Canticum Canticorum Salomonis is a choral composition by Polish composer Krzysztof Penderecki. It was finished in 1973.
The composition was commissioned by the Gulbenkian Foundation and took Penderecki from 1970 to 1973 to finish it. It was premiered in Lisbon on June 5, 1973. Werner Andreas Albert conducted the Gulbenkian Orchestra and Les Percussions de Strasbourg, together with the NCRV Vocal Ensemble, which considered the composition too difficult to be performed. [1] It is dedicated to Emil Breisach and was published by the Polish Music Publishing House and Schott Music. [2]
The composition, which is in one movement, takes approximately 16 minutes to perform, and uses an erotic text which is extracted from the Song of Songs. [3] [4] It is scored for a 16-voice choir and orchestra. [2]
Following is the complete text used in the composition: [5]
(Sponsa, Song of Solomon1:1-2,12) (Sponsus, Song of Solomon1:14) | (Sponsa, Song of Solomon1:15, Song of Solomon2:4-6) (Sponsus, Song of Solomon2:7) | (Sponsa, Song of Solomon2:8-9) (Sponsus, Song of Solomon2:10-11,13–14) |
The composition received mixed opinions by critics. Opinions from Polish critics ranged from "one of the best of Penderecki's works", by Malinowski and Michałowski, [6] and "colorful, subtle, elegant, and expressively discreet", by Zielinski, to remarks by Kaczynzki, who deplored the low dynamism of the composition [2] [7] and stated that the composition "deserved a warmer welcome, despite the incoherence of its texts". [8] Polish critic Marian Fuks described the musical style of the work as "lukewarm". [9]
Krzysztof Eugeniusz Penderecki was a Polish composer and conductor. Among his best known works are Threnody to the Victims of Hiroshima, Symphony No. 3, his St. Luke Passion, Polish Requiem, Anaklasis and Utrenja. Penderecki composed four operas, eight symphonies and other orchestral pieces, a variety of instrumental concertos, choral settings of mainly religious texts, as well as chamber and instrumental works.
Ivan Moody is an Anglo-Portuguese composer born in London, England in 1964. He studied composition with at London University, York University and privately with John Tavener. He also studied Orthodox theology at the University of Joensuu in Finland. Moody is active as a conductor, having directed ensembles such as Voces Angelicae, the Kastalsky Chamber Choir, Capilla Peña Florida (Spain), Cappella Romana, the Choir of the Cathedral of St George, Novi Sad, (Serbia) the KotorArt Festival Choir (Montenegro), the Orthodox Choir of the University of Joensuu (Finland) and Ensemble Alpha (Portugal); and as a widely published musicologist. His research interests include the music of Eastern Europe, especially 20th century and contemporary music from Russia and the Balkans, the music of the Orthodox Church in the modern era, music and spirituality, music as theology, Serbian church music, the aesthetics of modernism and post-modernism and their intersection with Orthodox church music and the musical culture of the Mediterranean.
Polish Requiem, also A Polish Requiem, is a large-scale requiem mass for soloists, mixed choir and orchestra by the Polish composer Krzysztof Penderecki. The Lacrimosa, dedicated to the trade union leader Lech Wałęsa, was written for the unveiling of a statue at the Gdańsk Shipyard to commemorate those killed in the Polish anti-government riots in 1970. He expanded the work into a requiem, writing other parts to honour different patriotic events over the next four years. The Polish Requiem was first performed in Stuttgart on 28 September 1984. Penderecki revised and expanded the work in 1993, and expanded it again in 2005 with the additional movement, Ciaccona. It is called Polish Requiem because its parts are dedicated to heroes and victims of Polish history. One of the better-known works by Penderecki, the mass largely follows the liturgical Latin of the requiem format with the addition of Święty Boże, the Polish translation of the Trisagion.
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Jerzy Katlewicz was a Polish music conductor, pianist and Professor of the Academy of Music in Kraków since 1990. Katlewicz graduated from the same Academy in 1952, and served as conductor of the Kraków Philharmonic between 1952 and 1958 during the period of Stalinism in Poland. He was appointed artistic director there a decade later, in 1968 and remained at his post until 1981. In 1961-68 he was artistic director of Polish Baltic Opera and Philharmonic in Gdańsk. In 1984–1985 he was artistic director of the Symphony Orchestra and Choir of the Polish Radio and Television state agency in Kraków. Katlewicz was the recipient of the Commander's Cross with Star of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland (1993), among other distinctions.
The Suite is a 1994 composition for solo cello by Polish composer Krzysztof Penderecki. The piece is well known for its typical chromatic melodies and for its recurrent use of pizzicati and col legno.
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