Poster for Manru
A long cherished dream of writing a grand opera is manifested in Manru, composed by the famed Polish composer between 1892 and 1901. It returns to the stage over a century after it premiered in Europe and America
Manru is an opera by Ignacy Jan Paderewski in three acts set to the libretto by Alfred Nossig, based on the novel by Józef Ignacy Kraszewski entitled Chata za wsią (A Hut Behind the Village). The autograph of the opera is in the collection of the Cathedral of Learning of Pittsburgh University.
The original premiere of Manru took place in Dresden on the 29th of May 1901 and Paderewski received thirty enthusiastic curtain calls that evening. The opera was performed in Polish on the 8th of June 1901, in the Lvov (today Lviv) Opera House. The work continued to grace the stages of Europe, with performances in Prague on the 24th of November 1901, Zurich on the 30th of January 1902 and Warsaw in May 1902, as well as Nice, Monte Carlo, Bonn and Kiev. The American premiere (in English) took place at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York on the14th of February 1902. The enthusiastic reception deemed the performance " of high distinction" and the composer received fifteen curtain calls.
Manru's story of a gypsy fellow who marries a Polish woman has taken on a symbolic reference to culture clash throughout Polish and European culture. In 1902 at a meeting with representatives from the New York press Ignacy Jan Paderewski explained that,
The chosen subject allowed me to introduce a great deal of lyricism to the libretto (...). I think the difference between Manru and other operas lies in the fact that unlike the usual romantic stories it was based on a conflict between other cultures, Slavs and Gypsies. And the topic is indeed thoroughly musical.
It’s been 111 years since the creation of Manru and it still remains the only Polish opera that has taken the stage of the New York Metropolitan Opera - in short Paderewski’s aim of creating a masterpiece was fulfilled and the world continues to revere the work even a century on even though the work has been overlooked in recent decades. This month Bydgoszcz, a city where the concert hall, the airport, music society, and streets are named after Paderewski, brings the opera back to audiences.
Paderewski's opera, directed in Bydgoszcz by Laco Adamik, has been regaled as a universal spectacle about the human intolerance and prejudice. Innovative scenographic solutions have created a contemporary vision for expression and current in meaning.
The opera's premiere on the 3rd of March 2012 at 7:00 p.m. (with repeat performances on the 4th-6th of March) is accompanied by the exhibition Paderewski, Polish, European. The Statesman and the Artist on loan from the Museum of Independence in Warsaw.
Manru
Director: Laco Adamik, Conductor: Maciej Figas, Scenography: Milan David (Czech Republic), Choreography: Janina Niesobska, Preparation of the choir: Henryk Wierzchoń. Cast: Sylwester Kostecki or Janusz Ratajczak (Manru), Agnieszka Piass or Małgorzata Grela (Ulana), Barbara Krahel or Małgorzata Ratajczak (Jadwiga), Monika Ledzion or also Małgorzata Ratajczak (Aza), Adam Woźniak or Leszek Skrla (Urok)
Opera Nova in Bydgoszcz
ul. Marszałka Focha 5
www.opera.bydgoszcz.pl
Written by: Ewa Paderewska based on information from the Bydgoszcz Opera. Edited by Agnieszka Le Nart