On this page we present two articles on Karol Szymanowski's King Roger Op. 46 - by Anna Iwanicka-Nijakowska (2007) and by Piotr Deptuch (2002).

Anna Iwanicka-Nijakowska:

" [...] the other day I returned from Prague (of Bohemia) where on 21st (Friday) I was at the premiere and on Sunday at the second night of 'King Roger'. [...] I had never opened the score in those four or five years and I had simply forgotten this music! I therefore listened to it as to something totally new and strange. [...] You know I am not pretentious and am rather critical of my music - but this has really shocked me (especially act II). [...] It cannot be compared with anything else in my music - regrettably not even with 'Harnasie' nor with the two new concertos - that is with nothing I wrote after 'King Roger'. This is very sad!! The very sound of the orchestra and the choirs is sometimes totally amazing and simply shocking in tension. I cannot shake off the idea - and sadness - that it is the past and that I am probably unable to write anything like that any more".¹

It was not only Karol Szymanowski who considered the opera King Roger an outstanding work; indeed, it is still regarded as one of the key modern operas of the early 20th century. Its poetic symbolism, special expressiveness and unusual sound colours make it an extraordinary and original composition that crowned the middle period in Szymanowski's music - a time when he was especially interested in antiquity and the Orient, and in particular in the Mediterranean culture, the fascination he developed during his trip to Sicily.

Szymanowski worked on "The Shepherd" (as the work was going to be called) for six years, from 1918 to 1924. The concept was born during Jarosław Iwaszkiewicz's visit to Elisavetgrad, and it was to him that the composer entrusted the writing of the libretto after his own idea. Szymanowski had the libretto changed and amended many times before he made the first draft of the music in early 1920. In the course of that year Szymanowski outlined the piano part of acts I and II, and drafted act III the following year. It was not until 1924 that the score was completed, and the new title, King Roger, emerged in the meantime.

The story combines two themes: an Oriental and a Byzantine, and is set in Sicily ca. 1150. In the first, "Byzantine" act, king Roger with his wife Roxana and advisor Edrisi learn during a mass in the Palermo cathedral of the risk posed to the Church by the founder of a new religion, the young and beautiful Shepherd. The king has the young man brought to the church and charged with offence against God. The crowd demands that the Shepherd be tried and sentenced to death. However, the King, Roxana and Edrisi are much impressed by his meekness and humility. The King sets the Shepherd free and orders him to subject himself to his judgment.

Act II, the so-called Oriental, takes place at the inner courtyard of the royal palace. While waiting for the Shepherd, the King confides in Edrisi his concern for Roxana's feelings. Roxana pleads for the Shepherd. He puts a spell on her and the courtiers, and they join in an ecstatic love dance. The King, however, is unmoved and orders the Shepherd imprisoned. The Shepherd easily breaks the heavy chains and calls for an expedition to the land of eternal freedom. Everybody, including Roxana, follows him. Only Roger and Edrisi remain in the palace. The King abdicates and, as a pilgrim, sets out to look for his wife and the Shepherd.

Act III, so-called "Hellenistic", moves the plot to the ruins of an antique theatre in Syracuse where Roger and Edrisi arrive after a long journey. The King calls for Roxana. She first answers for afar and then appears before him and extols the Shepherd's cult. They start a sacrificial fire together. Soon the Shepherd in his true form - as Dionysus - enters the amphitheatre. Enraptured, Roger sings a hymn to sunrise.

Formally, King Roger combines the features of an opera, a musical drama and a mystery (oratory). It lacks a distinct dramatic plot, its three acts being static and differing only in the scenery and mood, and its outward, limited dramaturgy providing a platform to present the emotions, attitudes and conflicts of the protagonists. In fact, it is a drama about faith, and it shows three approaches to religion: institutional; a spontaneous movement of the worshippers; and individual contact of man and God.

The poetic symbolism is very important, the libretto being based on the idea of kinship between Christ and Dionysus. Upon initiation Roger, in mystic ecstasy, understands the divine unity of the Shepherd-Dionysus. This is also a reflection of Plato's concept of man's original androgenicity and of a search for harmony and unity.

