Premiered in Warsaw in 1865, when Poland was an imperial Russian province, Stanislaw Moniuszko's The Haunted Manor was banned by the Tsarist authorities after three performances, and not heard again until 1914. Its tangled history, together with its folk-based musical idiom have made it an iconic work in Poland, where Moniuszko occupies a position, comparable to that of Smetana in the Czech Republic, as the composer who forged a national style at a time when national identity was under threat.
The Haunted Manor has been dubbed "the Polish Bartered Bride", though it suffers from the comparison with Smetana's masterpiece, as this performance, opening the Polish National Opera's London season, sadly reveals. Moniuszko's music has great charm, but none of the Bride's psychological depth. The Bartered Bride gains force from compression, while The Haunted Manor is dramatically discursive.
Though patriotic, the opera has a nice line in anti-heroic irony. Two soldier brothers, Stefan and Zbigniew, swear never to marry in peacetime in case "the fatherland" needs their services. Back home, their pretensions and courage are put to the test, however, when they are conned by Hanna and Jadwiga - two sisters they secretly fancy - into spending a night in a house that is supposedly haunted, but which is actually nothing of the sort. The exposition takes forever, though. The opera only really gets going when the rigged hauntings begin, late in the piece, and a sense of magic, at once eerie and comic, infuses the score.
The performance, suavely conducted by Jacek Kaspszyk, also gains in stature as it progresses, though the singing is variable - disappointing given the company's reputation. Iwona Hossa and Anna Lubanska are beautiful as Hanna and Jadwiga but the two men aren't in the same league. Piotr Nowacki's Zbigniew is vocally ungainly and Dariusz Stachura's Stefan, despite matinee-idol looks, is painfully effortful. The star turn comes from the great Polish diva Stefania Toczyska as the blokes' meddling aunt, her voice is now frayed a bit but her theatrical majesty is unimpaired.
Mikolaj Grabowski's production dates from 2001, though much of it is couched in a ponderous socialist realist style that makes it look 50 years old. There is one deeply moving scene before the end, when the haunted manor becomes a metaphor for Poland itself as the real ghosts of the country's history fill the stage. It makes you catch your breath - but comes too late for the whole evening to be a satisfactory experience.
