Józef Elsner and Wojciech Pękalski’s 'The Echo in the Wood': A Late Reverberation to Italian Intermezzi in the Repertoire of Warsaw’s National Theatre? Cover Image

"Echo w lesie" Józefa Elsnera i Wojciecha Pękalskiego – późny pogłos włoskiego intermezza na warszawskiej scenie narodowej?
Józef Elsner and Wojciech Pękalski’s 'The Echo in the Wood': A Late Reverberation to Italian Intermezzi in the Repertoire of Warsaw’s National Theatre?

Author(s): Jakub Chachulski
Subject(s): Theatre, Dance, Performing Arts, Music
Published by: Instytut Sztuki Polskiej Akademii Nauk
Keywords: Józef Elsner; Wojciech Pękalski; Jan Nepomucen Szczurowski; opera; intermezzo

Summary/Abstract: This article presents Józef Elsner’s one-act opera Echo w lesie (An echo in the wood), to a text by Wojciech Pękalski, in the context of the generic term ‘intermezzo’ originally applied by both its authors to this work, as it was to several other pieces by Elsner written in the years 1808–1810. The circumstances of this opera’s composition justify the interpretation of this term as an intentional reference to late eighteenth-century Italian intermezzi buffa. I have analysed the composition in this respect, revealing the connection between its textual content and the eighteenth-century opera buffa, the presence of stylistic features and composition techniques characteristic of that repertoire, and elements of musical allusion, parody and other intertextual references which are typical of the opera buffa.

  • Issue Year: 65/2020
  • Issue No: 2
  • Page Range: 105-146
  • Page Count: 42
  • Language: Polish