Early Stage Works by Stanisław Moniuszko: History of Creation and Productions in Minsk and Vilnius

The article is devoted to Stanisław Moniuszko’s early compositions for musical theatre, written in Minsk and Vilnius (1830–1840s). They had different genre designations: comedy-operas, operettas, musical scenes, pastorals, idylls. Today it is difficult not only to differentiate their genres, but also to establish the exact dates of writing, since only sketches remain of some of them. Even Moniuszko’s first biographer, Aleksander Walicki, considered that many of the works were lost and could not clarify the circumstances of their creation. The composer himself most often called his small stage compositions “operettas”; musicologists use a number of terms emphasizing the size of such works, features of the plot and figurative content (small operas, musical melodramas, idylls). Having become a successful start to his works, they helped the composer not only to form his own approach to the creative process, but also significantly expanded the boundaries of his interests in the field of musical theatre. In Polish and Belarusian musical culture, Moniuszko’s operettas have not lost their significance to this day. The article includes the latest scientific data, allowing us to clarify the circumstances and chronology of their creation, as well as genre characteristics. Keywords: Stanisław Moniuszko, Polish opera, vaudeville, comedy-opera, operetta, Oskar Korwin-Milewski, Wincenty Dunin-Marcinkiewicz, the Warsaw Musical Society For citation: Sobakina, O. V. (2025). Early Stage Works by Stanisław Moniuszko: History of Creation and Productions in Minsk and Vilnius. Contemporary Musicology, 9(1), 154―179. https://doi.org/10.56620/2587-9731-2025-1-154-179