This chapter examines the many roles played by signs in dissonant languages, that is languages no longer spoken on city streets, in the urban linguistic landscape. These ghost signs are examined in four cities designated by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) as World heritage sites: Toledo, St Petersburg, Palermo, and Lviv. Primary data comes from my fieldwork, which included site visits, participation in tours in relevant languages, interviews with tour guides and visitors, and analyses of UNESCO reports, tourist guides, media, and travelogues. A critical analysis of the data shows that multilingual ghost signs perform multifaceted urban identity work: promoting attractive narratives of harmonious past diversity, they recontextualize the cities as “welcoming” and “cosmopolitan” and deflect attention from present-day suppression of minority languages, be it Uzbek in St Petersburg or Russian in Lviv.

Poland’s loss of independence and the partition of its territory by the three neighbouring states (Russia, Austria and Prussia) had a significant influence on the development of musical life and institutions during the nineteenth century. In spite of some limitations, Polish theatres presented high artistic standards in Warsaw (Russian partition) and in Lviv (annexed by Austria). Krakow (part of the Austro-Hungarian empire) did not have a permanent opera stage, but the opera ensemble from Lviv was a frequent visitor.

From its first appearance on Polish stages, French opera – particularly the works of Meyerbeer and Massenet – was in competition with Italian works, as well as the German ones in the Prussian partition. Carmen was first staged in Warsaw in 1882, and then in Lviv and Krakow (both 1884). The libretto was translated into Polish, and translations of popular arias entered the repertoire of many soloists. This chapter will address the reception of Carmen in Poland, local and transnational influences on the circulation of operatic repertory and performance traditions, institutional collaboration and social and economic aspects of musical life at regional and European levels.