- Opera in 3 acts
- Composer: Karol Szymanowski
- Libretto: Jaroslaw Iwaszkiewicz and Karol Szymanowski
- First performed: Warsaw, Poland, 19 June 1926
Characters
| King ROGER, King of Sicily | Baritone | Eugeniusz Mossakowski |
| ROXANA, his wife | Soprano | Stanisława Korwin-Szymanowska |
| EDRISI, the Arab Sage | Tenor | Maurycy Janowski |
| SHEPHERD | Tenor | Adam Dobosz |
| Archbishop | Bass | Roman Wraga |
| Deaconess | Contralto | Teodosia Skonieczny |
| Priests, monks, nuns, citizens, guards, eunuchs, disciples of the Shepherd | Chorus |
Setting: Sicily, mid-12th century.
Twentieth century opera was nothing if not abstruse. Here is an opera about the conflict between the Apollonian and Dionysian principles (or possibly about man’s encounter with the numinous, or possibly about Szymanowski’s homosexuality – take your pick), inspired by Euripides (The Bacchae), Walter Pater, Nietzsche, Oscar Wilde, Tadeusz Miciński, and Tadeusz Zieliński’s interpretations of antiquity.
The opera takes place in Sicily, a melting-pot of Christian, Islamic, and Classical culture. The three acts are set respectively in a Byzantine church, an Arab style palace, and the ruins of a Greek theatre. In Act I, a gigantic mosaic icon of Christ looks down on the congregation; like Byzantine art, Król Roger is a static fresco, occasionally glowing with a golden beauty. Kaminski calls it a vocal symphony in three parts, where drama is reduced to its simplest expression. It is almost an oratorio, too; the chorus plays a large part. (The choruses at the start are particularly impressive, one of the few pieces in a conventional key: D major.)
A Shepherd (both Christ and Dionysus, according to Szymanowski) is accused of blasphemy for proclaiming an unknown god. The Shepherd bewitches the king’s court, and leads them away, including the queen, who becomes a maenad. The King (who represents Apollo) renounces his throne, and becomes a pilgrim. At the end of the opera, he stands on the theatre ruins, adoring the sun. So much for the story.
The score is largely modernist, through-composed, and chromatic, post-Salome and post-Stravinsky in its harmonies and rhythms. Musicologists also detect the influence of Scriabin: Szymanowski originally classified Król Roger as a ‘Mysterium’, in reference to the mad mystic’s week-long symphony that would usher in the end of the world. (Something best avoided, I would have thought.)
See also Phil’s Opera World.
Recordings
Listen to: Wojtek Drabowicz (Roger II), Olga Pasiecznik (Roksana), Krzysztof Szmyt (Edrisi), Piotr Beczała (the Shepherd), Romuald Tesarowicz (the Archbishop), and Stefania Toczyska (the Deaconess), with the Choir and Orchestra of the Polish National Opera, Warsaw, conducted by Jacek Kaspszyk; Warsaw, 2003. CD Accord.
Works consulted
- Piotr Kaminski, Mille et un opéras, Paris : Fayard, 2003
- “Król Roger (opera)”, Wikipedia
The Opera Scribe 
Just like the musical Li’l Abner, the success of King Roger in the theater largely depends on finding a tenor who works out.
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