Two Eucharistic Motets
for unaccompanied mixed choir
Paweł Łukaszewski, one of the most outstanding living Polish composers, born at the foot of Jasna Góra in Częstochowa, a composer of Polish sacred music infused with the spirit of his times, has written two eucharistic motets for the fifteenth anniversary of the Podlasie Opera and Philharmonic Choir – Stanisław Moniuszko European Art Centre in Białystok.
The first motet, O salutaris Hostia, refers to the tradition of Palestrinian polyphony. A texture full of simplicity, adhering to a prayerful mood, is broken up by gentle dissonances symbolising the agony of Christ. His salvation from pain and suffering is a C major chord that appears midway through the work and heralds the victory of life over death. In Ave verum Corpus, the Virgin Mary appears as the person closest to the dying Jesus. This eucharistic hymn begins with diatonic progressions suspended between the female parts in dissonances – like tears on the face of Jesus on the cross. It is worth noting the victorious ‘Amen’ at the end of the work, in a forte dynamic, that rings out in the final chord from piano to forte like an augury of Christ’s Resurrection before ending piano, vanishing into the universe.
Both works demand precision of the performers in terms of melody, harmony and intonation. The Latin texts address the mystery of the liturgy and the realm of the sacred. One senses in these motets the closeness of God, the pain and suffering of Jesus and his Mother, and at the same time also the hope and joy of the Resurrection.
Violetta Bielecka
translated by John Comber
- Redaktor: Agniesza Podsiadło
- Series: Coro
- ISMN 979-0-2740-3648-5
- Language of edition: pl, eng
- Cover: softcover
- No. of edition: 1
- Published: 2022
- Type: choral score
- Size: N4 vertical (235x305 mm)
