Friday, May 29, 2015

FRIDAY, MAY 29, 2015

QUOTE:
"The function of Art is to disturb. Science reassures."
AUTHOR: George Braque
MEANING OF THE QUOTE: 
"Science explains concretely but art makes you wonder."

COMPOSER
PENDERECKI

POLISH REQUIEM
Franciszek Starowieyski Posters - Retrospective
POLISH REQUIEM
1984 Version
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yN92JzGr0Ag

INFORMATION FROM THESE SOURCES:
POLISH CULTURAL INSTITUTE NEW YORK
http://www.polishculture-nyc.org/index.cfm?itemId=531&eventId=1572
KRZYSZTOF PENDERECKI TALKS ABOUT
Krzysztof Penderecki's Polish Requiem,
a large scale mass for four solo voices,
mixed choir, and symphony orchestra, was,
like most of his large compositions, written
in stages (individually as "stand-alones"
performed on isolated occasions) over a
period of several years (1980, 1984, 1993,
and recently 2005) and that is after taking
ten years to think through the concept
before even putting pen to paper.
"That is my method. I always seek the form first.
That is the most important thing. Then I sketch in
details, themes, motifs and development. You can
see the complete form better this way than if you
start at the beginning and write through to the end."
Dedicated to his country's suffering, the
piece makes references to the Polish
tragedies of the previous decade through a
number of originally unrelated occasional
pieces and commissions written for each event.
Written under the difficult period of
Martial Law, the Requiem was intended to
"cheer people's hearts,"
as the composer himself put it.
"Without the overall political
situation, without Solidarity,"
he explains,
"I would not have written the Requiem, even
though I had long been interested in the
subject. When composing the Requiem, I
wanted to take a specific position, to
say which side had my support."
Dedications of two kinds accompany the
Requiem's different parts: those that com-
memorate important events in the country's
history and those that distinguish people
whose conduct was heroic proof of their faith.

POLISH REQUIEM
LACRIMOSA
Penderecki, Conductor
The Royal Danish Orchestra

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=725_J7d4yU4
Roger van der Weyden: Descent from the Cross (detail)
It began back in 1980 when Solidarity
leader and former Polish-premier,
Lech Walesa, commissioned a piece
for the unveiling of a monument to the
memory of his fellow SolidarnoϾ
trade union members who perished in
December 1970 during the Gdansk uprising.
Penderecki recalls,
"Just one month before the unveiling I still
had not found the right text to inspire me.
I was conducting in Baden-Baden when I
came across a score of Verdi's Requiem.
The Lacrimosa seemed the perfect text
and I wrote it in one month."
Was he influenced by Verdi's music?
"Of course not!"

POLISH REQUIEM
http://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O117486/agnus-dei-panel-unknown/
The a-cappella Agnus Dei was completed in a single
night in 1981 and commemorates the death
of the composer's friend, the great Polish
churchman, Cardinal Wyszyñski,
to be sung at his funeral.
Quoting Penderecki,
"I got the news in the morning and I wrote
the Agnus Dei by that afternoon."
Stefan Wyszyński
POLISH REQUIEM
The first and the second parts of Dies Irae
LS Maxwell: Created for the Musical Work- Penderecki "Polish Requiem"
were commissioned in 1984 and written as a
dedication to the 40th anniversary of the Warsaw
Uprising and to the Polish resistance
POLISH RESISTANCE
LAUNCHES WARSAW UPRISING
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EbqAVcl9_Qc
against Nazi Germany.
Jan Chrzan: Warsaw Uprising

POLISH REQUIEM
RECORDARE, JESU PIE
Stained glass image of Kolbe as a concentration camp
prisoner, at the Conventual Franciscan
church of Szombathely, Hungary
The Recordare was written in 1982 for the
beatification of the Franciscan Maximilian Kolbe

the Polish priest who had died
(1941) giving his own life for that
of another prisoner.
0814-kolbe.jpg (360×574) In 1941, St. Maximilian was arrested and placed in a Nazi death camp. Shortly after, he died at Auschwitz, from a lethal injection, when he bartered his own life for a man’s who had a family. St. Maximilian is the patron saint of journalists, families, and the chemically addicted.
St. Maximilian is the patron saint
of journalists, families, and
the chemically addicted.

POLISH REQUIEM
LIBERIA ME, DOMINE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5d0SV09ILhM\
This piece remembers the victims of
the Katyn massacre, a series of mass
executions of Polish nationals carried
out by the People's Commissariat for
Internal Affairs (NKVD), also called the
Soviet secret police, in April and May of 1940.
At the time when the mass graves were
discovered this was considerd the
largest execution of this type.
The music is also heard in the
Polish, 2007 film, "Katyń."
http://georgetheother.blogspot.com/2006/02/communist-atrocities-01-katyn-forest.html

POLISH REQUIEM
LIBERA ANIMUS (FINALE)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OG_fRQ37weo
This large ending recapitulates all
the themes. The optimistic tone of
the music gives hope for the
end of Poland's suffering.
"Those were troubled times, times of change,
but we felt that things had to get better,"
the composer recalls.
"It is impossible to live without hope. I believe
that one day a new life will also dawn for Poland."

