Halka by Stanislaw Moniuszko

[Maciek]

First off, a reminder: there was a topic on Stanisław Moniuszko on the old forum. It might have been a bit unfortunate that I posted it in the Composer discussion, since Moniuszko is mainly known as an opera/vocal composer, but it's there, FWIW.

And now, back on target:

To start the thread off I'd like to say a few words about the opera in general and this DVD in particular:



Halka was Moniuszko's first opera (at least the first one that survived to our times) - he only wrote operettas prior to that (and one opera that is lost). It is an absolutely stunning work, both musically and dramatically. The libretto itself is quite original, very mature (for grown ups, as Mike would say), and quite daring for the times. The author, Włodzimierz (Wlodzimierz) Wolski was something of a socialist (or "radical liberal", whatever - different books call him different names ) and he apparently wanted to portray the lot of the poor in a very naturalistic manner - and he managed to do that in an artistically successfull way!

The whole opera starts with a great engagement party - a scene a bit reminiscent of the opening of Auber's La muette de Portici. While Janusz (a young nobleman) is getting engaged to Zofia (a royal steward's daughter) the young peasant girl Halka, whom Janusz had seduced and impregnated (it is not clear to whether the child has already been born), stands outside unaware of what exactly is happening. The opera tells the story of Halka's slow descent into complete despair verging onto madness, and finally - her suicide during the wedding ceremony (there are many more elegant solutions like the engagement-wedding symmetry in the construction of the plot!). It is a heart-rending story of an innocent, naive girl used and abused, hopelessly clamoring for justice (to make circumstances more damning for Janusz, Halka is an orphan - but, strangely enough, this is not a morally black & white plot).

Needless to say, there's not much stage action in the libretto itself - this is basically a psychological opera. Which means it would be a gold mine for a talented stage director. For a talentless one - well, it's nothing less than a mine field!

Maria Fołtyn (Foltyn), a former opera singer who has prepared the first ever staging of this opera to be put on DVD, is probably the worst theatre director whose work I've ever seen (and we do have quite an abundance of them here, in Poland!). This is the lamest, most unimaginative, boring, hilarious, and absolutely hopeless opera production I've ever seen!

I think the general idea was to make an old-fashioned "reference" production (after all, this was the first DVD ever). Only that idea in itself is a little silly if you consider the fact that you'll almost inevitably have some fatsos sing the roles of the two protagonists: Halka and Jontek, two "gorals" ("highlanders"') who are supposed to hop around mountain tops in their free time. But then, there are many ways of making a traditional realistic staging. Now, one of them is to make it senseless, difficult to grasp, and as trashy as possible. That is of course the route Ms Foltyn took. She uses plastic candles with clearly visible light bulbs, for pity's sake!!! And, wait for it, Halka actually picks one of those up to try and put an old village chapel afire!!!

But then, there are places where Ms Foltyn decides to "bend" the rules a little. So, in this realistic staging, we have a sequence where Halka arrives on the scene singing, sitting at the foot of a tree that apparently floats onto the stage! I suppose the director thought she was adding a poetic touch but this looks positively inane. Ms Foltyn obviously doesn't have talent for getting the singers' acting ability out either... I could go on like this for ages, so let's just move on to the musical part (suffice it to say: I positively hate what they've done with the staging).

Now, internationally Moniuszko's operas are not generally known but in Poland he must be the most-played opera composer. Chopin-Moniuszko-Szymanowski is a sort of holy triumvirate, and I'd venture to say there isn't a single opera house in Poland that doesn't have at least one Moniuszko opera in their repertoire at any given time. So, on the one hand, everyone was waiting for this first, very late DVD release of an opera by Moniuszko (CD recordings aren't abundant either) but, OTOH, the music is very well known and it is not easy to impress.

Am I impressed? On the whole I could say I'm satisfied. The singing and orchestra playing did not fill me with awe, there's almost nothing astounding or exceptional but it is all very good nontheless (I recently watched that early Barbiere with Cecilia Bartoli, and there were some very strange things happening with the singing there - nothing of that sort here, fortunately). The orchestra playing is solid though not especially inspired (the sound quality could be a bit better though). The choir, as usually at the Warsaw National Opera, is outstanding. The dancing is a bit awkward and chaotic but that's what you get if you decide to try traditional folk dancing to stylized music. Tatiana Zacharczuk who sings Halka did not really impress me but she's quite good nontheless - it's just that she doesn't really make much of Halka's madness in her singing (and the bad acting doesn't help either). She is not Polish but I'm sure I wouldn't notice that in her singing if not for my schooling (I majored in Polish studies and had to learn to recognize different dialects that most people aren't even aware of). I would single out Piotr Nowacki as an exceptional Stolnik - but that is not a very large role. The one really excellent singer with a major role is Władimir Kuzmienko (again, not a Pole, and this time you can make no mistake about it - his pronunciation is very telling). His Jontek is definitely over the top, extremely expressive, and that doesn't work well in the later parts of the opera where his singing should be toned down a little to reflect the depressive mood he's fallen into. But his first aria (I ty mu wierzysz?) is absolutely stunning! Very unconventional, and very unlike the standard the wonderful Wiesław Ochman has set in this repertoire. Yet it is the most moving rendering I have ever heard, and perhaps the only part of the opera in this staging that actually works on an emotional level.

