Polish opera
Encyclopedia
Polish opera may be broadly understood to include opera
s staged in Poland
and works written for foreign stages by Polish composers, as well as opera in the Polish language
.
The tradition reaches back to Italian language
entertainments of the baroque
. 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.
Operas were first performed in Poland during the Baroque
era in the reign of Sigismund III Vasa (1587-1632). The king himself had no interest in the arts, but his son Władysław IV (reigned 1632-1648) was an enthusiast and patron of opera while he was still a prince. In 1625 Francesca Caccini
wrote an opera for Władysław when he visited Italy. This opera, 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.
Gli amori di Aci e Galatea by Santi Orlandi was also performed in 1628. When Władysław became king, he had operas staged in the hall of the royal castle and he invited Marco Scacchi's opera troupe to Poland. A dramma per musica
(as serious Italian opera
was known at the time) entitled Giuditta, based on the Biblical story of 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.http://www.polmic.pl/historia_muzyki_desc.php?id=7&lang=en
. The first public opera house in Poland was opened in 1724. The great moderniser of Polish opera was another Saxon, King August III. In 1748 he built an opera house in which works by Italian and German composers were regularly staged. A star of European opera, the composer 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.
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 Krakowiaki 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.
emerged in Lwów (Lviv
, then Lemburg 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 Karol Kurpiński
, who took up the post of second conductor. The two began a rivalry which lasted thirteen years until Elsner was removed by the Ruling Committee of the National Theatre at Kurpiński's request. By that time he had managed to write 30 operas. In 1809 he scored a notable triumph with Leszek Biały (Leszek the White), to a libretto by Bogusławski. After this only the comic opera Siedem razy jeden (Seven Times One) and Król Łokietek (King Elbow-High) brought him moderate success.
Elsner had been born in Silesia
and his first language was German, leading his critics to deny that he was truly Polish and to accuse him of sympathizing with the foreign invaders. The composer had praised some of the partitioning rulers, including 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 Karol Kurpiński
began to enjoy great success. Kurpiński composed 18 operas. All of them were enthusiastically received, but his best known works were Zamek w Czorsztynie (The Castle in Czorsztyn
) and Zabobon, czyli Krakowiacy i Górale. The first was the prototype of Moniuszko's The Haunted Manor
. The second was a new opera to Bogusławski's libretto. Kurpiński also won acclaim for Nagroda, czyli wskrzeszenie Królestwa Polskiego (The Prize, or the Resurrection of the Kingdom of Poland). As an ardent patriot and opponent of the foreign occupation, Kurpiński used his music as part of the struggle for independence (just as Giuseppe Verdi
did in Italy). Following on from Elsner, Kurpiński significantly modernised the National Theatre. He introduced many works to the Polish stage including Mozart's Don Giovanni
, Spontini's La vestale
, Auber
's Fra Diavolo
, Weber
's Der Freischütz
and many other operas by Donizetti, Meyerbeer and Rossini.
In 1833 Antionio 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
is regarded as the true creator of Polish national opera. His role in the Polish tradition is similar to that of Glinka in the Russian
, 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 Romantic
opera Halka
. The first, two-act version had its premiere in Vilnius
, and a second, four-act version was performed in Warsaw ten years later. The work is regarded as one of the finest Polish national operas. It is made up of musical forms from the Polish folk tradition - polonaises, mazurka
s and 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).
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.
Tadeusz Boy-Żeleński
, who would go on to translate many opera libretti. Żeleński's music is firmly rooted in Romanticism and his operas follow the example of Moniuszko. Żeleński wrote four operatic works: Konrad Wallenrod, Goplana, Janek, Stara Baśń. The first is based on the poem by Mickiewicz and is full of pro-independence sentiments, as are the three others. Goplana is based on Juliusz Słowacki's play Balladyna. All are 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, Manru
(1901) was composed by Ignacy Paderewski to a libretto by Alfred Nossig based on the novel Chata za wsią by Józef Ignacy Kraszewski
. To this day that opera, which received its American premiere at the Metropolitan opera
in 1902, remains the only Polish opera by the Polish composer ever performed there. Other examples of modern opera are Bolesław Śmiały (Bolesław the Bold) and Casanova by Ludomir Różycki
(the first to a libretto by Stanisław Wyspiański). The same composer wrote music to a text by Jerzy Żuławski and created one of the outstanding modernist operas - Eros i Psyche (Cupid and Psyche). Important works from the early 20th century are Legenda Bałtyku (The Legend of the Baltic) by Feliks Nowowiejski
and Król Zygmunt August (King Zygmunt August) by Tadeusz Joteyko.
