The Haunted Castle (Opera)
| Work data | |
|---|---|
| Title: | The haunted castle |
| Original title: | Straszny Dwór |
Image from a performance on September 22nd, 1966 at Teatr Wielki, Warsaw |
|
| Original language: | Polish |
| Music: | Stanislaw Moniuszko |
| Libretto : | Jan Chęciński |
| Premiere: | September 28, 1865 |
| Place of premiere: | Teatr Wielki (Warsaw) |
| Playing time: | approx. 2 ½ hours |
| Place and time of the action: |
Kalinowa , Poland New Year's Eve around 1865 |
| people | |
|
|
The Haunted Castle ( Polish: Straszny Dwór , English: The Haunted Manor ) is an opera in four acts by Stanislaw Moniuszko with a libretto by January Chęciński . It is considered the best work of Moniuszko and the most Polish of all Polish operas.
action
first act
New Year's Eve in the knight's camp near the Kalinowa manor
The sons of the deceased cupbearer from Kalinowa , Stefan and Zbigniew, as hussar knights take the vow in front of their comrades in arms to remain bachelors so that they are not distracted by thoughts of wife and children when the fatherland calls to the flags (choir and duet) . You say goodbye and go home.
At Stefan's and Zbigniew's estate
Farm girls are waiting for them at home. Stefan and Zbigniew appear with their loyal valet Maciej and greet their father's house (trio). The Truchsessin, her aunt, drives up with a carriage and tells them about their marriage plans, but is not heard by them (trio). They tell her about their vows and their plan to collect the debt. The Truchsessin is startled when she hears that the two of them want to start with Marshal von Kalinowa, of all places: his house is known as the “haunted castle” - a castle that is burdened with a curse and ghosts. However, Stefan and Zbigniew are not impressed and leave for Kalinowa (final).
Second act
New Year's Eve in the Great Hall of the Kalinowa Manor
Hanna and Jadwiga, the marshal's daughters, and other girls chase away their boredom by the fireplace while they continue to work on their looms. Hanna asks Jadwiga to prepare fortune-telling for the New Year (women's choir and Dumka).
The lawyer Damazy joins the sounds of a minuet. He does not wear an old Polish costume, but shows the French way of life. In search of a wealthy woman, he holds hands to one of the two sisters (duet). But the candle to interpret the future of Hannas and Jadwigas is deformed into a helmet and visor. Both girls and their father, the marshal, are happy about this prophecy, Damazy less (quartet). The marshal describes Damazy his dream of a son-in-law and thus paints the ideal picture of a Polish citizen (nobleman): he must be a man of virtue ; Courage , sincerity and fear of God in Catholicism characterize him, patriotism and a noble attitude through which he honors family traditions (Polonaise aria).
Now, of all times, the Truchsessin drives up to the manor house, tells the marshal about the vows of her two nephews and claims that they are very cowardly and superstitious, and she shrank back at the mention of the haunted castle.
The decision maker Skołuba enters the room, later surprisingly Stefan and Zbigniew too. The marshal invites everyone to a feast, but his two daughters no longer believe that the cupbearer's two sons want to remain bachelors (because they have entered the castle). Damazy relies on being able to keep his rivals at bay with the ghosts of the castle and whispers something in Skołuba's ear, which Skołuba acknowledges with violent applause (finale).
Third act
New Year's Eve in the castle tower of the Kalinowa manor
The decision-maker Skołuba has set up a night camp for Stefan, Zbigniew and Maciej in the castle tower, and now tells of strange apparitions waiting for strangers here. Maciej has to deal with fear (Aria). Hanna and Jadwiga both hid in the same room behind the paintings of their great-grandmothers. You observe how Maciej sees a ghost in every object and how Stefan and Zbigniew try to calm him down. Zbigniew goes into the room next door with Maciej. Stefan next door alone begins to dream in the moonlit night: he interprets the ghosts that are supposedly up here to be the eyes of beautiful Hanna. He remembers his vow.
The clock strikes midnight and a chime on the grandfather clock sounds surprisingly like a polonaise by Michał Kleofas Ogiński , like his farewell to the fatherland . His father had always started this song when he got his children used to handling the saber. The song has not been sung since the mother's death (aria with glockenspiel).
But Zbigniew in the next room cannot sleep either. So both brothers meet after midnight and admit that they are in love: Stefan in Hanna and Zbigniew in Jadwiga. The girls join the bachelors daydreams in their hiding place and secretly leave the room (duet and quartet).
