About the work
Opera in three acts with a prologue by Stanisław Moniuszko, with a libretto by Jan Chęciński after the 1821 tragedy Le Paria by the French poet Casimir Delavigne. Moniuszko carried the subject with him for almost ten years before the opera premiered at the Teatr Wielki in Warsaw on 11 December 1869, one of his last completed works.
Plot
In Benares, India, around 1500, the warrior leader Idamor conceals that he was born an outcast. He loves Neala, daughter of the high priest Akebar; when his origin is revealed during their wedding, Akebar kills him, and Neala chooses to follow him into the exile of the outcasts.
Cultural significance
The premiere met with muted interest and closed after only six performances, a disappointment said to have weighed heavily on Moniuszko. After an initial rediscovery in Wrocław in 1951, a new Poznań Opera production won the International Opera Award for Best Rediscovered Work in 2021.