusal to grant her future husband a kiss. Nevertheless this opera is one of Smetana's most successful. Its fervent lyricism is unforced (remarkably so, considering that this was Smetana's first stage work after he became deaf), the psychological penetration of the characters profound. Its appeal to Czech audiences ever since its first performance owes something to its genre description as a 'folk opera' (underpinned by Lukáš's polka, Vendulka's two lullabies and other genre pieces), but equally to its gentle message of reconciliation, a feature of all of Smetana's late operas and those of many later Czech composers." John Tyrell in Grove Music Online
"Though The Kiss is notable for the way the central figures emerge with a sense of reality, it is remarkable in being the first Smetana opera to treat large scenes as entities and not, as in the case of The Bartered Bride and The Two Widows, as mere songs and choruses. Indeed, so continuous is the musical flow that it would have been possible to play The Kiss without intervals had the Provisional Theatre been equipped with facilities for rapid scene changes. ... Tragically, increasing deafness and cerebral complications were to rob Smetana's later works of the very qualities which make The Kiss so endearing, and because some commentators see it as the last work to be written before his mental collapse, the opera has assumed a special place in his output." Large: Smetana, pp. 314, 316.
Details
Title
Hubička. Der Kuss. Prostonáro dní opera Volksoper. [Piano-vocal score]
Author
SMETANA, Bedřich 1824-1884
Condition
Unknown
Publisher
Fr. A. Urbánek [PN 24]: Praze - Prag
Date
1880