Meet Your Maker: Polish Composers on Sacred Music

organy-gdansk-forum-0582409104-s.jpg, default, Church organ pipes inside St. Mary's Basilica in Gdańsk, photo: Łukasz Dejnarowicz / Forum, center, #000000

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The music of Polish composers ranging from the 12th to 21st centuries is being performed at the Joy & Devotion festival in London in November 2021. What do the authors of these inspiring works have to say about writing sacred music?

‘I hope it will not be considered blasphemy, but the role of the artist is to try to face one’s creator,’ said Wojciech Kilar in an interview with Anna Sekudewicz in 2001, right after the Warsaw premiere of Missa pro Pace (Mass for Peace). ‘I mean this is an attempt, of course in terms of our earthly dimension, to repeat the act of creation.’ Kilar also emphasised that, apart from the creator and performer, the work also needs a recipient:

And whether something has really been created, namely whether it is alive or whether it is a dead embryo, that’s decided by the audience.

The audience at Joy & Devotion will hear the performance of Kilar’s Dona nobis Pacem (Give us Peace), an excerpt from the aforementioned mass. The composer claimed that it was not an easy piece: kept in slow tempos, modest, delicate, devoid of flashiness. It is more like a humble mass in a mediaeval monastery. He recalled the words of the musicians who, while performing the piece, spoke of relief, tranquillity and inner contemplation.

Henryk Mikołaj Górecki also pointed to the slow pace of his works: ‘Every conductor wants to bring my music to life, but that's not the point. You need time to listen to Górecki's music.’ During the round table discussion at the Academy of Catholic Theology in 1988, the Silesian composer said:

For me, music is the result of religious concentration and meditation. All the notes, drawn on the staves, are a commentary on these matters and things that I see and experience. I enjoy what I see and I admire the Someone who created it all.

The London audience will get to hear his Totus Tuus. The conductor and musicologist, Father Kazimierz Szymonik, as the artistic director of the UKSW Choir responsible for commissioning this work, said:

Many choirs sing Totus Tuus, but it is not a song that can be sung anyhow or anywhere – it has to be the right place, the right space and the right atmosphere for this piece to sound right.

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Krzysztof Penderecki & Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński, 1975, photo: PAP / Tadeusz Zagoździński

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‘I am tempted by the sacred as well as the profane, God and the devil, the sublime and its transgressions,’ declared Krzysztof Penderecki. The Dębica-born author of many wonderful secular and sacred works explained:

My art, growing out of deeply Christian roots, aims to rebuild a human metaphysical space, shattered by the cataclysms of the 20th century. Restoring the sacred dimension of reality is the only way to save mankind.

During the Joy & Devotion festival, The Gesualdo Six will sing Benedicamus Domino, a piece composed by Penderecki in 1992, which later became part of Missa Brevis. The composer emphasised that the choral pieces he composed – even the one written during the period he was close to avant-garde brutalism – were always stylistically similar to each other.

Andrzej Panufnik said that work is a form of prayer for him. Later in life, he kept a certain distance from the church, but Catholicism was always an important reference point for him, also in terms of aesthetics. The audience gathered at the London church of St Martin-in-the-Fields will be able to hear one of the last works written by the composer, Prayer to the Mother of God at Skępe from 1990, later completed by his daughter, Roxanna Panufnik. Having lived in Great Britain from 1954 until his death, the composer wrote:

My good friend, the poet Jerzy Pietrkiewicz, introduced me to his passionate poem devoted to Our Lady of Skępe, and he wanted me to write music for it. The poem itself was so beautiful that it seemed to me that there was little that my music could add. Therefore, I only wrote a musical frame to the original Polish words, treating them with full respect, in a way that I hope preserves the intensity and fervour of the poem.

And what do young composers of the younger generation: Aleksandra Chmielewska, Łukasz Farcinkiewicz, Anna Rocławska-Musiałczyk and Aleksander Jan Szopa have to say about their approach to the sacred in music?

What is spirituality in music?

