Adam Mickiewicz’s Appearance on the Warsaw Ballet Stage
Janina Pudełek
Fryderyk Chopin Academy of Music (Poland)
Abstract
The author presents a selected chapter in the artistic activity of Michał Kulesza, who, having offended tsarist censors by smuggling an image of the Polish eagle into his choreographic debut (Divertissement wioślarskie [Rowing Divertissement], 1891), had to wait more than a dozen years for an opportunity to create a new work of his own. Taking advantage of the relaxation of censorship, when he was in charge of a ballet stage, he introduced into the second act of Pan Twardowski [Mr Twardowski] (1905) a polonaise procession of characters from Adam Mickiewicz’s Pan Tadeusz: The Last Foray in Lithuania. In the background, he placed a statue of the Polish Romantic bard, by which a wreath with red-and-white ribbons was laid in the dance finale. Kulesza’s next step was the premiere of Tadeusz i Zosia [Thaddeus and Zosia] (1906); the ballet based on Mickiewicz’s protagonists was performed only eight times, probably due to an intervention by the censorship, now tightened again. The author of the article discusses the ballet’s outline and the score composed by Adolf Sonnenfeld. She also attempts to reconstruct the libretto and the course of the performance, drawing on historical press accounts and a list of soloists and characters.
Keywords:
ballet, ballet history, dance, dance history, Michał Kulesza, Adam MickiewiczReferences
Pudełek, Janina. Warszawski balet w latach 1867–1915. Kraków: Polskie Wydawnictwo Muzyczne, 1981.
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Źródła prasowe: Dzieńdobry, nr 61 (1906); Kurier Warszawski, nr 342 (1905), nr 110, 115 (1906); Przegląd Poranny, nr 81 (1915).
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Authors
Janina PudełekFryderyk Chopin Academy of Music Poland
Dr hab. Janina Pudełek, prof. nadzw.
dance critic and researcher, historian. She attended dance classes at Janina Mieczyńska's school, later also the classes of Jerzy Gogół and Leon Wójcikowski. She studied Polish philology at the University of Warsaw and dramaturgy at the State Theatre School in Warsaw. She obtained her doctoral degree and habilitation at the Institute of Art at Polish Academy of Sciences. She worked in the editorial team of Pamiętnik Teatralny, Taniec and Encyklopedia Muzyczna PWN, in the State Scientific Publishing House, the University of Warsaw Library, the Theatre Museum. Author of such books as Warszawski balet w latach 1867–1915 [Warsaw Ballet in the Years 1867–1915], Warszawski balet romantyczny: 1802–1866 [Warsaw Romantic Ballet: 1802–1866] or Tajniki sztuki baletowej: Rozważania o estetyce i anatomii baletu [The Secrets of the Art of Ballet: Reflections on the Aesthetics and Anatomy of Ballet]. Long-time lecturer in the history and aesthetics of ballet at the Fryderyk Chopin Academy of Music. She has published regularly in Pamiętnik Teatralny, Ruch Muzyczny, Teatr, Taniec (for which she translated excerpts from Carl Blasis’ writings), as well as Dance Chronicle and Ballet International. From 1966 she was a member of the Polish Centre of ITI.
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