About the work
Król Roger is an opera in three acts by Karol Szymanowski to a Polish libretto the composer wrote together with his cousin Jarosław Iwaszkiewicz. Szymanowski composed the work between 1918 and 1924; it premiered on 19 June 1926 at the Grand Theatre in Warsaw.
Plot
At the court of the Sicilian King Roger II, a charismatic, unnamed shepherd appears whose teaching challenges the court's Christian order. Through ecstatic dances he draws Roger's wife Roxana and the courtiers under his spell and leads them to an ancient ruin, where he reveals himself as Dionysus. Roger is left alone at the end and greets the rising sun with a hymn.
Cultural significance
Szymanowski regarded Król Roger as the pinnacle of his own output, writing after a 1932 Prague performance that he had never composed anything comparable. The opera is now considered a central work of Polish musical modernism and is performed internationally as a repertoire piece at major opera houses.