King Roger
Encyclopedia
King Roger is an opera
by the Polish composer
Karol Szymanowski
set to a libretto
by Jarosław Iwaszkiewicz. It was first performed on 19 June 1926 in Warsaw
, Poland
. Among the original cast was the composer's sister, the soprano
Stanisława Korwin-Szymanowska, as Roxana.
The opera originated from Szymanowski's enthusiasm for Mediterranean
culture as a melting pot of different peoples and religions. He spent much time travelling in that area in 1911 and again in 1914 and shared his love of the region with his librettist (and cousin) Iwaszkiewicz. Szymanowski's lost novel
Efebos
dealt with mystical themes similar to those that inspired this work.
While "combin(ing) elements of opera and oratorio....important choral part(s) suggest Stravinsky
's Oedipus Rex or Schoenberg
's Moses and Aron", some other influences of Scriabin
, Richard Strauss
and Ravel
are apparent in the score. It is exquisitely colored by refined orchestration
and evocative harmony
, as well as seductive, often orientalist, melodies
. While the music is considered to be of the highest quality, the opera itself is not often staged, primarily because its strengths are not so much dramatic as musical, but there have been several recordings that have made this work more accessible.
King Roger received its first performance in the Americas at Buenos Aires
's Teatro Colón in 1981 under Stanisław Wisłocki and its US premiere in California with Long Beach Opera in January 1988, conducted by Murray Sidlin, with a cast featuring James Johnson as King Roger, Nancy Shade as the queen, and Jonathan Mack as Edrisi. It was later performed at the Bard SummerScape Festival on July 25, 2008.
King Roger has been staged three times in Palermo
. In 1949, it was given in presence of the librettist; it was re-staged in 1992 and in 2005, for the first time in Polish.
Mariusz Trelinski's new interpretation of the forgotten opera brought King Roger onto international stages. The come-back started with the performance at the Polish National Opera in Warsaw in 2000 and at the Wroclaw Opera in 2007, both directed by Trelinski.
2007 was proclaimed "Szymanowski's Year" in Poland and from there international public interest for the opera gradually started to rise. In 2008 it was staged in New York by Bard SummerScape Festival in Annandale-on-Hudson. It was also staged during the Edinburgh International Festival
in August 2008, with Valery Gergiev
conducting the Mariinsky Theater Orchestra, starring both Polish and Russian soloists. The Opéra National de Paris produced the opera in June and July 2009. In November 2009 the opera was produced at the Gran Teatre del Liceu
in Barcelona and at Staatstheater Mainz, Germany in 2011.
As part of its summer festival season, the opera will be presented by The Santa Fe Opera
in 2012.
The story concerns the enlightenment of the Christian
King Roger II by a young shepherd who represents pagan
ideals.
" Act
The Shepherd is introduced to King Roger and his court
during mass
at the Palermo
cathedral
. Despite calls for his punishment as a heretic
by the Archbishop, Roxana, Roger's wife, convinces the King not to kill him. Roger orders the young man to appear at the palace that night, where he will explain himself and submit to the King's judgement.
al" Act, representing India
and the Middle East
As instructed, the Shepherd appears at the palace gates. Roxana sings a seductive song which is clearly a response to the visitor, causing Roger to grow increasingly agitated. As the Shepherd is led in, he describes his faith in detail and soon almost the entire court joins him in an ecstatic dance
. Roger attempts to chain him, but the Shepherd easily breaks free, and leaves the palace with almost all of those assembled following him. At first the King and his Arab advisor, Edrisi are left alone, but soon it is decided that Roger will join the Shepherd.
In an ancient Greek theater, King Roger and Edrisi rejoin Roxana, who informs her husband that only the Shepherd can free him of his fear and jealousy. A fire is lit, and the Shepherd's followers commence another dance, while the Shepherd is transformed into Dionysus
. As the dance ends and the participants leave the stage, Roger is left transformed by the experience, and sings a joyous hymn
at the arrival of the morning sun.
Opera
Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...
by the Polish composer
Composer
A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...