POLISH REQUIEM
SANCTUS

For the 1993 Penderecki Festival in
Stockholm, on the composer's 50th
birthday, he wrote a new Sanctus.
The complete Polish Requiem, with the
added Sanctus (1984 version), was
premiered by Mstislav Rostropovich
in Stuttgart on September 28, 1984, and
recorded for Deutsche Grammophon.


POLISH REQUIEM
CHACONNE
FOR STRING ORCHESTRA
Antoni Wit, Conductor
Warsaw National Philharmonic Orchestra

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I6rDbfxZkTk
Penderecki and Pope John Paul II
In 2005 Penderecki expanded
the work again with another additional
movement called Chaconne in
memory of the charismatic personality
of Giovanni Paolo II (Pope John Paul II).
Pope John Paul II
POLISH REQUIEM
1993 Version
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8dirmEYuZog
1.Introitus -3:43
2.Kyrie - 4:16
3.Dies irae - 1:39
4.Tuba mirum - 2:45
5.Mors stupebit - 6:06
6.Quid sum miser - 4:20
7.Rex tremendae - 1:59
8.Recordare, Jesu pie - 9:51
9.Ingemisco tanquam reus -12:11
10.Lacrimosa - 4:32
11.Sanctus -14:18
12.Agnus Dei - 6:56
13.Lux aeterna - 3:40
14.Libera me, Domine - 8:30
15.Offertorm - 6:20
16.Finale: Libera animas - 3:20
17.The Dream of Jacob - 8:49
ANALYSIS OF THE
DIFFERENT SECTIONS
FROM THE 1993 VERSION
INFORMATION FROM:
http://inkpot.com/classical/pendrequiem.html
I. INTROITUS:
A solemn, haunting dirge in the lower-strings opens the
introduction. The  chorus enters quietly with a recurrent
falling semitone-motif; first in multi-layered polyphonic
strands, climbing in strength to a full-bodied
unison to the closing words:
"… Hear my prayer,
unto Thee all flesh shall come.
Eternal Rest."
The seamless "melody" sung by the chorus is actually a
motivic mainstay throughout the entire work, and its
presence is always readily detected.
II. KYRIE:
The melodic material from the Introitus is continually in
use here, and further expanded; as the chorus
is joined by the vocal soloists.
III. DIES IRAE:
Rapid, descending figures in the woodwinds
and strings characterise this "Day of Wrath"
movement, almost suggesting balls of flame
descending upon the earth. Here is a glimpse of the
avant-gardist Penderecki: with his once customary noise-like
clusters and glissandi. The music is lent a sinister
quality throughout; so apt in expressing the
doom-laden ambience of the text.
IV. TUBA MIRUM:
Continued uninterrupted from the
preceding movement, the melodic "leitmotif," that has been
present ever since the Introitus, is taken up this time by
the bass-soloist, accompanied by a sinister
array of orchestral sounds.
V. MORS STUPEBIT:
The music gets increasingly menacing. A recurrent effect
is a sharp, chopped, "executioner's-axe" figure first
introduced by the violins which punctuate throughout the
movement. The fleeting Dies Irae figures make a
reappearance, followed by a large battery of percussion
as they accompany the chorus in invoking "Death," who
shall judge the world and let no wrong go unpunished.
VI. QUID SUM MISER:
The chorus chants a haunting cry for mercy that slowly
builds in intensity, and is finally shattered by the crash
of a gong. A pause... and the soft intoning returns.
VII. REX TREMENDAE:
A brief, recitative-like section for the bass-soloist, joined
shortly by the chorus, builds the momentum which is all
too suddenly lost in the prayerful Recordare.
VIII. RECORDARE, JESU PIE
The Recordare is where the musical and conceptual
relevance of the Requiem's Polish idiom is
most obvious. The melodic cell is derived from an
old Polish hymn "Swiêty Bože, Swiêty mocny"
which was first employed by Penderecki in his St. Luke
Passion. The mood here relaxes considerably from its
precedents, almost one of tranquility, save for a
slightly agitated middle section; in which the
text reflects on the suffering Jesus Christ.
IX. INGEMISCO, TANQUAM REUS:
Rapid, scurrying figures in the strings set the scene for
the chorus,'  this movement's main protaganist: silent
stutters, moans and groans; and a host of other effects
such as tremolando and glissando. A nervous tension
pervades, as the text concentrates on supplication.
X. LACRIMOSA:
The agitation gives way to an almost subdued
melancholy in a soft lament in the lower strings.
The soprano-solo enters gently and succeeds in
expressing the inherent sorrow in the text; as does
the chorus, which closes the movement in an aptly
resolute major chord to the words,
"… grant him eternal rest."
XI. SANCTUS:
In three distinct parts, the main motif is murmured
in the low strings amidst a backdrop of hushed,
sustained violins. This gives way to a passage on
solo clarinet, before the mezzo-soprano expands
the motivic material into the opening words. The
chorus and orchestra then bring the first section
to a beautiful climax. The central section,
Benedictus is first taken up by the solo tenor
before the combined forces sing both melodic
threads contrapuntally. A three-note motif from
the preceding Lacrimosa makes an appearance,
before the music dies gently away.
XII. AGNUS DEI:
Like the Lacrimosa before, tonality makes a strong
welcome return in this movement for a capella
chorus. The polyphonic writing is genuinely skilful;
it being pure joy just allowing one's ears to follow
any one vocal thread. Some portamenti is combined
with the generally conventional choral texture.
XIII. LUX  AETERNA:
Familiar motifs from the opening movement returns,
first in the whispering chorus; before murmuring
basses once again hum the Introit's beginning.
XIV. LIBERA ME, DOMINE:
More recurring motifs (from the Dies Irae, among
others) here; rapid, descending figures; stuttering
strings; "whirlwind" effects; lots of percussion …
all working together to rouse the atmosphere to
fever-pitch to the words,
"… I am in fear and trembling /
till the sifting be upon us,
and the wrath to come."
XV. OFFERTORIUM:
Lamenting violins gently nudge the soloists in their
quiet lament as the hymn "Swiêty Bože, Swiêty
mocny" returns. The solemnity in this movement
serves as the start of a grand crescendo; which
carries on into the closing Finale: Libera animas.
XVI. FINALE:  LIBERA ANIMAS:
In this section all the musical themes recur in
a grand orchestral, choral, and solo, tutti. A
finality ensues in the cymbal- crash and
timpani-roll in the last measure.
This piece, in one movement and lasting almost nine
minutes, was written in 1974. Penderecki found as his
source of inspiration a quote from Genesis 28:16,
"And Jacob awaked out of his sleep,
and he said,
Surely the Lord is in this place;
and I knew it not."
Although it is relatively tonal, it
closely resembles Ligeti's
György Ligeti
experiments into the field of sonority, where tonality
(or the absence of it) is largely secondary to the sonic
capabilities of the ensemble. Penderecki, the
experimentalist, is very much alive in this work; the
customary string-glissandi are all the rage here.
Twelve ocarinas
Ocarina
http://seocarinas.com/OcarinaHistory.html
OCARINA SOUND SAMPLES
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K4wk9XEpTtU
even lend a buzzing cascade of sound in
accompaniment to the opening's delicately
shaded colors. From this mysterious stillness
evolves a gnawing restlessness (effected by glissandi),
which allows the music to finally erupt in a fury of
turbulent sound (marked furioso and fortissimo in the
score); characterising Jacob's awakening.  After a
quasi-chorale section the music dies slowly away and
descends, like the beginning, with Jacob into sleep.
Pavel Filonov: Countenances (Faces on an Icon), 1940

