Helena Modrzejewska's diary was published several times in several variants, both in whole and in fragments (including the excerpts published in the Polish magazines such as Czas, Kierunki, Teatr and in monographs by Marion M. Coleman and Józef Szczublewski), Modrzejewska's diary has become ridden with numerous editorial inaccuracies. The text currently published in Pamiętnik Teatralny is a compilation of the three major editions of the Diary: the original based on the manuscript, including later comments and corrections, the first Polish publication in Czas, 1910, and its edition in English, published in M. M. Coleman’s Fair Rosalind: The American Career of Helena Modjeska (1969). The current edition is annotated with regard to its content: the events of the first six weeks of 1893, people described by Modrzejewska and their relationship with the actress, performances and theatrical plays, as well as the publishing history of the diary.
The manuscript of the diary, written by Helena Modrzejewska from 1 January to 16 February 1893, is kept in Jan Ignacy Paderewski’s collection at the National Library in Warsaw. Published several times in several variants, both in whole and in fragments (including the excerpts published in the Polish magazines such as Czas, Kierunki, Teatr and in monographs by Marion M. Coleman and Józef Szczublewski), Modrzejewska's diary has become ridden with numerous editorial inaccuracies. The text currently published in Pamiętnik Teatralny is a compilation of the three major editions of the Diary: the original based on the manuscript, including later comments and corrections, the first Polish publication in Czas, 1910, and its edition in English, published in M. M. Coleman’s Fair Rosalind: The American Career of Helena Modjeska (1969).
The current edition of Helena Modrzejewska's diary is annotated with regard to its content: the events of the first six weeks of 1893, people described by Modrzejewska and their relationship with the actress, performances and theatrical plays, as well as the publishing history of the diary. The accompanying notes help situate it in the context of the subsequent editions, but also Modrzejewska's memoirs written after many years. The current publication is the first genetic edition that places a special emphasis on the process of editing the manuscript: corrections made by the author herself, as well as the editors, and also the changes introduced later by the publishers.
This article concerns the Warsaw period in the life and work of Helena Modrzejewska. The years 1869-1876 are the least researched and described period in the entire career of this actress. The article refers to Zbigniew Raszewski’s essay ‘Modrzejewska-warszawianka’ (‘Modrzejewska the Varsavian’), debating the significance of the experience of the Krakow theatre in Modrzejewska’s work. In the light of a factual analysis, he presents the actress as a Drama Artist of Warsaw theatres, posing questions about the evaluation of the experience of working on the Warsaw stage in the context of her career. The methodological framework of the article is an attempt to see the principles of realistic idealism, i.e. the model style of the art of acting in the nineteenth century, not only in the actress’s stage performance, but also in social life and the iconographic material based on Jan Mieczkowski’s photographs.
This article concerns the Warsaw period in the life and work of Helena Modrzejewska. The years 1869-1876 are the least researched and described period in the entire career of this actress. The article refers to Zbigniew Raszewski’s essay Modrzejewska – a Varsovian, debating the significance of the experience of the Krakow theatre in Modrzejewska’s work. In the light of a factual analysis, he presents the actress as a Drama Artist of Warsaw theatres, posing questions about the evaluation of the experience of working on the Warsaw stage in the context of her career. The methodological framework of the article is an attempt to see the principles of realistic idealism, i.e. the model style of the art of acting in the nineteenth century, not only in the actress’s stage performance, but also in social life and the iconographic material based on Jan Mieczkowski’s photographs.
This article discusses the performance of Hamlet that premiered at Teatr Wielki [Grand Theater] in Warsaw on 24th March 1871. Produced as part of the celebrations of Helena Modrzejewska’s achievement, it is regarded as an important chapter in the history of Warsaw theater in the second half of the 19th century. The author separates historical documents dating from the period in question from later interpretations in order to complicate and problematize the image of this legendary staging created by Józef Szczublewski in the 1960s. Research using archive materials enables a discussion of the instability of facts, the mechanism of creating theater legends, and the dilemmas concerning the description and evaluation of historical phenomena. An important part of the historiographic analysis undertaken in the article is also to problematize the tension between a literature-oriented and theater-oriented approach to studying theater history.
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