Karol Szymanowski
Karol Szymanowski
Karol Maciej Szymanowski was a Polish composer and pianist.-Life:Szymanowski was born into a wealthy land-owning Polish gentry family in Tymoszówka, then in the Russian Empire, now in Cherkasy Oblast, Ukraine. He studied music privately with his father before going to Gustav Neuhaus'...
set to a libretto
Libretto
A libretto is the text used in an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata, or musical. The term "libretto" is also sometimes used to refer to the text of major liturgical works, such as mass, requiem, and sacred cantata, or even the story line of a...
by Jarosław Iwaszkiewicz. It was first performed on 19 June 1926 in Warsaw
Warsaw
Warsaw is the capital and largest city of Poland. It is located on the Vistula River, roughly from the Baltic Sea and from the Carpathian Mountains. Its population in 2010 was estimated at 1,716,855 residents with a greater metropolitan area of 2,631,902 residents, making Warsaw the 10th most...
, Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
. Among the original cast was the composer's sister, the soprano
Soprano
A soprano is a voice type with a vocal range from approximately middle C to "high A" in choral music, or to "soprano C" or higher in operatic music. In four-part chorale style harmony, the soprano takes the highest part, which usually encompasses the melody...
Stanisława Korwin-Szymanowska, as Roxana.
The opera originated from Szymanowski's enthusiasm for Mediterranean
Mediterranean Sea
The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean surrounded by the Mediterranean region and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Anatolia and Europe, on the south by North Africa, and on the east by the Levant...
culture as a melting pot of different peoples and religions. He spent much time travelling in that area in 1911 and again in 1914 and shared his love of the region with his librettist (and cousin) Iwaszkiewicz. Szymanowski's lost novel
Novel
A novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....
Efebos
Efebos
Efebos is a lost novel written by Karol Szymanowski, who is best known as a composer. During the difficult period of time around World War I and the Russian Revolution, Szymanowski's childhood home in what is now Ukraine was destroyed, and he found himself unable to compose...
dealt with mystical themes similar to those that inspired this work.
While "combin(ing) elements of opera and oratorio....important choral part(s) suggest Stravinsky
Igor Stravinsky
Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky ; 6 April 1971) was a Russian, later naturalized French, and then naturalized American composer, pianist, and conductor....
's Oedipus Rex or Schoenberg
Arnold Schoenberg
Arnold Schoenberg was an Austrian composer, associated with the expressionist movement in German poetry and art, and leader of the Second Viennese School...
's Moses and Aron", some other influences of Scriabin
Alexander Scriabin
Alexander Nikolayevich Scriabin was a Russian composer and pianist who initially developed a lyrical and idiosyncratic tonal language inspired by the music of Frédéric Chopin. Quite independent of the innovations of Arnold Schoenberg, Scriabin developed an increasingly atonal musical system,...
, Richard Strauss
Richard Strauss
Richard Georg Strauss was a leading German composer of the late Romantic and early modern eras. He is known for his operas, which include Der Rosenkavalier and Salome; his Lieder, especially his Four Last Songs; and his tone poems and orchestral works, such as Death and Transfiguration, Till...
and Ravel
Maurice Ravel
Joseph-Maurice Ravel was a French composer known especially for his melodies, orchestral and instrumental textures and effects...
are apparent in the score. It is exquisitely colored by refined orchestration
Orchestration
Orchestration is the study or practice of writing music for an orchestra or of adapting for orchestra music composed for another medium...
and evocative harmony
Harmony
In music, harmony is the use of simultaneous pitches , or chords. The study of harmony involves chords and their construction and chord progressions and the principles of connection that govern them. Harmony is often said to refer to the "vertical" aspect of music, as distinguished from melodic...
, as well as seductive, often orientalist, melodies
Melody
A melody , also tune, voice, or line, is a linear succession of musical tones which is perceived as a single entity...
. While the music is considered to be of the highest quality, the opera itself is not often staged, primarily because its strengths are not so much dramatic as musical, but there have been several recordings that have made this work more accessible.