The plot is conveyed by music which creates a sense of the unreal and enhances it through long and slow vocal parts, soft and emotional melodics, and a variety of subtle orchestral sounds. Tadeusz A. Zieliński has seen in it

"Slavic expressionism - one combining strange, mystical, often hot emotions with sensual sensitivity and softness of refined colours".²

The three acts, occurring in three different places, have three different kinds of music. The beginning of the opera has a Byzantine colour, the a cappella choruses evocative of the Orthodox choral singing, and the Shepherd's archaic-modal chant My God is as beautiful as myself constitutes the central part of Act I. The orchestral introduction of Act II moves us to the Orient, its vivid, mysterious and tense music based on the characteristic whole-tone, semi-tone and Arabic-Persian scales and on the succession of minor thirds and semitones. These are particularly audible in the famous Roxana's song 'Sleep, King Roger's bloody dreams', whose vocalize has numerous Oriental ornaments and melismas. Indeed, Roxana's song combines all of the important characteristics of Szymanowski's work: the seeming calm and internal tension, archaic sound and magic colours, mystery and the Oriental charm. The dramatic culmination, extremely expressive and modern-sounding, takes place in the scene of an Oriental, Bacchic dance ending with the captivity and miraculous freeing of the Shepherd.

The opera's last act brings music which is focused, intimate and poetic, and which abounds in subtle internal tensions on the one hand and in chromatisms and sharp, dissonant sounds on the other. Particularly moving is Roger's monologue in the ruins of the theatre - the expression of his dilemma, anxiety and uncertainty, the emotions which reach a climax when the Shepherd accompanied by Roxana and a crowd of the faithful appear at the altar. The diffusion and appeasement do not happen until the sunrise with its subtle and cheerful sounds crowned with the final C major chord.

King Roger was first produced by Adolf Popławski in the Grand Theatre in Warsaw and was first shown on stage on 19th June 1926 with Emil Młynarski conducting. The sets were designed by Wincenty Drabik and the cast included Eugeniusz Mossakowski as Roger, Stanisława Korwin-Szymanowska as Roxana, Maurycy Janowski as Edrisi and Adam Dobosz as the Shepherd. Selected orchestral parts had been already been presented at the Warsaw Philharmonic in April 1924. Since the Warsaw premiere King Roger has been produced in the opera houses worldwide, starting from Duisburg, Germany in 1928, Prague, Bohemia, in 1932, and Teatro Massimo in Palermo, Italy, in 1949. A stage version was presented during the 1961 Warsaw Autumn International Festival of Contemporary Music.

Universal Edition published King Roger's piano extract and the Polish-language libretto in 1926. The same year saw a separate publication of Roxana's song from Act II Sleep, King Roger's bloody dreams for voice and orchestra and in Paweł Kochański's instrumentation for violin and piano. In 1954 Polskie Wydawnictwo Muzyczne published Irena Garztecka's edition of Roxana's song for voice and piano, based on Szymanowski's recommendations noted down on Stanisława Korwin-Szymanowska's copy of the piano extract. In 1962 the same publishing house published the Shepherd's song from Act I, My God is as beautiful as myself, again edited by Garztecka for voice and piano. King Roger's Polish language libretto with a German translation was published in 1928, followed by an Italian language version in 1949.

