On the eve of St. Nicholas Day, the Janacek Opera brought the second of the four major premieres of this season to the Janacek Theatre - Smetana's "simple traditional" opera The Kiss (Hubička). After Jenůfa from the beginning of October, this opera closes the premiere offer of the traditional Czech opera for this season; what is more important, however, is that it opens a four-part show of new works by the greatest talents of the rising generation of Czech opera direction.
After the new version of The Kiss by Linda Keprtová, we can expect productions by Tomáš Studený, Tomáš Pilař and Jiří Heřman. All the above four have achieved notable successes and with the exception of Keprtová they are in charge of Czech opera ensembles. Their creative poetics also show some common features - intimacy instead of monumentality, playfulness instead of rigidity and lyrical poetry rather than epic. In any case, we have a great opportunity to look into the future, to the way domestic staging practice will probably go in the coming years and decades - unless, however, someone with a strong opinion and ambition to change ways comes in.
Smetana was, like Dvořák, unable to cover the whole musical drama and was to some extent shaped by his librettists. The Kiss is the first completed collaboration with Eliška Krásnohorská and introduces a remarkable fusion of genres: Smetana was focused definitely fashionably; he admired the latest romantic discharges from Liszt to Wagner and was able to absorb all the influences. Although he lived to considerable fame, he unfortunately still lived at a time profiled on a purely national basis. The Czech environment as a whole was not so musically literate as to be able to appreciate Smetana's extraordinary talent and vision. Smetana himself felt that his Czech success stemmed primarily from overt nationalist content and related emotional identification. His sudden deafness in the second half of 1874 outclassed him from the hard-won position of a well situated music hegemon to isolation and a role of neglected artist and man. Therefore he turned to a rustic dramatic form that brought him the greatest success so far. Krásnohorská enriched Smetana's dramatic instinct with psychological elements in the genre of comic opera. The resulting form is extremely kind and positive, evil is marginalized or completely suppressed and the view of the acting characters is friendly and receptive. In his last three operas to librettos by Krásnohorská, Smetana moves from the rustic idyll as in the Bartered Bride to more comprehensively approached theatre with a more varied spectrum of emotions. It must be admitted that, unlike Smetana's music, which achieves remarkable goals and can unreservedly succeed even today, the Krásnohorská's verses are largely historically contingent and often give a knowing smile today.
In this context, the question arises why to choose The Kiss from the whole of Smetana's dramatic work, which has been in new and new productions rather dusted and preserved than actually directed so far, since The Kiss represents the least serious work, which is not big in its scope and cast, in Smetana's opera canon, with a fairly trivial plot and the least dramatic potential. Furthermore, the original short story by Karolína Světlá was simplified, by which it lost a lot of the principal elements of the personality and psychology of the characters, local customs and folk beliefs. Here you can see the biggest surprise of the new production by Linda Keprtová: It does not come with a new distinctive outlook on Smetana's drama, like Ondřej Havelka did in the Bartered Bride in Brno years ago. It conversely emphasizes everything simple and even naive and comes with a naivistic tribute to the previous staging tradition of Smetana, from which it takes almost everything except the visual aspect, which, on the contrary, transforms dramatically, but not radically. The team of authors is special and of new consistency - it consists purely of girls, besides the authors of the original short story and the libretto there are also a female scenic designer, costume designer, choir director and - as already stated - the female director. This is not about tacky gender considerations, all the resulting form is very, and in the mostly positive sense of the word, "girly".
In her several previous staging achievements, Keprtová managed to create her own typical creative poetics. The individual operas are not different from each other in her rendition, because she makes them closer to her united creative method. There are numerous playful and relaxing effects that we would more expect in some student performances and they play an important role, she completely excludes decorativeness and does not look for dramatic action at all costs in otherwise static ensembles, but rather she emphasizes the static nature with ceremonial and ritualized coordinated movements. This approach is very likeable just by its stubbornness, even though it may not be suitable for all opera topics. The experience of her Prague production of Boris Godunov this year is the least unconvincing, while The Kiss fits her approach perfectly and although it may be disappointing for those who long for a more serious approach to Smetana's dramas, it is above reproach due to the nature of this work.