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 and France. 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.
was an officially endorsed artistic policy. An example of a Polish socialist realist opera is Bunt żaków (The Schoolboys' Revolt, 1951) by Tadeusz Szeligowski
which tells the story of the conflict between "proletarian" schoolboys and King 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 Cyprian Norwid
) by Ryszard Bukowski, Edward Bogusławski's Sonata Belzebuba (after Witkacy, 1977), Zbigniew Bargielski
's Mały Książę (after Le Petit Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
, 1970) and Krzystof Baculewski's (New Liberation, 1986).
There also arose a trend for unstaged opera. This led to works for the radio by Grażyna Bacewicz
(Przygody Króla Artura -The Adventures of King Arthur, 1959), Jerzy Sikorski (Muzyczna opowieść niemalże o końcu świata - A Musical Tale About the End of the World 1958), Tadeusz Szeligowski (Odys płaczący -Odysseus Weeping 1961) and Zbigniew Penherski (Sąd nad Samsonem - Judgement on Samson 1969). Television operas were also written by Krzystof Meyer (the famous Cyberiad after the science-fiction stories
by Stanisław Lem, 1970) and Maciej Małecki
(Balladyna, 1999).
Sonorist
opera was created by Krzysztof Penderecki
, who composed one of the most famous contemporary operas in 1969: Diabły z Loudun (The Devils of Loudun
, libretto by John Whiting
after the book by Aldous Huxley
). The opera, inspired by 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 Bayreuth during the Wagner 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 Alfred Jarry
, 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.
and Roman Palester
. In 1999, Knittel wrote Heart Piece – Double Opera, which makes use of rock music
. Knapik composed the operatic trilogy Das Glas im Kopf wird vom Glas (1990), Silent Screams, Difficult Dreams (1992) and La libertà chiama la libertà (1996). The composer uses English, German and Italian - three traditional operatic languages. Palester wrote Śmierć Don Juana (The Death of Don Juan), a 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 by Zygmunt Krauze and Ignorant i Szaleniec by Paweł Mykietyn.
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...
s staged in 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...
and works written for foreign stages by Polish composers, as well as opera in the Polish language
Polish language
Polish is a language of the Lechitic subgroup of West Slavic languages, used throughout Poland and by Polish minorities in other countries...
.
The tradition reaches back to Italian language
Italian language
Italian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...
entertainments of the baroque
Baroque music
Baroque music describes a style of Western Classical music approximately extending from 1600 to 1760. This era follows the Renaissance and was followed in turn by the Classical era...
. Romantic opera in Polish flourished alongside nationalism after the partition
Third Partition of Poland
The Third Partition of Poland or Third Partition of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth took place in 1795 as the third and last of three partitions that ended the existence of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.-Background:...
and is exemplified by the work of Stanisław Moniuszko
Stanisław Moniuszko
Stanisław Moniuszko was a Polish composer, conductor and teacher. His output includes many songs and operas, and his musical style is filled with patriotic folk themes of the peoples of the former Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth...
. In the 20th century Polish opera was exported and composers such as Krzysztof Penderecki
Krzysztof Penderecki
Krzysztof Penderecki , born November 23, 1933 in Dębica) is a Polish composer and conductor. His 1960 avant-garde Threnody to the Victims of Hiroshima for string orchestra brought him to international attention, and this success was followed by acclaim for his choral St. Luke Passion. Both these...
wrote operas in other languages (Ubu Rex
Ubu Rex
Ubu Rex is an opera by composer Krzysztof Penderecki.The opera's German language libretto by Penderecki and Jerzy Jarocki is based on Alfred Jarry's 1896 surrealist play Ubu Roi. The work was premiered by the Bavarian State Opera on July 8, 1991 for the opening of the annual Munich Opera Festival...
, Die Teufel von Loudun
The Devils of Loudun (opera)
The Devils of Loudun is an opera in three acts written in between 1968-69 by Polish composer Krzysztof Penderecki. The work was commissioned by the Hamburg State Opera, which consequently gave the premiere on June 20, 1969...
) that were translated into Polish later.
17th century
Baroque
The Baroque is a period and the style that used exaggerated motion and clear, easily interpreted detail to produce drama, tension, exuberance, and grandeur in sculpture, painting, literature, dance, and music...
era in the reign of Sigismund III Vasa (1587-1632). The king himself had no interest in the arts, but his son Władysław IV (reigned 1632-1648) was an enthusiast and patron of opera while he was still a prince. In 1625 Francesca Caccini
Francesca Caccini
Francesca Caccini was an Italian composer, singer, lutenist, poet, and music teacher of the early Baroque era. She was the daughter of Giulio Caccini, and was one of the best-known and most influential female European composers between Hildegard of Bingen in the 12th century and the 19th century...
wrote an opera for Władysław when he visited Italy. This opera, La liberazione di Ruggiero dall'isola d'Alcina, was also performed 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...
in 1628; this is the earliest verified performance of an Italian opera outside of Italy.
