PRELUDIUM | EARLY MUSIC DAY: POLISH RADIO CHOIR
Easter is a central event for the Christian world. It is full of solemn mystery and sublime spiritual joy, to which we are brought by the Mystery of the Passion and Death of Christ on Mount Calvary.
This mystery is experienced in various ways and forms, being often surrounded by surprising customs and rituals. For centuries, musical works composed on the occasion of the Paschal Triduum have been an inherent part of its celebration. Corresponding to this mystic atmosphere, the programme of the concert of the Polish Radio Choir will describe three scenes from the last moments of Jesus’s life by means of works of the most outstanding composers from the 16th till the 18th century. Orlando di Lasso’s Tristis est anima mea and William Byrd’s eight-part motet Ad Dominum cum tribularer will refer to Jesus’s prayer in the Garden of Olives. The act of carrying the cross will be described musically by Crux fidelis by the King of Portugal John IV (a patron, a composer, a collector of musical works and the founder of a large library) and Adoramus te Domine by Italian composer Claudio Merulo connected with the Venetian musical centre. The central point of the programme will be two eight-part works: Crucifixus by Antonio Lotti and Stabat Mater by Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina, preceded by a fragment of the choral antiphon Christus factus est pro nobis. The programme will be complemented by two five-part hymns of English composers from the Tudor era: Robert White’s Christe, qui lux es et dies and Thomas Tallis’s Jesu Salvator saeculi.
Performers:
Aleksandra Pirogowicz – soprano
Polish Radio Choir – Lusławice
Andrzej Zawisza – conductor
Programme:
Robert White (1538–1574) Christe qui, lux es et dies (III) a 5
Hortus Gethsemani
Orlando di Lasso (1532–1594) Tristis est anima mea a 5
William Byrd (1543–1623) Ad Dominum cum tribularer a 8
Via Crucis
Jan IV the Restorer, King of Portugal (1604–1656) Crux fidelis a 4
Claudio Merulo (1533–1604) Adoramus te Domine a 6
Antiphon Christus factus est pro nobis obediens usque ad mortem, mortem autem crucis…
Calvariae locus
Antonio Lotti (1667–1740) Crucifixus a 8
Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina (1525–1594) Stabat Mater a 8
Thomas Tallis (ok. 1515–1585) Jesu, Salvator saeculi a 5
Organizers
