557149 bk Penderecki 30/09/2003 11:39 am Page 16 Quando corpus morietur, While my body here decays, DDD fac, ut animae donetur make my soul thy goodness praise, Paradisi gloria. safe in paradise with thee. PENDERECKI 8.557149 From the sequence ‘Stabat Mater’ for the Feast of the Seven Dolours of Our Lady St Luke Passion ∞ Evangelist, Christ and Chorus Evangelist, Christ and Chorus Kłosiƒska • Kruszewski • Tesarowicz • Kolberger • Malanowicz • Warsaw Boys Choir Erat autem fere hora sexta, et tenebrae factae sunt And it was about the sixth hour, and there was a in universam terram usque in horam nonam. darkness over all the earth until the ninth hour. Warsaw National Philharmonic Choir and Orchestra Et obscuratus est sol, et velum templi scissum est And the sun was darkened, and the veil of the temple was medium. Et clamans voce magna Iesus, ait: rent in the midst. And Jesus crying with a loud voice, said: Antoni Wit “Pater, in manus Tuas commendo spiritum meum.” “Father, into Thy hands I commend My spirit.” Consummatum est. “It is finished.” St Luke 23, 44-46 and St John 19, 30 ¶ Chorus and Soloists Chorus and Soloists In pulverem mortis dedixisti me. Thou hast brought me down into the dust of death… Crux fidelis… Faithful cross... Miserere, Deus meus… Have mercy, my God… In Te, Domine, speravi, In thee, O Lord, have I put my trust: non confundar in aeternum: let me never be put to confusion, in iustitia Tua libera me. deliver me in thy righteousness. Inclina ad me aurem Tuam, Bow down thine ear to me: accelera ut eruas me. make haste to deliver me. Esto mihi in Deum protectorem And be thou my strong rock, et in domum refugii, and house of defence, ut salvum me facias. that thou mayest save me. In manus Tuas commendo spiritum meum: Into thy hands I commend my spirit: redemisti me, Domine, Deus veritatis. for thou hast redeemed me, O Lord, thou God of truth. Ps. 30, 2-6 8.557149 16 557149 bk Penderecki 30/09/2003 11:39 am Page 2 Krzysztof Penderecki (b. 1933) “Neque tu times Deum, “Dost not thou fear God, St Luke Passion quod in eadem damnatione es. seeing thou art in the same condemnation? Et nos quidem iuste, nam digna factis recipimus: And we indeed justly; for we receive the due reward of Surprising as it now seems, the appearance in 1962 of supplements Luke’s gospel with a range of extracts hic vero nihil mali gessit.” our deeds; but this man hath done nothing amiss.” the Stabat Mater by Krysztof Penderecki caused from psalms, hymns and antiphons, giving the narrative “Domine, memento mei, “Lord! Remember me, something of a furore in avant-garde music circles. an emotional force it might otherwise lack. Moreover cum veneris in regnum Tuum.” when thou comest into thy kingdom.” Coming after radical orchestral works such as Threnody the diversity of choral and orchestral techniques “Amen dico tibi: hodie mecum eris in paradiso.” “Verily, I say unto thee: Today shalt thou be with me for the Victims of Hiroshima (1961) and Fluorescences employed was to prove paradigmatic for the succession St Luke 23, 39-43 in paradise.” (1962) [both Naxos 8.554491], the stark simplicity and of choral works Penderecki has since composed, Dies emotional directness of the choral piece led, not for the irae (1967), Kosmagonia (1970), Utrenja (1971), £ Evangelist and Christ Evangelist and Christ last time in the composer’s career, to accusations of Magnificat (1973), Te Deum (1979), Polish Requiem Stabant autem iuxta crucem Iesu mater eius, Now there stood by the cross of Jesus his mother, and being reactionary and turning his back on musical (1984), Seven Gates of Jerusalem (1996) and Credo et soror matris eius, Maria Cleophae, et Maria his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Cleophas, and progress. Four decades on, the Stabat Mater can clearly (1998). Magdalena. Cum vidisset ergo Iesus matrem, Mary Magdalene. When Jesus therefore saw his be seen as initiating the consolidation and synthesis that Part I opens with choir, organ and orchestra et discipulum stantem, quem diligebat, mother and the disciple standing by, whom he loved, Penderecki was to pursue thereafter, to varying degrees defiantly sounding out ‘O Crux’ at the start of Hymnus dicit matri suae: he saith unto his mother: and on different levels. 