koncert
dorośli
Festive concert
for the opening
Polish History Museum
Event information
01. When?
28/09/2023
hour 19:00
02. Where?
online broadcast
03. Ticket prices
transmisja online 0 zł
On September 28, 2023, in the new building of the Polish History Museum, a concert will be held to celebrate the opening of the Museum's seat at the Warsaw Citadel. In the first part we will hear Fryderyk Chopin's Preludes, Mazurkas, Ballades, Scherzos and Nocturnes performed by pianists Janusz Olejniczak and Tomasz Ritter. The second part will feature an extraordinary performance of Krzysztof Penderecki's Polish Requiem by the Krakow Philharmonic Choir and the Polish Sinfonia Iuventus Orchestra. Jerzy Semkow. The broadcast of the concert will be available on TVP Kultura, the retransmission on the 2nd Polish Radio.
Part I
Fryderyk Chopin
preludes, mazurkas, ballads, scherzos, nocturnes
will perform:
Tomasz Ritter - historical piano from the composer's time
Janusz Olejniczak - contemporary piano
Part II
Iwona Hossa - soprano
Anna Lubańska - mezzo-soprano
Rafał Bartmiński - tenor
Piotr Nowacki - bass
Conductor - Kirill Karabits
The Karol Szymanowski Choir of the Philharmonic
in Cracow
choir director: Piotr Piwko
The Jerzy Semkow Polish Sinfonia Iuventus Orchestra
Polish Requiem: a witness to Polish history
The world premiere of the work took place in Stuttgart on 28 September 1984. Composing it ‘to comfort the heart’ at the time of the birth of the Solidarity movement was undoubtedly an act of courage on the part of the composer, who decided to dedicate his opus to Poland.
If I had not lived through the war as a child, a very bloody one for our family as well as several of its members were murdered, I would not have been able to write such a piece.
The truth about Polish history
The dedications with which the successive parts of the work are labelled recall the truth about the experiences of Polish history, which was kept silent for years, and point to heroic testimonies of faith in the highest values.
Two parts of the Requiem were written in connection with the events of 1980–81. Lacrimosa Lament was written at the request of Solidarity for the ceremony of the unveiling of a monument to the victims of the December 70 Polish protests, symbolising the workers’ struggle against the communist regime. The performance of the piece in Gdańsk on 16 December 1980 during the ceremony that attracted nearly 2 million people, became a manifestation of the movement’s strength.
Upon hearing of the death of Primate Stefan Wyszyński in May of the following year, Penderecki composed the supplication prayer Agnus Dei for choir a cappella. It was performed during the funeral ceremony of the ‘primate of the millennium’, whose unyielding stance in defence of spiritual values against totalitarian power had a significant impact on the consciousness of Poles.
After the introduction of martial law, the composer’s imagination crystallised into the idea of creating a great cantata-oratorio form as a testimony to the memory of the tragic events of Polish history. In keeping with the tradition of the requiem genre, Penderecki drew on the successive texts of the funeral mass liturgy. He dedicated the first part of the Dies irae sequence to the Warsaw Rising - the heroic and tragic struggle for independence, the memory of which was destroyed by the communists. The second - Recordare Jesu pie - he dedicated to the memory of the sacrifice of Father Maksymilian Kolbe’s own life in Auschwitz. The part Libera me, Domine, based on the responsorial text and preceding the finale of The Polish Requiem, recalled the tragedy of Katyn - the truth about the murder of thousands of Polish officers by the Soviet authorities, which had been concealed for years.
After Poland regained independence, the composer included the laudatory Sanctus in The Polish Requiem, which shifted the work’s focus towards the symbolic ‘sphere of light’. Finally, Chaconne in memoria del Giovanni Paolo II, composed in 2005 after the death of the pope from Poland, closed The Polish Requiem as a whole.
Two parts of the Requiem were written in connection with the events of 1980–81. Lacrimosa Lament was written at the request of Solidarity for the ceremony of the unveiling of a monument to the victims of the December 70 Polish protests, symbolising the workers’ struggle against the communist regime. The performance of the piece in Gdańsk on 16 December 1980 during the ceremony that attracted nearly 2 million people, became a manifestation of the movement’s strength.
Upon hearing of the death of Primate Stefan Wyszyński in May of the following year, Penderecki composed the supplication prayer Agnus Dei for choir a cappella. It was performed during the funeral ceremony of the ‘primate of the millennium’, whose unyielding stance in defence of spiritual values against totalitarian power had a significant impact on the consciousness of Poles.
After the introduction of martial law, the composer’s imagination crystallised into the idea of creating a great cantata-oratorio form as a testimony to the memory of the tragic events of Polish history. In keeping with the tradition of the requiem genre, Penderecki drew on the successive texts of the funeral mass liturgy. He dedicated the first part of the Dies irae sequence to the Warsaw Rising - the heroic and tragic struggle for independence, the memory of which was destroyed by the communists. The second - Recordare Jesu pie - he dedicated to the memory of the sacrifice of Father Maksymilian Kolbe’s own life in Auschwitz. The part Libera me, Domine, based on the responsorial text and preceding the finale of The Polish Requiem, recalled the tragedy of Katyn - the truth about the murder of thousands of Polish officers by the Soviet authorities, which had been concealed for years.
After Poland regained independence, the composer included the laudatory Sanctus in The Polish Requiem, which shifted the work’s focus towards the symbolic ‘sphere of light’. Finally, Chaconne in memoria del Giovanni Paolo II, composed in 2005 after the death of the pope from Poland, closed The Polish Requiem as a whole.
Krzysztof Penderecki (1933–2020)
A world-renowned composer, conductor and pedagogue, Krzysztof Penderecki was one of the most eminent and internationally respected personalities not only in the field of music, but also in the broader field of culture and art. Winner of five prestigious Grammy Awards, whose rich and varied music has resonated on all continents for over half a century - above all in Europe, the Americas, Asia, but also in Australia. The artist’s stature was recognised in the form of the numerous national and international awards and titles he has received in various countries around the globe, the international festivals and competitions named after him, and, above all, by performances of his works by outstanding virtuosos and leading orchestras in the world’s most famous concert halls. He has received honorary doctorates from dozens of universities, was an Honorary Member of the most important artistic and scientific academies, as well as an Honorary Professor at many prestigious art schools.
Opening of the seat of the Polish History Museum at the Warsaw Citadel
As of the autumn of 2023, the Polish History Museum will be operating in its new building located at the Warsaw Citadel. The impressive edifice with an area of more than 44,000 sq. m will house, among others, a temporary exhibitions hall (1,400 sq. m) and a space for its future permanent exhibition (7,300 sq. m). Educational activities will be carried out in spacious class and workshop rooms and in an educational park outside the building. Cultural events, conferences, festivals, debates and other functions will be organised using the auditorium space (capacity: 577 persons) and the cinema-and-theatre hall (135). In the future, the building will also house food and drink facilities, a museum shop and a library.
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