The Partita for Harpsichord and Orchestra, sometimes also referred to as Partita for

Harpsichord A harpsichord is a musical instrument played by means of a musical keyboard, keyboard. Depressing a key raises its back end within the instrument, which in turn raises a mechanism with a small plectrum made from quill or plastic that plucks one ...

, Electric Guitar, Bass Guitar, Harp, Double Bass, and Chamber Orchestra or ''Harpsichord Concerto'', is a composition by Polish composer

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'', '' ...

. It was finished in 1971 and is Penderecki's only major composition for a harpsichord soloist.

Composition

Penderecki's ''Partita'' was commissioned by the

Eastman School of Music The Eastman School of Music is the music school of the University of Rochester, a private research university in Rochester, New York, United States. Established in 1921 by celebrated industrialist and philanthropist George Eastman, it was the ...

Rochester, New York Rochester is a city in and the county seat, seat of government of Monroe County, New York, United States. It is the List of municipalities in New York, fourth-most populous city and 10th most-populated municipality in New York, with a populati ...

to commemorate the institution's 50th anniversary. The work was finished in 1971 and had its first hearing in Rochester on February 7, 1972, with Felicja Blumenthal playing the harpsichord and

Walter Hendl Walter Hendl (January 12, 1917April 10, 2007) was an American conductor, composer and pianist. Hendl was born in West New York, New Jersey. He studied at the Curtis Institute of Music and held various conducting and teaching positions throughou ...

conducting the Eastman School of Music Philharmonia. It was initially conceived as a Partita for Harpsichord; however, the electric guitar, the bass guitar, the harp and a double bass had a quite significant role in the work. Accordingly, when Penderecki revised the composition in 1991 and premiered the revised version on January 5, 1992, these instruments had credit as well. The second premiere took place in

Munich Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...

, with

Elisabeth Chojnacka Elisabeth Chojnacka (born Elżbieta Ukraińczyk; 10 September 1939 – 28 May 2017) was a Polish harpsichordist living in France. She was one of the world's foremost harpsichordists specializing in the performance of contemporary harpsichord mu ...

at the harpsichord, Michael Goltz at the electric guitar, Hans Lengefeld at the bass guitar, Han-An Liu at the harp, Matthias Weber at the double bass, and Penderecki himself conducting the

Munich Philharmonic The Munich Philharmonic () is a German symphony orchestra located in the city of Munich. It is one of Munich's four principal orchestras, along with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Munich Radio Orchestra and the Bavarian State Orche ...

Structure

The work is in only one movement. However, some sources suggest that the work can be divided into two sections, marked ''Allegro ma non troppo'' and ''Allegro molto'' in the score. No recording has divided the work into such sections. Even though the title of the composition may misleadingly suggest a standard suite of dances or dance-related movements, it is generally conceived as a concerto grosso and variation form. The compositions starts with the strings, which play long, asynchronical notes, some of them a semi-tone away. After that, a whole set of trills, fast arpeggios and uneven rhythms is displayed. It is worth mentioning the implementation of three cadenzas for harpsichord, which were added by the composer for the second premiere of the work.

Notable recordings

Here is a list of some of the most well-known recordings of this piece:

References

{{Authority control Harpsichord concertos Concertos by Krzysztof Penderecki 1972 compositions