Halka has certain fragments which, in their emotionality and expression, are typically Polish (or typically Slavic). But the arias and duets mostly sound very universal; they sound rather like Italian music. We joked amongst ourselves in New York that it would be a good idea first to perform Halka in Italian to overcome the Polish language barrier. But I’m a great proponent of singing everything in its original language.
Many operas from different parts of the world have been performed mostly in translation. Especially in German-speaking countries, many operas are produced in German-language versions. Artistically, the results usually leave a lot to be desired. In many mid-sized German theatres, they sing only in German and the same is true in the Vienna Volksoper. At the English National Opera, they only sing in English. This is very accessible to the local public. But I think that opera connoisseurs expect to hear the original sound of an opera. Tschaikovsky sounds one way in Russian and another in German. This same is true of Moniuszko in Italian: it loses its character, some of its expression.
FL: What advantages does the Polish language have in opera?
PB: I don’t sing much in Polish, though last year there were a few occasions: Halka and Moniuszko and [Mieczysław] Karłowicz’s songs. I actually had to learn the Polish language again; I hadn’t consciously used it in years. I mean the vocal language, of course. Obviously, I speak Polish privately, but I had to learn it all over again as an artistic language.
Singing Halka, I treated it as a foreign language – I approached the diction of each vowel, each accent, with great precision. That’s what I focus on when singing in Italian, French or Czech. I actually gave that advice to the Polish singers at the Moniuszko Competition who didn’t always pay proper attention to the way language is used in opera. They thought that they could sing their mother tongue with less of an effort. Each language need to be treated as an artistic language. Opera German is an entirely different language from the everyday dialect: it treats consonants, vowels, expression and the length of syllables differently. Each of these things needs to be considered and practised. That’s wht it was so interesting to see the Americans or the Chinese singing in Polish. They probably put a lot of time into this, treating Polish as an artistic language, not a spoken language.
FL: Honestly, sometimes they sounded better than the Polish singers...
PB: I’ve always told Polish singers that they should stop ‘talking’ and start singing.