Gli amori di Aci e Galatea by Santi Orlandi was also performed in 1628. When Władysław became king, he had operas staged in the hall of the royal castle and he invited Marco Scacchi's opera troupe to Poland. A dramma per musica
Dramma per musica
Dramma per musica is a term which was used by dramatists in Italy and elsewhere between the late-17th and mid-19th centuries...
(as serious Italian opera
Italian opera
Italian opera is both the art of opera in Italy and opera in the Italian language. Opera was born in Italy around the year 1600 and Italian opera has continued to play a dominant role in the history of the form until the present day. Many famous operas in Italian were written by foreign composers,...
was known at the time) entitled Giuditta, based on the Biblical story of 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.http://www.polmic.pl/historia_muzyki_desc.php?id=7&lang=en
Saxon era (1697-1763)
The next kings John II Casimir of Poland, Michał Korybut Wiśniowiecki and John III Sobieski were too busy fighting wars to show much concern for opera, although such works that did appear were highly esteemed. After the Elector of Saxony was voted King of Poland in 1697, the situation changed. The German ruler presided over a thriving operatic scene at his court in DresdenDresden
Dresden is the capital city of the Free State of Saxony in Germany. It is situated in a valley on the River Elbe, near the Czech border. The Dresden conurbation is part of the Saxon Triangle metropolitan area....
. The first public opera house in Poland was opened in 1724. The great moderniser of Polish opera was another Saxon, King August III. In 1748 he built an opera house in which works by Italian and German composers were regularly staged. A star of European opera, the composer Johann Adolf Hasse, also arrived in Poland. His work there increased opera's popularity amongst the nobility
Szlachta
The szlachta was a legally privileged noble class with origins in the Kingdom of Poland. It gained considerable institutional privileges during the 1333-1370 reign of Casimir the Great. In 1413, following a series of tentative personal unions between the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Kingdom of...
and raised the artistic standards of Polish opera to an international level. Hasse wrote the opera seria
Opera seria
Opera seria is an Italian musical term which refers to the noble and "serious" style of Italian opera that predominated in Europe from the 1710s to c. 1770...
Zenobia, to a libretto by Pietro Metastasio, especially for Warsaw in 1761.
Late 18th century
Partitions of Poland
The Partitions of Poland or Partitions of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth took place in the second half of the 18th century and ended the existence of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, resulting in the elimination of sovereign Poland for 123 years...
by its neighbours, Prussia
Prussia
Prussia was a German kingdom and historic state originating out of the Duchy of Prussia and the Margraviate of Brandenburg. For centuries, the House of Hohenzollern ruled Prussia, successfully expanding its size by way of an unusually well-organized and effective army. Prussia shaped the history...
, Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
and Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
, 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
Franciszek Bohomolec
Franciszek Bohomolec was a Polish dramatist, linguist, and theatrical reformer who was one of the principal playwrights of the Polish Enlightenment....
wrote the text for a cantata
Cantata
A cantata is a vocal composition with an instrumental accompaniment, typically in several movements, often involving a choir....
, 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
Opera buffa
Opera buffa is a genre of opera. It was first used as an informal description of Italian comic operas variously classified by their authors as ‘commedia in musica’, ‘commedia per musica’, ‘dramma bernesco’, ‘dramma comico’, ‘divertimento giocoso' etc...
Henryk IV na łowach (Henri IV Goes Hunting) with music by Jan Stefani. It was followed by Cud mniemany, czyli Krakowiaki i Górale (The Supposed Miracle, or the Krakowians and the Highlanders). The text of the latter was lost during the January uprising
January Uprising
The January Uprising was an uprising in the former Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth against the Russian Empire...
of 1863 and only rediscovered in 1929 by Leon Schiller
Leon Schiller
Leon Schiller de Schildenfeld was a Polish theater and film director, critic and theoretician. He was also a composer and wrote theater and radio screenplays....
(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
Kosciuszko Uprising
The Kościuszko Uprising was an uprising against Imperial Russia and the Kingdom of Prussia led by Tadeusz Kościuszko in Poland, Belarus and Lithuania in 1794...
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.
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 ElsnerJózef Elsner
Józef Antoni Franciszek was a composer, music teacher and music theoretician, active mainly in Warsaw...
emerged in Lwów (Lviv
Lviv
Lviv is a city in western Ukraine. The city is regarded as one of the main cultural centres of today's Ukraine and historically has also been a major Polish and Jewish cultural center, as Poles and Jews were the two main ethnicities of the city until the outbreak of World War II and the following...
