[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 25 (Friday, February 9, 2007)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E313]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 HONORING THE PADEREWSKI SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA'S FEBRUARY 2007 PRODUCTION 
           OF STANISLAW MONIUSZKO'S OPERA, THE HAUNTED MANOR

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. RAHM EMANUEL

                              of illinois

                    in the house of representatives

                        Friday, February 9, 2007

  Mr. EMANUEL. Madam Speaker, on behalf of the more than 110,000 Polish 
and Polish-American constituents of my district, as well as those of 
Polish descent around the country, I rise today to honor the late 
Polish composer Stanislaw Moniuszko. On February 10 and 11, the 
Paderewski Symphony Orchestra will perform Poland's national opera, The 
Haunted Manor, for audiences at the Rosemont Theater.
  Considered the father of Polish opera, Moniuszko was born in the 
spring of 1819 to a patriotic family of Polish landowners living on the 
eastern edge of partitioned Poland. Revealing a passion for music at an 
early age, he began taking private piano lessons while still very 
young. In 1837, Moniuszko traveled to Berlin where he studied 
composition and choral conducting. By 1840, the young artist had 
already composed several operas as well as sacred music and secular 
cantatas.
  Moniuszko became well-known for his many songs, operas, and ballets 
filled with patriotic and Polish folk themes. His music is quite 
stylistically distinct while incorporating various national motifs 
including certain Polish dances and folk tunes.
  To this day, Moniuszko is considered one of Poland's great composers. 
One of his most famous operas is Straszny Dwor, or The Haunted Manor. 
In it, Moniuszko depicts Polish nobility and gentry while emphasizing 
Polish customs and traditions. The comic opera is claimed as Poland's 
national opera, as it encompasses different levels of society, and it 
has a vitality that speaks to everyone.
  During his professional life, Moniuszko traveled numerous times to 
St. Petersburg to give concerts, so it is fitting that his works are 
traveling across the ocean to be performed by the Paderewski Symphony 
Orchestra of the Fifth Congressional District of Illinois.
  Madam Speaker, I am honored to recognize Moniuszko and honor his 
success, as well as to commend the Paderewski Symphony Orchestra for 
bringing this important part of Poland's history to the Polish and 
Polish-American communities in the United States.

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