Songs of a Fairy-tale Princess and the Symphony “Songs of the Night” are seemingly linked only by the author. Undoubtedly, there is also a connection between the work and the text. Although in the case of Songs of a Princess it is the musicalization of the texts of Karol Szymanowski’s sister Sophia, and in the case of the Symphony – the text of Jalala’ad Din Rumi (translated by Tadeusz Miciński, they are connected by exoticism, lyricism, oriental aura. Strauss first saw Oscar Wilde’s Salome in a German translation in Berlin in November 1902. The opera based on this translation caused uproar in Europe, America. Particularly controversial was the Dance of the Seven Veils , the work’s only major orchestral section. The first Salome – Marie Wittich – refused to perform the piece, claiming that no respectable woman undresses on stage. The scene of Herod’s erotic propitiation to offer the princess the head of the dead John the Baptist is musically full of musical richness, orientalism and growing excitement emphasized by the gradual acceleration and increase in volume of the orchestra.

Program:

Karol Szymanowski, Songs of the Fairy Princess , Op. 18
Karol Szymanowski, Symphony No. 3 “Songs of the Night”
Richard Strauss, Dance of Salome from the opera Salome , Op. 54.

Artists:

Iwona Sobotka – soprano
Orchestra of the National Philharmonic
Choir of the National Philharmonic
Bartosz Michałowski – choir director
Michał Klauza – conductor