Between Venice, Lubowla in Spiš and Kraków : Prince Teodor Lubomirski – an enthusiast of Italian opera (a preliminary study)

Prince Teodor Lubomirski staged 4 operas in his Polish estates: Venceslao, La fede ne'tradimenti, Mariane, Griselda (1725–1727). The Kraków prints of the libretti for the first 3 operas follow the Venetians prints (1722, 1721, 1724), while the Cracovian Griselda is a pasticcio probably prepared on the base of the variant of the opera staged in Venice in 1720 (mus. G. M. Orlandini). Acting as a patron of opera in Poland was a part of a Teodor's well-thought-out policy aimed at standing out against the other Polish aristocrats, at bringing entertainments to himself and his morganatic wife and at an attempt to break the society's aversion by means of offering the attractions that were hardly accessible in Poland at the time. The repertoire of his theatre was in perfect accord with such aims, especially taking into consideration Zeno's Griselda, allegorically enhancing the status of Teodor's own wife and children. Teodor's ephemeral musical hobby was by no means uncommon in 18th-century Poland. Like many other Polish aristocrats he saw opera as a good way to improve his own social status, but contrary to the West-European royal and princely courts, he did not perceive the genre as the medium of political propaganda that would be worth money. So at the end of the twenties, when Teodor returned to political life, he gave up his operatic interests.