Performance history
King Roger is often considered a great discovery of today as well as an underestimated masterpiece. Jozef Kanski wrote:- "The complexity of music of these works (Szymanowski's Hagith and King Roger) makes the reception very difficult. Many viewers and performers will not be able to fully appreciate it(...) King Roger is an exceptional opera. Just the very ideas used in the libretto, conceived in the imagination of the composer and brought into light by the genious of Jaroslaw Iwaszkiewicz, are amazing. They set the action in medieval Sicily, where the atmosphere of ascetic self-denial of early christianity is combined with colourful and mysterious world of arabic and byzantine culture. It is marked by subtle erotic elements and it emphasises the pure joy of life (...)".
King Roger received its first performance in the Americas at Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires is the capital and largest city of Argentina, and the second-largest metropolitan area in South America, after São Paulo. It is located on the western shore of the estuary of the Río de la Plata, on the southeastern coast of the South American continent...
's Teatro Colón in 1981 under Stanisław Wisłocki and its US premiere in California with Long Beach Opera in January 1988, conducted by Murray Sidlin, with a cast featuring James Johnson as King Roger, Nancy Shade as the queen, and Jonathan Mack as Edrisi. It was later performed at the Bard SummerScape Festival on July 25, 2008.
King Roger has been staged three times in Palermo
Palermo
Palermo is a city in Southern Italy, the capital of both the autonomous region of Sicily and the Province of Palermo. The city is noted for its history, culture, architecture and gastronomy, playing an important role throughout much of its existence; it is over 2,700 years old...
. In 1949, it was given in presence of the librettist; it was re-staged in 1992 and in 2005, for the first time in Polish.
Mariusz Trelinski's new interpretation of the forgotten opera brought King Roger onto international stages. The come-back started with the performance at the Polish National Opera in Warsaw in 2000 and at the Wroclaw Opera in 2007, both directed by Trelinski.
2007 was proclaimed "Szymanowski's Year" in Poland and from there international public interest for the opera gradually started to rise. In 2008 it was staged in New York by Bard SummerScape Festival in Annandale-on-Hudson. It was also staged during the Edinburgh International Festival
Edinburgh International Festival
The Edinburgh International Festival is a festival of performing arts that takes place in the city of Edinburgh, Scotland, over three weeks from around the middle of August. By invitation from the Festival Director, the International Festival brings top class performers of music , theatre, opera...
in August 2008, with Valery Gergiev
Valery Gergiev
Valery Abisalovich Gergiev is a Russian conductor and opera company director. He is general director and artistic director of the Mariinsky Theatre, principal conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra, and artistic director of the White Nights Festival in St. Petersburg.- Early life :Gergiev,...
conducting the Mariinsky Theater Orchestra, starring both Polish and Russian soloists. The Opéra National de Paris produced the opera in June and July 2009. In November 2009 the opera was produced at the Gran Teatre del Liceu
Liceu
The Gran Teatre del Liceu , or simply Liceu in Catalan and Liceo in Spanish, is an opera house on La Rambla in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain...
in Barcelona and at Staatstheater Mainz, Germany in 2011.
As part of its summer festival season, the opera will be presented by The Santa Fe Opera
Santa Fe Opera
The Santa Fe Opera is an American opera company, located north of Santa Fe in the U.S. state of New Mexico, headquartered on a former guest ranch of .-General history:...
in 2012.
