Tadeusza Z. Kasserna ujęcie Orientu w operze The Anointed według dramatu Koniec Mesjasza Jerzego Żuławskiego

The title character of Andrzej Żuławski’s drama The End of the Messiah (1911) is a historical fi gure of a Turkish-Jewish apostate messiah — Sabbatai Zevi (1626–1676). Żuławski exposes in his play, which contains many Polish elements, the idea of Jewish messianism in a mystical and national sense and his representation of the Islamic Orient has a pessimistic and escapist message. Tadeusz Z. Kassern in his own adaptation of the drama in his lyric opera The Anointed (1949–51) removed all Polish threads and added one oriental character: the Muezzin’s voice, imitating an adhan — muslim call for prayer, which has a key importance for musical orientalism of the opera. Although it is presented with a relatively objective ethnographic accuracy, it creates an exotic background for the action — as a modern aspect of couleur locale. Muezzin’s voice is always heard in the scenes with exclusive participation of Jewish main characters (Sabbatai and Miriam), which emphasizes the relation of antithetical worlds (inside – outside) or opposition: Jewish characters – alien (exotic) Muezzin. Opera The Anointed is an emblematic example of the hybrid referentiality of Kassern’s musical orientalism.