Moniuszko’s music, along with Chopin’s immortal works, was included in the repertoires of all the orchestras revived after the war. Nearly every theatre that was resuscitated or organised anew began its first season with a premiere of Halka or The Haunted Manor.

Moniuszko choirs sprang up like mushrooms across Poland. An anonymous journalist reported in June 1948 in The Voice of Pabianice that: “Moniuszko’s music delights, moves and enchants. Despite its beauty and charm, it is extremely sincere, fresh, simple, and full of feeling. Moniuszko is the singer of the nation’s very soul. He derives his inspiration from the songs and art of the people, which are his source and model. This is why Moniuszko’s music is close to our hearts and dear to us all, because it touches us so, penetrates deep, and dazzles us.”

The ‘familiar’ phrases of Moniuszko’s songs and arias are easier to memorise than virtuosic passages from Chopin’s Etudes, plus they gained notoriety largely owing to the choral societies, founded already in the 19th century. But of much greater importance to the popularisation of Moniuszko’s oeuvre was the music record industry. Thousands of private record collections perished in the war, most of all – the productions of the famous label Syrena-Elektro, but also of the Polish branches of His Master’s Voice, Columbia, and Parlophone. The present 3-CD anthology consists of recordings from the years 1951-1961, the oldest of which were made by ‘Muza’ United Music Industry Factory in Warsaw, while the later ones, after 1956, were already released under the label of ‘Polskie Nagrania’ Public Company.

These recordings are documents – fascinating in many respects – of an age of transition, when the old performance schools were gradually disappearing, and a new aesthetic was already in the making, represented by the then young singers and conductors.

Contents:
Song to the Sun
The Four Seasons
Little Flower
Rue
The Return of Spring
Ophelia’s Song
Soldier’s Song
Do You Know the Land [II]
O Mother Mine
Two Dawns

CD 2: Arias & Ensembles
Recitative and Dumka from The Raftsman (Scene 1)
Franek’s song with chorus from The Raftsman (Scene 5)
Janusz’s song from Halka (Act 1)
Halka’s aria from Halka (Act 1)
Halka’s aria from Halka (Act 2)
Jontek’s aria from Halka (Act 4)
Jontek’s aria from Halka (Act IV)
The Haunted Manor (Act 1, Scene 1)
The Sword-Bearer’s recitative and aria from The Haunted Manor (Act 2)
Quartet from The Haunted Manor (Act 3)
Hanna’s aria from The Haunted Manor (Act 4)
Skoluba’s aria from The Haunted Manor (Act 3)
Stefan’s aria from The Haunted Manor (Act 3)

CD 3: Overtures
Fairy Tale Fantastical Overture
Overture to the opera Paria
Overture to the opera Verbum nobile
Overture to the opera The Countess
Overture to the opera Halka
Overture to the opera The Raftsman
Intrada to the opera The Haunted Manor