FULL ŚLUB or THE WEDDING (Zygmunt Krauze) Poznań 2024 Michal Partyka, Peter Kalina, Gosha Kowalinska, Lukasz Konieczny
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Information on the Performance
- Work Title: ŚLUB or THE WEDDING
- Composer: Zygmunt Krauze
- Libretto: based on the drama by Witold Gombrowicz Libretto Text, Libretto Index
- Venue & Opera Company: Teatr Wielki, Poznań, Poland
- Recorded: November 23, 2024
- Type: Staged Opera Live
- Singers: Michal Partyka, Peter Kalina, Gosha Kowalinska, Lukasz Konieczny, Monika Mych-Nowicka, Jan Jakub Monowid, Michal Korzeniowski, Albert Rugiel
- Conductor: Katarzyna Tomala-Jedynak
- Orchestra: Orchestra of the Grand Theatre in Poznań
- Chorus: Choir of the Grand Theatre in Poznań
- Chorus Master: Mariusz Otto
Information about the Recording
- Published by: Teatr Wielki im. Stanisława Moniuszki w Poznaniu
- Date Published: 2024
- Format: Streaming
- Quality Video: 4 Audio:4
- Subtitles: yessubs, ensubs, othersubs
- Video Recording from: TVP FULL VIDEO
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ON THIS PERFORMANCE
Opera in three acts
based on the drama by Witold Gombrowicz
Gombrowicz in his purest form: irony, grotesque and absurdity. A slow deformation that we may not notice right away. A contradiction that we try to explain without success.
“The Wedding” is an operatic production of one of Witold Gombrowicz’s most important dramas, prepared on commission from the Grand Theatre in Poznań. The musical layer of the work was created by Zygmunt Krauze, one of the leading Polish composers of the turn of the century. But – oh, irony! – he is the one among the three main producers who is collaborating with the Poznań stage for the first time. Krzysztof Cicheński, who has been persistently exploring theatrical spaces lying at the junction of drama and opera for years, is responsible for the libretto and direction. The musical direction of the premiere presentation is provided by Katarzyna Tomala-Jedynak, who has many contemporary productions in her repertoire. Will we have to abandon all ideas, shake off the dream and state that the reality surrounding us is not a nightmare after Henryk, the main character of the play?
The world that the characters of “The Wedding” enter is destroyed by war and cannot be rebuilt according to the old rules. This context of Gombrowicz’s drama is gaining significance today, when subsequent armed conflicts are taking place in Europe and around the world, and the specter of another great war is widely discussed in politics and the media. The emptiness that Henryk constantly feels is not a universal, existential state of consciousness – it is the experience of a man from the 20th and 21st centuries, participating in war, being a witness, perpetrator or victim of bestial acts against people and humanity. The question of how to recreate the world from this emptiness, from the ashes, how to establish a new order, is asked today by those who look closely at the destroyed cities, clear the remains of buildings, find more mass graves of tortured adults and children. Henryk does this blindly, for selfish reasons, for his own satisfaction, but also out of revenge for the years lost in the war – he creates a world based on the old one, in which he functioned, felt safe, made plans and had dreams. In this way, he brings to his “kingdom” the same disasters that humanity struggles with.
In Krzysztof Cicheński’s staging, megalomania, possession of power and the desire for control are focused as if in a lens, thanks to which the audience realizes that the shortsightedness of the main character is characteristic not only of governments, dictatorships and generations of the second half of the 20th century, but also of populist or fascist movements, which are a flaw of modernity. In the main parts we will hear Jan Jakub Monowid and Michał Partyka. The work will be presented in the year of the 120th anniversary of the birth and 55th anniversary of the death of the author of “Ferdydurke”.
“The Wedding” fits perfectly into the slogan GENERATIONS, accompanying the 24/25 season: the realization of the premiere brings together artists of different generations, integrates their sensitivity and binds them in an elusive series of mutual interactions.