Polish opera

Polish opera may be broadly understood to include

Polish composers, as well as opera in the Polish language

The tradition reaches back to

Romantic opera in Polish flourished alongside nationalism after the partition and is exemplified by the work of Stanisław Moniuszko. In the 20th century Polish opera was exported and composers such as Krzysztof Penderecki wrote operas in other languages (Ubu Rex, Die Teufel von Loudun

) that were translated into Polish later.

17th century

Władysław IV

, Poland's first opera patron

Royal Castle, Warsaw

Operas were first performed in Poland during the

La liberazione di Ruggiero dall'isola d'Alcina, was also performed in Warsaw in 1628; this is the earliest verified performance of an Italian opera outside of Italy.^[1]

Gli amori di Aci e Galatea by Santi Orlandi was also performed in 1628.

Judith, was performed in 1635. The composer was probably Virgilio Puccitelli. During the reign of Władysław IV a dozen or so operas were performed whose music has not survived.[1]

Saxon era (1697-1763)

The next kings

Johann Adolf Hasse, also arrived in Poland. His work there increased opera's popularity amongst the nobility and raised the artistic standards of Polish opera to an international level. Hasse wrote the opera seria Zenobia, to a libretto by Pietro Metastasio, especially for Warsaw in 1761.^[3]

Late 18th century

A high point of Polish opera occurred during the reign of the last king of Poland, Stanisław August Poniatowski, in spite of the political troubles that afflicted the country. During this time Poland was carved up by its neighbours, Prussia, Austria and Russia, in a series of three Partitions between 1772 and 1795, when the country disappeared off the map of Europe. Yet culture thrived, a National Theatre was opened in 1779, and it was probably during this era that the first operas in Polish were written, although not even the titles and authors of these pieces are known. In 1777 Franciszek Bohomolec wrote the text for a cantata, Nędza uszczęśliwiona (Poverty Made Happy). Wojciech Bogusławski quickly turned this into a libretto for an opera which was staged with music by Maciej Kamieński. It is the first known opera in the Polish language. The composer was a Polonised Czech; Bogusławski and Bohomolec were Polish noblemen. Bogusławski threw himself into writing drama, which later earned him the name of "the father of Polish theatre". Bogusławski wrote and staged the opera buffa Henryk IV na łowach (Henri IV Goes Hunting) with music by Jan Stefani. It was followed by Cud mniemany, czyli Krakowiacy i Górale (The Supposed Miracle, or the Krakowians and the Highlanders). The text of the latter was lost during the January Uprising of 1863 and only rediscovered in 1929 by Leon Schiller (who called it a "Polish national opera"). The premiere took place on 1 March 1794 to unprecedented applause. It occurred a few weeks before the Kościuszko Uprising against the foreign powers and the opera itself included pro-Kościuszko slogans. The authorities had the opera removed after four performances due to its unexpected popularity and anti-Partition allusions.^[4]

Polish National Opera

The fall of Poland did not stop operatic activity in the country. Wojciech Bogusławski was still at work. In the 1790s, Józef Elsner emerged in Lwów (Lviv, then Lemberg in the region conquered by Austria). Almost none of his many operas has survived, the most notable extant work being Amazonki, czyli Herminia (The Amazons, or Herminia). When Elsner took over the National Theatre in Warsaw, he began to write operas which made use of Polish folk music.

He began his work in Warsaw by composing an opera to a libretto by Bogusławski called Iskahar. However, he was doubtful of its success, since his knowledge of the Polish language was too limited for an adequate musical expression of the words. He was also concerned with the problem of the change of accents in the sung text, which could become unintelligible if they were muddled.

Elsner soon (1799) became the principal conductor at the National Theatre. In 1810 he was joined by composer

Elbow-High

) brought him moderate success.

Elsner had been born in

Tsar Alexander I of Russia. After the November Uprising

of 1830 he adopted a diametrically opposite opinion. For years he defended the Polish language as beautiful and fit for singing. He was an ardent proponent of Polish opera (by his time there were 300 works in the language in existence), particularly in the first ever account of the national tradition - Die Oper der Polen - published in 1812.

During this time

Rossini

.

In 1833 Antonio Corazzi, an Italian from Livorno, built a new theatre for the National Opera in Warsaw. The house was opened with a performance of Rossini's The Barber of Seville.

Stanisław Moniuszko

Smetana in the Czech and Ferenc Erkel in the Hungarian

.

In 1837 Moniuszko returned to Poland after receiving his musical education abroad. Ten years later he wrote the famous Polish

dumkas - and was the first Polish opera to be "through-composed" (i.e. the entire libretto is set to music and there is no spoken dialogue).^[6]

The libretto of Halka, by Włodzimierz Wolski is recognised as one of the finest Polish literary works of its time. Critics have noted certain similarities to

Goethe's Faust. Moniuszko's next most important work is Straszny Dwór (The Haunted Manor), more comic in spirit than Halka. It has a libretto by Jan Chęciński which is full of allusions to the Polish noble tradition of Sarmatism

and pro-independence sentiments, which led to the opera being banned. The premiere took place in 1865 to great applause, yet the authorities withdrew it after a handful of performances.