Eva Jiříkovská's set design is minimalist with a simple symbolism, which is created by several transparent walls composed of old windows of various types. A hard concept radiates from this idea, while the projection of branches on the bare walls of the same shape, which is meant to evoke the forest and mountains at the beginning of the second act, look makeshift and should be either visually more attractive or vice versa cleaner and freer in style. Marie Blažková's costumes are simple, without folklore connotations, with the unifying element of coarsely knitted wool, from which Lukáš's braces are made. Among the props, the acting characters use preserving jars of different sizes for drinking beer. The playful whole completes a strip of fire at the front part of the stage, composed of funeral candles (Lukáš has just become a widower) inserted into large preserving jars. The above-mentioned and other effects create Keprtová's stage world without greater mutual relationships in meaning. The question is how much these poetics are principal and how her work will look in the next two decades. One possible recommendation is to clean and radicalize her naive style, which would, however, result in losing contact with the mainstream of contemporary opera and offend some traditionalists, but it finds a solid directorial signature as her brand. For instance, Lukáš's wishful dreaming at the beginning of the second act brings a surprising special element when the dreamed-of Vendulka (but real on stage) comes out of the darkness towards him and gives him a kiss. Such symbolic simplification is on the verge of kitsch and therefore it should have been either deleted from the production or vice versa emphasized and promoted to a style form element. If there is something to criticize about Keprtová's production, it is just the compromise thinking that turns her original work to directing mainstream.
The music performance cannot be obviously assessed otherwise than with words of praise. The orchestra conducted by Jakub Kleckera had adequate liveliness and there were no hesitations; on the contrary, some solos were a pleasant surprise, especially the woodwind. It is just a shame that the local orchestra has chosen a not very expressive play and does not try to stand out more. The ensemble was traditionally perfectly prepared (Josef Pančík and Klára Roztočilová), even in a much rejuvenated composition. Numerous dramatic actions were performed with great enthusiasm by the ensemble.
The premiere cast was probably the best of what the Czech Opera is able to put together now. Pavla Vykopalová (Vendulka) is currently perhaps the most credible and musically the best of Smetana's loving girls in quality; she avoids emphatic theatrical gestures and gives a simple, lyrical and technically exemplary recitation. Also Aleš Briscein is deservedly the most popular person in love in the Czech Opera, even if his masterful lyrical tenor is close to operetta lightness, he still keeps away from it at an appropriate distance. Tomeš, performed by Svatopluk Sem, was another distinctive decoration of the production - Sem's firm baritone stands out with its dynamics and excellent articulation. Confidence, intense colour and singing majesty were brought by Martinka, performed by Jitka Zerhauová. Young John Šťáva as old father Paloucký proved himself especially as a comedian. It was apparently the director's intention to put more comic in this figure instead of depth. With the exception of two extreme positions, he also sang very well. The role of Barča cannot be counted among supporting roles because of the extensive Lark's song in the second act. Martina Králíková took the role very honestly and made the most of this aria.
The noteworthy fact is also the cast of the four Romany children into the silent roles of village servants. Not because it is a laudable and socially sensitive act, but because Vojtěch Baláž, František Balog, Natálie Bednarčíková and Terezie Danielová are truly remarkable talents, they are physically surprisingly spontaneous, live and natural, with no signs of childish stiffness or helplessness. I was even sorry I did not hear them sing.
The Kiss has apparently ambitions to endure on the Brno stage for a long time, because it was prepared for double, in Barča's case even triple alternates. During Tuesday's first reprise (8. 12.) a completely transformed cast appears on stage. Therefore it will be actually the second premiere. The production by Linda Keprtová will be much discussed and commented on, which is great in itself - for Smetana's opera, which still awaits full appreciation, silence is the worst, when everyone knows what to do and has nothing to think about.
Bedřich Smetana: The Kiss, libretto by Eliška Krásnohorská based on a short story by Karolína Světlá. Musical arrangement: Jakub Klecker, directed by Linda Keprtová, set design: Eva Jiřikovská, costumes: Marie Blažková, movement cooperation: Ladislava Košíková, chorus master: Klára Roztočilová, lights: Tomáš Morávek. Vendulka - Pavla Vykopalová, Lukáš - Aleš Briscein Paloucký– Jan Šťáva, Tomeš– Svatopluk Sem (guest appearance), Martinka - Jitka Zerhauová, Barča - Martina Králíková, Matouš - David Nykl, a frontier guard - Martin Pavlíček. Janáček Opera Orchestra and Ensemble. 4 December, 2015, Janáček Theatre in Brno, premiere.
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