Time 19:00
The Royal Theatre in the Old Orangery in the Royal Łazienki Museum in Warsaw
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“Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo is not one of those unambiguous works that may be explained only in one way and have one layer, one plane of meanings. On the contrary – it should be included among those masterpieces of the human spirit that communicate much more to us than their plot, literally understood as a sequence of dramatic events,” writes Ewa Obniska, an authority of the highest order.
Indeed, Monteverdi’s work is of cardinal importance for the history of European culture. By bringing to life the stage character of Music, he freed music from the obligation to bear the Word and turned it into a winged element of the metaphysical freedom of the Word. For Monteverdi, Music was the true and universal origin of the opera, and, paradoxically, gave primacy to the word. It is for Music that the composer created the Altar – a symbolic space for it to resonate so that it could define the movement – that is, the topography of L’Orfeo: the composition, rhythm, musical gestures, and the dynamics of their mutual relations. By combining singing and movement into a homogeneous stage work, Monteverdi teaches the first practical lesson for a director dealing with the score in an opera.
The awareness of the intended musical effect and the capacity to obtain a corresponding theatrical effect on the stage is recorded in the text of the score flawlessly yet in a non-obvious way. Using the language of music, the composer wrote down what a viewer looking at the performance should experience. Reading the score in this way, we can translate it into theatrical gestures, leading to a stage effect whose strength and theatrical beauty is incomparable to any other interpretation.
Monteverdi’s entire score is made up of emotional and sonoric contrasts, with its structure referring to the staging rules of the theatre of ancient Greece. The composer emphasizes the absolute homogeneity of music, attributing to it an ascetic philosophical and mystical dimension. His music allows us to see what can’t be seen. The score clearly displays the Orphic metaphysics and the mutual permeation of the three main elements of Antiquity: homoiosis, pathopoeia and catharsis, creating a stylistic unity and an entirely new shape of expression for Truth, Goodness and Beauty in the space between “Greek philosophy” and “European theology”.
In the finale of this brilliant opera, the myth meets theology when the father (Apollo) and his son (Orpheus) ascend to Heaven. This ending is of extreme importance and consequence for the history of opera in Europe. In a truly Platonic conclusion, Orpheus’ love remains steady and tireless and his path does not end here – on Earth, but leads to the Father, to Heaven.
Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo is an operatic allegory of the world that, through faith, reveals the Hope leading to Eternal Love.
Ryszard Peryt
MUSIC DIRECTOR KRZYSZTOF GARSTKA
A CO-PRODUCTION AT THE ROYAL THEATRE
ROMANA AGNEL, SŁAWOMIR JURCZAK, ANDRZEJ KLIMCZAK, MARLENA SKONECZKO, MAREK ZAMOJSKI
SUPERVISING DIRECTOR SŁAWOMIR JURCZAK
COSTUMES MARLENA SKONECZKO
GESTURE AND CHOREOGRAPHY ROMANA AGNEL
VIDEO PROJECTIONS MAREK ZAMOJSKI
LIGHTING PIOTR RUDZKI, BARTŁOMIEJ KACZALSKI
CHORUS MASTER JAKUB SZAFRAŃSKI
STAGE MANAGER AGNIESZKA ORLIKOWSKA
CAST
ORFEO KAROL KOZŁOWSKI
EURIDICE, LA MUSICA MARTA BOBERSKA
SPERANZA ANETA ŁUKASZEWICZ
MESSAGGERA ANNA RADZIEJEWSKA
PROSERPINA OLGA PASIECZNIK
PASTORE (ALTO) MARCIN GADALIŃSKI
PASTORE (TENORE) ZBIGNIEW MALAK
PASTORE (TENORE) MIKOŁAJ ZGÓDKA
PASTORE (BASSO) KRZYSZTOF ŁAZICKI
NINFA JULITA MIROSŁAWSKA
CARONTE SŁAWOMIR JURCZAK
PLUTONE PAWEŁ CZEKAŁA
APOLLO, ECO SYLWESTER SMULCZYŃSKI
THE CHORUS OF THE POLISH ROYAL OPERA
THE PERIOD INSTRUMENTS ENSEMBLE OF THE POLISH ROYAL OPERA CAPELLA REGIA POLONA
CONDUCTOR KRZYSZTOF GARSTKA
Duration: 2 h 20 mins (with a 20-minute intermission)
The seats in the auditorium are not numbered.
PLEASE NOTE: the entrance to the Royal Theatre in the Łazienki Park is located in Agrykola street.
One hour before the performance as well as for an hour after it is finished, the audience can use the electric cart running between the Royal Theater and the Łazienki Gate at the corner of Myśliwiecka / Agrykola streets.
