14 of Opera's Most Memorable Musical Kisses

The love story in Béla Bartók’s one-act opera Bluebeard's Castle is unconventional, to say the least. This deeply psychoanalytic work explores Bluebeard’s tortured subconscious, divided into seven chambers where he hides his darkest secrets. His new wife, Judith, demands to see what is behind each of the doors, only to be horrified by sights like a torture chamber and a bloody garden. Behind the sixth door, Judith sees a lake of tears, representing the sorrows of Bluebeard’s former wives. Here, Bluebeard demands a kiss, which Judith reluctantly gives him.

"Les Troyens" is so epic and grand that the composer never saw the work performed in his own lifetime. The story is set during the Trojan War, taking Virgil’s "Aeneid" as the source material for the libretto. Dido and Aeneas declare their epic love in a duet, “Nuit d’ivresse et d’extase infinite” (“Night of endlessly intoxicating love”).

Micaëla meets with Don José to bring him three things from his mother: a letter, some money, and something “worth more than money.” She is embarrassed to say exactly what that something is, though when Don José pleads with her, she confesses she is to deliver “un baisser” – a kiss. Immediately after their lips lock, he is reminded of his mother and his hometown. When they read the letter, they learn that Don José’s mother wants him to return home and marry Micaëla.

Charpentier’s "David et Jonathas," first performed in 1688, dramatizes the love between the Old Testament figures of the same name. David, from the Tribe of Judah, rivals Saül, Jonathas’s father, to rule over Israel. Torn apart by political strife and warfare, David and Jonathas swear a covenant to each other that they seal with a kiss. Though aspects of their relationship are ambiguous in the Bible, Charpentier’s tragédie biblique makes no mistake that the two were more than just friends. The first scene of Act IV in the opera, “Souverain juge des mortels,” depicts the covenant the two form. When they sing of delighting in the pleasures of “sweet Peace,” the music is undeniably erotic.

Though Mélisande is married to Golaud, she is in love with his half-brother, Pelléas. Mélisande encounters Pelléas at a well in the woods, where she loses her wedding ring. Golaud becomes furious, and fears that Mélisande has been unfaithful. Pelléas knows he must leave Mélisande, though demands to see her once more by the well. When the two meet for a final goodbye, they share a kiss beneath the stars.

They say that looks can kill, but in Rusalka’s case, it’s her kiss. The tale is similar to Hans Christian Anderson’s "The Little Mermaid" (“Rusalka” means water nymph). In Dvořák‘s opera, Rusalka falls in love with a Prince. In order to be with her love, she asks a witch, Ježibaba, for help. After Rusalka leaves her watery home to be with the Prince, he rejects her for another woman, the Foreign Princess. Rusalka is doomed to roam the earth as a ghost unless she kills the person responsible for her sad fate – the Prince. Later, the Prince encounters Rusalka in the woods while hunting. Though he knows her kiss will bring about his own death, he demands to kiss her anyway.

Gounod adapted Shakespeare’s story of two star-crossed lovers, Romeo and Juliette, into an opera and gave them several musical kisses. One early critic of the work wrote, “One remembers the work as a series of very pretty duets.” Of course, one of the appeals of setting Romeo and Juliette to music is precisely that! Lots and lots of great love duets! In Act IV, the two finally are united in matrimony, and they sing of their love of this gorgeous duet.

King Betraido has been usurped and is forced to flee, leaving his wife, Rodelinda, behind. He returns to her, but must do so in disguise. Someone recognizes Bertraido, however, and informs Rodelinda that her beloved is alive and well. At the end of Act II, the dethroned king and captured queen decide to meet in secret. They sing a beautiful duet, “Io t'abbraccio.” Though technically “un abbraccio” is a hug, not a kiss, it’s hard to imagine that Bertraido and Rodelina only embraced each other with their arms!

If ever there were an opera full of romantic entanglements, it’s "Così fan tutte". Fiordiligi and Dorabella are engaged to Gugliemo and Ferrando respectively. But, the bridegrooms-to-be suspect their brides would cheat on them in a heartbeat. So, the men play a trick on their ladies: pretend to go off to war, and return in disguise to woo their sweethearts, proving that they would not be faithful if given the chance. In the sextet “Alla bella Despinetta,” Fiordiligi and Dorabella and meet their mates dressed as Albanians, and they are immediately charmed by their exotic, mustachioed disguises.

In “Pur ti miro,” Nero and Poppea delight that they are finally united. But, there union only comes after three acts of plotting and intrigue. The power hungry Poppea wants to be Empress of Rome, and is determined to do whatever it takes, even getting rid of Emperor Nero’s current wife, Octavia. We hear some of the sweetest embraces in the history of music in “Pur ti miro,” the voices slowly embrace in parallel motion over a hypnotically repetitious descending bass line. Curiously this final duet in Monteverdi’s final opera was likely not by him. The text does not appear in the published libretto, and was probably added at a later date by another composer when the work was revived. But, that doesn’t mean it’s not incredible music!

For Mimì and Rodolfo, it’s love at first sight. The two meet on the proverbial “dark and stormy night.” It’s Christmas Eve. It’s snowing. Both barely have enough money to keep the fires burning and their bellies fed. Rodolfo has just used his latest play as kindling for the furnace in his garret, and Mimì approaches Rodolfo so that he can light her fire – literally. Her candle has just gone out, so she asks him for a light. As soon as the two meet the sparks start flying. Act I ends with a beautiful duet when they confess their love.

Bedřich Smetana’s rarely performed opera The Kiss is entirely about kissing. Lukáš is in love with Vendulka, but is promised to marry another girl. Lukáš is finally granted permission to marry Vendulka, and wants to kiss her, though she wants to wait until after they are married. One day, Vendulka finds her bridegroom dancing and kissing other girls in the village and is outraged. After a little Act II intrigue, all ends happily: the two lovers wed and Lukáš finally gets his kiss.

Nothing says “I love you” like kissing a severed head, right? In "Salome", Strauss’s opera based upon the play of the same name by Oscar Wilde, King Herod lusts after his own stepdaughter (who is also his niece!), Salome. Herod wants Salome to dance for him, and she obliges on the condition that he bring her the head of John the Baptist (called Jochanaan in the opera). Herod gives in to his daughter’s demand, and presents her the head of the prophet on a silver platter. In one of the most powerfully dramatic pieces in any Strauss opera, Salome kisses John the Baptist’s head saying, “You would not let me kiss you, so I will kiss you now; biting into your mouth like ripe fruit.”

To contextualize the kiss that concludes Siegfried, the third opera in Wagner’s Ring Cycle, you need a bit of the backstory. In the previous opera, "Die Walküre", Wotan punishes his daughter Brünnhilde for being disobedient by placing her on a rock surrounded by a ring of fire. She’s placed under an enchanted sleep until a worthy Prince Charming comes along to kiss her. Enter Siegfried. At the end of "Siegfried", the hero encounters the Valkyrie, and kisses her. Wagner depicts the kiss and Brünnhilde’s awakening with a short orchestral interlude.