Bolska Adela (Adelajda), actually A. Skąpska, marital surname Dienheim-Szczawińska-Brochocka, * 4(16) February 1893 or 1864 Kessemouki (Bessarabia Governorate, now Moldova), †29 November 1930 Tallinn, Polish singer (soprano). In 1883–1888, she studied singing at the Moscow Conservatory with G. Galvani and F. P. Komissarzhevsky; she graduated from the university with a silver medal. During her studies, she took part in concerts of the Russian Musical Society. She continued her education in a master’s class at La Scala in Milan. In the 1888/1889 season, she performed at the Manzoni theatres in Milan and at the Dal Verme theatre in Lodi. In the 1889/1890 season, thanks to Tchaikovsky’s recommendation, she began performing at the Moscow Grand Theatre. She appeared there, under the name Skąpska, until the end of the 1891/1892 season as Pamina in The Magic Flute, Goryslava in Ruslan and Ludmila, Tatiana in Eugene Onegin and Elsa in Lohengrin. In the autumn of 1892, she went to Paris, where she improved her vocal skills with C. Miolan-Carvalho and participated in concerts by Ch. Lamoureux and É. Colonne. In 1893, she married Count A. Dienheim-Szczawiński-Brochocki and interrupted her career. She returned to performing in 1896 under the pseudonym Bolska. The next season, she joined the Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg. She remained associated with this stage until 1918 (from 1902 as a soloist at the court of His Imperial Highness), performing her previous roles there, as well as the role of Margaret in Huguenots, Sieglinde in Valkyrie, Volkhovna in Sadek, Marfa in The Tsar’s Bride, Nale in Nali and Damajanti by A. Arensky, Sefiza in S. Taniejev’s Amor’s Revenge, Masha in C. Cui’s Captain Daughter, Ewa in The Nuremberg Songs and the title role in Tchaikovsky’s Iolanta. She appeared as a guest on opera stages and concert stages in Paris, London, Vienna, Bayreuth and Warsaw. She was active in the St. Petersburg Polish community, giving charity concerts for Polish associations. From 1901, she led the efforts of a group of Polish activists to erect a monument to Chopin in Warsaw. In 1918, she was dismissed from the Mariinsky Theatre for her aristocratic origins. In 1919, she began working in the singing class of the Petrograd Conservatory. In the autumn of 1923, she left for Poland. Initially, she settled in Vilnius, teaching at the local conservatory, and in 1925, she moved to Warsaw and opened a singing class at the F. Chopin Higher School of Music, run by WTM.
Literature: L. J. Kronenberg, Wspomnienia, Warsaw 1933; E. Stark, Pietierburgskaja opiera i jejo mastiera 1890–1910, Leningrad-Moscow 1940, p. 35–41; M. Ankudowicz-Bieńkowska, Polskie życie muzyczne w Wilnie lat II Rzeczypospolitej, Olsztyn 1997; M. Ivanowa, Adela Bolska (1863–1930), translated by J. Kazem-Bek, “Muzyka” 2008, No. 3, p. 87–103 (bibliography); M. Iwanowa, Pomnik Fryderyka Chopina, series “Polonica Petropolitana,” St. Petersburg 2011; W. Antonczyk, Polscy muzycy w dziewiętnastowiecznym Petersburgu, doctoral thesis defended at the University of Warsaw under the supervision of A. Żurawska-Witkowska, Warsaw 2019; W. Antonczyk, M. Dziadek, Adela (Adelajda Bolska), entry [in:] Polski Petersburg [https://www.polskipetersburg.pl].
