About the work
Manru is the only opera by the Polish pianist and composer Ignacy Jan Paderewski, a lyric drama in three acts to a German-language libretto by Alfred Nossig. It is based on Józef Ignacy Kraszewski's novel "Chata za wsią" ("The Hut Behind the Village"). The opera premiered on May 29, 1901, at the Dresden Court Opera under Ernst von Schuch.
Plot
Against the will of her village, the mountain farmer's daughter Ulana has married Manru, a Roma man. When he returns to his itinerant people and a former lover, the abandoned Ulana takes her own life; her rejected suitor Urok then kills Manru in revenge.
Cultural significance
After its Dresden premiere, Manru quickly spread to Polish and German stages and in 1902 became the first opera by a Polish composer performed at the Metropolitan Opera in New York. Interest faded after the 1930s and the work largely disappeared from view; a 2022 production in Halle was the first German-language staging since the 1901 premiere.