Stanisław Gruszczyński

I wish to thank Richard J Venezia for the recordings.

Stanisław Gruszczyński was born near Vilnius. He was a factory worker first, and a super at the Teatr Wielki in Warsaw in his sparetime; then a waiter in Sosnowiec, where he also sang (still an amateur, but already taking voice lessons) in movie theaters. He made his debut in 1915 at the Teatr Nowości, a Warsaw operetta theater, as Boleslaw in Nedbal's Polenblut.

One year later, he was already hired by the Teatr Wielki (debut role: Radames), where he would stay for his entire career, though touring Germany, Portugal, Spain, Italy (the only country where he had no success), Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia, Romania and Bulgaria, and often the Polish provinces. He was the best-paid Polish singer of his time, and his humble origins notwithstanding, soon a wealthy man. His most important roles were Siegmund, Parsifal, Otello, Samson, Kazimierz (Hrabina), Giannetto (La cena delle beffe), Raoul, Vasco da Gama, Don José, Jontek, Młody król/The young king (Hagith by Szymanowski, 1922 world premiere); he premiered a lot of other contemporary Polish operas, too.

He had a fantastic voice, and a less than fantastic technique, plus a taste for drinking. Consequently, he had to retire in 1931: his voice was gone, although he tried the occasional comeback. By the time World War II broke out, he worked as a coachman. After the war, he returned to the Wielki as head of supers.

Reference: Teatr Wielki archives

I wish to thank Vladimir Efimenko for the picture and recordings (Eternamente, Otello).