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Aleksandra Chmielewska, photo: Ruben Lopez Fernandez / courtesy of the subject

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Aleksandra Chmielewska: Spirituality in music, for me, is the result of an act – quite extraordinary – of ‘enclosing’ human energy in a piece of music. The transfer of some kind of personal vibration from the creator to the work of art. For me, art is one of the most perfect forms of the manifestation of spirituality in the mortal world – Wassily Kandinsky wrote about this subject in his treatise On Spirituality in Art, which I found very inspiring.

Besides, it’s a very broad concept. I’m interested in spirituality; I intensively search for its traces in the world, but it’s worth emphasising that I don’t treat any religion as the only right one.

Anna Rocławska-Musiałczyk: Spirituality is extremely important to me and I try to take care of this area of my life in various ways. It can be difficult, because everyday life often overwhelms us. Much of my work is based on religious music. I try to make composing a process in which I realise my creative and spiritual needs. When writing a piece, I try to address a particular issue in the field of faith. Sometimes when composing, I’m inspired by a text that has a spiritual dimension. In the case of vocal or vocal-instrumental pieces this is obvious, but I also mean instrumental music.

Finally – spirituality is truth, for me. I try to create in harmony with myself, which is not easy in the context of criticism from our musical environment.

Łukasz Farcinkiewicz: We should distinguish between two phenomena: music intended for the liturgy and music relating to spiritual matters, metaphysics and God. I would prefer not speaking too broadly on the first topic – this is for the relevant Church commissions deciding what is worthy of being performed during the liturgy and what is too mundane. One can discuss each church song individually or each piece of classical music – and probably everyone would have a different opinion on their suitability for the liturgy. Some advocate limiting ourselves to Gregorian chant, others are more liberal in this regard. In the end, what matters is how we conduct ourselves in our daily lives – what kind of person one is.

The subject of music connected with the spiritual sphere, existing outside the liturgy, but still referring to God, religion or the sacred is much broader. Everything depends on the intentions of the composer as well as the listener, on their susceptibility and sensitivity to religious themes. For me, as a listener, many pieces fall within the scope of this theme. If you watch a programme on the National Geographic channel showing the wonders of nature – and nature was, after all, created by God – for me we are already talking about sacred, spiritual themes. I have the same feeling when I listen to majestic film music or the opening credits of a news programme. I associate it with majesty, the majesty of God. The composer probably had no such intention, we can be almost sure of that.

As you can see, it’s difficult to define this topic. It’s even more difficult to put it into chords, to choose the type of instrumentation that would give it its proper character.

Aleksander Jan Szopa: Music is a means of expressing emotions, it strongly stirs the spirituality of man, allows one to break away from the surrounding reality and to rise to the heights of spirituality. Music, therefore, can be a prayer of beseeching, thanksgiving, as well as praise to God.

What is sacred music?

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The altar made by Wit Stosz in 1477-1489, St. Mary's Church in Kraków, photo: Jakub Porzycki / AG

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Paweł Łukaszewski, artistic director of the Joy & Devotion festival: The Second Vatican Council was unequivocal about the sacred in music. The Council documents say this: ‘Let musicians, imbued with the Christian spirit, know that they are called to cherish sacred music and to enlarge its treasury. Let them create melodies that have the characteristics of true church music.’ It follows that a vocation to create sacred music is of fundamental importance; in short, not everyone can create it. The Council goes on to say: ‘The aim of such music should be to stimulate reflection in man, to stimulate his inner life, to sanctify or renew his image of God,’ and ‘works not born of religious conviction do not radiate faith, they are not true art.’ It’s not only about the depth of faith, but about its authenticity and truthfulness. I think that especially in sacred music one has to write the truth.

(Paweł Łukaszewski, Touching the Depth, interview with Beata Młynarczyk, Dysonanse [Dissonances] No 4/1998)

Anna Rocławska-Musiałczyk: Professor Paweł Łukaszewski makes a clear distinction between religious and sacred music. There is something in it. Religious music can be more general. Besides, different cultures perceive religiousness differently. The sacred is connected with something very special, which is difficult to describe. With something very individual, which can be felt by a believer – everyone perceives it differently.