Roles
| Role | Voice type | Premiere, June 19, 1926 (Conductor: Emil Młynarski) |
|---|---|---|
| Roger II Roger II of Sicily Roger II was King of Sicily, son of Roger I of Sicily and successor to his brother Simon. He began his rule as Count of Sicily in 1105, later became Duke of Apulia and Calabria , then King of Sicily... , King of Sicily |
baritone Baritone Baritone is a type of male singing voice that lies between the bass and tenor voices. It is the most common male voice. Originally from the Greek , meaning deep sounding, music for this voice is typically written in the range from the second F below middle C to the F above middle C Baritone (or... |
Eugeniusz Mossakowski |
| Roxana, his wife | soprano Soprano A soprano is a voice type with a vocal range from approximately middle C to "high A" in choral music, or to "soprano C" or higher in operatic music. In four-part chorale style harmony, the soprano takes the highest part, which usually encompasses the melody... |
Stanisława Korwin-Szymanowska, the composer's sister |
| Edrisi Muhammad al-Idrisi Abu Abd Allah Muhammad al-Idrisi al-Qurtubi al-Hasani al-Sabti or simply Al Idrisi was a Moroccan Muslim geographer, cartographer, Egyptologist and traveller who lived in Sicily, at the court of King Roger II. Muhammed al-Idrisi was born in Ceuta then belonging to the Almoravid Empire and died in... , an Arab scholar |
tenor Tenor The tenor is a type of male singing voice and is the highest male voice within the modal register. The typical tenor voice lies between C3, the C one octave below middle C, to the A above middle C in choral music, and up to high C in solo work. The low extreme for tenors is roughly B2... |
|
| Shepherd | tenor | Adam Dobosz |
| Archbishop | bass | |
| Deaconess | contralto Contralto Contralto is the deepest female classical singing voice, with the lowest tessitura, falling between tenor and mezzo-soprano. It typically ranges between the F below middle C to the second G above middle C , although at the extremes some voices can reach the E below middle C or the second B above... |
|
| Priests, monks, nuns, acolytes, courtiers, guards, eunuchs, Shepherd's disciples | ||
Synopsis
- Place: Sicily
- Time: 12th Century
The story concerns the enlightenment of the Christian
Christian
A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...
King Roger II by a young shepherd who represents pagan
Paganism
Paganism is a blanket term, typically used to refer to non-Abrahamic, indigenous polytheistic religious traditions....
ideals.
Act 1
Often known as the "ByzantineByzantine Empire
The Byzantine Empire was the Eastern Roman Empire during the periods of Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, centred on the capital of Constantinople. Known simply as the Roman Empire or Romania to its inhabitants and neighbours, the Empire was the direct continuation of the Ancient Roman State...
" Act
The Shepherd is introduced to King Roger and his court
Court
A court is a form of tribunal, often a governmental institution, with the authority to adjudicate legal disputes between parties and carry out the administration of justice in civil, criminal, and administrative matters in accordance with the rule of law...
during mass
Mass
Mass can be defined as a quantitive measure of the resistance an object has to change in its velocity.In physics, mass commonly refers to any of the following three properties of matter, which have been shown experimentally to be equivalent:...
at the Palermo
Palermo
Palermo is a city in Southern Italy, the capital of both the autonomous region of Sicily and the Province of Palermo. The city is noted for its history, culture, architecture and gastronomy, playing an important role throughout much of its existence; it is over 2,700 years old...
cathedral
Cathedral
A cathedral is a Christian church that contains the seat of a bishop...
. Despite calls for his punishment as a heretic
Heresy
Heresy is a controversial or novel change to a system of beliefs, especially a religion, that conflicts with established dogma. It is distinct from apostasy, which is the formal denunciation of one's religion, principles or cause, and blasphemy, which is irreverence toward religion...
by the Archbishop, Roxana, Roger's wife, convinces the King not to kill him. Roger orders the young man to appear at the palace that night, where he will explain himself and submit to the King's judgement.
Act 2
The "OrientOrient
The Orient means "the East." It is a traditional designation for anything that belongs to the Eastern world or the Far East, in relation to Europe. In English it is a metonym that means various parts of Asia.- Derivation :...
al" Act, representing India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
and the Middle East
Middle East
The Middle East is a region that encompasses Western Asia and Northern Africa. It is often used as a synonym for Near East, in opposition to Far East...
As instructed, the Shepherd appears at the palace gates. Roxana sings a seductive song which is clearly a response to the visitor, causing Roger to grow increasingly agitated. As the Shepherd is led in, he describes his faith in detail and soon almost the entire court joins him in an ecstatic dance
Dance
Dance is an art form that generally refers to movement of the body, usually rhythmic and to music, used as a form of expression, social interaction or presented in a spiritual or performance setting....
. Roger attempts to chain him, but the Shepherd easily breaks free, and leaves the palace with almost all of those assembled following him. At first the King and his Arab advisor, Edrisi are left alone, but soon it is decided that Roger will join the Shepherd.
