Universal Edition published King Roger's piano extract and the Polish-language libretto in 1926. The same year saw a separate publication of Roxana's song from Act II Sleep, King Roger's bloody dreams for voice and orchestra and in Paweł Kochański's instrumentation for violin and piano. In 1954 Polskie Wydawnictwo Muzyczne published Irena Garztecka's edition of Roxana's song for voice and piano, based on Szymanowski's recommendations noted down on Stanisława Korwin-Szymanowska's copy of the piano extract. In 1962 the same publishing house published the Shepherd's song from Act I, My God is as beautiful as myself, again edited by Garztecka for voice and piano. King Roger's Polish language libretto with a German translation was published in 1928, followed by an Italian language version in 1949.
It was not until 1965 that the first complete recording of King Roger was released by Polskie Nagrania. The set of LPs featured Andrzej Hiolski, Hanna Rumowska, Zdzisław Nikodem, Kazimierz Pustelak, Marek Dąbrowski and Anna Malewicz-Madey as well as the Choir and Orchestra of the Warsaw Grand Theatre and the ZHP Children's Choir under Mieczysław Mierzejewski. That recording was relaunched on CDs by Olympia in 1989. In 1991 Koch-Schwann / Musica Mundi released a recording of a production starring Barbara Zagórzanka, Stanisław Kowalski, Florian Skulski, Zdzisław Nikodem, Jerzy Ostapiuk and Ryszard Racewicz with the Choir and Orchestra of the Warsaw Grand Theatre under Robert Satanowski. 1994 saw Marco Polo's release of a King Roger recording by Andrzej Hiolski, Wiesław Ochman, Barbara Zagórzanka, Henryk Grychnik, Leonard Andrzej Mróz and Anna Malewicz-Madey with the Cracow Philharmonic Boys' Choir and the Silesian Philharmonic Choir and Orchestra under Karol Stryja. In 1998 Sir Simon Rattle recorded Szymanowski's opera for EMI with Elżbieta Szmytka, Philip Langridge, Thomas Hampson, Robert Gierlach, Jadwiga Rappé and Ryszard Minkiewicz and the Birmingham Choir and Symphony Orchestra. The latest release of King Roger is the 2004 one by CD Accord with Wojciech Drabowicz (now deceased) in the title role, Olga Pasiecznik as Roxana, Krzysztof Szmyt as Edrisi, Piotr Beczała as the Shepherd, Romuald Tesarowicz as the Archbishop and Stefania Toczyska as the Deaconess, with "Alla Polacca" Choir and the Choir and Orchestra of the Grand Theatre - National Opera in Warsaw under Jacek Kaspszyk. Made in 2003, this is a recording of one of the most interesting productions of Szymanowski's opera, done by Mariusz Treliński at the Warsaw Grand Theatre, with stage design by Boris Kudlička and costumes by Magdalena Tesławska and Paweł Grabarczyk.
There have been many separate recordings of Roxana's Song, both of the voice-and-orchestra version (of particular note are the ones by Ewa Bandrowska-Turska and Stefania Woytowicz, both for Polskie Nagrania, by Zdzisława Donat for Veriton and Barbara Zagórzanka for Marco Polo) and of the violin-and-piano transcription (by Eugenia Umińska and Jerzy Lefeld for Columbia, Ida Haendel and Adela Kotowska for Decca, Wanda Wiłkomirska and Tadeusz Chmielewski for Polskie Nagrania, Kaja Danczowska and Krystian Zimerman for Deutsche Grammophon) as well as of its symphonic orchestration by Grzegorz Fitelberg (Polskie Nagrania and American Harmonia, awaiting release).
Notes:
[1]"Karol Szymanowski. Korespondencja" / Letters, Vol. IV: 1932-1937, part 1, p. 327, letter of 27th Oct. 1932 to Zofia Kochańska, ed. Teresa Chylińska, PWM, Kraków 2002.
[2] Tadeusz A. Zieliński, "Szymanowski. Liryka i ekstaza", PWM, Kraków 1997, p. 187.
Author: Anna Iwanicka-Nijakowska, September 2007.