1, sub-divided, microtonal and chanted choral writing “Mulier, ecce filius tuus.” “Woman, behold thy son!” It is also worth bearing in mind Penderecki’s contributing to the supplicatory feel. The narrator Deinde dicit discipulo: Then saith he to the disciple: stance, as a progressive composer in the conformist describes Christ’s coming down from the Mount of “Ecce mater tua.” “Behold thy mother!” environment of post-Stalinist Poland, and as a devout Olives in Et egressus 2, and the bass expands on his St John 19, 25-27 Catholic in a nominally atheist society. The Stabat dread in the aria Deus meus 3. The soprano intensifies Mater was among the first open expressions of faith in the anxiety in the aria Domine, quis habitabit 4, ¢ Chorus Chorus Poland since the Second World War, and Penderecki complemented by febrile flute and brass, then lower Stabat Mater dolorosa At the Cross her station keeping did not hesitate to incorporate it into a more strings and brass graphically depict the betrayal and iuxta Crucem lacrimosa, Stood the mournful Mother weeping, comprehensive expression of his faith when the taking of Jesus, expounded by baritone and narrator at dum pendebat Filius. close to Jesus to the last. opportunity arose. In 1964 West German Radio Adhuc eo loquente 5. Solemn choral settings from commissioned a large-scale choral work to Lamentations at Ierusalem 6, and Psalms at Ut quid, Quis est homo, qui non fleret, Is there one who would not weep, commemorate the seven hundredth anniversary of the Domine 7, presage Peter’s denial at Comprehendentes Matrem Christi si videret whelmed in miseries so deep consecration of Munster Cathedral: the Passio et mors autem 8. After an aria of entreaty to the Lord, Iudica in tanto supplicio? Christ’s dear mother to behold? Domini nostri Iesu Christi secundum Lucam, to give the me, Domine 9, the mocking before the High Priest is St Luke Passion its full Latin title, was the outcome. vividly introduced by rushing strings and woodwind, Eia, Mater, fons amoris, O thou Mother, fount of love, That the year of its première on 30th March 1966 also and depicted by rasping chorus at Et viri, qui tenebant me sentire vim doloris touch my spirit from above, marked the thousandth anniversary of the introduction illum 0. The soprano now plangently recalls the fac, ut tecum lugeam. make my heart with thine accord. of Christianity into Poland, is a fact of which imploration to Ierusalem !, while the chorus looks for Penderecki must have been well aware. mercy in an impassioned Miserere mei, Deus @. Part I Fac, ut ardeat cor meum Make me feel as thou hast felt, Scored for soprano, baritone and bass soloists, ends with the scene of Jesus before Pilot at Et surgens in amando Christum Deum, make my soul to glow and melt narrator, chorus, boys’ chorus and orchestra, the St Luke omnis #, narrator, baritone and chorus underpinned by ut sibi complaceam. with the love of Christ, my Lord. Passion takes as it model the Passions of Bach: the striking orchestration to powerfully dramatic effect. events leading up to the Crucifixion related in an Part II opens with a sombre choral depiction of the Christe, cum sit hinc exire, Christ, when Thou shalt call me hence, ongoing sequence of narratives, arias and choruses, Way of the Cross to Golgotha at In pulverem mortis $, da per Matrem me venire be thy Mother my defence, with the narrator taking the rôle of the Evangelist, and joined by the narrator at Et baiulens sibi crucem %, ad palmam victoriae. be thy Cross my victory. the solo singers assuming those of Christ, Peter, Pilate before the sustained passacaglia of Popule meus ^, an and other biblical figures as necessary. The text emotional highpoint of the Passion and a telling 8.557149 2 15 8.557149 557149 bk Penderecki 30/09/2003 11:39 am Page 14 Ecce lignum Crucis, Behold the wood of the cross example of Penderecki’s deployment of advanced Stabant autem £ prepares for the extended in quo salus mundi pependit. on which has hung the Salvation of the World. musical techniques to elicit timeless expression. The unaccompanied setting of Stabat Mater ¢ an Good Friday Veneration of the Holy Cross, refrain Crucifixion is simply and movingly depicted at Ibi expressive and musical distillation of the emotional from the hymn ‘Pange lingua’; Antiphon to crucifixerunt eum &, then unfolded in searching terms charge pervading the whole work. The Death of Christ Unveiling of the Cross by soprano in the aria Crux fidelis * . Christ’s is summarily depicted at Erat autem fere hora sexta ∞, forgiveness is noted at Dividentes vero (, then the then apostrophized in moving orchestral terms §, chorus vividly imagines the humiliation of the body in before the Passion draws to a conclusion with In Te, ( Evangelist, Christ and Chorus Evangelist, Christ and Chorus an extended setting of In pulverem mortis ). The Domine, speravi ¶, soloists, chorus and orchestra Iesus autem dicebat: Then said Jesus: mocking of Christ on the Cross is depicted in suitably joining in a powerful call for deliverance and “Pater, dimitte illis, non enim sciunt, quid faciunt.” “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” harsh terms at Et stabat populus ¡, then the bass and redemption.