It was a rare pleasure to see and hear an opera by the 19th-century Polish composer Stanislaw Moniuszko 1819-1872), whose magnificent Strazny Dwór (Haunted Manor) we could do with being staged in London. Verbum Nobile is a short, one-act opera that exudes fun. It was his fourth opera and dates from 1861. Its closest parallel amongst well-known operas is Smetana's Bartered Bride, since the story is told through folk-like music and national traditional dances, whose resonances must have been much stronger in their own day and country as the latter languished under Russian rule. Moniuszko's appointment to the principal conductorship of the Polish opera in Warsaw in 1858 gave him the opportunity to try to establish a Polish national opera on the lines of the Russians such as Glinka and Dargomyszhky, whom he befriended on his numerous visits to St Petersburg. His Verbum Nobile was one of a number of operas with which he hoped to achieve this patriotic aim. It's difficult to recreate these underlining resonance in a modern production, and wisely Richard Fawkes did not try. This was a plainly designed and uncomplicatedly told folk-tale about old-fashioned values.
       The rural story takes place when the manners of a by-gone age prevailed and when a gentleman's word was his bond a 'verbum nobile'. Two country gents. pledge their children to wed each other on maturity. Events appear to go awry as they fall in love with others than their parents' intended. But in the end, of course, mistaken identities reveal that fate has been on all their sides after all and what their fathers pledged can come about.
       The performance reflected the youth and immaturity of the cast, mostly made up of recently graduated students. The stage-craft was often still some of the singing was excellent. Karolina Gorgol-Zaborniak as Zuzia shone with her neat coloratura. Though the whole production was quite well conceived too much of the action was rather lacklustre and, crucially, lacked charm, despite the likeable performance of Stanislaw by Marcin Kopec and the convincing bluster of Marcin Gesla as Bartlomiej. The small chorus and orchestra were competently directed by Alexander Walker, who also arranged the score for this chamber performance. In the end, however, the dramatic and musical pace did not really get going till well into the opera when the dances and folk tunes seemed to infect the whole cast with some of the liveliness of the work. Once or twice ensemble drifted apart, though the chorus were one of the liveliest elements.
       While a top-notch performance of this opera would bring more verve and pace, the production was not without style and moments of musical grace, and through it all something of Moniuszko's dramatic strengths was able to emerge.
Roderick Swanston