It was not until 1965 that the first complete recording of King Roger was released by Polskie Nagrania. The set of LPs featured Andrzej Hiolski, Hanna Rumowska, Zdzisław Nikodem, Kazimierz Pustelak, Marek Dąbrowski and Anna Malewicz-Madey as well as the Choir and Orchestra of the Warsaw Grand Theatre and the ZHP Children's Choir under Mieczysław Mierzejewski. That recording was relaunched on CDs by Olympia in 1989. In 1991 Koch-Schwann / Musica Mundi released a recording of a production starring Barbara Zagórzanka, Stanisław Kowalski, Florian Skulski, Zdzisław Nikodem, Jerzy Ostapiuk and Ryszard Racewicz with the Choir and Orchestra of the Warsaw Grand Theatre under Robert Satanowski. 1994 saw Marco Polo's release of a King Roger recording by Andrzej Hiolski, Wiesław Ochman, Barbara Zagórzanka, Henryk Grychnik, Leonard Andrzej Mróz and Anna Malewicz-Madey with the Cracow Philharmonic Boys' Choir and the Silesian Philharmonic Choir and Orchestra under Karol Stryja. In 1998 Sir Simon Rattle recorded Szymanowski's opera for EMI with Elżbieta Szmytka, Philip Langridge, Thomas Hampson, Robert Gierlach, Jadwiga Rappé and Ryszard Minkiewicz and the Birmingham Choir and Symphony Orchestra. The latest release of King Roger is the 2004 one by CD Accord with Wojciech Drabowicz (now deceased) in the title role, Olga Pasiecznik as Roxana, Krzysztof Szmyt as Edrisi, Piotr Beczała as the Shepherd, Romuald Tesarowicz as the Archbishop and Stefania Toczyska as the Deaconess, with "Alla Polacca" Choir and the Choir and Orchestra of the Grand Theatre - National Opera in Warsaw under Jacek Kaspszyk. Made in 2003, this is a recording of one of the most interesting productions of Szymanowski's opera, done by Mariusz Treliński at the Warsaw Grand Theatre, with stage design by Boris Kudlička and costumes by Magdalena Tesławska and Paweł Grabarczyk.

There have been many separate recordings of Roxana's Song, both of the voice-and-orchestra version (of particular note are the ones by Ewa Bandrowska-Turska and Stefania Woytowicz, both for Polskie Nagrania, by Zdzisława Donat for Veriton and Barbara Zagórzanka for Marco Polo) and of the violin-and-piano transcription (by Eugenia Umińska and Jerzy Lefeld for Columbia, Ida Haendel and Adela Kotowska for Decca, Wanda Wiłkomirska and Tadeusz Chmielewski for Polskie Nagrania, Kaja Danczowska and Krystian Zimerman for Deutsche Grammophon) as well as of its symphonic orchestration by Grzegorz Fitelberg (Polskie Nagrania and American Harmonia, awaiting release).


Author: Anna Iwanicka-Nijakowska, September 2007.

Piotr Deptuch:

King Roger Op. 46 is Szymanowski's second opera. One of the composer's greatest and most widely discussed works, it is perhaps his opus magnum.

As Zofia Helman writes in the introduction to vol. 23 of the collection of Szymanowski's works published by PWM:

" 'King Roger' does not represent the pure opera genre, it is more on the borderline of opera and musical drama, and contains oratorio elements as well, and even some features of a mystery play".

The key to understanding the symbolism of this work is the Shepherd - an operatic reincarnation of Dionysus, who was the central figure of Szymanowski's intellectual and moral world. The driving force of the work is the complicated and ambiguous relations that begin developing between the Shepherd and the title character - King Roger, who is modelled on a historical figure. The choice of place is also extremely important. The piece (one cannot really speak of a plot in the traditional sense here) is set in Sicily - an extraordinary island at the crossroads of East and West, Asia, Africa and Europe. This has made it possible to create a multicultural, or rather supracultural space for the protagonists to move in. The opera is made up of 3 acts: one Byzantine, one Arab-Indian, and one ancient. This also opens up a space outside time, which creates a certain analogy with the concept of time that Wagner proposed in Parsifal.

The main conflict develops in the clash of two elements: the Dionysian - expressed in sensual debauchery and orgiastic wildness, and the Apolline with its cult of pure beauty and symbolism of light. Even interpreting these opposite tendencies caused a conflict between the composer and the author of the libretto's initial concept - Jarosław Iwaszkiewicz. For the latter, the experience of things Dionysian was a tragic one, releasing the dark forces of nature and carrying an element of infernal beauty - very ambiguous in its immorality. Szymanowski - the gentle aesthete - "de-demonized" his Dionysus a little, crossing him not only with the gentle Apollo and the sensual Eros, but also - much more controversially - with Christ. This synthesis, undoubtedly blasphemous from the Christian point of view, returned later in the work of some 20th-century artists - its dark and obsessive variation can be found in the work of Pier Paolo Passolini, for example.

