Carillonconcert 20 augustus 19:00 uur Monika Kazmierczak, beiaardier in Gdansk (Polen)

Prelude Matthias Vanden Gheyn (17721-1785) Preludio 5

Music for/from Gdańsk and

Gdańsk was a rich city, flourishing around 16th and 17th century. It was very much influenced by Flemish culture, hence the carillon appeared there already in 1561 in Main Town Hall, being one of the first outside the Netherlands and Flanders. Most of music life concentrated around StMary’s church known to be a biggest brick church in the world (I can see it every day from my office’s window) where City Council’s orchestra resided. Most of the city was destroyed in 1945 by Russian bombs. Nowadays Gdańsk was rebuild beautifully and is a big touristic attraction with three carillons.

Paul Siefert (1586-1666) Fantasia a 3 (arr. M. Kaźmierczak) A student of Sweelinck in Amsterdam, Siefert was known for his violent character and innovative way of playing. After many turbulences he finally became main organist in StMary’s church in Gdańsk.

Johann Valentin Meder (1649-1719) Chaconne (arr. M. Kaźmierczak) Kapellmeister of StMary’s church at the end of 17th century. After coming into debts and conflicting with the City Council which declined to stage his operas, fled to where he spent rest of his life.

Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) Selection from “Goldberg Variations” BWV 988 (arr. G. Bodden)

Johann Gottlieb Goldberg (1727-1756) Two Polonaises (from “24 Polonaises in All Keys”, arr. M. Kaźmierczak) Johann Gottlieb Goldberg was a talented virtuoso harpsichordist born in Gdańsk. His teacher was himself who dedicated him famous Goldberg Variations. Bach had more connections to Gdansk than just one student – once he showed interest in becoming one of city’s musicians. Unfortunately, the city wasn’t interested!

Friedrich Christian Mohrheim (1719-1780) Trio g (arr. M. Kaźmierczak) Student of Bach in , Kapellmeister of StMary’s church in Gdańsk where he was buried.

Poland Fryderyk Chopin (1810-1849) Prelude c op. 28 nr 20 (arr. M. Kaźmierczak)

Geert D’hollander (*1965) A Chopinesque Prelude (from Wellesley Studies) No need to introduce most famous Polish composer. Geert D’hollander wrote a study based on Chopin’s Prelude as one of his Wellesley Studies.

Stanisław Moniuszko (1819-1872) Valse in Ab major (arr. M. Kaźmierczak) One of the best known romantic and patriotic composers in Poland, author of national operas and many songs.

Karol Szymanowski (1882-1937) Mazurka op. 50 nr 1 (arr. C. Winter)

Szymanowski was a famous Polish composer and pianist. He drew much influence from Chopin and folk music, especially from Polish Highlands region. Like Chopin, he wrote a number of mazurkas (20) for piano, although in a very modern style.

For Gdańsk

Krzysztof Falkowski (*1996) Little variation for carillon (2019) Little variation is a first carillon piece, written by a young and promising student of Academy of Music in Gdańsk. The composer was inspired by a characteristic sound of carillon and decided to refer to historical functions of bells, such as announcing important events like Holy mass or assemblings. The piece was formed as a set of variations with a theme starting with a “call” based on rhythmical strikes of two bells, transforming into melody which appears in the piece.

Paweł Mykietyn (*1971) Stop (2020) One of the “hot” names in Polish modern music. The work STOP was written to a commission from the City of Gdańsk and Museum of Gdańsk to mark the 40th anniversary of the Gdańsk Agreement. The title expresses the beautiful, if perhaps somewhat naïve, dream of the victory of good over evil. May that dream ring out from the carillon of the Town Hall in Gdańsk – a city that has experienced both great good, with the creation of Solidarity, and great evil, with the murder of its mayor.

Katarzyna Kwiecień-Długosz (*1978) Ad Fontes (2020) Katarzyna is a composer from Poznań who was drawn to carillon’s beauty few years ago and composed several pieces performed worldwide, including Epitaph for Paweł Adamowicz, Mayor of Gdańsk wo was murdered in 2019. This work was the composers’ reaction to the situation surrounding the coronavirus pandemic. She completed it in the Holy Week of 2020, and dedicated it to all people who are looking for hope. The composer says: We can search for hope in various ways. For me, it was a natural reflex to reach for the biblical Book of Psalms. At this difficult time, Psalm 42 seemed especially evocative to me. In this text, the psalmist makes use of the image of an animal, a doe which wants to find a life-giving stream. That is why the title of my work contains the Latin phrase from Vulgate, “Ad Fontes” – “to the sources” – which can be understood in differently depending on the context. I believe that the time of the pandemic forces us, in a way, to reflect on the sources of our identity, humanity, and spirituality. It might even cause us to return to those sources. There are musical citations in this work, for example, a fragment of the melody of Psalm 42 from Jakub Lubelczyk’s Psalter from 1556, the oldest preserved Polish psalter. I was inspired to reach for those musical sources by the story of the carillon from the Gdańsk Town Hall, which was built at the same time. In my work, the melody from the psalter is transformed through variations, and the whole musical action can be summarized with the last verse of Psalm 42: “Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted in me?” Hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him for the help of his countenance.”

This piece will be followed by Jakub Lubelczyk (1530-1563) David’s Psalter: Ps. 42 (1556)