In 1840, he married Aleksandra Mueller, with whom he had ten children,[15] and settled down inVilnius, taking up the position of organist at theChurch of St. John's.[16] Moniuszko also offered private music lessons, which turned out to be an important source of income for his family. His first operettasLoteria (Lottery) andŻółta szlafmyca (Yellow Nightcap) were not very successful. However, in 1847, the premiere staging ofHalka (the two-act version), considered one of his most notable operas, was more successful. It took place inVilnius and was conducted by the composer himself.[17] Moniuszko travelled toSankt Petersburg in order to introduce its audiences to his music. They were received with acclaim and had favourable reviews. During his stay there, Moniuszko became acquainted with some of the leading composers and musicians of Russia, includingMikhail Glinka,Alexander Dargomyzhsky,Cesar Cui, andAlexander Serov.[16]
In 1854, he established St Cecilia's Society with the assistance of Achilles Bonoldi, its amateur members giving two public concerts twice a year.[16] Owing to the composer's good relations with Warsaw'sbourgeoisie and aristocracy, such as Józef Sikorski, editor-in-chief of the music magazineRuch Muzyczny, Moniuszko's career started to gain momentum.[15] In 1858, he moved with his family to Warsaw where he was appointed conductor at theWarsaw Opera. During the Warsaw period, he composed his most famous musical works – the operasThe Countess,Verbum nobile,The Haunted Manor andParia.[17]
Between 1862–1864, Moniuszko worked onThe Haunted Manor, arguably his greatest opera. The premiere performance of the opera was delayed by the outbreak of theJanuary Uprising of 1863 and ultimately took place on 28 September 1865 at theGrand Theatre in Warsaw.[15] In 1868, Moniuszko travelled toPrague where he metBedřich Smetana in order to discuss the staging ofHalka. The same year, the opera was performed at theNational Theatre in Prague and was directed by Smetana himself. In 1869, his operaParia premiered in Warsaw whileHalka was staged for the first time inMoscow. He also served as a professor at theWarsaw Conservatory.[3]
In 1871, he publishedPamiętnik do nauki harmonii (A Textbook for Studying Harmony). On 2 February 1878, theGrand Theatre in Warsaw staged his lastoperettaBeata.[18] He died of aheart attack in Warsaw in 1872 and was buried at thePowązki Cemetery.[19] His funeral was attended by up to 100,000 people and turned into a national and patriotic manifestation.[20]
Similarly to other prominent composers of the time, likeBedřich Smetana orAntonín Dvořák, Moniuszko wrote music based on his country's culture, reflecting the widespread rise of nationalism in 19th-century Europe, which aimed at asserting the national identities of various European nations.[23] The composer himself noted that his songs, which were published under the collective titleŚpiewnik Domowy (Home Songbook), had a national character. Their 'Polishness' is found in his use of and reference to traditional Polish dance rhythms likePolonaise,Mazurka,Kujawiak, andKrakowiak and the propagation of texts written by Polish national poets.[8] The songbook contained sets of songs intended "for everyday use", which turned Moniuszko into a figure loved and admired by masses of his compatriots.[24] The songs were often performed by the 19th-century Polish choirs in Austria, Germany, and Russia,[22] and became a point of reference for other Polish composers.[2] The songs remain popular to this day and include such titles asPrząśniczka,Krakowiak,Znasz-li ten kraj orŚwitezianka.[24]
According to director Ilaira Lanzino, the composer had always been interested in people excluded from society, a point of view which back in Moniuszko's times was often interpreted as Poland's oppression by foreign powers. However, she further observes that he was rather interested in the internal exclusion of people within society and never actually sought to become "the national composer".[25]
Moniuszko's opera style bears similarities to that ofDaniel Auber andGioachino Rossini, but with stronger emphasis on chorus and melodies inspired by Polish dances.[2]Lithuanians stress, that Stanisław Moniuszko was eagerly using Lithuanian motifs – e.g. his cantatas "Milda", "Nijolė", based onLithuanian mythology, were issued in Vilnius.[26]
Halka is an opera to a libretto written byWłodzimierz Wolski, a young Warsaw poet with radical social views.[27] After being staged in Warsaw in 1858, it became the most widely known Polish opera[14] and is part of the canon of Polish national operas.
An English version ofStraszny dwór (The Haunted Manor, orThe Haunted Castle[28]) was created and premiered by the student operatic society atBristol University in 1970; this version has been performed since, specifically in 2001 byOpera South, which company also presented the world premiere of a specially created new English version ofVerbum Nobile in 2002.
Bronze bust of Stanisław Moniuszko byGennadij Jerszow, at the Music Academy in Gdansk.
On 26 October 1908, a commemorative plaque devoted to Moniuszko was unveiled at the building on 3 Mazowiecka Street in Warsaw where the composer died.[30]
In 1936, a statue of Moniuszko designed by Jan Szczepkowski was unveiled at the Theatre Square (Polish:Plac Teatralny) in front of theGrand Theatre in Warsaw, Poland. In 1944, duringWorld War II, the original monument was destroyed byNazi Germans. It was subsequently reconstructed in 1965, a year after the sculptor's death. Apart from Warsaw, the statues of Moniuszko can also be found in such Polish cities asKatowice,Toruń,Częstochowa,Racibórz,Żory andŁódź.[11][31]
In 1949, theGrand Theatre inPoznań was officially given the name of the composer.
Since 1951, the Warsaw Music Society, established in 1871 on the initiative of Władysław Wiślicki, has borne the name of Stanisław Moniuszko. The society owns most of the Moniuszko memorabilia which has been preserved to present times.[32]
In 1980s, a museum dedicated to the life and musical legacy of Moniuszko was established in his birthplace of Ubiel, present-day Belarus.[15]
In 2004, a street named in honour of the composer was opened inMinsk, Belarus.
In 2016, a statue of Moniuszko (alongside the statue ofVintsent Dunin-Martsinkyevich) was ceremonially unveiled nearby the Minsk City Hall. The statue was designed by Leu and Siarhei Humileusky.[35][36]
^Аляксей Хадыка [Alexey Khadyka] (May 22, 2009)."Станіслаў Манюшка — паляк, літвін..." [Stanislaw Moniuszko – Pole and Lithuanian] (in Belarusian). Archived fromthe original on July 27, 2011. RetrievedJanuary 20, 2013. NovyChas.org, Culture. Retrieved from the Internet Archive, February 18, 2013.
^abMurphy, Michael (2001). "Moniuszko and Musical Nationalism in Poland". In White, Harry; Murphy, Michael (eds.).Musical Constructions of Nationalism: Essays on the History and Ideology of European Musical Culture 1800-1945.Cork University Press. pp. 166–167.ISBN9781859181539.
^Prosnak, Jan (1980).Moniuszko. Polskie Wydawnictwo Muzyczne. p. 7.ISBN8322400012.
^Chrenkoff, Magdalena (2017). "Stanisław Moniuszko's Oeuvre as a Builder of National Identity During Partition Times". In Povilionienė, Rima (ed.).Sounds, Societies, Significations: Numanistic Approaches to Music.Springer. p. 61.ISBN978-3319836522.
^Lipiński, Stanisław (1908). "Odsłonięcie tablicy pamiątkowej Moniuszki w Warszawie" [The Unveiling of Moniuszko's Commemorative Plaque in Warsaw].Nowości Ilustrowane (in Polish). Warsaw. p. 17.
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