Act 3
The "Greco-Roman" ActIn an ancient Greek theater, King Roger and Edrisi rejoin Roxana, who informs her husband that only the Shepherd can free him of his fear and jealousy. A fire is lit, and the Shepherd's followers commence another dance, while the Shepherd is transformed into Dionysus
Dionysus
Dionysus was the god of the grape harvest, winemaking and wine, of ritual madness and ecstasy in Greek mythology. His name in Linear B tablets shows he was worshipped from c. 1500—1100 BC by Mycenean Greeks: other traces of Dionysian-type cult have been found in ancient Minoan Crete...
. As the dance ends and the participants leave the stage, Roger is left transformed by the experience, and sings a joyous hymn
Hymn
A hymn is a type of song, usually religious, specifically written for the purpose of praise, adoration or prayer, and typically addressed to a deity or deities, or to a prominent figure or personification...
at the arrival of the morning sun.
Recordings
- 1990:
- Barbara Zagórzanka (Soprano), Wieslaw Ochman (Tenor), Andrzej Hiolski (Baritone), Henryk Grychnik (Tenor), Anna Malewicz-Madey (Alto), Leonard Mroz (Bass)
- Conductor: Antoni Wit, Karol Stryja; Polish State Philharmonic Orchestra and Chorus and the Cracow Philharmonic Boys' Choir
- Audio CD: Marco Polo, Cat: 223339; Naxos, Cat: 8660062-63
- 1998:
- Thomas Hampson, Elzbieta Szmytka (Roxana), Ryszard Minkiewicz (Shepherd), Philip LangridgePhilip LangridgePhilip Gordon Langridge CBE was an English tenor, considered to be among the foremost exponents of English opera and oratorio....
, Jadwiga Rappé, Robert Gierlach, Lisa Milne, Andrew Burden, Leif Ove Andsnes. - Conductor: Simon RattleSimon RattleSir Simon Denis Rattle, CBE is an English conductor. He rose to international prominence as conductor of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and since 2002 has been principal conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic ....
, City of Birmingham Symphony OrchestraCity of Birmingham Symphony OrchestraThe City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra is a British orchestra based in Birmingham, England. The Orchestra's current chief executive, appointed in 1999, is Stephen Maddock...
and Chorus, plus City of Birmingham Symphony Youth Chorus - Audio CD: EMI, Cat: 56823 and Cat: 14576
- 2003
- Wojtek Drabowicz (Roger) (bar), Olga Pasiecznik (Roxana) (sop), Krzystof Szmyt (Edrisi) (ten), Piotr Beczala (Shepherd) (ten); Romuald Tesarowicz Archbishop) (bass), Stefania Toczyska (Deaconess) (mezzo)
- Jacek Kaspszyk, Polish National Opera Orchestra and Chorus and All Polacca Youth Choir (Live recording of a broadcast at the Teatr Wielki, Warsaw, Jan)
- Audio CD: Accord, Cat: ACD 131-2
- 2009:
- Scott Hendricks (King Roger), Olga Pasichnyk (Roxana), John Graham-Hall (Edrisi), Willy Hartmann (Shepherd), Olga Pasichnyk, Juatyna Dyla, Liubov Sokolova, Mariusz Stefanski.
- Conductor: Mark ElderMark ElderSir Mark Philip Elder, CBE is a British conductor. He is the music director of the Hallé Orchestra in Manchester, England.-Biography:Elder was born in Hexham, Northumberland, England, the son of a dentist...
, Vienna Symphony OrchestraVienna Symphony Orchestra-History:In 1900, Ferdinand Löwe founded the orchestra as the Wiener Concertverein . In 1913 it moved into the Konzerthaus, Vienna. In 1919 it merged with the Tonkünstler Orchestra. In 1933 it acquired its current name...
and the Polish Radio Choir, Kraków, plus the Children's Chorus of Musikhauptschule Bregenz. - DVD: C-Major, Cat: 702808
- 2009:
- Andrzej Dobber (Roger), Aleksandra Buczek (Roxsana), Rafal Majzner (Edrisi), Pavlo Tolstoy (Shepherd), Radoslaw Zukowski (Archiereios), Barbara Baginska (Diakonissa)
- Ewa Michnik (conductor): Wroclaw Opera Orchestra and Choir and Angelus Chamber Choir.
- DVD: (PAL only).