“Eros and Psyche” by Ludomir Różycki – From Drama to Opera

Abstract

Ludomir Różycki (1883–1953), one of the co-founders of Young Poland in music, studied with German composer Engelbert Humperdinck at the Akademie der Künste in Berlin between 1905 and 1907. He is best known for his symphonic poems and operas. He wrote in general seven operatic works: Bolesław Śmiały (Boleslav the Bold, 1909), Meduza (Medusa, 1912), Eros i Psyche (Eros and Psyche, 1917), Casanova (1923), Beatrix Cenci (1927), Młyn diabelski (Diabolical Bustle, 1931) and the last, unfinished and epigonic Pani Walewska (Mrs. Walewska, written in the 1930s). His most important and recognizable opera – Eros and Psyche – had its world premiere in Breslau (Wrocław) in 1917 with a German-language libretto. Alongside Karol Szymanowski’s Król Roger (King Roger), this work is considered the best Polish modernist opera. This article presents the circumstances of its creation and a brief description. It also provides context, specifically, which is Jerzy Żuławski’s single-name drama, first performed in 1904 in Lwów and Kraków. The composer, inspired by the art of the Young Poland writer and poet, created music for a modified form of this work and thus left behind one of his greatest works.