Today, 15th August, we celebrate the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, which is a great opportunity to present you with a few musical publications on Marian themes, available at the Polish Music Library.
Among religious compositions, Marian themes have enjoyed great popularity for ages. It suffices to recall our Bogurodzica [Mother of God], which inspired Wojciech Kilar to compose expressive Bogurodzica for mixed choir and orchestra (1975) – the Gregorian melody from the Middle Ages resounds here as a quote.
Kilar is not the only contemporary Polish composer who reached for Marian themes. Having in mind Marian Songs by Henryk Mikołaj Górecki, it is worth mentioning works by Paweł Łukaszewski, for example, Ave Maria for two unaccompanied choirs (1992), where the incipit of the Angelical Salutation was developed in an innovative way, without losing its contemplative nature.
A more intimate musicalisation of this motif is Michał Lorenc’s piece from the film Prowokator in an arrangement for soprano and piano (organ) (1992), which, due to its composition, brings to mind the 19th-century tradition. In this context, it is impossible not to mention Franz Schubert, but we would like to draw your attention to less obvious examples of arrangements, such as Ave Maria from Studies op. 100 for piano by Johann Friedrich Franz Burgmüller (1852), and from the more contemporary ones – Ave Maria from the cycle Italia op. 50 for piano by Ludomir Różycki (1923).
Not to stop at Ave Maria alone, we also recommend a contemporary composition by Adam Walaciński Fantasia sopra “Ave Maris Stella” for solo violoncello (1997), the title of which was inspired by the place of its premiere – St. Mary’s Church in Kraków.
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