| Published: | June 30, 2020 10:31 |
———— In the history of opera, we repeatedly faced the fact that its most eminent creators also composed their works in the course of a commission contract, because they had to make a living from something. The customers were mostly kings, princes, theatre directors and other noble and generous patrons, but there were also times
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| Published: | June 26, 2020 17:30 |
———— It was not until half a century after his death (26 June 1941) that Ignacy Jan Paderewski ‘returned’ to his home country. On 29 June 1992, the coffin with the composer’s ashes was transported from the United States to Poland. An eminent pianist, composer and statesman, before his death, he expressed a wish for
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| Published: | June 23, 2020 15:06 |
———— Alexander Borodin unfortunately did not live to see his Prince Igor staged. The premiere of the most popular Russian opera, alongside Eugene Onegin by Tchaikovsky, took place on 4 November 1890 at the Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg only three years after the composer’s death. Borodin, who had no music education (he was a
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| Published: | June 19, 2020 17:30 |
———— It would seem that such a musically modern (even today!) opera cannot be so old… and yet it is. When Krzysztof Penderecki showed his Devils of Loudun at the Hamburg Opera on 20 June 1969, it became clear that the opera world had received a work that would become a permanent feature of opera
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| Published: | June 16, 2020 17:52 |
———— The most famous opera theatre in the world – La Scala in Milan – was the second opera theatre built in the capital of Lombardy, the first theatre opened in 1717 in Milan was the Teatro Regio Ducale; La Scala was the fifth theatre building built in Italy in the 18th century. The previously
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| Published: | June 12, 2020 17:20 |
———— The fact that artists going on stage – no matter in which theatre genre – voluntarily let other people assess them is obvious. And they always – being more or less anxious – wait for the reaction of the audience after the performance, and then for what theatre and music reviewers will write about
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| Published: | June 9, 2020 15:00 |
———— To say that Gioacchino Rossini was great is like saying that roses smell nice… The composer of operas such as The Barber of Seville, William Tell, and L’italiana in Algeri gave us 39 operas, 28 cantatas and anthems, 14 religious compositions, 32 songs, 21 instrumental compositions and the beautiful Sins of old age. His
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| Published: | June 2, 2020 10:15 |
———— The first Polish monarch who was lucky enough to come into contact with the opera was Władysław IV Vasa, when he was still a prince at the court of the Medici in Florence, where he watched Francesca Caccini’s La liberazione di Ruggiero dall’isola d’Alcina. The new genre fascinated the young prince so much that
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| Published: | May 29, 2020 13:50 |
———— Opera w swoich dziejach niezbyt często dawała szanse popisów dzieciom, ale jednak tak się zdarzało. Dzieci pojawiają się w tytułach (np. Dziecko i czary Ravela), choć wykonawcami są dorośli – są także głównymi bohaterami oper (np. Cinderella Rossiniego i Jaś i Małgosia Humperdincka) i tymi, którymi kompozytorzy „wzmacniali” wokalnie i uatrakcyjniali wielkie sceny zbiorowe
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| Published: | May 26, 2020 10:30 |
———— After the staging of Johann Mattheson’s opera Cleopatra in Hamburg on 5 December 1705, there was a real swordplay between the previously befriended composers Johann Mattheson and George Frideric Handel, who conducted the spectacle. Johann Mattheson sang the leading role of Antony in his own opera and after his death on stage, he wanted
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