Halka Tickets

Warsaw Grand Theatre - Polish National Opera (Teatr Wielki), Warsaw, Poland

All photos (6)

1 / 6

At the moment, no Halka events are scheduled in Warsaw Grand Theatre - Polish National Opera (Teatr Wielki). Click here to check out the current Warsaw Grand Theatre - Polish National Opera (Teatr Wielki) events.

Important Info

Type: Opera

City: Warsaw, Poland

Duration: 2h 40min with 1 interval

Acts: 4

Intervals: 1

Sung in: Polish

Titles in: English

Ticket delivery: E-Tickets

E-tickets: Print at home or at the box office of the event if so specified. You will find more information in your booking confirmation email.

Can I choose my seats?

You can only select the category, and not the exact seats.
If you order 2 or 3 tickets: your seats will be next to each other.
If you order 4 or more tickets: your seats will be next to each other, or, if this is not possible, we will provide a combination of groups of seats (at least in pairs, for example 2+2 or 2+3).

Cast

Performers

Choose the date to see the peformers

Overview

Deprived of support, taken advantage of, humiliated and unheard – the logic of drama leads mercilessly to the tragic end. The two acts (‘classic’ Halka counts four) are dense with emotions and moving – superb staging!

The Haunted Manor and Halka are the cornerstones of Polish operatic art and that is all! While the former can be troublesome from a staging point of view, due to its socio-national context (the three partitioners, the struggle for independence), as well as to how strongly the piece is embedded in a specific historical time (the failure of the January Uprising), the latter seems more relatable from today’s perspective. Moniuszko’s musical fantasy on highlander music has such power that in the minds of the public it has permanently obscured the original. Treliński’s Halka moved to a socialist-realist hotel in Zakopane: as if unfinished, filled with bustling militiamen, numbered items lined on the floor – a gray and gloomy crime scene. In such a setting, wrecked by remorse, Janusz repeatedly wakes up from a nightmare, only to stumble into a second one – a far more terrible, living nightmare. And then a pure, heart-rending voice comes from off stage… Treliński’s cinematic imagination is perfectly complemented by Kudlička’s set design. And one thing to emphasize: the staging momentum does not overshadow Halka’s drama. And Piotr Beczała… there are no words.

A co-production with the Theater an der Wien

History

Premiere of this production: 01 January 1848, Vilnius

Halka is an opera by Polish composer Stanisław Moniuszko to a libretto written by Włodzimierz Wolski, a young Warsaw poet with radical social views. It is part of the canon of Polish national operas.

Synopsis

Act 1
Guests at an engagement party are happy to note that the wedding of Janusz, a wealthy young landowner, to Zofia, the daughter of an even wealthier landowner named Stolnik, will unite two huge estates. Zofia and Janusz celebrate a toast with Stolnik, and Stolnik calls Janusz the son he has always wanted. The party is disturbed by a plaintive wailing from outside. It seems to be a troubled young girl, crying for her lost love. The kind-hearted Zofia asks Janusz to talk to the girl, hoping he will comfort her; he reluctantly agrees.

Dziemba, the steward of Stolnik's estate, ushers in the woebegone creature. This is Halka. To the audience's surprise, she appears to know Janusz. It turns out that he himself is her lost love; he promised her marriage while in her village in the mountains but then disappeared. As soon as Halka looks into Janusz's eyes, she is convinced that his feelings for her haven't changed, despite the disquieting rumours she had heard to the contrary. Halka throws her arms around Janusz and he says that he still loves her as he did before. He tells Halka to meet him after dark at the statue of the Virgin Mary by the river; they will escape together to start a new life somewhere else. Once Halka goes out, Janusz returns to the party.

Act 2
Halka is waiting for Janusz by the river. She is disturbed by the appearance of not Janusz, but Jontek, a friend from her mountain village. Jontek has been in (unrequited) love with Halka for many years. Halka tells him happily that Janusz still loves her, but Jontek insists that she has been betrayed. Jontek can't convince Halka until he drags her to the scene of the party, where she sees that Janusz has become engaged to Zofia. Halka is devastated and compares herself to a dove who has been ripped to pieces by a falcon.

