Paschal Mass

Christmas time is the moment when the world ceases to be ordinary. We will be introduced to this unique period by the Wrocław Baroque Ensemble under the direction of maestro Andrzej Kosendiak. Specializing in historical performance, the ensemble has prepared a program with Polish and Italian sacred music, thematically corresponding to the events commemorated in the rites of Holy Thursday, Good Friday and Easter Eve.

The concert will open Mikołaj Zielenski's motet In monte oliveti, intended for the first of these three occasions. The entire legacy of this composer that has survived to this day includes the two-part collection Offertoria et Communiones Totius Anni, published in Venice in 1611. The text of his work evokes Jesus' prayer in Ogrowiec and the words he addressed to Saint Peter: “the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.” This is a poignant image of the fearful Savior. We will be introduced to the mood of Good Friday by the traditional sequence showing the suffering of Mary under the cross. The Stabat Mater, with its thirteenth-century roots, has become the foundation of many outstanding musical works — from the Baroque works of Charpentier, Scarlatti or Pergolesi, to the twentieth-century works of Karol Szymanowski. The artists of the Wrocław Baroque Ensemble will perform it with the pens of Antonio Maria Bononcini. He was born in Modena, and the main centers of his activity were Rome, Vienna, and at the end of his life again the city in the Po valley. His Stabat Mater, despite its Italian character, is full of inner focus and restrained in expression.

Bononcini's contemporary composer on Polish soil was Grzegorz Gerwazy Gorczycki — a priest from Upper Silesia and chaplain of the Wawel Cathedral. It is not surprising, then, that he focused on religious creativity. This time the four-voiced Missa paschalis, which is part of it, will sound, intended for Easter. In it, the author combines European influences with Polish traditions manifested in the use of melodies of popular songs — Merry Day has come today and Christ the Lord has risen. The highlight of the concert will be the work of Mikołaj Zielenski. The evening will culminate with a solemn two-chorus motet Salve festa Dies from the Offertoria Totius Anni collection, in which the joyful “Alleluia” heralds the arrival of the most important feast of the liturgical year.