, then Lemburg 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
Folk music
Folk music is an English term encompassing both traditional folk music and contemporary folk music. The term originated in the 19th century. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers....
.
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 Karol Kurpiński
Karol Kurpinski
Karol Kazimierz Kurpiński was a Polish composer, conductor and pedagogue.Karol began his studies under his father, Marcin Kurpiński, an organist. At the age of 12, he became organist at a church in Sarnowa near Rawicz, where his uncle Karol Wański was a parish priest...
, who took up the post of second conductor. The two began a rivalry which lasted thirteen years until Elsner was removed by the Ruling Committee of the National Theatre at Kurpiński's request. By that time he had managed to write 30 operas. In 1809 he scored a notable triumph with Leszek Biały (Leszek the White), to a libretto by Bogusławski. After this only the comic opera Siedem razy jeden (Seven Times One) and Król Łokietek (King Elbow-High) brought him moderate success.
Elsner had been born in Silesia
Silesia
Silesia is a historical region of Central Europe located mostly in Poland, with smaller parts also in the Czech Republic, and Germany.Silesia is rich in mineral and natural resources, and includes several important industrial areas. Silesia's largest city and historical capital is Wrocław...
and his first language was German, leading his critics to deny that he was truly Polish and to accuse him of sympathizing with the foreign invaders. The composer had praised some of the partitioning rulers, including Tsar Alexander I of Russia. After the November Uprising
November Uprising
The November Uprising , Polish–Russian War 1830–31 also known as the Cadet Revolution, was an armed rebellion in the heartland of partitioned Poland against the Russian Empire. The uprising began on 29 November 1830 in Warsaw when the young Polish officers from the local Army of the Congress...
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 Karol Kurpiński
Karol Kurpinski
Karol Kazimierz Kurpiński was a Polish composer, conductor and pedagogue.Karol began his studies under his father, Marcin Kurpiński, an organist. At the age of 12, he became organist at a church in Sarnowa near Rawicz, where his uncle Karol Wański was a parish priest...
began to enjoy great success. Kurpiński composed 18 operas. All of them were enthusiastically received, but his best known works were Zamek w Czorsztynie (The Castle in Czorsztyn
Czorsztyn
Czorsztyn is a village in Poland, in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, Nowy Targ County. The village lies in Pieniny, is located in the mountain range on the current Polish-Slovakian border...
) and Zabobon, czyli Krakowiacy i Górale. The first was the prototype of Moniuszko's The Haunted Manor
The Haunted Manor
The Haunted Manor is an opera in four acts composed by Polish composer Stanisław Moniuszko in 1861–1864. The libretto was written by Jan Chęciński...
. The second was a new opera to Bogusławski's libretto. Kurpiński also won acclaim for Nagroda, czyli wskrzeszenie Królestwa Polskiego (The Prize, or the Resurrection of the Kingdom of Poland). As an ardent patriot and opponent of the foreign occupation, Kurpiński used his music as part of the struggle for independence (just as Giuseppe Verdi
Giuseppe Verdi
Giuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi was an Italian Romantic composer, mainly of opera. He was one of the most influential composers of the 19th century...
did in Italy). Following on from Elsner, Kurpiński significantly modernised the National Theatre. He introduced many works to the Polish stage including Mozart's Don Giovanni
Don Giovanni
Don Giovanni is an opera in two acts with music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and with an Italian libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte. It was premiered by the Prague Italian opera at the Teatro di Praga on October 29, 1787...
, Spontini's La vestale
La vestale
La vestale is an opera composed by Gaspare Spontini to a French libretto by Etienne de Jouy. It was first performed at the Paris Opéra in Paris on December 15, 1807 and is regarded as Spontini's masterpiece...
, Auber
Daniel Auber
Daniel François Esprit Auber was a French composer.-Biography:The son of a Paris print-seller, Auber was born in Caen in Normandy. Though his father expected him to continue in the print-selling business, he also allowed his son to learn how to play several musical instruments...
's Fra Diavolo
Fra Diavolo (opera)
Fra Diavolo, ou L'hôtellerie de Terracine is an opéra comique in three acts by the French composer Daniel Auber, from a libretto by Auber's regular collaborator Eugène Scribe...
, Weber
Carl Maria von Weber
Carl Maria Friedrich Ernst von Weber was a German composer, conductor, pianist, guitarist and critic, one of the first significant composers of the Romantic school....
's Der Freischütz
Der Freischütz
Der Freischütz is an opera in three acts by Carl Maria von Weber with a libretto by Friedrich Kind. It premiered on 18 June 1821 at the Schauspielhaus Berlin...
and many other operas by Donizetti, Meyerbeer and Rossini.