What everyone does not know is that Damazy is also hiding in the grandfather clock in the same room and decides to play a prank on the two bachelors. But he doesn't expect Maciej to blow him up. Damazy has to explain the whole situation because he doesn't want to be beaten up by him. Damazy reports that the Kalinowa mansion was once built on the basis of a “reward for disgraceful service”, that is, with money for treason against the Polish fatherland. Stefan and Zbigniew are dismayed, fear that the curse could now spread to them and decide to leave (final).
Fourth act
New Year's Day with festival music and a carnival parade on sledges
Hanna sees no contradiction between the marital status and the duty to the fatherland and is now, knowing of Stefan's and Zbigniev's bachelor vows, totally unhappy (Aria). Damazy arrives delighted and reports to Hanna the departure of the two hussar knights out of fear of the ghosts. Hanna is deeply disappointed.
The marshal, angry about the pranks last New Year's Eve, is looking for the perpetrators. Damazy therefore thinks it is wiser to leave quickly and only come back when the rivals are gone, so that he can then prepare his own wedding. The marshal meets the departing brothers Stefan and Zbigniew and asks them about the reason for their sudden departure. They are silent, at the same time Maciej reports that the carriage is ready to leave. The marshal becomes angry and starts reproaching them for their obvious cowardice. Then Maciej reveals Damacy's explanations. The marshal, outraged by the denigration of his house, orders Damazy to be fetched, but only receives from Skołuba notification of his departure.
From afar you can hear the ringing of bells, then you can see a sledge with the disguised Damazy pulling up. After a krakowiak and a mazurka , the marshal recognizes him and demands an explanation as to why Damazy slandered his house as a “haunted castle”. He admits the real reason. When the Marshal informs him that the two men have no plans to marry anyway, Damazy himself begins his advertisement; But Stefan warns him to hold Hanna's hand, as does Zbigniew when he applies for Jadwiga. Stefan and Zbigniew are now realizing how nonsensical their bachelor vows were.
The marshal wants to give his consent to the marriage, but asks everyone beforehand to hear the true story of the haunted castle. He says: “100 years ago his grandfather had nine daughters. Each of these girls found a husband. But when lavish weddings were celebrated here, all marriageable virgins in the area aged hopelessly, which is why the mothers and aunts from the area called the mansion Haunted Castle. ”When Stefan and Zbigniew hug their girls, their aunt, the Truchsessin, comes. Hanna and Jadwiga now take revenge on her by singing the tune of the bachelor's vow (finale).
layout
music
The orchestral line-up of the opera essentially corresponds to the symphony orchestra of the 19th century: woodwinds : two flutes (2nd also piccolo), two oboes, two clarinets, two bassoons / brass instruments : four horns, two trumpets, three trombones, tuba / timpani, percussion : Bass drum, cymbals, tambourine, triangle / strings / on the theater stage: flute, harp, clarinet, harmonium, glockenspiel.
The work wonderfully combines the Polish and cosmopolitan features with the music, which corresponds directly to the comedy and pathos of the colloquial libretto by Jan Chęciński. Cesar Cui , a former student of Moniuszko, described his style in an obituary as "flooded with Slavic choice of sound and closest to the Polish and Ukrainian song". In some places one can also notice French features of rhythmic and harmonic piquancy typical of Auber , but Italian motifs of dubious quality are very rarely found. The most magical moments are those in which the Polish current is brought forth - the festive finale with the Krakowiak sung by the choir and the orchestral mazurka is refreshing. It would therefore be a mistake to reject the Slavic character of this opera to the advantage of “ Italianism ” only because one of its strengths is vocal lyricism worthy of Rossini's. Hanna's aria in Act 4, a coloratura aria with an impressive obligato in the violin part, owes a lot to the Italian patterns and the enchanting “symphonic carillon ” that resounds at the heart of the plot combine the best of both worlds - they are delicate and lyrical reminders of the ancient polonaise .
These musical contrasts correspond very well to the attitude that is expressed in the life of the various layers of Polish society and also of opera, which nonetheless depicts the old aristocratic republic of Poland-Lithuania . Perhaps this vision of the lost homeland also contributed to Moniuszko becoming so popular in newly liberated Poland. Nonetheless, his music finds general approval in its lively characteristics.
libretto
The libretto, written in colloquial Polish, speaks through and through the language of the Poles around 1865: The depressing reality that one's own nation has disappeared from the map of Europe for 70 years and the term “Poland” was more of an ideal term than a political fact (cf. . partitions of Poland ), this reality meant that national identity was expressed only in artistic ideas. Therefore, more than in any other country, the Polish National Opera was not only a mirror of political events, it actually replaced them.