Polish school of opera

One of Moniuszko's followers was

Slavophil and Romantic in character. They belong to the Slavic craze among Polish Romantics which was started by Zorian Dołęga-Chodakowski

.

An important 20th century Polish opera,

King Zygmunt August) by Tadeusz Joteyko

.

Karol Szymanowski

Karol Szymanowski wrote only two operas, both completely breaking away from the model of Moniuszko. The first, Hagith, was influenced by Richard Strauss's Salome and was a failure at its premiere in 1922. Much more important was King Roger (1926). This work was slow to gain a reputation and was considered marginal until the 1990s. It has now been performed with great success in the United Kingdom, France and Spain. Formally, King Roger draws on the tradition of oratorio as it much as it does that of opera; the chorus is a constant presence throughout almost its entire length. It is a varied work, moving from a style influenced by the singing of the Eastern Orthodox Church to dense chromatic harmony, and is considered the most important Polish opera of the 20th century.^[9]

Post-war opera

Under the

Zygmunt II August in 1549. The same composer wrote other operas including ones for children. Another composer of this type was Witold Rudziński, whose works include Janko Muzykant (Janko the Musician, 1953) and Komendant Paryża (The Commandant of Paris, 1960). Rudziński was influenced by a far younger composer, Krzystof Penderecki. Rudziński's finest opera is Odprawa posłów greckich (The Dismissal of the Greek Envoys), based on the play by the leading Renaissance poet Jan Kochanowski; the opera has elements of sonorism

.

An important composer of the post-war era was Romuald Twardowski who won fame for his operas Cyrano de Bergerac (1963) and Lord Jim (1976). Other important works were written by Tadeusz Paciorkiewicz (Romans gdański, 1968), Józef Świder (Wit Stwosz, 1974, about the famous woodcarver), Henryk Czyż (Kynolog w rozterce after a play by Sławomir Mrożek, 1967; Inge Bartsch after Konstanty Ildefons Gałczyński, 1982), Tadeusz Baird (the famous Jutro, based on the short story "Tomorrow" by Joseph Conrad, 1966, which won many European awards and was turned into a film).

A trend for reinterpreting literature emerged. Such works include Pierścień wielkiej damy (after

Le Petit Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, 1970) and Krzystof Baculewski

's Nowe Wyzwolenie (New Liberation, 1986).

There also arose a trend for unstaged opera. This led to works for the radio by

Krzystof Meyer (the famous Cyberiad after the science-fiction stories by Stanisław Lem, 1970) and Maciej Małecki

(Balladyna, 1999).

Krzysztof Penderecki

Wagner and psychoanalysis

, makes extensive use of sonorism. It provoked a great deal of discussion among critics and the composer's next work was eagerly awaited. The Devils of Loudun immediately became a classic of contemporary opera thanks to its innovative style. To aid his sonorist experiments, Penderecki's created a new way of notating music. The opera was later filmed. Penderecki's next opera Paradise Lost also received good reviews. The next stage in Penderecki's development was Die schwarze Maske, first performed in Salzburg during The Summer Festival in 1986 to mixed reactions.

When Penderecki abandoned sonorism he decided to compose a "Polish" opera. Ubu Rex is based on the farce by

Ubu roi

, which takes place in Poland. The opera was in German, although the librettist, Jerzy Jarocki, was Polish. The opera received a mixed response: some greeted it with applause and standing ovations, but other members of the audience angrily walked out of the theatre. Nevertheless, the opera had such a strong reception that it gained the attention of audiences outside Poland.

Recent developments

The most recent composers of opera are

dodecaphonic work to a text by Oscar Milosz

, which the composer himself translated from French.

Among the latest major Polish operas are Antygona (2001) by Zbigniew Rudziński, Balthazar and The Trap (2011) by Zygmunt Krauze, Ignorant i Szaleniec by Paweł Mykietyn and Madame Curie (2011) by Elżbieta Sikora.

Notes

^ Warrack p.240; Viking p.174
^ ^a ^b Grout p.529
^ Warrack p.240
^ Warrack p.241; Viking pp.522 and 1008
^ Viking p.671
^ Booklet notes to the recording of Halka by Robert Satanowski (CPO 1987)
^ Initially in German and premiered in Dresden (Viking, p.750).
^ On 14 February (Viking, p.750).
^ Viking pp.1076-78

References

The Viking Opera Guide, ed. Amanda Holden (1993): articles on Polish composers
The Oxford Illustrated History of Opera, ed. Roger Parker (1994): chapter on Central and Eastern European opera by John Warrack
Donald Grout A Short History of Opera (Columbia University Press, 4th ed., 2003)
For historical background: Norman Davies, God's Playground: A History of Poland, 2 vols., Oxford University Press.