Verbum nobile
| Work data | |
|---|---|
| Original title: | Verbum nobile |
| Shape: | Opera in one act |
| Original language: | Polish |
| Music: | Stanislaw Moniuszko |
| Libretto : | Jan Chęciński |
| Premiere: | January 1, 1861 |
| Place of premiere: | Teatr Wielki (Warsaw) |
| Playing time: | Around 1 hour |
| Place and time of the action: | August 11th around 1770 in front of the Łagoda house |
| people | |
Verbum nobile (lat., Word of honor ) is a comic one- act opera by Stanisław Moniuszko with a libretto by Jan Chęciński .
action
Memorial Day of St. Susanna in front of the Łagoda House
Peasants under the leadership of Bartłomiej gather in front of their landlord's house on August 11th and congratulate his charming daughter, Zuzia Łagoda, on her name day . According to an old, rural proverb, Poles traditionally celebrate birthdays with close family members and name days with everyone else. Her father and master, visibly impressed by the action, invited the residents to a sumptuous feast. During the preparations for the feast, he realizes the deeper meaning of Bartłomiej's community action : It was initiated by his noble brother Marcin Pakuła to bring his son and treasurer Michał back home from the Łagoda house.
Michał, sent off with a document by his father and master a few weeks ago, fell in love with a girl named Zuzia at first sight in the village church. It quickly became clear to him that he was seeing that Zuzia for the first time, to whom he had been promised for many years by the word of honor (lat. Verbum nobile ) of her two fathers. It was by chance that his carriage collided with her coach, he craned his arm and was taken up by Zuzias family rehabilitation. Since then, Zuzia has cared for him and develops feelings for the strange young man, who in her family pretends to be Stanisław with good intentions . Both are secretly delaying recovery so they don't lose each other. But Bartłomiej had watched over everything and informed his father regularly.
Bartłomiej's attempt to bring Stanisław (Michał) back home fails. Bartłomiej is sent away and the newly in love confess their love. God, who is merciful in matters of the heart, bring them to the altar. Pan Serwacy understands his daughter, but has to remind her of his word of honor to Marcin Pakuła that her marriage is further away than her grave. The word of honor of a petty noblewoman cannot be broken because it is a sacred cause. Whoever breaks his word of honor is not worth calling a Pole . Everyone knows that. The situation seems hopeless and Serwacy takes a new word of honor: Stanisław will never be Zuzia's husband. With a heavy heart, Stanisław (Michał) says goodbye, confessing to always love Zuzia. The unsuspecting Zuzia almost dies of lovesickness (No. 7 Dumka Jak tu ująć żal na wodze ... ) and in despair when Marcin Pakuła appears to congratulate her on the name day and confirms to her that, by virtue of his word of honor and that of her father, she definitely dies Wife of his son Michał.
Against the background of the deep despair of his daughter, her father tries to overcome all the structures that hinder progress through rational thinking: He breaks his word of honor and confesses “Michał cannot become her husband”. At the last moment, Zuzia redeems her father and explains to everyone that none of the given words of honor need to be broken because her beloved Stanisław is really Michał. It comes to the happy opera finale during the wedding of the two.
layout
music
Moniuszko's verbum nobile musically and dramatically reflects what Poles felt throughout the 19th century. The depressing reality that one's own nation had disappeared from the map of Europe (see Partitions of Poland ) and the term “Poland” was more an ideal term than a political fact, this reality meant that national identity was only expressed in artistic ideas. Moniuszko's music satisfied the needs of the Polish audience. It is reminiscent of Polish folk music, moved and touched the patriotic spirit, brought up political allusions and inspired the spirit in general. With Verbum nobile he presents musically and dramaturgically the image of a rural idyll around a Polish manor house and an important moral message linked to the tradition of the Polish landed nobility as a strange religiousness.
libretto
Jan Chęciński's libretto is conceived in one act. The relationships between the operatic characters are very similar to those of the Enlightenment literature after the Confederation of Bar (1768–1772). As a result, the opera is set around 1770, when "the enlightened" tamed the Szlachta culture and thus destroyed the national identity of the Poles. The triumphant opera finale in favor of the "enlightened" and the Szlachta culture is therefore no wonder. Chęciński uses the dramaturgical tension, created by the hidden identity of the young Michał Pakuła, to teach everyone a harmless lesson: namely that the Enlightenment and Szlachta culture are compatible with God's help.