From the “Diary of the Łubieńskis” and the correspondence of General Tomasz Łubieńskis it becomes clear why the Kalinowa mansion was suitable as a venue for a Polish national opera: Primate Łubieński , who of all people frowned upon the petty nobility as head of state and traitor, Augustus Poniatowski Poland-Lithuania crowned and therefore, from the point of view of the small nobility, contributed to the downfall of its republic (aristocratic republic), had grown up in the manor house of Kalinowa and became Primate of Poland here in the village . His father Feliks Łubieński was the owner of Kalinowas, sold the village and mansion in 1797 to the aristocratic Murzynowski family after he had moved his residence to Guzów . In the opera, the lawyer Damazy reports that Marshal Murzynowskis Palace was once built on the basis of a “reward for disgraceful service”, that is, with money for treason against the Polish fatherland. And the marshal himself begins the story of the haunted castle at the opera finale with "100 years ago my grandfather had ...". For the Warsaw public around 1865 this was a clear allusion to the perceived treason of Primate Łubieński at the last coronation in the history of Poland in 1764. It should draw the conclusion: This is how he enchants, so is his castle; And superstitious as Poles are, the knights of hussars Stefan and Zbigniew fear that the Łubieński curse (betrayal of oneself, one's own family and one's own fatherland) will also creep over them.
The “haunted castle ” is architecturally a typical Polish baroque mansion , built before 1652 by Wojciech Jan Łubieński († 1653); a multi-storey building with a low ground floor, risalits and arcades , beautifully tiered from the front. The scenic instructions and information on the stage design of the opera librettist describe the real interior architecture around 1865 (lost due to fundamental restoration work by the Murzynowski family and extensive renovations to the manor house in 1916). Every good staging of this opera will therefore want to have the baroque mansion of Kalinowa, which actually existed in the theater, perfectly copied in its condition from 1865.
By describing this opera by Moniuszko as “the Polish Bartered Bride ”, the unique qualities of the masterpiece are in no way denied, but it suggests that the score is laden with great inspiration. Both operas form a kind of cocktail of love, betrayal and family intrigue, shown against the background of local folklore. So granted Haunted castle insight into the idyllic life of a manor house, discussed the conflict between patriotism and the desire for a quiet family life and at the same time draws the ideal image of a Polish citizen: a man of virtue, it must be; Courage , sincerity and the fear of God in Catholicism characterize him, patriotism and a noble attitude through which he honors family traditions.
history
Emergence
For many foreigners, 19th century Polish music is linked to Chopin . And while Chopin may indeed be the greatest composer Poland has produced, he is not necessarily the figure closest to the Polish heart. For many, this place is reserved for Moniuszko , who, like Glinka in Russia, is known as the "father of the Polish national opera". After the triumph of the second version of his opera Halka (opera in 4 acts) at the Warsaw premiere on January 1, 1858, he toured France with the help of the pianist Maria Kalergis, where he met Auber and Rossini in Paris . After a visit to Berlin , he met the Czech national composer Bedřich Smetana in Prague , who was preparing the Prague premiere of his opera Halka there. Ultimately, Moniuszko also visited Weimar and Franz Liszt there .
On August 1, 1858, Moniuszko was appointed chief conductor of the Opera Narodowa (Polish National Opera) in the Teatr Wielki in Warsaw . During the first year Moniuszko managed to put one of his operas on the repertoire (Oper Flis ) and during the following 15 years in office he conducted almost exclusively his own compositions. Hoping that the Parisians would include one of his operas in their program, Moniuszko returned to France in 1862 . There was no success. Due to the change in political conditions in the wake of the Polish January national uprising, which was unfavorable for artistic activities abroad, he returned home very early. In 1864 Moniuszko began to teach harmony , counterpoint and composition at the Warsaw Conservatory , where he led the choir. His students there included Zygmunt Noskowski and Henryk Jarecki. On September 28, 1865, the world premiere of his new opera Das Gespensterschloss enjoyed enthusiastic reception and proved a success comparable to that of his opera Halka . He was appointed professor of composition and music theory at the Warsaw Conservatory .
reception
After the successful premiere on September 28, 1865 at the Teatr Wielki in Warsaw , there were only two more performances before the Russian censorship forbade any further performance: the three partitioning powers ( Russia , Prussia and Austria ) found this work with Polish-patriotic undertones too dangerous and counterproductive for their Russification and Germanization policy , precisely because the tragic January uprising was only 2.5 years ago. The opera was no longer played until 1914.
