''Quo Vadis'' Op.30, is a 1909 German-language

oratorio An oratorio () is a large musical composition for orchestra, choir, and soloists. Like most operas, an oratorio includes the use of a choir, soloists, an instrumental ensemble, various distinguishable characters, and arias. However, opera is mus ...

by the Polish composer

Feliks Nowowiejski Feliks Nowowiejski (7 February 1877 – 18 January 1946) was a Polish composer, conductor, concert organist, and music teacher. Nowowiejski was born in Wartenburg (today Barczewo) in Warmia in the Prussian Partition of Poland (then admini ...

drawn from the novel ''Quo Vadis'' by

Henryk Sienkiewicz Henryk Adam Aleksander Pius Sienkiewicz ( , ; 5 May 1846 – 15 November 1916), also known by the pseudonym Litwos (), was a Polish writer, novelist, journalist and Nobel Prize laureate. He is best remembered for his historical novels, especi ...

. Written during the composer's studies with

Max Bruch Max Bruch (6 January 1838 – 2 October 1920) was a German Romantic composer, violinist, teacher, and conductor who wrote more than 200 works, including three violin concertos, the first of which has become a prominent staple of the standard v ...

and

Ernst Eduard Taubert Ernst Eduard Taubert (25 September 1838 in Regenwalde – 14 July 1934) was a Pomeranian composer, music critic, and music educator. He began his education in Bonn where he was first a student of theology and later a music pupil of Albert Dietrich. ...

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

, it was premiered successfully in

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the Capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population ...

at the

Concertgebouw The Royal Concertgebouw ( nl, Koninklijk Concertgebouw, ) is a concert hall in Amsterdam, Netherlands. The Dutch term "concertgebouw" translates into English as "concert building". Its superb acoustics place it among the finest concert halls i ...

in 1909, from where the work's reputation grew so that it was performed in more than 150 cities in Europe, and North and South America. It was performed at

Carnegie Hall Carnegie Hall ( ) is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City. It is at 881 Seventh Avenue (Manhattan), Seventh Avenue, occupying the east side of Seventh Avenue between West 56th Street (Manhattan), 56th and 57th Street (Manhatta ...

in New York, conducted by Nowowiejski himself, becoming the first Polish conductor to conduct in the hall's history. In total it was performed over 200 times up until the outbreak of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

in 1939. The Polish musicologist Wlodzimierz Poźniak wrote in 1960 that Nowowiejski's "Quo vadis" is the work which, from the entire Polish musical literature after Chopin, achieved the greatest international success. However the work was not performed outside Poland after the Second World War until a revival in Poznan and Berlin in June 2016 by the Poznan Philharmonic conducted by Łukasz Borowicz. The 2016 performances in Poznan were broadcast by Deutschland Radio Kultur, and released by CPO Records.

Recordings

*''Quo Vadis'' (sung in Polish) Opera Poznańska 1966, Dankowska, Fechner, Satanowski. Radio recording *''Quo Vadis'' (sung in Polish) Wioletta Chodowicz, Robert Gierlach Wojciech Gierlach

Poznań Philharmonic Tadeusz Szeligowski Poznań Philharmonic is a regional cultural institution founded in 1947 on the initiative of Tadeusz Szeligowski as the State Philharmonic in Poznań; one of the two philharmonics in the Greater Poland Voivodeship. History T ...

Łukasz Borowicz CPO 2017 *''Quo vadis'' (sung in German)

Aleksandra Kurzak Aleksandra Kurzak (Polish pronunciation: ; born 7 August 1977) is a Polish operatic soprano who has an international career primarily in Europe and the United States. In her earlier career she was a specialist in lyric and coloratura soprano role ...

, Artur Ruciński and

Rafał Siwek Rafał Siwek is a Polish opera singer (bass). Education Rafał Siwek is a graduate of Fryderyk Chopin University of Music in Warsaw (Professor Jerzy Knetig's class). He mastered his voice under the supervision of Kaludi Kaludov and during the m ...

. Warmia and Mazury Philharmonic Orchestra, Piotr Sułkowski. Dux Records 2017Review - no libretto
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References

{{reflist Oratorios 1909 compositions German-language oratorios