There's a new DVD of this opera out, this time released by DUX and filmed at the Wrocław Opera. I'm planning on buying that and will report here. Hopefully, it will be better. The cover looks very bad but could anything possibly be worse, at least as far as stage design and direction is concerned? Until I see that one I can't really return a verdict. It might turn out that the National Opera version is decent enough. But hopefully not because I really hated the childish, ugly staging.

Maciek

[Maciek]

And, of course, I'd appreciate any feedback (including objections ). On this DVD or anything else related. Does anyone know the opera? Any recordings? Favorite arias? Etc.

[uffeviking]

What a grandiose write-up, Maciek! I am delighted to read it because it is so thorough, descriptive making me almost 'see' the hash this director made of what probably could be a wonderful production. I share your hope for the DVD of the Wroclaw performance being much improved and then we can becoming better acquainted with this prominent composer, prominent so far in Poland only, I have not read or heard much about him. Let's hope for the best!

[T-C]

I have two recordings of Halka: a 1987 CPO recording of a live performance that is conducted by Robert Satanowski. The only well known singer is Weislav Ochman as Jontek. This is a beautiful opera. Maybe it is not a great masterpiece and part of the music is derivative (here and there it reminds me of Smetana's operatic language, but with less remarkable melodic invention), but there are many fine moments.

     

The other recording is the DUX DVD that I bought a few months ago. I enjoyed it a lot! It was recorded in September 2005 at the Wroclaw opera to mark the company 60th anniversary. This is a beautiful production visually, and musically excellent. The orchestra plays capably under the baton of Ewa Michnik. Good to see a woman conductor at work! From the singers I was especially impressed with baritone Mariusz Godlewski as the betraying Janusz and tenor Oleh Lykhach as Jontek. Tatiana Borodina sings the leading role. She is quite impressive although there is some strain in the higher notes. The dances are choreographed as folk dances with lot of energy and were greeted with much enthusiasm by the audience. Technical quality – sound and picture are excellent. Recommended!

A few pictures from this beautiful production can be seen here (The picture at the top of the page is changing...):

WROCLAW OPERA - HALKA

[Maciek]

I should have probably added two things.

One: that the best Halka ever (IMO) was Stefania Woytowicz. Her Gdybym rannym słonkiem aria is musically and emotionally fantastic! Though Teresa Żylis-Gara (Zylis-Gara) was also very good here. Maybe a tie then...

Two: that this was the Warsaw or 4-act version. There's also an earlier Vilnius version (2-act) that is supposed to be musically and dramatically vastly superior, and in some ways precursory to Wagner's "musical drama".

Thanks, T-C, for your remarks. I don't have that CPO version but Jontek was Wiesław Ochman's staple role. The singers in the recording I have are all top rate, and he is one of them: Stefania Woytowicz, Wiesław Ochman, Bernard Ładysz, Andrzej Hiolski, Anna Malewicz-Madey. Jerzy Semkow at the helm. This will hopefully get re-released soon, as the edition on Harmonia Mundi is now up to $225.00 on Amazon Marketplace. There's also a Mierzejewski LP recording on DG - a bit "legendary" (I've only seen pictures of the cover artwork) but I don't think that will get re-released soon... A recording of the Vilnius version from the Warsaw Chamber Opera is very high on my wishlist (the critics raved about it a couple of years ago). As for your comments about the opera not being a masterpiece and the music being derivative - I beg to differ (of course ). Smetana was Moniuszko's younger colleague and they may have influenced each other in later years but Halka was premiered in 1848 when Smetana was only 24 - his truly great achievements came about 20 years later (I don't mean this in a "contest" way, just that influences seem improbable in that direction at that point). As far as "melodies" are concerned, this opera has the least of them in all of Moniuszko's output but I'd still say they're abundant. As I mentioned in the Moniuszko thread on the old forum, I used to dislike most of his work, especially the two "great" operas, Halka and The Haunted Manor, so I can understand people who are not raving about it. But in my case this has changed completely.

There are some photos from "my" DVD here (with a different Stolnik and Jontek) but they give no idea of the confused, hapless stage movement etc. Still, you can see that the stage is dark and nothing much to look at (but you'd really need wide shots to see there's no artistic sense in the composition of the stage as a whole, and close-ups to see the tacky plastic ).

Maciek

[T-C]

I didn't mean that Smetana influenced Moniuszko. I just remarked that Moniuszko's music reminds me of Smetana's, but for my taste, the later has the better melodies...

When I said 'derivative' I meant that Moniuszko's operatic language is not original but based on the Italian opera of the period, but of course it has a local color. In that aspect it is quite similar to the influence Italian opera had on Glinka's operatic music.

I don't think Halka is a masterpiece in the level of, for example, Smetana's The Bartered Bride or Dvorak's Rusalka, but it is a beautiful opera. I have the EMI recording of The Haunted Manor, but my acquaintance with it definitely needs upgrading...

