Time 19:00
The Palace on the Isle in the Royal Łazienki Museum in Warsaw
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From innocent infatuation to a feeling that drives one toward great deeds – love is a universal theme, and thus so often chosen by poets and, following their lead, composers of all eras. It resonates particularly strongly in music written for the most natural of instruments – the human voice.
The concert of choral compositions will open with the first in a cycle of motets by the master of Renaissance polyphony, Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina, written to texts from the Song of Songs. The sensual mystery of one of the most extraordinary biblical books flows between the individual voices, uniting them into one mystical whole. Orlando di Lasso achieved the extraordinary ability to convey poetic content through the language of music, exemplified both by the madrigal Suna fede amorosa to the words of Petrarch, and the playful song Matona mia cara, a perfect parody of a German attempting to charm his lady love with his questionable linguistic skills. Luca Marenzio also stood out for his particular sensitivity to the word, conveying in his varied works not only the general mood of superb Italian poetry, but also illustrating the meaning of individual words and phrases through sound.
The madrigal tradition remained alive in the early Baroque, for instance, in the works of Alessandro Scarlatti, while the theme of love appears with full intensity in the Romantic era – in compositions by Mendelssohn or Brahms.
The program will also feature English music. We will hear John Dowland’s Can she excuse me, set in the rhythm of a galliard, along with the plaintive supplication Lay a Garland by Robert Lucas Pearsall, and the brilliant composition The Blue Bird by Sir Charles Villiers Stanford, who so often drew on the musical past. This composer is also remembered as an outstanding teacher, and his interest in traditional folk music undoubtedly inspired the folkloric explorations of his students, including Gustav Holst.
A sort of homage to the glory of early vocal music is offered by the French compositions included in the program. Maurice Ravel wrote his Nicolette in the style of a 16th-century chanson, and the influence of Renaissance masters can also be seen in Claude Debussy’s song Dieu! qu’il la fait bon regarder and the dreamlike Romance du soir by Camille Saint-Saëns.
The concert program concludes with a Polish accent – Kołysanka (“Lullaby”) by Jan Adam Maklakiewicz. Its simple strophic form and charming melody perfectly convey the depth of a feeling that brings hope: the song was composed to a poem written by Konstanty Ildefons Gałczyński in a prisoner-of-war camp, addressed to his wife.
PROGRAM
Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina – Osculetur me
Orlando di Lasso – Matona mia cara (lyrics Anonymous)
Orlando di Lasso – S’una fede amorosa (lyrics F. Petrarca)
Luca Marenzio – Vienne, Montan (lyrics J. Sannazaro)
Luca Marenzio – Amatemi ben mio (lyrics T. Tasso)
Luca Marenzio – Zefiro torna (lyrics F. Petrarca)
Luca Marenzio – Al primo vostro (lyrics Anonymous)
John Dowland – Can she excuse my wrongs (lyrics Anonymous)
Alessandro Scarlatti – Arsì un tempo (lyrics T. Stanzani)
Felix Mendelssohn – Entflieh’ mit mir und sei mein Weib Op. 41 No. 2 (lyrics H. Heine)
Johannes Brahms – In stiller Nacht z Deutsche Volkslieder WoO 34 (lyrics Anonymous)
Charles Villiers Stanford – The Blue Bird Op. 119 No. 3 (lyrics M.E. Coleridge)
Robert Lucas Pearsall – Lay a Garland (lyrics F. Beaumont and J. Fletcher)
Gustav Holst – I Love My Love z Six Choral Folk Songs Op. 36b (lyrics trad.)
Camille Saint-Saëns – Romance du soir Op. 118 (lyrics J.L. Croze)
Claude Debussy – Dieu! qu’il la fait bon regarder (lyrics Ch. d’Orléans)
Maurice Ravel – Nicolette from the cycle Trois Chansons (lyrics M. Ravel)
Jan Adam Maklakiewicz – Kołysanka (lyrics K.I. Gałczyński)
PERFORMERS
THE CHAMBER CHOIR OF THE POLISH ROYAL OPERA
RENATA SZCZYPIOR CONDUCTOR
Duration: approx. 1h
The seats in the auditorium are not numbered.
