King Roger

This article is about the Polish opera. For the King of Sicily, see Roger II of Sicily.

Karol Szymanowski
Operas Hagith (1922) King Roger (1926)

King Roger (Król Roger in Polish) is an opera by the Polish composer Karol Szymanowski set to a libretto by Jarosław Iwaszkiewicz. It was first performed on 19 June 1926 in Warsaw, Poland. Among the original cast was the composer's sister, the soprano Stanisława Korwin-Szymanowska, as Roxana.

The opera originated from Szymanowski's enthusiasm for Mediterranean culture as a melting pot of different peoples and religions. He spent much time travelling in that area in 1911 and again in 1914 and shared his love of the region with his librettist (and cousin) Iwaszkiewicz. Szymanowski's lost novel Efebos dealt with mystical themes similar to those that inspired this work.

While "combin(ing) elements of opera and oratorio....important choral part(s) suggest Stravinsky's Oedipus Rex or Schoenberg's Moses and Aron", some other influences of Scriabin, Richard Strauss and Ravel are apparent in the score. It is exquisitely colored by refined orchestration and evocative harmony, as well as seductive, often orientalist, melodies. While the music is considered to be of the highest quality, the opera itself is not often staged, primarily because its strengths are not so much dramatic as musical, but there have been several recordings that have made this work more accessible.

Performance history

King Roger is often considered a great discovery of today as well as an underestimated masterpiece. Jozef Kanski wrote:

"The complexity of music of these works (Szymanowski's Hagith and King Roger) makes the reception very difficult. Many viewers and performers will not be able to fully appreciate it(...) King Roger is an exceptional opera. Just the very ideas used in the libretto, conceived in the imagination of the composer and brought into light by the genious of Jaroslaw Iwaszkiewicz, are amazing. They set the action in medieval Sicily, where the atmosphere of ascetic self-denial of early christianity is combined with colourful and mysterious world of arabic and byzantine culture. It is marked by subtle erotic elements and it emphasises the pure joy of life (...)".^{[citation needed]}

King Roger received its first performance in the Americas at Buenos Aires's Teatro Colón in 1981 under Stanisław Wisłocki and its US premiere in California with Long Beach Opera in January 1988, conducted by Murray Sidlin, with a cast featuring James Johnson as King Roger, Nancy Shade as the queen, and Jonathan Mack as Edrisi. It was later performed at the Bard SummerScape Festival on July 25, 2008.

King Roger has been staged three times in Palermo. In 1949, it was given in presence of the librettist; it was re-staged in 1992 and in 2005, for the first time in Polish.

King Roger is often performed as a concert. Charles Dutoit led the french premiere of this work as a concert version in Paris in 1996. He also performed it in Montreal, New York, Tokyo and Warsaw. In 1998, Simon Rattle picked this work in Bermingham and at the Proms as well as in Salzburg.

Mariusz Trelinski's new interpretation of the forgotten opera brought King Roger onto international stages. The come-back started with the performance at the Polish National Opera in Warsaw in 2000 and at the Wroclaw Opera in 2007, both directed by Trelinski. 2007 was proclaimed "Szymanowski's Year" in Poland and from there international public interest for the opera gradually started to rise. In 2008 it was staged in New York by Bard SummerScape Festival in Annandale-on-Hudson. It was also staged during the Edinburgh International Festival in August 2008, with Valery Gergiev conducting the Mariinsky Theater Orchestra, starring both Polish and Russian soloists. The Opéra National de Paris produced the opera in June and July 2009. In November 2009 the opera was produced at the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona and at Staatstheater Mainz, Germany in 2011.

As part of its summer festival season, the opera will be presented by The Santa Fe Opera in 2012.

Roles

Role	Voice type	Premiere, June 19, 1926 (Conductor: Emil Młynarski)
Roger II, King of Sicily	baritone	Eugeniusz Mossakowski
Roxana, his wife	soprano	Stanisława Korwin-Szymanowska, the composer's sister
Edrisi, an Arab scholar	tenor
Shepherd	tenor	Adam Dobosz
Archbishop	bass
Deaconess	contralto
Priests, monks, nuns, acolytes, courtiers, guards, eunuchs, Shepherd's disciples

Synopsis

Place: Sicily

Time: 12th Century

The story concerns the enlightenment of the Christian King Roger II by a young shepherd who represents pagan ideals.

