Karol Kurpinski

Overture to the opera

In the rich and diverse output of Karol Kurpiński, the most popular works were operas. The composer aimed at highlighting the national features of Polish music of the first half of the 19th century in his pieces. In the field of composition he was self-taught, but he created his own musical style, which could be called a combination of Rossini's music with national accents in the form of Polish rhythms and folk melodies. For thirty years, Kurpiński held the function of the conductor in the National Theatre and in 1824-1840 he was a director of the Opera in Warsaw. Thanks to him, this institution became a place that raised the audience not only in terms of music, but also in the spirit of patriotism, against the policy of Russia. The premiere of the opera Nagroda, czyli Wskrzeszenie Królestwa Polskiego (Reward, or the Resurrection of the Kingdom of Poland) in two acts to the text of Ludwik Adam Dmuszewski, a Varsovian playwright, actor, singer, director and head of the National Theatre in Warsaw, took place in this theatre on 24 December 1815 during the Varsovian coronation of the tsar of Russia Alexander I for the king of Poland.
The only fragments of the opera that have survived are the libretto and the overture, arranged and published by the composer in 1820 in the version for the piano. Kurpiński included this arrangement in the musical supplement to the journal he founded and edited, Tygodnik Muzyczny, released in Warsaw in 1820-1821.The overture itself is a display of national dances in the short form, so typical of this genre. The mysterious introduction, lasting for only several bars, takes the listener to the ballroom in which the polonaise is danced. To continue the noble character of the national dance, Kurpiński includes other rhythms and melodies in the further parts of the piece, namely, Krakowiak and Mazur. The composition is enriched by many changes of the key, which lead to the cheerful culmination in tempo presto, in which there is a number of passages and tremolos, adding to the virtuosity and fancy. Anna Miernik translated by Jolanta Bujas Poniatowska.

Softcover.