Though born a Roman Catholic, Penderecki
wouldn't call his Requiem religious music.
"In the past I have used Hebrew and Russian
Orthodox Church music but my main inspiration
is the solid German 19th century symphonic
tradition and Renaissance polyphony."
Despite the historical and patriotic
significance of the Polish Requiem,
Penderecki denies it is a political piece.
"I don't write political music. Political music is
immediately obsolete. MyThrenody for the
Victims of Hiroshima remains important
because it is abstract music. The Requiem is
dedicated to certain people and events, but
the music has a broader significance."
The Requiem reflects Penderecki's new
pluralism. There are passages of music
made with pure tonality contrasted with
noisy sound clusters and polyphonic atonal
chromaticism. In the conclusions of some
of the movements there are added sounds
of haunting chimes, the death knell, to
create some very grave and austere intense
moments. The score calls for a big orchestra
with quadrupled winds, six horns, heavy
percussion, mixed chorus and four soloists.
Because of the dissonances, the division
of voices, and the rhythm, the music is very
challenging to perform yet, as referenced
by Penderecki, due to this it is also
"frighteningly expressive and emotional
but also melodic and accessible."
Speaking not only of its depiction of the
complicated destiny of his nation, but also
about universally human values like courage,
selflessness, and faith, Penderecki said
"I consider it a very special piece. I always
empathize with its performance."

Kasimir Malevich, 1927
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