Renowned in his native Poland, and increasingly recognised internationally as an opera composer of significance, Stanisław Moniuszko (1819–1872) could always be relied on for superb music drama. Despite this reputation, his final opera Paria long remained his least frequently staged. Now, however, its touching story of love, exclusion and the power of social rules can be relished in this concert version that was awarded First Prize in the Rediscovered Work category at the 2021 International Opera Awards. Conducted by internationally acclaimed Jacek Kaspszyk, and with a star cast in an all-Polish production from the superb Poznań State Moniuszko Opera Orchestra and Chorus, this is an opportunity to savour a rarely recorded work.
Stanisław Moniuszko’s music is filled with patriotic character and songful lyricism, and of his numerous operas he is perhaps best remembered for Halka (8.660485-86) and The Haunted Manor (8.111391-92). With his reputation as ‘the father of Polish national opera’ firmly established, Paria was his final completed opera. The tragic narrative tells of the pariah Idamor, who becomes the heroic leader of an army and goes against Indian social norms in choosing Neala, the daughter of High Priest Akebar, as his bride. Although Paria was misunderstood by critics at its premiere, the moving themes of exclusion and the power of social rules now make it an opera for our times.
The Haunted Manor is generally considered to be Moniuszko’s masterpiece. In a plot thick with masculine challenges and feminine trickery, the story revolves around two brothers and the romantic complications which arise in a house cast under a spell of love.
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