[Maciek]

Well, as I said, I'm currently overreacting. I'm sure it will wear out with time.

[Maciek]

Thanks to Hector for spotting on the Gramophone website and mentioning on General Opera News a review of the DUX DVD. The short review is by Guy Rickards. Quite encouraging - the heading is "A splendidly sung and visually stylish realisation of Moniuszko's tragic drama". Here's the final paragraph:

Tatiana Borodina catches the heroine's fluctuating mental states, from radiant joy to dark desperation, with equal force, her voice rich and powerful although showing some strain in the highest passages. Oleh Lykhach and Mariusz Godlewski are excellent as Jontek and Janusz, the latter especially catching the character's vacillation between cowardice and guilt. The company as a whole is excellent and the orchestra is strongly directed by Ewa Michnik. Recommended.

I'm still in overreacting mode though, so sentences like this one get me awfully irritated: "Even in its final form from 1858 (the original dates from 10 years earlier), Halka is uneven and derivative". What is that supposed to mean? And which composer wasn't? You could call Mozart derivative too - didn't he compose just like everyone else then, you know, "classical" style and all...? Boy, the guy just couldn't think of anything original, could he? Or Rossini. Or Verdi. Wow - those guys were SO derivative! Couldn't they invent something new for a change? Stuck in tonality as if it was some sort of bog...

Enough of my rant. Just needed to get it out, sorry. You may of course attack me at will...



Maciek

[T-C]

Another review :

Stanisław MONIUSZKO : HALKA

[Hector]

It is rare to find an opera that hasn't any weaknesses or "unevenness" as it is frequently termed. That tends to be the nature of the beast.

Actually, the description of the work as being "derivative" attracts me to it the more and I do not think it was meant as a derogatory remark.

What I have heard of the composer strikes me that he was very much of his time and I could confidently place him in the line of Donizetti, early Verdi, Auber, Halevy and Weber, perhaps, and Marchner, maybe.

Clearly, he was out to make an impact on his audience at first hearing as those I have already mentioned were.

The idea of a Moniuszko opera at the ENO is unlikely to be taken up. However, we had the equally unlikely 'La Vestale' a few years back, so not such a wild idea, perhaps!

[Maciek]

Thanks for the second review, T-C. That settles it then. This Halka is at the very top of my wish list now and will be the first purchase I make. Whenever I finally make a purchase.

You're probably right, Hector, I'm overreacting. But overreacting is so much fun . Especially on an internet forum .

I've been spending the last two days with an anthology of Moniuszko's songs (sheet music) and I'm truly enchanted. I always thought that his songs were mere trifles but now I'm discovering what a great composer he was - many of them, especially the longer ones, are wonderfully atmospheric. Dark, gloomy, menacing when appropriate, sunny and light when appropriate. This is especially striking when the mood changes is the middle of a song. Will have to search out a decent recording now - the impression I had until recently was apparently based on some bad singing. That's probably because Moniuszko is a sort of basic vocal repertoire in Poland, so every third rate mediocrity will sing him. The bright side is, of course, that every great singer does too.

[Maciek]

If you go to the Moniuszko Vocal Competition TV page and click on the third photo from the top - that will open a video window. Now, if you jump to 2:37 (I'm assuming you don't know Polish and don't want to listen to all the talk) you will be shown two very short clips of an archive TV production of Halka. Not much but enough to whet my appetite. I'd like to see that in its entirety!

(Warning: unfortunately, on my computer this only works with MS Internet Explorer )

[Maciek]

Oops! It seems the video clips are gone. They were there yesterday!

[Maciek]

And now they're back there again! Grab them while it lasts...

[Maciek]

January was the "traditional" month for Moniuszko premieres during the composer's lifetime, and both versions of Halka were premiered on January 1st, ten years apart. 2008 marks the 150th anniversary of the Warsaw premiere (the 4-act version) and the 160th of the Vilnius (the 2-act version). Not wildly (or widely) celebrated but still, the double anniversary would be a good cue to get a new recording. Unfortunately, no forthcoming new versions that I'm aware of. As usually. Every chance to give the composer even a slight boost is promptly missed.

[Maciek]

Been youtubing a bit today...

Halka's most famous aria performed by two Polish divas.

Teresa Kubiak

http://www.youtube.com/v/t64O9PfhIlI

(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t64O9PfhIlI)

Teresa Żylis-Gara

http://www.youtube.com/v/iVN2YnwwAaQ

(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iVN2YnwwAaQ)

I wish someone would upload the underappreciated Woytowicz...

[Maciek]

Wait a sec. That was nothing. This, you've got to see and hear!

Liliana Zielinska in the 1937 film version of Halka!!!

http://www.youtube.com/v/eivoub45-o4

(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eivoub45-o4)

[Maciek]

And from the same source, Jontek's most famous aria. Władysław Ladis-Kiepura, Jan Kiepura's brother (this one I like less):

http://www.youtube.com/v/m0AlkFhE-F4

(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m0AlkFhE-F4)