Stanisław Moniuszko

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Stanisław Moniuszko, 1865
Moniuszko's signature

Stanisław Moniuszko (Polish pronunciation: [stãˈɲiswaf mɔ̃ˈɲuʃkɔ] ; May 5, 1819 – June 4, 1872[1]) was a Polish composer,[2][3] conductor and teacher. He wrote many popular art songs and operas, and his music is filled with patriotic folk themes of the peoples of the former Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth (mainly Poles, Lithuanians and Belarusians).[4] He is generally referred to as "the father of Polish national opera".[5] Since the 1990s Stanisław Moniuszko is being recognized in Belarus as an important figure to Belarusian culture as well.[6][a]

Life

Moniuszko was born into a

Warsaw Conservatory.[3] He died in Warsaw in 1872 and was buried at the Powązki Cemetery.[11]

Works

Bronze bust of Stanisław Moniuszko by Gennadij Jerszow, at the Music Academy in Gdansk.

Moniuszko composed more than 300 individual songs, primarily to texts of Polish poets,[12] and around two dozen operas.[10] His series of twelve song books[13] is notable and contains songs to the words of Adam Mickiewicz, Antoni Edward Odyniec, Józef Ignacy Kraszewski, Stefan Witwicki, Antoni Malczewski, and Wincenty Pol.

Moniuszko noted that his songs, which were published under the collective title Śpiewnik Domowy (Domestic Songs), had a national character. Their 'Polishness' is found in his use of and reference to traditional Polish dance rhythms like Polonaise, Mazurka, Kujawiak, and Krakowiak and the propagation of texts written by Polish national poets.[8] The songs were often performed by the 19th-century Polish choirs in Austria, Germany, and Russia,[13] and became a point of reference for other Polish composers.[2] Moniuszko's opera style bears similarities to that of Daniel Auber and Gioachino Rossini, but with stronger emphasis on chorus and melodies inspired by Polish dances.[2] Lithuanians stress, that Stanisław Moniuszko was eagerly using Lithuanian motifs – e.g. his cantatas "Milda", "Nijolė", based on Lithuanian mythology, were issued in Vilnius.[14]

Halka is an opera to a libretto written by Włodzimierz Wolski, a young Warsaw poet with radical social views.[15] After being staged in Warsaw in 1858, it became the most widely known Polish opera[10] and is part of the canon of Polish national operas.

Modern performances

An English version of Straszny dwór (

Opera South
, which company also presented the world premiere of a specially created new English version of Verbum Nobile in 2002.

In 2008, Pocket Opera, of San Francisco, CA, USA, premiered Artistic Director Donald Pippin's English language translation of The Haunted Manor.

Moniuszko's opera Flis (The Raftsman) was performed and recorded in the Grand Theatre of Polish National Opera at the 2019 Chopin and his Europe International Music Festival, marking the 200th anniversary of Moniuszko's birth.[17]

Paria was performed at Poznań Opera in June 2019, directed by Graham Vick and conducted by Gabriel Chmura.

Moniuszko's operas are regularly performed at the Belarusian National Opera.

Notes

  1. ^ There is a Museum of Stanisław Moniuszko in Belarus.[7]
  2. ^ The Moniuszko family had roots in the area of Goniądz in Podlachia.[9]

References

  1. ^ Prosnak 1980, pp. 15, 173.
  2. ^ .
  3. ^ .
  4. ^ Аляксей Хадыка [Alexey Khadyka] (May 22, 2009). "Станіслаў Манюшка — паляк, літвін..." [Stanislaw Moniuszko – Pole and Lithuanian] (in Belarusian). Archived from the original on July 27, 2011. Retrieved January 20, 2013. NovyChas.org, Culture. Retrieved from the Internet Archive, February 18, 2013.
  5. ^ "Stanisław Moniuszko – Ojciec polskiej opery". poland.us.
  6. ^ "Праправнучка Станислава Монюшко: 'В Минске должен появиться памятник композитору' " [Great-great-granddaughter of Stanisław Moniuszko: 'A monument to the composer should appear in Minsk'] by Кастусь Лашкевич [Kastus Lashkevich], 19 Oktober 2009, Tut.By (in Belarusian)
  7. ^ Stanisław Moniuszko Museum, Belarus
  8. ^ .
  9. .
  10. ^ .
  11. ^ Prosnak 1980, p. 174.
  12. .
  13. ^ .
  14. ^ STANISLAVAS MONIUŠKA (STANISŁAW MONIUSZKO)
  15. ^ Murphy 2001, p. 168.
  16. ^ "Opera: Moniuszko's Haunted Castle"; by Bernard Holland, The New York Times, April 23, 1986
  17. ^ "Festiwal "Chopin i jego Europa"" [Chopin and his Europe]. Fryderyk Chopin Institute (in Polish). 2019. Retrieved August 13, 2020.

External links