In 1833 Antionio Corazzi, an Italian from Livorno
Livorno
Livorno , traditionally Leghorn , is a port city on the Tyrrhenian Sea on the western edge of Tuscany, Italy. It is the capital of the Province of Livorno, having a population of approximately 160,000 residents in 2009.- History :...
, built a new theatre for the National Opera in Warsaw. The house was opened with a performance of Rossini's The Barber of Seville
The Barber of Seville
The Barber of Seville, or The Futile Precaution is an opera buffa in two acts by Gioachino Rossini with a libretto by Cesare Sterbini. The libretto was based on Pierre Beaumarchais's comedy Le Barbier de Séville , which was originally an opéra comique, or a mixture of spoken play with music...
.
Stanisław Moniuszko
Stanisław Moniuszko
Stanisław Moniuszko was a Polish composer, conductor and teacher. His output includes many songs and operas, and his musical style is filled with patriotic folk themes of the peoples of the former Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth...
is regarded as the true creator of Polish national opera. His role in the Polish tradition is similar to that of Glinka in the Russian
Russian opera
Russian opera is the art of opera in Russia. Operas by composers of Russian origin, written or staged outside of Russia, also belong to this category, as well as the operas of foreign composers written or intended for the Russian scene. These are not only Russian-language operas...
, Smetana
Smetana
Smetana is a Slavic loanword in English for a dairy product that is produced by souring heavy cream. Smetana is from Central and Eastern Europe, sometimes perceived to be specifically of Russian origin. It is a soured cream product like crème fraîche , but nowadays mainly sold with 15% to 30%...
in the Czech and Ferenc Erkel in the Hungarian
Hungarian opera
The origins of Hungarian opera can be traced to the late 18th century, with the rise of imported opera and other concert styles in cities like Pozsony , Kismarton, Nagyszeben and Budapest. Operas at the time were in either the German or Italian style...
.
In 1837 Moniuszko returned to Poland after receiving his musical education abroad. Ten years later he wrote the famous Polish Romantic
Romanticism
Romanticism was an artistic, literary and intellectual movement that originated in the second half of the 18th century in Europe, and gained strength in reaction to the Industrial Revolution...
opera Halka
Halka
Halka is an opera by the Polish composer Stanisław Moniuszko. The libretto was by Wlodzimierz Wolski , a young Warsaw poet with radical social views. It is part of the canon of Polish national operas.-Performance history:...
. The first, two-act version had its premiere in Vilnius
Vilnius
Vilnius is the capital of Lithuania, and its largest city, with a population of 560,190 as of 2010. It is the seat of the Vilnius city municipality and of the Vilnius district municipality. It is also the capital of Vilnius County...
, and a second, four-act version was performed in Warsaw ten years later. The work is regarded as one of the finest Polish national operas. It is made up of musical forms from the Polish folk tradition - polonaises, mazurka
Mazurka
The mazurka is a Polish folk dance in triple meter, usually at a lively tempo, and with accent on the third or second beat.-History:The folk origins of the mazurek are two other Polish musical forms—the slow machine...
s and 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).
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
Faust
Faust is the protagonist of a classic German legend; a highly successful scholar, but also dissatisfied with his life, and so makes a deal with the devil, exchanging his soul for unlimited knowledge and worldly pleasures. Faust's tale is the basis for many literary, artistic, cinematic, and musical...
. Moniuszko's next most important work is Straszny Dwór (The Haunted Manor
The Haunted Manor
The Haunted Manor is an opera in four acts composed by Polish composer Stanisław Moniuszko in 1861–1864. The libretto was written by Jan Chęciński...
), 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
Sarmatism
"Sarmatism" is a term designating the dominant lifestyle, culture and ideology of the szlachta of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth from the 16th to the 19th centuries. Together with "Golden Liberty," it formed a central aspect of the Commonwealth's culture...
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 Władysław Żeleński. Though he was never actually one of Moniuszko's students, he modeled his works on Moniuszko, thus inheriting his musical style. He was the father of the writer and translatorTranslation
Translation is the communication of the meaning of a source-language text by means of an equivalent target-language text. Whereas interpreting undoubtedly antedates writing, translation began only after the appearance of written literature; there exist partial translations of the Sumerian Epic of...
Tadeusz Boy-Żeleński
Tadeusz Boy-Zelenski
Tadeusz Kamil Marcjan Żeleński was a Polish stage writer, poet, critic above all, and translator of over 100 French literary classics into Polish...
