Time 17:00
The Royal Castle in Warsaw - the Great Assembly Hall
The concert is part of the Mid Europe Early Music Festival.
Johann Adolph Scheibe, an 18th-century theorist and composer, listed the Polish style as the fourth – next to Italian, French, and German – of the national European styles, thus indicating its high rank. Propagated especially by Georg Philipp Telemann, it is also reflected in the works of the greatest masters of the Baroque era – Johann Sebastian Bach and Georg Friedrich Haendel.
In the work of Johann Sebastian Bach, the rhythm of the polonaise is a symbol of power – both earthly and divine. Hence, arias and ensembles from his church cantatas celebrating the might of God are often given the form of the Polish dance. One of the best examples is the solemn chorus Ehre sei dir, Gott, gesungen from the famous Weihnachts-Oratorio, which will be heard at the end of the concert.
Georg Friedrich Haendel also saw the potential of the musical idiom from the Polish Commonwealth, as evidenced by the incorporation of a refined polonaise as the fourth movement of the Concerto Grosso Op. 6 No.3 (HWV 321). Haendel also used the characteristic rhythm and triple meter of the Polish dance in his operas, in a variety of musical contexts. In the aria of Oronto Ma non s’aspetti from Act II of Floridante, these typical features emphasize the character’s agitation, in Ariodante we find them in the passage expressing despair (Scherza infida), while in Partenope they resound in a declaration of love (Voglio amare insin ch’io moro).
PROGRAM
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750)
Nun komm der Heiden Heiland from the cantata Nun komm der Heiden Heiland
Mein Jesus will es tun from the cantata Alles nur nach Gottes Willen BWV 72
Ja, ja, ich kann die Feinde schlagen from the cantata Selig ist der Mann BWV 57
Ach, schlage doch bald, selge Stunde from the cantata Christus, der ist mein Leben BWV 95
Ein ungefärbt Gemüte from the cantata Ein ungefärbt Gemüte BWV 24
Polonoise-Double from Orchestral Suite No.2 in B minor, BWV 1067
Georg Friedrich Haendel (1685–1759)
Polonaise from Concerto grosso in E minor op. 6 No 3
Scherza infida from the opera Ariodante
Ma non s’aspetti from the opera Floridante
Voglio amare insin ch’io moro from the opera Partenope
La gloria in nobil alma from the opera Partenope
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750)
Ehre sei dir, Gott, gesungen from Weihnachts-Oratorium BWV 248 (SATB)
PERFORMERS
JULITA MIROSŁAWSKA SOPRANO
ANETA ŁUKASZEWICZ ALTO
KAROL KOZŁOWSKI TENOR
PAWEŁ MICHALCZUK BASS
THE PERIOD INSTRUMENTS ENSEMBLE OF THE POLISH ROYAL OPERA CAPELLA REGIA POLONA
JAKUB BURZYŃSKI CONDUCTOR