Act 1

Often known as the "Byzantine" Act

The Shepherd is introduced to King Roger and his court during mass at the Palermo cathedral. Despite calls for his punishment as a heretic by the Archbishop, Roxana, Roger's wife, convinces the King not to kill him. Roger orders the young man to appear at the palace that night, where he will explain himself and submit to the King's judgement.

Act 2

The "Oriental" Act, representing India and the Middle East

As instructed, the Shepherd appears at the palace gates. Roxana sings a seductive song which is clearly a response to the visitor, causing Roger to grow increasingly agitated. As the Shepherd is led in, he describes his faith in detail and soon almost the entire court joins him in an ecstatic dance. Roger attempts to chain him, but the Shepherd easily breaks free, and leaves the palace with almost all of those assembled following him. At first the King and his Arab advisor, Edrisi are left alone, but soon it is decided that Roger will join the Shepherd.

Act 3

The "Greco-Roman" Act

In an ancient Greek theater, King Roger and Edrisi rejoin Roxana, who informs her husband that only the Shepherd can free him of his fear and jealousy. A fire is lit, and the Shepherd's followers commence another dance, while the Shepherd is transformed into Dionysus. As the dance ends and the participants leave the stage, Roger is left transformed by the experience, and sings a joyous hymn at the arrival of the morning sun.

Recordings

• 1990:

Barbara Zagórzanka (Soprano), Wieslaw Ochman (Tenor), Andrzej Hiolski (Baritone), Henryk Grychnik (Tenor), Anna Malewicz-Madey (Alto), Leonard Mroz (Bass)

Conductor: Antoni Wit, Karol Stryja; Polish State Philharmonic Orchestra and Chorus and the Cracow Philharmonic Boys' Choir

Audio CD: Marco Polo, Cat: 223339; Naxos, Cat: 8660062-63

• 1998:

Thomas Hampson, Elzbieta Szmytka (Roxana), Ryszard Minkiewicz (Shepherd), Philip Langridge, Jadwiga Rappé, Robert Gierlach, Lisa Milne, Andrew Burden, Leif Ove Andsnes.

Conductor: Simon Rattle, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and Chorus, plus City of Birmingham Symphony Youth Chorus

Audio CD: EMI, Cat: 56823 and Cat: 14576

• 2003

Wojtek Drabowicz (Roger) (bar), Olga Pasiecznik (Roxana) (sop), Krzystof Szmyt (Edrisi) (ten), Piotr Beczala (Shepherd) (ten); Romuald Tesarowicz Archbishop) (bass), Stefania Toczyska (Deaconess) (mezzo)

Jacek Kaspszyk, Polish National Opera Orchestra and Chorus and All Polacca Youth Choir (Live recording of a broadcast at the Teatr Wielki, Warsaw, Jan)

Audio CD: Accord, Cat: ACD 131-2

• 2009:

Scott Hendricks (King Roger), Olga Pasichnyk (Roxana), John Graham-Hall (Edrisi), Willy Hartmann (Shepherd), Olga Pasichnyk, Juatyna Dyla, Liubov Sokolova, Mariusz Stefanski.

Conductor: Mark Elder, Vienna Symphony Orchestra and the Polish Radio Choir, Kraków, plus the Children's Chorus of Musikhauptschule Bregenz.

DVD: C-Major, Cat: 702808

• 2009:

Andrzej Dobber (Roger), Aleksandra Buczek (Roxsana), Rafal Majzner (Edrisi), Pavlo Tolstoy (Shepherd), Radoslaw Zukowski (Archiereios), Barbara Baginska (Diakonissa)

Ewa Michnik (conductor): Wroclaw Opera Orchestra and Choir and Angelus Chamber Choir.

DVD: (PAL only).

References

Notes

Sources

• Earl of Harewood (Ed.), "King Roger", Kobbé's Complete Opera Book. Putnam: London and New York, 1954, pp. 1594-98
• Holden, Amanda (Ed.), "Karol Szymanowski", The New Penguin Opera Guide, New York: Penguin Putnam, 2001. ISBN 0-140-29312-4
• Loomis, George, "An innovative, multinational staging of Szymanowski's King Roger", New York Times, 24 July 2008]
• Myers, Eric, King Roger, Time Out, New York, 22-30 July 2008. Review of the Bard College production

External links

• Libretto (in Polish)
• Libretto (English translation)
• Libretto in Polish with word-by-word translation into English by K.K.Biernacki