, who would go on to translate many opera libretti. Żeleński's music is firmly rooted in Romanticism and his operas follow the example of Moniuszko. Żeleński wrote four operatic works: Konrad Wallenrod, Goplana, Janek, Stara Baśń. The first is based on the poem by Mickiewicz and is full of pro-independence sentiments, as are the three others. Goplana is based on Juliusz Słowacki's play Balladyna. All are 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, Manru
Manru
Manru is an opera in three acts, music by Ignacy Jan Paderewski composed to the libretto by Alfred Nossig Manru is an opera (lyrical drama) in three acts, music by Ignacy Jan Paderewski composed to the libretto by Alfred Nossig Manru is an opera (lyrical drama) in three acts, music by Ignacy Jan...
(1901) was composed by Ignacy Paderewski to a libretto by Alfred Nossig based on the novel Chata za wsią by Józef Ignacy Kraszewski
Józef Ignacy Kraszewski
Józef Ignacy Kraszewski was a Polish writer, historian and journalist who produced more than 200 novels and 150 novellas, short stories, and art reviews He is best known for his epic series on the history of Poland, comprising twenty-nine novels in seventy-nine parts.As a novelist writing about...
. To this day that opera, which received its American premiere at the Metropolitan opera
Metropolitan Opera
The Metropolitan Opera is an opera company, located in New York City. Originally founded in 1880, the company gave its first performance on October 22, 1883. The company is operated by the non-profit Metropolitan Opera Association, with Peter Gelb as general manager...
in 1902, remains the only Polish opera by the Polish composer ever performed there. Other examples of modern opera are Bolesław Śmiały (Bolesław the Bold) and Casanova by Ludomir Różycki
Ludomir Rozycki
Ludomir Różycki was a Polish composer and conductor. He was, with Mieczysław Karłowicz, Karol Szymanowski and Grzegorz Fitelberg, a member of the group of composers known as Young Poland, the intention of which was to invigorate the musical culture of their generation in their mother country.He...
(the first to a libretto by Stanisław Wyspiański). The same composer wrote music to a text by Jerzy Żuławski and created one of the outstanding modernist operas - Eros i Psyche (Cupid and Psyche). Important works from the early 20th century are Legenda Bałtyku (The Legend of the Baltic) by Feliks Nowowiejski
Feliks Nowowiejski
Feliks Nowowiejski was a Polish composer, conductor, concert organist, and music teacher. Nowowiejski was born in Wartenburg in East Prussia, German Empire...
and Król Zygmunt August (King Zygmunt August) by Tadeusz Joteyko.
Karol Szymanowski
Karol SzymanowskiKarol 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'...
wrote only two operas, both completely breaking away from the model of Moniuszko. The first, Hagith
Hagith
Hagith is an opera in one act by Karol Szymanowski. The German libretto was written by the Viennese secessionist poet Felix Dörmann.-Background and performance history:...
, was influenced by 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...
's Salome
Salome (opera)
Salome is an opera in one act by Richard Strauss to a German libretto by the composer, based on Hedwig Lachmann’s German translation of the French play Salomé by Oscar Wilde. Strauss dedicated the opera to his friend Sir Edgar Speyer....
and was a failure at its premiere in 1922. Much more important was King Roger
King Roger
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...
(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 and France. Formally, King Roger draws on the tradition of oratorio
Oratorio
An oratorio is a large musical composition including an orchestra, a choir, and soloists. Like an opera, an oratorio includes the use of a choir, soloists, an ensemble, various distinguishable characters, and arias...
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
Eastern Orthodox Church
The Orthodox Church, officially called the Orthodox Catholic Church and commonly referred to as the Eastern Orthodox Church, is the second largest Christian denomination in the world, with an estimated 300 million adherents mainly in the countries of Belarus, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Georgia, Greece,...
to dense chromatic
Chromaticism
Chromaticism is a compositional technique interspersing the primary diatonic pitches and chords with other pitches of the chromatic scale. Chromaticism is in contrast or addition to tonality or diatonicism...
harmony, and is considered the most important Polish opera of the 20th century.
Post-war opera
Under the Communist regime in Poland (1945-1989), socialist realismSocialist realism
Socialist realism is a style of realistic art which was developed in the Soviet Union and became a dominant style in other communist countries. Socialist realism is a teleologically-oriented style having its purpose the furtherance of the goals of socialism and communism...
was an officially endorsed artistic policy. An example of a Polish socialist realist opera is Bunt żaków (The Schoolboys' Revolt, 1951) by Tadeusz Szeligowski
Tadeusz Szeligowski
Tadeusz Szeligowski was a Polish composer, educator, lawyer and music organizer. His works include the operas The Rise of the Scholars, Krakatuk and Theodor Gentlemen, the ballets The Peacock and the Girl and Mazepa ballets, two violin concertos, chamber and choral works.As a music teacher he was...
which tells the story of the conflict between "proletarian" schoolboys and King Zygmunt II August in 1549. The same composer wrote other operas including ones for children. Another composer of this type was Witold Rudziński
Witold Rudzinski
Witold Rudziński was a Polish composer, conductor, and author.-External links:**...
