Requiem dla ikony (Requiem for an icon) opens with a striking—and devastating—image: a doubled Jackie Kennedy, reciting a trivial monologue about baking meringue, hurling dishes to the floor. In that instant, the audience recognizes: this is not just any icon, but a woman suffocated by her own pop-cultural role.
Librettist Krystian Lada dismantles the dichotomies that define our protagonist: “perfectly separating yolks from whites—family from reason, feeling from representation, knowing from posing.” We’re jolted by scenes of enforced posture and smile—“chin up, smile!”—which echo Zbigniew Libera’s critique of how girls are taught to perform femininity. smile—“chin up, smile!”—which echo Zbigniew Libera’s critique of how girls are taught to perform femininity
Onstage, Marta Ojrzyńska’s Doppelgänger-Jackie pushes against her too-large suit—a visual metaphor for societal pressure. She is trapped, visibly pained by each forced gesture, yearning for freedom or perhaps discovering what freedom might require. Meanwhile, Patrycja Krzeszowska‑Kubit, the official Jackie, embodies the composed veneer of First Ladyhood. The contrast is ineffable: one perfectly posed icon, the other broken by that perfection.
The opera‑cantata’s structure draws on requiem mass form, propelled by Głowicka’s bold musical palette: classical operatic declamation fractured by modern choral commentary, electronic minimalism steeped in lament, and immersive soundscapes that mimic neurotic fragmentation. They underscore the heroine’s internal fissures.
Libretto and score converge around the intrusion of Ron Galella, who becomes the instrument of societal gaze—photographer, witness, manipulator. He embodies external violence upon Jackie’s identity, “often conflicting, in ways that violate her personality“. His presence is represented by giant projector that ruptures the stage, setting the two Jackies at odds: one always perfect, the other deeply fractured.
YEAR:
2015.
DIRECTOR:
Marcin Borczuch
libretto:
Krystian Lada
duration:
70 min.
premiere:
20/05/2015
original cast:
Orchestra of the Polish National Opera House,
Patrycja Krzeszowska-Kubit – Jackie
Maciej Staburzyński – Kennedy
Bassem Akiki – conductor
Jacqueline Sobiszewski – light, video, scenography
setting:
soprano, baritone, actress, choir, 3 boys, chamber ensemble (fl, ob, cl/bcl, pno, perc., synth, vln, vla, cello, double bass and electronics
Commissioned by Polish National Opera
Reviews:
“Głowicka, (…) feels well opera form and knows how to lead the soloists through a labyrinth of harmonies, live instruments and electronics.”
DOROTA Kozińska 06.01.2015, Tygodnik Powszechny
“In “Requiem for and Icon” heroine’s tale is built on an internal dilemma. Głowicka, undoubtedly one of the most outstanding personalities of the young generation of Polish composers deftly, freshly and creatively uses all sorts of” iconic “conventions of classical music.
It’s still alive operatic singing, though gradually sounding more and more unnatural and strange; this commenting choirs and tones of lament, and particularly close to the composer repetition of American minimalism and electronic sounds. Contrasting neurotic figures – and long, mutating soundscapes. The eclectic landscape of the music that draws you in and intrigues is also in close relationship with the text “
ADAM SUPRYNOWICZ, DWUTYGODNIK.COM
