In a concert version, the main work of the Polish composer Moniuszko has been presented, Wherewhich with the story of the peasant woman seduced and abandoned by the selfish nobleman managed to establish a “national opera” with its premiere in Warsaw in 1858, an important moment for the music of his country in that it catalyzed the rich popular and folkloric heritage to integrate it into of a music that today would be called “cultured”. The version offered by the Choir and Orchestra of the Teatro Real is impeccable.directed by Lukasz Borowicz and a good cast led by the American soprano Corinne Winters, who makes a true creation of the protagonist, the tenor Piotr Beczala, in the role of the rejected suitor, and the baritone Tomasz Konieczny, as the evil nobleman, both Polish and very suitable for their roles.
Halka, a peasant woman with clean eyes, blonde braids and a complexion probably rosy from country breezes, is the one who obtains the best music from the composer. Music that is both evocative and happywith the melancholy and authenticity of the expression of a people and a tradition that takes advantage of the pretext of the brief anecdote, hardly follletinesque, of the poor woman deceived by the rich man to speak to us not about what the clichéd script outlines, mountains and birds, but about a musical heritage that goes beyond the prestige of the operatic genre, responsible for giving artistic category to the different forms of authenticity that it houses within it.
A very little-known work that was received a century and a half late with the stimulating surprise of an unexpected recovery.