I don't know if my music is sacred or religious – I’m not able to judge it. I think everyone should interpret it for themselves. There are pieces that I composed with a very particular, spiritual attitude – then, as a believer myself, I can say that I was trying to reach the sphere of the sacred. I won't reveal which pieces these are. The listener should be free from the composer's opinion, especially in this matter.

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Aleksander Jan Szopa, photo: Mateusz Żaboklicki / courtesy of the subject

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Aleksander Jan Szopa: The word ‘sacred’ comes from the Latin word ‘sacrum’, meaning a sphere of holiness. When combined with music, the term is understood as music used to glorify God.

Aleksandra Chmielewska: I’m not sure I can answer this question, because I don’t fully identify with any religion and I don’t consider any religion to be the only right one. I associate the concept of ‘sacrum’ with the highest form of energy, the closest to God, the most enlightened. Following David R. Hawkins, I believe that we, the creators (as well as all other people), are on different levels of consciousness, and thus we are ‘carriers’ of spiritual content of various qualities. Thus, composers who are at the highest levels of consciousness (enlightenment, peace, joy, love) have access to the spiritual content closest to God, closest to the sacred. And the same ‘divine’ energy is carried by their music.

Łukasz Farcinkiewicz: I will give examples of songs that, in my opinion, touch the sacred in a marvellous way. It is definitely worth mentioning the work of contemporary British artists: Seek Him That Maketh the Seven Stars by Jonathan Dove, Gloria by John Rutter, Ubi Caritas by Paul Mealor and Psalm 104 by William Lovelady (outstandingly performed at the funeral of Philip, Duke of Edinburgh). I would also mention Trinity Te Deum by Ēriks Ešenvalds from Latvia and works by Paweł Łukaszewski, especially About Sapientia, Psalmus 102 and Nunc Dimittis – all of them can be found recorded in a great performance of the Choir of Trinity College. These are examples only, this is not the entire list. From early music, I would certainly mention Miserere by Gregorio Allegri and Os Justi by Anton Bruckner.

How do you reference the history of music in your own work?

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Anna Rocławska-Musiałczyk, photo: courtesy of the subject

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Anna Rocławska-Musiałczyk: The repertoire of the past is important to me. It brings us closer to the place where humanity used to be – thanks to this, we can try to look at our music from a distance.

Besides, it’s an inspiration for me. Referring to the past can be creative and fresh. Especially since everyone listens to and uses it in a different way. It can help us understand certain processes in music, suggest new solutions and make us realise that there are some things we can do better. I don’t close myself off to music from the past; I look for opportunities to experiment and deconstruct it – in a positive sense.

I used to think about studying archaeology. It didn’t work out, but referring to the music of the past is a kind of quest for me. A bit like looking for hidden treasures on a desert island.

Łukasz Farcinkiewicz: With respect. As with everything that came before us. Without it there would be no us, no status quo. It is impossible to avoid the past. Art from the past can be an inspiration, a point of reference for the contemporary artist. As, for example, in the case of Tadeusz Baird, who combined tradition with modernity – he created a synthesis.

Aleksandra Chmielewska: Sometimes I use tonal consonance and use old, proven compositional techniques – such as fugato or fugue. However, I try not to imitate the idioms of given composers and not to use inspirations that are too literal, so as not to limit my own sensitivity.

The exception is the piece Nunc Scio Vere, which was commissioned by Sławomira Raczyńska and the band Minimus, where the assumption was to refer to the music of Wacław of Szamotuły. In it, I referred to a piece by Szamotulski of the same title, using, inter alia, quotes from his compositions.

Which artists and phenomena inspire you in composing music related to the sacred?

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Łukasz Farcinkiewicz, photo: Jarosław Olejnik / courtesy of the subject

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Łukasz Farcinkiewicz: Sometimes I find myself turning to early music, which is unavoidable. An example is the middle part of Pater Noster for female choir and piano (from 2:55), or Canticum Novum for mixed choir (the beginning).

Aleksandra Chmielewska: It’s difficult for me to name them, I try not to limit my sensitivity by idealising a given composer and observing ready-made solutions. Certainly, in a more or less conscious way, I have soaked up the influence of Paweł Łukaszewski, my professor at the FCUM, who made me sensitive to various aspects of choral music, building my craft when it comes to this branch of composing.

