The Haunted Manor
| The Haunted Manor | |
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| Opera by Stanisław Moniuszko | |
A production at the Grand Theatre, Warsaw, on 22 September 1966
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| Native title | Straszny dwór |
| Librettist | Jan Chęciński |
| Language | Polish |
| Premiere | 28 September 1865 Teatr Wielki, Warsaw |
The Haunted Manor (Polish: Straszny dwór) is an opera in four acts composed by Polish composer Stanisław Moniuszko in 1861–1864. The libretto was written by Jan Chęciński. Despite being a romance and a comedy, it has strong Polish patriotic undertones, which made it both popular with the Polish public and unpopular – to the point of being banned – by the Russian authorities which controlled most of Poland during that era.
It is considered Moniuszko’s best opera, and also the greatest among all 19th-century Polish opera scores. However, it is mostly unknown outside Poland.
In the middle of the nineteenth century, Poland was partitioned by Russia, Prussia and Austria and Polish culture struggled against Russification and Germanization policies. Many contemporary Polish writers, artists and musicians readily reflected that struggle, and this opera did so both in the story and in the music.
The story represents both an idyllic view of life in a Polish country manor house, and at the same time an idealistic preoccupation with the patriotic duties of the soldier, the military virtues of courage, bravery, and readiness to take up arms against any enemy of the nation, and the importance of family honor. It presents in its opening scenes the obvious conflict between those patriotic aspirations on the one hand, and every man's desire for a quiet home life, love and marriage, on the other. The fact of the opera's nationalistic content is proven by the adverse reaction of the Russian censor to its appearance, and reflected in its lasting place in the hearts of many Polish people.
The opera is one of the most popular opera scores in Poland, praised for imaginative harmonies, excellent construction of group scenes, subtle but colourful instrumentation, a melodic inventiveness of great sophistication, the composer’s individual operatic drama style, integration of Polish songs and dances (Mazurkas, Polonaises, Varsoviennes, Polkas, Dumkas, and Krakowiaks), and finally, the captivating Polish atmosphere.
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