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 translator 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.
Read more about this topic: Polish Opera
Famous quotes containing the words polish, school and/or opera:
“It has always been my practice to cast a long paragraph in a single mould, to try it by my ear, to deposit it in my memory, but to suspend the action of the pen till I had given the last polish to my work.”
—Edward Gibbon (1737–1794)
“The child to be concerned about is the one who is actively unhappy, [in school].... In the long run, a child’s emotional development has a far greater impact on his life than his school performance or the curriculum’s richness, so it is wise to do everything possible to change a situation in which a child is suffering excessively.”
—Dorothy H. Cohen (20th century)
“Are you suggesting that we reopen the Opera with a murder as an added attraction?”
—Eric Taylor, Leroux, and Arthur Lubin. Lecours (Fritz Feld)