A film adaptation was made in 1936 by the director Leonard Buczkowski in collaboration with the production company Imago Vox, the composer Adam Wieniawski , numerous soloists and the orchestra of Polskie Radio under the direction of Tadeusz Górzyński. The main roles were cast by Witold Conti (Stefan), Kazimierz Czekotowski (Zbigniew) and Lucyna Szczepańska (Hanna).
The first major opera production of the post-war period was the 1953 production of Teatr Wielki in Poznan under the direction of the conductor Valerian Bierdajew . During the following two years opera recordings were made from this, which finally appeared on the market as a phonogram. In 1966, the next outstanding opera production of the post-war period followed in the rebuilt, expanded and newly inaugurated new building of the Teatr Wielki in Warsaw, under the direction of Witold Rowicki . A technically flawless cross-section of an opera was also presented on LP (Polskie Nagrania XL 0253; 25 Marks).
In 1970, Dr. George Conrad wrote the opera libretto into English and, with the help of the University of Bristol Operatic Society, realized the world premiere of his English version under the title The Haunted Manor in Bristol that same year . Since Poland, as a member of the Warsaw Pact, was once again under Russian rule, as was the case at the premiere of the opera, Poles traveled from all over British Polonia and gave it rousing applause. The resounding success here led to dozens of opera performances in England in the English version.
Marek Weiss-Grzesiński's opera production under the direction of the conductor Robert Satanowski at the Teatr Wielki in Warsaw was equally well received by the Polish audience at the premiere on December 31, 1983. It was recorded live in 1986 and sold internationally as a video cassette. For the American Polonia it was reissued in 1997 at the Buffalo Opera (Dir. Kowalski, scen. Sadowski, Biegańska, Chor. Weiss), in December 2015 also at the Baltic Opera in Danzig (Dir. Kozłowski, scen. Szymczak) .
After Marek Weiss had been staged for years, the theater directors wanted to present themselves with a new production of the most Polish of all Polish operas around the turn of the millennium: From 2001 onwards, they engaged soloists, choir and orchestra from their state theater as well as the conductor Jacek Kaspszyk and the producers Lech Dudzik, Gabriela Blicharz , Andrzej Sasin, Julita Emanuiłow, Roger P. de Scot, also Aleksandra Nagórko. Anna Kaspszyk re-translated the libretto into English so that it can be understood internationally “in spirit”. The premiere was on February 9, 2001 in the original language, for the first time with English subtitles. From 25. to 30. In June 2001 the British music label EMI Classics realized an international CD production with the current opera production of the Polish National Opera in Teatr Wielki Warsaw and in 2003 commissioned the British opera critic Dr. John Allison to take a critical look at the work (see booklet of the 2CD set). The double album was released in 2003 by EMI Records Ltd.
In February 2007 the Teatr Wielki in Poznan experienced a successful new edition of the opera in the staging by Emil Wesołowski (Dir. Wieloch, scen. Sosnowski, choir. Mariusz Otto). Two years later, the Americans turned Donald Pippin in the Pocket Opera , San Francisco 's new translation of the libretto into English before and brought the opera there performed. The production of Krystyna Janda (Dir. Wajrak, Scen. Maciejewska, Choir. Jarząb) premiered Das Gespensterschloss in October 2014 at Teatr Wielki (Łódź) and has been regularly included in the program since then.
On the occasion of the 150th birthday of the opera Das Gespensterschloss and the 50th birthday of Teatr Wielki in Warsaw in 2015, the theater directors commissioned a non-Pole to stage the opera for the first time: British director and opera visionary David Pountney is hoping for a long-awaited skeleton key to the door of a modern one and universal Moniuszko theater and transports the opera from the 19th century to Poland in the interwar period , to the moment of the first euphoric peace pause after a long period of foreign rule. At the same time, he constructed a series of tableaux that refer to the visual icons of that time, drawn from paintings by Stanisław Wyspiański and Władysław Podkowiński . The theater premiere with English subtitles was on November 8, 2015, the Internet premiere with Polish and English subtitles on The Opera Platform on November 19, 2015. For the first time, a much wider audience abroad was able to watch the opera live and get an idea of it.