The literary model for King Roger was Euripides' play The Bacchantes (which later was also the basis for Hans Werner Henze's opera), the prose of Walter Pater, and Basilissa Teofanu - a play by Miciński. The works of Nietzsche, who was so dear to Szymanowski, were of fundamental importance too, as were the interpretations of antiquity offered by Professor Tadeusz Zieliński, a historian and the composer's contemporary. It is also impossible not to notice the influence of Wilde's personality.

The opera's aesthetic concept had been outlined earlier, in Szymanowski's unfinished novel Efebos (1918-1919). The process of composing the music was unusually long. Six whole years passed between the first mentions of the work in 1918 and the writing of the final note. Practically the whole of Szymanowski's world fell apart during this time - both his physical world, as the house in Tymoszówka burned down, and his intellectual world. The modernist trends that had such a strong impact on King Roger seemed to be a faded value of the past by the 1920's. Both Szymanowski and Iwaszkiewicz felt they were working on an aesthetically belated piece. Actually, the composer made some fundamental changes to the basic principles of his music at the time - his new works were the children of historic transformations. Patriotic sentiments were awakening. Poland had returned to the map of Europe, and the composer began seeking a national identity for his music. He composed Słopiewnie / Wordsong, Rymy Dziecięce / Children's Rhymes, and highland culture began exuding its barbarian charm. In these new times King Roger, so cosmopolitan and entangled in an Art Nouveau decadence, seemed to belong to a past that was irrevocably lost.

Despite everything though, the work was completed. The final act is slightly different from the other two - its orchestral texture is lucid, the harmony makes greater use of modalism, and the previously impressionistic tone of the orchestration undergoes a degree of monochromatization. This is not a problem, though. Because each act unfolds in a different cultural space, the transforming music can only emphasize the title character's special journey in search of the truth about himself.

It has been said of King Roger that it is a philosophical opera. It is also perceived as a moral treatise, akin to Tippet's oratorio Child of our time. It is also, however, a work saturated with a sophisticated psychologism. The British director Andrew Porter, who staged the opera at the English National Opera in London, reduced the work's three-act structure to three meetings with Dionysus, to an almost archetypal concept of three tests - three initiations. In act one, Roger invites the god to a judgement, in act two he is judged himself in the course of a long confrontation, and in the final act, as a searching pilgrim he squares accounts with him in his own conscience.

Christopher Palmer has also pointed out an extremely interesting aspect of the middle act. In a very interesting way, Szymanowski refers in it to the concept of act two of Wagner's Tristan - a work that was extremely close to his heart all his life. It happens during Roger's second meeting with the Shepherd. There is a similar mood of almost feverish anticipation here, an unusual tension in the orchestra, a rapid pulse of the rhythm. The meeting of the protagonists is accompanied by a very Tristanesque "Hornerschall in der Ferne" effect. Just like between the Mediaeval lovers, a space of intensive psychological influence is created between the characters. The royal spouse Roxana is above it all (literally, as she sings from afar, and symbolically) - present and absent at the same time, almost the same as Brangane. Roger-Tristan also has a confidant - Edrisi, who is very close in concept to Kurwenal. The entire similarity is supplemented by the symbolism of the night, which both composers apply very subtly. The idea for the start of the opera is also Wagnerian. The excellent idea to open the work with the massive sound of austere Orthodox liturgical chants was taken from Miciński's Basilissa Teofanu. This drama by the poet whom Szymanowski liked so much opens with a chorus: we hear the "Hymn of the Monachs", immediately followed by the "singing of boys and male psalts". The musical arrangement of this fragment reveals the composer's great aptitude for archaization. The organum and faux bourdon techniques applied here will soon return in Stabat Mater. The sound production on the other hand owes a lot to Parsifal. The way in which the male chorus is combined with the boys' voices is similar. The space of musical sacrum is evoked in a similar way.

There remains the very interesting and fundamental problem of act three. In it, Iwaszkiewicz wanted

"Roger not only to find Dionysus in the ruins of the old theatre, but to follow him and then - to throw himself into the abyss of a Dionysian mysterious cult, leaving Edrisi and Roxana on the stage. This went against history, but was more logical dramatically. Roger not only recognized Dionysus in the Shepherd, but followed him into the darkness, abandoning everything for him".

