MELODIES FOR THE POLISH PSALTER / MIKOŁAJ GOMÓŁKA

Live streaming available on the YouTube channel of the Polish Royal Opera (access only during the live performance).

Melodies for the Polish Psalter by Mikołaj Gomółka are among the most important treasures of the musical culture of the Polish Renaissance. The work has survived to this day thanks to the preserved Krakow edition from 1580 and is one of the first attempts to make the Polish language more musical. The use of a translation of the psalms by Jan Kochanowski means that we are dealing with a work that is unique both in terms of text and music.

Born in Sandomierz, the future composer spent several years in service at the court of King Zygmunt August. It is there that he had the opportunity not only to gain experience as an instrumentalist in the most interesting cultural centre in the Republic of Poland but also to meet the most important Polish composers of the time. However, the collection of 150 four-part compositions was created only after leaving the court. The initiator of this original undertaking was most probably Bishop Piotr Myszkowski, a patron of Kochanowski and an aficionado of the mother tongue and national music.

Gomółka’s four-voice psalms perfectly fulfil the role of a universal “work for everyman”. Despite the religious text, they were not intended to serve the liturgy and their purpose was rather domestic communal music-making. The arrangements are therefore quite simple, yet Gomółka did not abstain from the use of – sometimes very sophisticated – means of musical text illustration. Various melodic, rhythmic or harmonic solutions, in line with the Renaissance convention, reflect not only the general character of the pieces but also the meaning of individual words. An attentive ear will notice these techniques, including the dissonant sound that accompanies terms related to evil, sin and death, a falling melody that often illustrates the words “earth”, “fall” or “deep”, as well as small rhythmic values representing the terms associated with fast movement.

PROGRAM

Psalms (instrumental version):
16 O, który siedzisz na wysokim niebie,
4 Wzywam Cię, Boże

Psalm 6 Czasu gniewu i czasu swej zapalczywości

Psalm 142 Pana wołam, Pana proszę

Psalms (instrumental version):
86 Nakłoń o Panie uszu swoich,
53 Głupi mówi o sercu swoim,
83 Boże, moja nadziejo

Psalm 32 Szczęśliwy, komu grzechy odpuszczono

Psalm 22 Boże, czemuś mię opuścił

Psalms (instrumental version):
11 Panu ja ufam,
20 Wsiadaj z dobrym sercem,
28 Królu niebieski

Psalm 51 Boże w miłosierdziu swoim nieprzebrany

Psalm 130 W troskach głębokich ponurzony

Psalms (instrumental version):
45b Serce mi każe śpiewać,
97 Pan nasz, Bóg nasz panuje, niech się Ziemia raduje

Psalm 140 Broń mię, mój Panie, od ludzi złośliwych

Psalm 103 Błogosław duszo moja, Panu swojemu

PERFORMERS

IWONA LUBOWICZ  SOPRANO
ANETA ŁUKASZEWICZ MEZZOSOPRANO
MIKOŁAJ ZGÓDKA TENOR
KRZYSZTOF ŁAZICKI BARITONE

THE CHAMBER CHOIR OF THE POLISH ROYAL OPERA

THE ORCHESTRA OF THE POLISH ROYAL OPERA

JACEK URBANIAK MUSICAL ARRANGEMENT

RENATA SZCZYPIOR CHORUS MASTER

TADEUSZ KAROLAK CONDUCTOR