, 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
Renaissance
The Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned roughly the 14th to the 17th century, beginning in Italy in the Late Middle Ages and later spreading to the rest of Europe. The term is also used more loosely to refer to the historical era, but since the changes of the Renaissance were not...
poet Jan Kochanowski
Jan Kochanowski
Jan Kochanowski was a Polish Renaissance poet who established poetic patterns that would become integral to Polish literary language.He is commonly regarded as the greatest Polish poet before Adam Mickiewicz, and the greatest Slavic poet, prior to the 19th century.-Life:Kochanowski was born at...
; 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
Veit Stoss
Veit Stoss was a leading Bavarian sculptor, mostly in wood, whose career covered the transition between the late Gothic and the Northern Renaissance. His style emphasized pathos and emotion, helped by his virtuoso carving of billowing drapery; it has been called "late Gothic Baroque"...
), Henryk Czyż
Henryk Czyz
Henryk Czyz was a Polish musician with a high reputation for conducting and teaching.He was born in Grudziądz. He was also a composer in his own right and wrote a number of books which are highly regarded...
(Kynolog w rozterce after a play by Sławomir Mrożek, 1967; Inge Bartsch after Konstanty Ildefons Gałczyński, 1982), Tadeusz Baird
Tadeusz Baird
Tadeusz Baird was a Polish composer.He was born in Grodzisk Mazowiecki, to Scottish immigrant parents. He studied composition, piano and musicology in Warsaw with, among others, Kazimierz Sikorski. In 1956, with Serocki, he founded the Warsaw Autumn international contemporary music festival...
(the famous Jutro, based on the short story "Tomorrow" by Joseph Conrad
Joseph Conrad
Joseph Conrad was a Polish-born English novelist.Conrad is regarded as one of the great novelists in English, although he did not speak the language fluently until he was in his twenties...
, 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 Cyprian Norwid
Cyprian Norwid
Cyprian Kamil Norwid, a.k.a. Cyprian Konstanty Norwid is a nationally esteemed Polish poet, dramatist, painter, and sculptor. He was born in the Masovian village of Laskowo-Głuchy near Warsaw. One of his maternal ancestors was Polish King John III Sobieski.Norwid is regarded as one of the second...
) by Ryszard Bukowski, Edward Bogusławski's Sonata Belzebuba (after Witkacy, 1977), Zbigniew Bargielski
Zbigniew Bargielski
Zbigniew Bargielski, born 21 January 1937 in Łomża, is a Polish composer and teacher. His works have been performed in many European countries, the United States, Australia and South America...
's Mały Książę (after Le Petit Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
Antoine de Saint-Exupéry , officially Antoine Marie Jean-Baptiste Roger, comte de Saint Exupéry , was a French writer, poet and pioneering aviator. He became a laureate of France's highest literary awards, and in 1939 was the winner of the U.S. National Book Award...
, 1970) and Krzystof Baculewski's (New Liberation, 1986).
There also arose a trend for unstaged opera. This led to works for the radio by Grażyna Bacewicz
Grazyna Bacewicz
Grażyna Bacewicz was a Polish composer and violinist. She is only the second Polish female composer to have achieved national and international recognition, the first being Maria Szymanowska in the early 19th century.- Life :Bacewicz was born in Łódź...
(Przygody Króla Artura -The Adventures of King Arthur, 1959), Jerzy Sikorski (Muzyczna opowieść niemalże o końcu świata - A Musical Tale About the End of the World 1958), Tadeusz Szeligowski (Odys płaczący -Odysseus Weeping 1961) and Zbigniew Penherski (Sąd nad Samsonem - Judgement on Samson 1969). Television operas were also written by Krzystof Meyer (the famous Cyberiad after the science-fiction stories
The Cyberiad
The Cyberiad is a series of humorous short stories by Stanisław Lem. The Polish version was first published in 1965, with an English translation appearing in 1974. The main protagonists of the series are Trurl and Klapaucius, the "constructors"....
by Stanisław Lem, 1970) and Maciej Małecki
Maciej Małecki
Maciej Małecki is a Polish composer and pianist.He studied at the Frederic Chopin Academy of Music and the Eastman School of Music, Rochester, New York. From 1993 to 1996 he was president of the Polish Composers' Association.-Selected Works:* Cicha noc - Silent night, symphony of Polish carols. -...
