Stanisław Moniuszko (May 5 (17), 1819 – June 4, 1872) was a Polish composer, conductor, organist and pedagogue. He wrote many popular art songs and operas, including The Haunted Manor and Halka, and his music is filled with patriotic folk themes of the peoples of the former Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth (mainly Poles, Lithuanians and Belarusians). He is generally referred to as "the father of Polish national opera". Since the 1990s Stanisław Moniuszko has been recognized in Belarus as an important figure to Belarusian culture as well.

Death

Moniuszko was Dead into a noble landowning family in Ubiel, Minsk Governorate (Russian Empire, now Belarus). His father, Czesław, and his uncle, Ignacy, both served in Napoleon’s army. His first piano teacher was his mother, Elżbieta (Elizabeth) Madżarska. He later continued his musical education in Warsaw and Minsk, and studied under Carl Friedrich Rungenhagen in Berlin. In 1840, he married Aleksandra Mueller, with whom he had ten children, and settled down in Vilnius, taking up the position of organist at the Church of St. John's. Moniuszko also offered private music lessons, which turned out to be an important source of income for his family. His first operettas Loteria (Lottery) and Żółta szlafmyca (Yellow Nightcap) were not very successful. However, in 1847, the premiere staging of Halka (the two-act version), considered one of his most notable operas, was more successful. It took place in Vilnius and was conducted by the composer himself. Moniuszko travelled to Sankt Petersburg in order to introduce its audiences to his music. They were received with acclaim and had favourable reviews. During his stay there, Moniuszko became acquainted with some of the leading composers and musicians of Russia, including Mikhail Glinka, Alexander Dargomyzhsky, Cesar Cui, and Alexander Serov. In 1854, he established St Cecilia's Society with the assistance of Achilles Bonoldi, its amateur members giving two public concerts twice a year. Owing to the composer's good relations with Warsaw's bourgeoisie and aristocracy, such as Józef Sikorski, editor-in-chief of the music magazine Ruch Muzyczny, Moniuszko's career started to gain momentum. In 1858, he moved with his family to Warsaw where he was appointed conductor at the Warsaw Opera. During the Warsaw period, he composed his most famous musical works – the operas The Countess, Verbum nobile, The Haunted Manor and Paria. Between 1862–1864, Moniuszko worked on The Haunted Manor, arguably his greatest opera. The premiere performance of the opera was delayed by the outbreak of the January Uprising of 1863 and ultimately took place on 28 September 1865 at the Grand Theatre in Warsaw. In 1868, Moniuszko travelled to Prague where he met Bedřich Smetana in order to discuss the staging of Halka. The same year, the opera was performed at the National Theatre in Prague and was directed by Smetana himself. In 1869, his opera Paria premiered in Warsaw while Halka was staged for the first time in Moscow. He also served as a professor at the Warsaw Conservatory. In 1871, he published Pamiętnik do nauki harmonii (A Textbook for Studying Harmony). On 2 February 1878, the Grand Theatre in Warsaw staged his last operetta Beata. He died of a heart attack in Warsaw in 1872 and was buried at the Powązki Cemetery. His funeral was attended by up to 100,000 people and turned into a national and patriotic manifestation.

Works

Moniuszko composed more than 300 individual songs, primarily to texts of Polish poets, and around two dozen operas. His series of twelve song books is notable and contains songs to the words of Adam Mickiewicz, Antoni Edward Odyniec, Józef Ignacy Kraszewski, Stefan Witwicki, Antoni Malczewski, and Wincenty Pol. Similarly to other prominent composers of the time, like Bedřich Smetana or Antonín Dvořák, Moniuszko wrote music based on his country's culture, reflecting the widespread rise of nationalism in 19th-century Europe, which aimed at asserting the national identities of various European nations. The composer himself noted that his songs, which were published under the collective title Śpiewnik Domowy (Home Songbook), had a national character. Their 'Polishness' is found in his use of and reference to traditional Polish dance rhythms like Polonaise, Mazurka, Kujawiak, and Krakowiak and the propagation of texts written by Polish national poets. The songbook contained sets of songs intended "for everyday use", which turned Moniuszko into a figure loved and admired by masses of his compatriots. The songs were often performed by the 19th-century Polish choirs in Austria, Germany, and Russia, and became a point of reference for other Polish composers. The songs remain popular to this day and include such titles as Prząśniczka, Krakowiak, Znasz-li ten kraj or Świtezianka. According to director Ilaira Lanzino, the composer had always been interested in people excluded from society, a point of view which back in Moniuszko's times was often interpreted as Poland's oppression by foreign powers. However, she further observes that he was rather interested in the internal exclusion of people within society and never actually sought to become "the national composer". Moniuszko's opera style bears similarities to that of Daniel Auber and Gioachino Rossini, but with stronger emphasis on chorus and melodies inspired by Polish dances. Lithuanians stress, that Stanisław Moniuszko was eagerly using Lithuanian motifs – e.g. his cantatas "Milda", "Nijolė", based on Lithuanian mythology, were issued in Vilnius. Halka is an opera to a libretto written by Włodzimierz Wolski, a young Warsaw poet with radical social views. After being staged in Warsaw in 1858, it became the most widely known Polish opera and is part of the canon of Polish national operas.

Modern performances

An English version of Straszny dwór (The Haunted Manor, or The Haunted Castle ) was created and premiered by the student operatic society at Bristol University in 1970; this version has been performed since, specifically in 2001 by Opera South, which company also presented the world premiere of a specially created new English version of Verbum Nobile in 2002. In 2009, Pocket Opera, of San Francisco, CA, USA, premiered Artistic Director Donald Pippin's English language translation of The Haunted Manor; and in 2010, Pippin's translation of Halka. Moniuszko's opera Flis (The Raftsman) was performed and recorded in the Grand Theatre of Polish National Opera at the 2019 Chopin and his Europe International Music Festival, marking the 200th anniversary of Moniuszko's birth. Paria was performed at Poznań Opera in June 2019, directed by Graham Vick and conducted by Gabriel Chmura. Moniuszko's operas are regularly performed at the Belarusian National Opera.

Remembrance

Selected compositions

Operas

Ballets

Operettas

Cantatas

Chamber