“Wy oświeceni, my dzicy ludzie jesteśmy, ale my więcej od was umiemy” (“You are Enlightened, we are Primitive, yet we Have More Skills”). The Characters in Wojciech Bogusławski’s Operas Facing Loss of Freedom Cover Image

„Wy oświeceni, my dzicy ludzie jesteśmy, ale my więcej od was umiemy”. Postacie operowe Wojciecha Bogusławskiego w obliczu utraty wolności
“Wy oświeceni, my dzicy ludzie jesteśmy, ale my więcej od was umiemy” (“You are Enlightened, we are Primitive, yet we Have More Skills”). The Characters in Wojciech Bogusławski’s Operas Facing Loss of Freedom

Author(s): Piotr Maksymowicz
Subject(s): Theatre, Dance, Performing Arts, Music, 19th Century, History of Art
Published by: Wydawnictwo Poznańskie Studia Polonistyczne
Keywords: Wojciech Bogusławski; Izkahar król Guaxary; Axur król Ormus; Dla miłości zmyślone szaleństwo; theatre; opera; partitions of Poland; colonialism; the massacre of Praga; Enlightenment; pre-romanticism;

Summary/Abstract: This article constitutes an attempt at recreating the possible allusive readings, political references and hidden meanings in three operas by Wojciech Bogusławski: Dla miłości zmyślone szaleństwo (Madness made for love), Axur król Ormus (Axur, the king of Ormus), Izkahar król Guaxary (Izkahar, the king of Guaxara). Key for this search are the attitudes of the characters in the analysed operas towards the loss of freedom – one may argue that their ways to cope with the violence and the ruthless autocratic tyranny could be perceived as contemporary. This is why the story, which is in its outer layers one of an unhappy love, became for the eighteenth-century viewers a story of the most important contemporary politics.

  • Issue Year: 2022
  • Issue No: 42
  • Page Range: 249-263
  • Page Count: 15
  • Language: Polish