''Manru'' is an

opera Opera is a form of History of theatre#European theatre, Western theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by Singing, singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically ...

(lyrical

drama Drama is the specific Mode (literature), mode of fiction Mimesis, represented in performance: a Play (theatre), play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on Radio drama, radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a g ...

) in three acts, music by

Ignacy Jan Paderewski Ignacy Jan Paderewski (;

r 1859 R, or r, is the eighteenth letter of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''ar'' (pronounced ), plural ''ars''. The lette ...

– 29 June 1941) was a Polish pianist, composer and statesman who was a spokesman for Polish independence. In 1919, he was the nation's Prime Minister of Poland, prime minister and foreign minister durin ...

composed to the

libretto A libretto (From the Italian word , ) is the text used in, or intended for, an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata or Musical theatre, musical. The term ''libretto'' is also sometimes used to refer to th ...

Alfred Nossig Alfred Nossig (18 April 1864 – 22 February 1943) was a Jewish sculptor, writer, and activist in Zionism and Polish civil society. During World War II, he was held in the Warsaw Ghetto. Other Jews later accused Nossig of collaborating with the ...

based on the novel ''A Hut Behind the Village'' (1854) by

Józef Ignacy Kraszewski Józef Ignacy Kraszewski (28 July 1812 – 19 March 1887) was a Polish novelist, journalist, historian, publisher, painter, and musician. Born in Warsaw into a noble family, he spent much of his youth with his maternal grandparents in Romanów ...

. The libretto was written in

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

to meet a commission from the

Dresden Opera The Semperoper () is the opera house of the Sächsische Staatsoper Dresden (Saxon State Opera) and the concert hall of the Staatskapelle Dresden (Saxon State Orchestra). It is also home to the Semperoper Ballett. The building is located on the T ...

, where it was premiered on 29 May 1901. The libretto was translated to

Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Polish people, people from Poland or of Polish descent * Polish chicken * Polish brothers (Mark Polish and Michael Polish, born 1970), American twin ...

by Paderewski and Stanisław Rossowski for a performance in Lwów (today

Lviv Lviv ( or ; ; ; see #Names and symbols, below for other names) is the largest city in western Ukraine, as well as the List of cities in Ukraine, fifth-largest city in Ukraine, with a population of It serves as the administrative centre of ...

) on 8 June 1901.

Performance history

After its premiere in

Dresden Dresden (; ; Upper Saxon German, Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; , ) is the capital city of the States of Germany, German state of Saxony and its second most populous city after Leipzig. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, 12th most p ...

(

Ernst von Schuch Ernst Edler von Schuch (born Ernst Gottfried Schuch; 23 November 1846 – 10 May 1914) was an Austrian conductor. He became famous through his working collaborations with Richard Strauss at the Dresden Court Opera. Biography Schuch was born ...

conducting), and its Polish version premiere in Lwów, it was performed in Polish at the

Teatr Wielki, Warsaw The Grand Theatre, Warsaw (), or the Great Theatre—National Opera (Polish: ''Teatr Wielki—Opera Narodowa''), is a theatre and opera complex situated on the historic Theatre Square in central Warsaw, Poland. The Warsaw Grand Theatre is home ...

on May 24, 1902. In that year the original German version was also performed in Prague, Zurich, Monte Carlo, Nice, Bonn and Kiev. The

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, p ...

premiere (sung in English) took place on the stage of the

Metropolitan Opera The Metropolitan Opera is an American opera company based in New York City, currently resident at the Metropolitan Opera House (Lincoln Center), Metropolitan Opera House at Lincoln Center, situated on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. Referred ...

House on February 14, 1902, with the debut of Alexander von Bandrowski in the title role,

Walter Damrosch Walter Johannes Damrosch (January 30, 1862December 22, 1950) was a Prussian-born American conductor and composer. He was the director of the New York Symphony Orchestra and conducted the world premiere performances of various works, including Aa ...

(a friend of the composer) conducting. The opera initially received an enthusiastic reception, with the premiere being marked as "one of high distinction." Nevertheless it received only 9 performances in the season 1901/1902 (of which 4 performances were staged in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

) and has never been revived there since. ''Manru'' remains to this day the only

Polish opera Polish opera may be broadly understood to include operas staged in Poland and works written for foreign stages by Polish composers, as well as opera in the Polish language. The tradition reaches back to Italian language entertainments of the baro ...

ever presented at the

Performance history

According to "Opera Guide" by Jozef Kanski, (PWM 1978) "Grand Opera Theatre in Warsaw revived the work in 1930 and gave a further run of performances in 1936. Poznán Opera launched a completely new production in 1938. Since 1945 there have been no productions outside Poland. The Polish performances included ones in Poznán and Warsaw in 1961 and another in Wrocław in 1990 to mark the composer’s 130th birthday. In 2001, this time to mark the 60th anniversary of Paderewski’s death, Wrocław Opera gave a concert performance. It is this version on which the present recording is based.". The French premiere was given at

Opéra national de Lorraine The Opéra national de Lorraine is a French opera company and opera house, located in the city of Nancy, France in the province of Lorraine, France. Formerly named the ''Opéra de Nancy et de Lorraine'', the company received the status of nati ...

on 9 May 2023.

Available recordings

*CD Lower Silesian Opera House, cond. Ewa Michnik, live performance Wroclaw (2001), DUX 0368/0369, World premiere recording of "Manru" *DVD Opera Nova Bydgoszcz DUX 9793/2011, 2013 *DVD Manru - Peter Berger, Ewa Tracz, Monika Ledzion-Porcynska, Anna Lubanska, Mikolaj Zalasinski, Dariusz Machej, Lukasz Golinski, Maciej Ufniak, Stanislaw Tomanek, Teatru Wielkiego-Opery Narodowej, Grzegorz Nowak 2021 Frederick Chopin Institute

References

Notes

Sources

* Marcynski, Jacek (2001). Liner notes to recording of ''Manru'', Dux Recordings DUX 0368/0369

External links

Manru
digitized by BYU on archive.org

* ttps://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1902/02/15/432222502.pdf Mr. Paderewski's Opera; The New York Times, 1902
Opera Today: Paderewski: Manru

French radio broadcast
* {{Authority control Insert – — ° ′ ″ ≈ ≠ ≤ ≥ ± − × ÷ ← → Operas German-language operas Operas by Ignacy Paderewski Operas set in Poland Operas based on novels 1901 operas