Anna Rocławska-Musiałczyk: I love the work of composers of 20^th- and 21^st-century music, both Polish and foreign. I like to reach for Arvo Pärt's works, his musical space and silence, which he manoeuvres like no one else. On the other hand, I like to immerse myself in the world of David Lang and his minimalist approach to the artistic message.

I believe that a composer, especially a young composer – which I still think I am – should listen to a lot. This is fundamental in developing our creative craft.

I am also inspired by other fields of art – temple architecture, paintings, photographs, films, travels, or texts taken from the Bible. The influence exerted by the choice of language, in which the text is sung, on the shape of the composition is also interesting. Polish, English, Latin – each of these languages requires a different approach to music.

Aleksander Jan Szopa: Many 20^th- and 21^st- century music composers inspired and still inspire me to compose sacred music. They are mainly Paweł Łukaszewski, of whom I am a student, Stanisław Moryto, John Tavener, James MacMillan and many others. Their songs are close to my understanding of spirituality. In addition to the composers of the 20th and 21st centuries, I greatly appreciate the works of Johann Sebastian Bach, and above all, his great Mass in B minor, BWV 232.

What is a choir? What are its compositional possibilities?

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Concert of Polish sacred music performed by the Guri Santa Marcelina youth choir conducted by Agnieszka Franków-Żelazny, 22 June 2017, Paróquia Nossa Senhora Auxiliadora in São Paulo, photo: Roberta Borges

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Koncert polskiej muzyki sakralnej w wykonaniu chóru młodzieżowego Guri Santa Marcelina pod batutą Agnieszki Franków-Żelazny, 22 czerwca 2017, Paróquia Nossa Senhora Auxiliadora w São Paulo

Aleksander Jan Szopa: The choir is an instrument consisting of female and male singers. The human voice is the most beautiful instrument, which not only speaks and sings, but can also perform various effects, such as whispers, murmurs, calls, etc., giving the composer great opportunities to utilise them.

Anna Rocławska-Musiałczyk: The choir is very dear to me, my parents are choir conductors – choral music has been played at home as far back as I can remember. I grew up in choirs and choral literature. I also sang in various choirs; in addition, I hold a degree in Choral Conducting from the Stanisław Moniuszko Academy of Music in Gdańsk and for the past 10 years I have been singing in the Art'n'Voices Vocal Ensemble – this is a significant part of my artistic life. I translate my sensitivity to sound, which I developed while singing in choirs, into my work as a pianist.

The choir gives enormous possibilities for composing, you just have to be able to utilise them well. It’s all about sound, timbre, harmony and colours. On the other hand – experiments in the aleatory and sonoristic fields. Each choir is different – it sounds different, has different needs – it’s fascinating. Young composers write for choirs far too seldom, and the choirs wait for new pieces, want to perform them. Creating choral literature is not easy, but I like these sorts of challenges and I hope that I’ll be able to face them as often as possible.

Łukasz Farcinkiewicz: I myself look at the choir rather specifically. I studied choral conducting, and I’ve been working for 15 years in the Musica Sacra Chorus (at the beginning as a choir singer, now as an accompanist). I also had the opportunity to learn about the contemporary Anglo-Saxon repertoire. All this thanks to Paweł Łukaszewski – the leader of the Musica Sacra Chorus – who infected me with his fascination with English choirs and vocal groups.

The choir is a familiar organism to me, I see it as something familiar. From a creative point of view, it is very important to get to know the organism one creates for. Writing for homogeneous choirs can be a big challenge due to the limited scale that they are able to bring out. It’s certainly a challenge to write for a male sextet, in which the highest voice is the countertenor. Philip Lawson is an unrivalled role model here – until 2012 he was a baritone with the King’s Singers, and is now focusing on his composing career.

Aleksandra Chmielewska: Choral music is a completely different world to me than instrumental music. Writing for a choir has in my opinion more technical limitations, but at the same time, it gives more freedom in choosing aesthetics. Choral music does not aspire to be avant-garde, innovative, unconventional, and in this way it creates a field for such values as beauty, delicacy and euphony. These categories are very dear to me, which is why I feel good in choral music.