Act 3
Act 3 opens with happy scenes of normal life back in Halka's mountain village. The villagers are dismayed by the arrival of Jontek and an unrecognisable woman, who turns out to be the saddened Halka. They are angry when they hear about Janusz's engagement and even angrier when they realise that Halka is pregnant. Halka is in a world of her own, crushed by grief and fixated on the images of the dove being broken by the falcon. A black raven passes overhead, boding ill for everyone.

Act 4
Jontek is very sad about Halka. When a piper, in the village to play at the wedding of Janusz and Zofia, appears playing a happy tune, Jontek asks him what there is to be so happy about. The piper mollifies him by playing a haunting mountain song. Jontek describes his love for Halka and the many wonders of nature she reminds him of.

When Janusz and Zofia arrive in the village to celebrate their wedding, the angry villagers have to be convinced to act festive by Dziemba, the steward, who persuades them to do so out of respect for the bride. Zofia notices that Halka is terribly upset. She thinks she has seen Halka somewhere before, and even asks her what's wrong. Janusz admits that Halka is the girl who interrupted their engagement party but whisks Zofia into the church before she can ask any more questions. Halka is heartbroken to see that Janusz is going through with the marriage. She has lost her baby and feels completely alone. In a fit of rage, she decides to burn down the church. However, she decides to let Janusz live and throws herself into the river instead.

Venue Info

Warsaw Grand Theatre - Polish National Opera (Teatr Wielki) - Warsaw
plac Teatralny 1

The Grand Theatre in Warsaw is a theatre and opera complex situated on the historic Theatre Square in central Warsaw. The Warsaw Grand Theatre is home to the Polish National Ballet and is one of the largest theatrical venues in the world.

The Theatre was built on Theatre Square between 1825 and 1833, replacing the former building of Marywil, from Polish classicist designs by the Italian architect Antonio Corazzi of Livorno, to provide a new performance venue for existing opera, ballet and drama companies active in Warsaw. The building was remodeled several times and, in the period of Poland's political eclipse from 1795 to 1918, it performed an important cultural and political role in producing many works by Polish composers and choreographers.

It was in the new theatre that Stanisław Moniuszko's two best-known operas received their premieres: the complete version of Halka (1858), and The Haunted Manor (1865). After Frédéric Chopin, Moniuszko was the greatest figure in 19th-century Polish music, for in addition to producing his own works, he was director of the Warsaw Opera from 1858 until his death in 1872.

While director of the Grand Theatre, Moniuszko composed The Countess, Verbum Nobile, The Haunted Manor and Paria, and many songs that make up 12 Polish Songbooks.

Also, under Moniuszko's direction, the wooden Summer Theatre was built close by in the Saxon Garden. Summer performances were given annually, from the repertories of the Grand and Variety (Rozmaitości) theatres. Józef Szczublewski writes that during this time, even though the country had been partitioned out of political existence by its neighbors, the theatre flourished: "the ballet roused the admiration of foreign visitors; there was no equal troupe of comedians to be found between Warsaw and Paris, and Modrzejewska was an inspiration to drama."

The theatre presented operas by Władysław Żeleński, Ignacy Jan Paderewski, Karol Szymanowski and other Polish composers, as well as ballet productions designed by such choreographers as Roman Turczynowicz, Piotr Zajlich and Feliks Parnell. At the same time, the repertoire included major world opera and ballet classics, performed by the most prominent Polish and foreign singers and dancers. It was also here that the Italian choreographer Virgilius Calori produced Pan Twardowski (1874), which (in the musical arrangement first of Adolf Sonnenfeld and then of Ludomir Różycki) has for years been part of the ballet company's repertoire.

During the 1939 battle of Warsaw, the Grand Theatre was bombed and almost completely destroyed, with only the classical façade surviving. During the Warsaw Uprising of 1944 the Germans shot civilians in the burnt-out ruins. The plaque to the right of the main entrance commemorates the suffering and heroism of the victims of fascism.