As work on the composition continued, Szymanowski changed the ending. It is Roxana dressed as a bacchante who ultimately follows Dionysus, and is lost in the depths of darkness. Roger stays behind with Edrisi, worshipping the rising sun. This symbolic gesture has been interpreted in many different ways. Edward Boniecki speaks of

"a marriage with Nature in a gesture that symbolizes the heart being torn out and sacrificed to the Sun. With this gesture Roger destroys the wall of loneliness and becomes one with the cosmos, uniting with the Shepherd-God - Dionysus".

Others see the ending as an attempt to come away from Dionysus. Andrew Porter speaks directly of the glorification of Apollo in the rising sun. He adds:

"verbally the drama is mysterious, as if unfinished, but the composer conveys its clear sense through the music: though abandoned, Roger is cleansed and strengthened".

The problem is, the music is also ambiguous. Roger's final monologue seems to end in a complete apotheosis. The king's ecstatic song heads for the C Major key - the age-old musical symbol of clarity. Jim Samson, who studied Szymanowski's music in depth, points to the rather "unconvincing" sound of the final triad, which gives the impression of a premature conclusion. Skriabin's Prometheus, a work that is aesthetically akin to Roger, ends in a similarly strange way.

Szymanowski juxtaposes the finale's Apolline solarization with his own characteristic sound symbols of Dionysus - the sound of the tam-tam and the tambourine. The C Major key is also the goal and fulfilment of the slightly earlier Symphony No. 3, where it symbolizes a pantheistic unity with nature and the height of erotic-mystical transcendence. The finale of Roger is thus a strange, not quite intelligible synthesis of all these elements - a synthesis accomplished in the rays of the sun whose symbolism keeps being "obscured". The victory over Dionysus is only seeming. Meanwhile, in Micinski's play the words of Basilissa, who was completely unified with the dark deity, were unequivocal: "My sons, love me and the Sun, and if you find that difficult to do one day - then only the Sun".The final sentence is Choreina's, and leaves not even a shadow of a doubt: "You - The Great All - Dionysus - will be resurrected".

Libretto:

Act I

"Devout singing can be heard from the Sicilian cathedral. Enter King Roger with his retinue. The clergy ask him to forbid the spreading of harmful tales among the people. Edrisi the wise man says that an unknown Shepherd is spreading faith in a new god. The clergy demand that Roger order the Shepherd to be captured, but Roxana, the king's beloved, stands up for him. She asks that the king hear out the Shepherd, who is young and charming. The Shepherd enters and describes his young and beautiful god. Everyone finds the tale interesting, especially Roxana. Despite the insistence of the clergy and the courtiers, the king sets the Shepherd free. However, he tells him to come to the castle in the evening. Sensing disaster, the people plead for God's mercy".

Act II

"At the palace, Roger waits impatiently for the Shepherd. Edrisi waits with him. Finally the sound of zithers and drums can be heard from afar. It is the Shepherd approaching with his retinue. He finally arrives and greets the king in the name of eternal love. He says he has come from afar, from the Ganges, and has learned his magic from his god. Roger is horrified at this pagan talk, but again Roxana's soothing voice is heard. The Shepherd's retinue begins a magical melody - the young man's eyes meet Roxana's and enchant her. At first Roger is intoxicated as well, but he comes to his senses - he calls the guards and orders them to tie up the Shepherd, who throws off the bonds, however, and leaves, followed by all the courtiers and Roxana. In despair, the king watches them go and, crushed, sets off as well".

Act III

"King Roger and Edrisi arrive in the ruins of an old Sicilian theatre. The music of the Shepherd's group can be heard from the distance. Roger looks for Roxana. She responds from afar, welcoming the arrivals. The Shepherd also calls them. They approach the ruins, and Roxana lights a sacrificial fire in front of the altar. Roger also takes part in the sacrifice, the stage fills up. As the dawn breaks, the Shepherd turns into the god Dionysus, and his retinue into maenads and bacchantes. Roxana dances with the others - plunged into ecstasy, the crowd moves away. King Roger and Edrisi are left standing - the king raises his arms to the sun and greets it as the source of life".

(Libretto synopsis compiled from Karol Stromenger's Przewodnik Operowy / Opera Guide)

Author: Piotr Deptuch, 2002.