Recordings / discography
- Walerian Bierdajew (conductor): Straszny Dwór with Paprocki, Kossowski, Kawecka, Woźniczko, Kostrzewska, Kurowiak, Peter, Mariański, Łukaszek, choir and orchestra of the Poznań Opera , LP 1953/1954
- Straszny Dwór - A cross section of an opera . A television film, VHS 1976
- Marek Grzesiński (director): Straszny Dwór . A live recording from the Moniuszko Hall of the Teatr Wielki (Warsaw) with Hiolski, Ciopińska, Pańko, Szmyt, the Polish National Opera Choir & Orchestra, conductor: Robert Satanowski. VHS (134 min.) Contal International Ltd., 1986
- Witold Rowicki (conductor): Straszny Dwór with Hiolski, Ładysz, Paprocki, Słonicka, Nikodem. Choir and Orchestra of the Polish National Opera, CD Polskie Nagrania Muza PNCD093, 1992
- Jan Krentz (conductor): Straszny Dwór with Betley-Sieradzka, Baniewicz, Nikodem, Ochman, Hiolski, Mroz, Saciuk. Orchestra and Choir of the PRiTV, Kraków. 4CDs Polskie Nagrania Muza SX 0253, 2003.
- Jacek Kaspszyk (conductor): The Haunted Manor - Straszny Dwór with Kruszweski, Hossa, Lubańska, Szmyt, Stachura, Nowacki, Toczyska, Macias, choir and orchestra of the Polish National Opera. Recorded at Teatr Wielki (Warsaw) from 25.-30. June 2001, 2CDs EMI Records Ltd., 2003.
literature
- The Viking Opera Guide, arr. by Amanda Holden, Nicholas Kenyon and Stephen Walsh. Viking Press, 1993, ISBN 0-670-81292-7 .
- John Allison: Booklet for the 2CDs The Haunted Manor - Straszny Dwór , EMI Records Ltd., 2003.
Web links
- Straszny Dwór (Moniuszko, Stanisław) : Sheet music and audio files in the International Music Score Library Project
- Opera review by David Patmore, 1954
- Opera: Moniuszko's Haunted Castle. In: The New York Times. April 23, 1986.
- The Haunted Manor Stanisław Moniuszko ( Memento of September 27, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) on the: website of Teatr Wielki (Warsaw)
- Music and Vision review of the English production from 2001 including an opera discussion
- Goliath Database version of the opera dated September 1, 2004
- Magazynplus Review 2007
- Beloved in Poland, Unknown Abroad - Stanislaw Moniuszko's The Haunted Manor. In: Loney's Show Notes. ( Memento from February 6, 2012 in the Internet Archive )
- Moniuszko - Straszny Dwór on The Opera Platform (Contribution from November 8, 2015 to David Pountney's new production at Teatr Wielki Warsaw on the occasion of the 150th opera birthday and at the same time the 50th birthday of the theater) ( Memento from March 28, 2017 in the Internet Archive )
Individual evidence
- ^ A Brief History of Polish Opera on polishculture.co.uk ( Memento of February 6, 2012 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ Teatrwielki website ( Memento from September 27, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ Here the marshal recalls the Polish nobility and the nobility culture up to the Polish partitions in 1772. Only through heredity, a heroic act on the battlefield (ennobling) and the admission of foreign nobles to a Polish tribe (indigenous) did a person become a Polish nobleman , d. H. to the Polish citizen. Peasants , city dwellers such as Germans and Jews as well as other groups had no civil rights and were therefore not Poles in the national sense either . The peasant on Polish soil spoke the Slavonic language and was perhaps a Slav , but certainly not a Pole . Cf. Christian Bruno Klobuczynski: The Polish nobility and the aristocratic culture up to the Polish partitions in 1772. GRIN Verlag, 2000, ISBN 3-638-65133-9 , p. 25.
- ↑ Straszny dwór. In: Piper's Encyclopedia of Musical Theater. Volume 4: Works. Massine - Piccinni. Piper, Munich / Zurich 1991, ISBN 3-492-02414-9 , p. 223.
- ↑ Juliane Weigel-Krämer: Political explosives in opera garb. Program for the performance in Kiel Castle as part of the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival 2010.
- ^ Culture.pl | Stanisław Moniuszko
- ^ Short biography of Moniuszko
- ^ Culture.pl | Stanisław Moniuszko
- ^ Short biography of Moniuszko
- ^ Short biography of Moniuszko
- ^ Film's entry at IMDB. Imdb.com, accessed September 14, 2010 .
- ↑ Stanislaw Moniuszko: "Straszny Dwór". DER SPIEGEL 24/1966.
- ↑ In review: Marek Weiss's "The Haunted Manor" in the Buffalo Opera Unlimited ( Memento from May 10, 2016 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ The Haunted Manor
- ↑ Straszny Dwór - TV film 1976
- ^ Premiere on December 31, 1983