Time
EVENT ONLINE
Retransmission on the Youtube channel of the Polish Royal Opera. The recording will be available until 20:00 on Sunday, the 13th of December 2020.
Magnum Mysterium – the great mystery of God’s incarnation is a rich source of inspiration for painters, poets, and composers. During the concert, we will first hear Benjamin Britten’s A Ceremony of Carols from 1942. The English composer wrote this series of Christmas songs during his sea voyage from the United States back to his native country. The inspiration for the cycle came directly from medieval poetry found in a book purchased by Britten during a stopover in Nova Scotia. Although each of the miniatures could be performed independently, integrating the processional introduction and the ending of the cycle in the musical score reinforced the tradition of performing the multi-part form in its entirety. The tender sound of the harp complements the remarkably angelic atmosphere of the composition.
The season of Advent and Christmas is a time of new hope. In his choral work The Lamb, John Tavener used a poem by the mystic William Blake, featured on one of the beautifully illuminated pages of the poet’s Songs of Innocence. The juxtaposition of a single simple melodic line and often dissonant chords carries a special kind of emotional expression. On the other hand, throughout There is an old belief composed at the end of his life by Charles Parry, a veteran of the First World War, resounds a great faith in reuniting after death.
The concert program will be crowned with Francis Poulenc’s motets written to the texts read during the Christmas liturgy. Composed in the eclectic style characteristic of the French artist, they depict four moments in the story of the Nativity. The cycle begins with the invocative Magnum Mysterium shrouded in an aura of mystery. In part two – Quem vidistis pastores dicite – anxiety and incredulity turn into an unwavering belief in a miraculous event. The third part tells the story of the star that illuminates the way for the Three Wise Men traveling from the East, and lastly, a joyful Hallelujah! resounds in the final Hodie Christus natus est.
PROGRAM
Benjamin Britten – Ceremony of Carols op. 28
John Tavener – The Lamb, lyrics William Blake
Charles Hubert Hastings Parry – There is an old belief from the song collection Songs of Farewell, lyrics John Gibson Lockhart
Francis Poulenc – Quatre motets pour le temps de Noël FP 152
PERFORMERS
THE CHORUS OF THE POLISH ROYAL OPERA
URSZULA NOWAKOWSKA-ŻWIRDOWSKA HARP
LILIANNA KRYCH CONDUCTOR