history
Emergence
Stanisław Moniuszko, who had been the Warsaw Opera Director since 1858, needed his own stage work around 1860 , which established him as a composer with the Warsaw audience. As a result, Verbum nobile is a one-act comic opera that is easily accessible in terms of material and can be easily combined with other stage works or their fragments on an opera evening. It also contains national motifs, as was customary in the operas presented at the Teatr Wielki Warsaw since Karol Kurpiński. So it is no wonder that Moniuszko's masterpieces enjoyed overwhelming popularity and influenced the increase in theatrical performances there without necessarily having an affinity with the dominant Italian operatic repertoire.
reception
After the premiere of Verbum nobile , the Warsaw music critic Józef Sikorski wrote: “Something as good as this opera has not been on this stage for a long time. […] The ethnicity of our ancestors was not once the subject of the dramas and novels, but was mostly misrepresented, abused, defaced - that is the main idea of the drama, the awkwardness of the form. Verbum nobile is probably the first drama in which all of these mistakes have been avoided. […] In a certain way it is a perfectly dramatized genre. ”The people shared this opinion and took Moniuszko's masterpiece to their hearts. Sikorski's criticism also shows the mainstreams of opera interpretation “as an idyllic, warm genre”. Chęciński's and Moniuszko's intention was undoubtedly to refer to the good tradition of the aristocratic republic , although the title Verbum nobile appeared as a motif in Karol Kurpiński's one-act opera Leśniczy z Kazienickiej Puszczy (premiered on October 28, 1821 at the Teatr Wielki in Warsaw).
However, Chęciński's and Moniuszko's verbum nobile was published at the completely wrong time: in early 1861 there were numerous riots and demonstrations against Russian rule in Warsaw . After the death of five Polish demonstrators, national mourning was proclaimed in February 1861, which resulted in the Poles being banned from all theaters. The Russian occupiers introduced martial law and their soldiers took up quarters in the theaters. None of this allowed Verbum nobile to come to life in the first place.
In Paris too, too few were interested in Moniuszko's masterpiece. After the Warsaw premiere, there were only a few performances in Krakow (1867), Lviv (1872), Posen (1880), Bytom (1920) and Katowice (1927) and outside of Poland in Philadelphia (1929) and New York (1946).
After the Second World War , the opera was produced comparatively frequently in the major cultural cities of the People's Republic of Poland . Nevertheless, the masterpiece received little attention until the last few years. After the half-stage version presented in the Szczecin Palace Opera in 2003 and 2005 as part of the “Vivat Moniuszko!” Festival under Warcisław Kunc , the opera was only played once in the Teatr Wielki Warsaw under the English title The Oath (The Word of Honor).
Discography
- Robert Satanowski (conductor): Verbum nobile : with Kitzewetter, Pakulska, Kondella, Czekay, Kmiciewicz. Teatr Wielki Choir & Orchestra in Poznan . LP Polskie Nagrania Muza SXL 0145, 1969 (also released as CD in 1993)
- Robert Satanowski (conductor): Verbum nobile : with Kitzewetter, Pakulska, Kondella, Czekay, Kmiciewicz. Teatr Wielki Choir & Orchestra in Poznan. CD Wilk-Record WR 141, 1999
- Warcisław Kunc (conductor): Verbum nobile : with Teliga, Buczek, Skrla, Partyka, Lewandowski, choir & orchestra of the Szczecin Palace Opera . CD DUX Records DUX 0783, 2012
literature
- Józef Kański: Przewodnik operowy (“Foreword to the Opera”), Polskie Wydawnictwo Muzyczne SA, Kraków 2008; ISBN 978-83-224-0721-9
- Karol Stromenger: Iskier przewodnik operowy ("Iskier Foreword to the Opera"), Warszawa, Państwowe Wydawnictwo Iskry, 1959
- Piotr Urbański: CD booklet in: Verbum nobile (C) DUX Recording Producers Warsaw, Poland, DUX 0783 (Polish / English)
Web links
- Agnieszka Okupska: Stanisław Moniuszko, “Verbum nobile” : article from May 2011
- Opera “Verbum nobile” at the opening of the 2014 music season of the Polish Radio Orchestra
- Audio sample of the Szczecin CD recording from 2012 on jpc.de
- Audio sample of the overture “Verbum nobile” on youtube.com