(Balladyna, 1999).
Krzysztof Penderecki
Sonorism
Sonorism is an approach to musical composition that focuses on the characteristics and qualities of sound. Emphasis is placed on a search for new types of sounds on individual instruments, as well as the creation of textures by combining different instrumental sounds in unusual and unique ways.In...
opera was created by Krzysztof Penderecki
Krzysztof Penderecki
Krzysztof Penderecki , born November 23, 1933 in Dębica) is a Polish composer and conductor. His 1960 avant-garde Threnody to the Victims of Hiroshima for string orchestra brought him to international attention, and this success was followed by acclaim for his choral St. Luke Passion. Both these...
, who composed one of the most famous contemporary operas in 1969: Diabły z Loudun (The Devils of Loudun
The Devils of Loudun (opera)
The Devils of Loudun is an opera in three acts written in between 1968-69 by Polish composer Krzysztof Penderecki. The work was commissioned by the Hamburg State Opera, which consequently gave the premiere on June 20, 1969...
, libretto by John Whiting
John Whiting
John Robert Whiting was an English dramatist and critic.Born in Salisbury, England, he was educated at Taunton School. His works include:* A Penny for a Song. A play * Marching Song. A play...
after the book by Aldous Huxley
Aldous Huxley
Aldous Leonard Huxley was an English writer and one of the most prominent members of the famous Huxley family. Best known for his novels including Brave New World and a wide-ranging output of essays, Huxley also edited the magazine Oxford Poetry, and published short stories, poetry, travel...
). The opera, inspired by Wagner and psychoanalysis
Psychoanalysis
Psychoanalysis is a psychological theory developed in the late 19th and early 20th centuries by Austrian neurologist Sigmund Freud. Psychoanalysis has expanded, been criticized and developed in different directions, mostly by some of Freud's former students, such as Alfred Adler and Carl Gustav...
, 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 Bayreuth during the Wagner 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 Alfred Jarry
Alfred Jarry
Alfred Jarry was a French writer born in Laval, Mayenne, France, not far from the border of Brittany; he was of Breton descent on his mother's side....
, Ubu roi
Ubu Roi
Ubu Roi is a play by Alfred Jarry, premiered in 1896. It is a precursor of the Theatre of the Absurd and Surrealism. It is the first of three stylised burlesques in which Jarry satirises power, greed, and their evil practices — in particular the propensity of the complacent bourgeois to abuse the...
, 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 Krzystof Knittel, Eugeniusz KnapikEugeniusz Knapik
Eugeniusz Knapik is a Polish pianist and composer of classical music best known for his 1980 chamber piece String Quartet No. 1. Knapik studied composition and piano with Henryk Górecki and Czesław Stańczyk at the University of Music in Katowice...
and Roman Palester
Roman Palester
Roman Palester was a Polish composer of classical music. Palester composed his most significant work during the 1960s, and in 1964 was the first Polish musician to be awarded the Alfred Jurzykowski Prize. His work was individual in style, and not noticeably Polish in character.Palester was born in...
. In 1999, Knittel wrote Heart Piece – Double Opera, which makes use of rock music
Rock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...
. Knapik composed the operatic trilogy Das Glas im Kopf wird vom Glas (1990), Silent Screams, Difficult Dreams (1992) and La libertà chiama la libertà (1996). The composer uses English, German and Italian - three traditional operatic languages. Palester wrote Śmierć Don Juana (The Death of Don Juan), a dodecaphonic work to a text by Oscar Milosz
Oscar Milosz
Oscar Vladislas de Lubicz Milosz was a French-Lithuanian writer and representative of Lithuania at the League of Nations. His literary work was concerned with symbols and associations. A recluse, his poems were vibrant and tormented, concerned with love, loneliness and anger. Milosz was primarily...
, which the composer himself translated from French.
Among the latest major Polish operas are Antygona (2001) by Zbigniew Rudziński, Balthazar by Zygmunt Krauze and Ignorant i Szaleniec by Paweł Mykietyn.
Further reading
- Marian B. Michalik, Kronika opery, Kronika (Warsaw, 1993)
- Józef Kański, Przewodnik operowy, Polskie Wydawnictwo Muzyczne (Kraków, 2001)
- Bronisław Horowicz, Teatr operowy. Historia opery. Realizacje sceniczne. Perspektywy., PIW, (Warsaw, 1963)
- Articles from the magazine "Operomania" (issues: 1/2007, 3/2006, 1/2006).
- Kultura polska – articles about contemporary music, Polish music and Polish composers
- Encyklopedia Muzyki, ed. A. Chodkowski, Warsaw 1995.