About the work
Opera in four acts by Stanisław Moniuszko with a libretto by Jan Chęciński, based on a folk tale collected by the ethnographer Kazimierz Władysław Wóycicki. Moniuszko began work in 1861; the opera premiered on 28 September 1865 at the Teatr Wielki in Warsaw.
Plot
The hussar brothers Stefan and Zbigniew, who have sworn off marriage for a soldier's life, arrive at the manor of Kalinowa to collect a debt. The house has a reputation for being haunted; on New Year's Eve the brothers fall in love with the daughters of the household, and the supposed ghosts turn out to be a family ruse invented to scare off unwanted suitors.
Cultural significance
Coming two and a half years after the January Uprising against Russian rule, the premiere was received as a patriotic demonstration and banned by the censors after only three performances; the opera was not staged again until 1914. It is regarded as Moniuszko's masterpiece and is often called the most Polish of Polish operas.