POLISH LYRIC VOCAL MUSIC

On the one hand, sweet and full of hope, on the other – immersed in sorrow and darkness… Polish lyric vocal music glistens with a diversity of emotions and moods. The concert opens with early Romantic songs by Maria Szymanowska, one of the first to set the texts of Adam Mickiewicz to music, and by Józef Elsner, who in his Duma Luidgardy draws inspiration from medieval legends. As the program unfolds, moving poetry gains a new dimension in the melodies and harmonies woven by Polish composers of the 19th and 20th centuries. Vocal works by Jan Gall, full – as Zdzisław Jachimecki put it – of “truly Italian sweetness,” the enchanting melodic lines of Stanisław Niewiadomski, and the moving songs of Zygmunt Noskowski will be heard alongside no less intriguing, though rarely performed, works by Jan Kleczyński, Ignacy Krzyżanowski, and Ignacy Komorowski. The audience will have the opportunity to admire the lyrical talent of Władysław Żeleński, whose songs – according to the composer’s first biographer, Felicjan Szopski – “are captivating not only in their vocal parts, but also in the piano, which often goes far beyond the limits of ordinary accompaniment.” No listener will be left indifferent to the deeply emotional songs of Ignacy Jan Paderewski from Op. 18, most likely inspired by the extraordinary passion toward the composer’s future wife, Helena Górska. The program also includes pieces rooted in the Romantic tradition by Franciszek Maklakiewicz and Witold Friemann, both of whom tragically lost their lives in defense of their homeland.

PROGRAM

Maria Szymanowska – Pieśń z wieży, lyrics A. Mickiewicz
Józef Elsner – Duma Luidgardy, lyrics F. Karpiński
Jan Kleczyński – Młoda dziewczyna, lyrics Gabryella (Narcyza Żmichowska)
Jan Gall – Gdy Twa postać przemknie z bliska, lyrics A. Asnyk
Jan Gall – Wracaj, lyrics J. Malczewski
Jan Gall – Chciałbym mą duszą tonąć, lyrics H. Heine, transl. S. Lachowicz
Franciszek Maklakiewicz – Jakże możecie kwiaty, lyrics L. Staff
Franciszek Maklakiewicz – Kocham Cię, lyrics K. Przerwa-Tetmajer
Zygmunt Noskowski – Smutno, lyrics K. Przerwa-Tetmajer
Władysław Żeleński – Ja tobie serce ślę, lyrics J. Malczewski
Władysław Żeleński – Pieśń Jaruhy, lyrics J. I. Kraszewski
Stanisław Niewiadomski – Ostatnia róża, lyrics A. Asnyk
Ignacy Krzyżanowski – Szumi w gaju brzezina, lyrics A. Asnyk
Ignacy Marcel Komorowski – Kalina, lyrics T. Lenartowicz
Ignacy Jan Paderewski – Polały się łzy moje, lyrics A. Mickiewicz
Ignacy Jan Paderewski – Tylem wytrwał, lyrics A. Mickiewicz
Ignacy Jan Paderewski – Gdybym się zmienił, lyrics A. Mickiewicz
Stanisław Niewiadomski – Zaczarowana Królewna, lyrics A. Asnyk
Stanisław Niewiadomski – Między nami nic nie było, lyrics A. Asnyk
Stanisław Niewiadomski – Indele i Mendele, folk lyrics
Stanisław Niewiadomski – Latawica, lyrics M. Konopnicka
Witold Friemann – Cudne oczy, lyrics K. Przerwa-Tetmajer
Witold Friemann – Noc majowa, lyrics K. Przerwa-Tetmajer
Feliks Nowowiejski – Pieśń miłosna, lyrics K. Przerwa-Tetmajer
Feliks Nowowiejski – Muzyka mojej duszy, lyrics K. Przerwa-Tetmajer

PERFORMERS

MARTA BOBERSKA SOPRANO

JUSTYNA STĘPIEŃ SOPRANO

DOROTA LACHOWICZ MEZZOSOPRANO

LESZEK ŚWIDZIŃSKI TENOR

DAGMARA DUDZIŃSKA GRAND PIANO

Duration: approx. 70 mins.

The seats in the auditorium are not numbered.

Patron of the Polish Royal Opera