Krzysztof Penderecki Krzysztof Eugeniusz Penderecki (; 23 November 1933 – 29 March 2020) was a Polish composer and conductor. His best-known works include '' Threnody to the Victims of Hiroshima'', Symphony No. 3, his '' St Luke Passion'', '' Polish Requiem'', '' ...

's setting of the biblical

canticle In the context of Christian liturgy, a canticle (from the Latin ''canticulum'', a diminutive of ''canticum'', "song") is a psalm-like song with biblical lyrics taken from elsewhere than the Book of Psalms, but included in psalters and books su ...

Magnificat The Magnificat (Latin for "y soulmagnifies he Lord) is a canticle, also known as the Song of Mary or Canticle of Mary, and in the Byzantine Rite as the Ode of the Theotokos (). Its Western name derives from the incipit of its Latin text. This ...

was commissioned for the 1,200th anniversary of

Salzburg Cathedral Salzburg Cathedral () is the seventeenth-century Baroque architecture, Baroque cathedral of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Salzburg in the city of Salzburg, Austria, dedicated to Rupert of Salzburg, Saint Rupert and Vergilius of Salzburg, Saint ...

and premiered there on 17 August 1974 under the composer's baton. It is a vast work, being scored for bass vocal soloist, boys’ voices, seven other men’s voices, two 24-part mixed choirs and orchestra.

History

The commission came from Austrian broadcaster

ORF ORF or Orf may refer to: * Norfolk International Airport, IATA airport code ORF * Observer Research Foundation, an Indian research institute * One Race Films, a film production company founded by Vin Diesel * Open reading frame, a portion of the g ...

. The music was written in 1973 and 1974. The premiere was given by

Peter Lagger Peter Lagger (7 September 192617 September 1979) was a Swiss bass in opera and concert. He was a member of European opera houses, finally the Deutsche Oper Berlin, and appeared as a guest internationally. He took part in world premieres such as L ...

, the

Wiener Sängerknaben The Vienna Boys' Choir () is a choir of boy sopranos and altos based in Vienna, Austria. It is one of the best known boys' choirs in the world. The boys are selected mainly from Austria, but also from many other countries. The choir is a private ...

, the

Schola Cantorum Stuttgart Clytus Gottwald (20 November 1925 – 18 January 2023) was a German composer, conductor, and musicologist who focused on choral music. He was considered by music critics to be a key figure in contemporary choral music, and is known for his arra ...

, the ORF Choir and the

ORF Symphony Orchestra The Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra (German: ''ORF Radio-Symphonieorchester Wien'', or RSO Wien) is the orchestra of the Austrian national broadcaster Österreichischer Rundfunk (ORF). Unlike most other Austrian orchestras, the RSO Wien has a sub ...

. And the score was published by Schott.

Structure

The work is in seven movements: The duration is given as 40 minutes. The first section begins with a sustained note which grows to a

cluster may refer to: Science and technology Astronomy * Cluster (spacecraft), constellation of four European Space Agency spacecraft * Cluster II (spacecraft), a European Space Agency mission to study the magnetosphere * Asteroid cluster, a small ...

, into which the choir enters the initial text. The second section is a

fugue In classical music, a fugue (, from Latin ''fuga'', meaning "flight" or "escape""Fugue, ''n''." ''The Concise Oxford English Dictionary'', eleventh edition, revised, ed. Catherine Soanes and Angus Stevenson (Oxford and New York: Oxford Universit ...

in dense texture, with sub-divided voices and rich harmonies. In the third section, mercy (misericordia) is depicted by high

woodwinds Woodwind instruments are a family of musical instruments within the greater category of wind instruments. Common examples include flute, clarinet, oboe, bassoon, and saxophone. There are two main types of woodwind instruments: flutes and re ...

and strings with the voices in chordal clusters. The solo bass expresses power (potentia) in the fourth section, first juxtaposed by lower strings, then concluding alone but still with high intensity. The fifth section is a

passacaglia The passacaglia (; ) is a musical form that originated in early seventeenth-century Spain and is still used today by composers. It is usually of a serious character and is typically based on a bass- ostinato and written in triple metre. Origin Th ...

which includes declaimed text sung, spoken and whispered, reminiscent of Penderecki's earlier choral compositions. The sixth section is the most complex, with the voices and several instruments in exchanges, and solo voices corresponding to instrumental motifs. After a climax that "pivots between tonal stability and disintegration", with brass dominating but interjected by strings and timpani, the conclusion arrives in a "mood of anxious and equivocal calm".

Awards

Penderecki received the 1977 Prix Arthur Honegger for the work.

Recording

The composition was recorded by

Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra The Warsaw Philharmonic (full Polish name: ''Orkiestra Filharmonii Narodowej w Warszawie'', "National Philharmonic Orchestra in Warsaw"), as it is legally set up, is a Polish orchestra based in Warsaw. Founded in 1901, its home is the Warsaw ...

, conducted by

Antoni Wit Antoni Wit (born 7 February 1944) is a Polish conductor, composer, lawyer and professor at the Fryderyk Chopin University of Music. Between 2002 and 2013, he served as the artistic director of the Warsaw National Philharmonic Orchestra. Life a ...

, with Wojtek Gierlach as the soloist.Penderecki, K.: Magnificat / Kadisz (Warsaw Boys Choir, Warsaw Philharmonic Choir And Orchestra, Wit) Naxos In her review in ''The Guardian'',

Kate Molleson Kate Molleson is a Scottish radio presenter and music journalist. She presents on BBC Radio 3. Education Molleson grew up in various areas of Scotland, as well as in Canada's far north. She was interested in classical music as a child. She stud ...

noted that the composer wrote his early sacred music in defiance of the Communist regime in Poland and observed that Penderecki was in a period of transition from avant-garde composition to reminiscences of late-romantic music and his Magnificat mixes

tone clusters A tone cluster is a chord (music), musical chord comprising at least three adjacent musical tone, tones in a scale (music), scale. Prototypical tone clusters are based on the chromatic scale and are separated by semitones. For instance, three ste ...

and diatonic chords. On the recording, Magnificat is juxtaposed with Penderecki's ''Kadisz'' Kaddish"">Kaddish.html" ;"title="Kaddish">Kaddish" composed in 2009.

References

External links

Presseaussendung der Salzburger Festspiele / Nachruf zum Tod von / Krzysztof Penderecki
(in German) Salzburg Festival 29 March 2020 {{authority control Choral compositions by Krzysztof Penderecki Contemporary classical compositions Magnificat settings 1974 compositions