VocalEssence

VocalEssence
  • Who We Are
    • About VocalEssence
    • Performing Ensembles
    • Staff
    • Collaborators
    • Board of Directors
      • VocalEssence ¡Cantaré! Advisory Council
      • VocalEssence WITNESS Advisory Council
    • Advancing Inclusion, Access, and Equity
  • What We Do
    • Why Sing?
    • Concerts and Events
    • Celebrating Black Excellence
    • Musical Moments with Philip Brunelle
    • Learning and Engagement Programs
    • Contests and Awards
    • Commissioning and Recording
    • Accessibility
  • Stories & Results
    • #vesotashareshope
    • COVID-19 Updates
    • GPS & Friends
    • Inclusion Access and Equity
    • Musical Moments
    • Performing Ensembles
    • Schools & Education
    • Take 5 with GPS
    • Together We Sing
  • Get Involved
    • Donate
      • Bridge to the Future Campaign
    • Engage a Choir
    • Sing with Us
    • Join the Board
    • Volunteer
    • Work at VocalEssence
  • Login
  • On Demand
  • Buy Tickets
  • Donate
Search
More...

Henryk Górecki | Musical Moments with Philip Brunelle

December 27, 2021

Share

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Pinterest
  • email

In this Musical Moment, VocalEssence artistic director and founder Philip Brunelle shares insider information and beautiful music by the composer Henryk Górecki.

Henryk Górecki

1933-2010

Henryk Górecki was a Polish composer whose somber Symphony No. 3 enjoyed extraordinary international popularity in the late 20th century. Górecki studied at the Music Academy of Katowice, Poland. The works of Anton Webern, Olivier Messiaen, and Karlheinz Stockhausen informed Górecki’s often atonal and violent early compositions. A change in his compositional style came in 1963 when, challenged to write simple tunes, he created Three Pieces in Old Style for orchestra. Folk songs, medieval music, and references to his Roman Catholic faith characterized his subsequent work, which frequently was based on tragic themes and cast in very slow tempi. Górecki was elected provost of his alma mater, the Music Academy in Katowice, in 1975, but he resigned in protest four years later when the government refused to let Pope John Paul II visit the city. He then traveled to Kraków to conduct his choral work Beatus Vir for the pope and composed new pieces for subsequent papal visits to Poland. Górecki’s Miserere, also a choral composition, was written in 1981 to honor a Solidarity (Polish labor union) leader beaten by the militia; however, because of turbulent political circumstances, it was not until 1987 that the piece was performed. In the decade straddling the turn of the 21st century, Górecki composed or revised roughly 15 works, consisting mainly of vocal compositions and pieces for small ensemble. Górecki’s final work—The Song of Rodziny Katynskie, Opus 81, for unaccompanied chorus—was completed in 2004 and premiered by the Polish Radio Choir in Kraków in 2005.

Suggested Choral Works: 

  1. Lobgesang (Boosey and Hawkes) 
  2. Totus Tuus (Boosey and Hawkes) 
  3. Miserere (Boosey and Hawkes)  
Posted in: Musical Moments
Tags: Composers of the Late 20th-21st Century • Eastern European Composers

Recent Stories

  • Bridge to the Future Meets Goal March 24, 2023
  • VocalEssence Radio Special—Song of Joy: The Mendelssohns on YourClassical MPR March 24, 2023
  • VocalEssence Singers Of This Age Perform at WCCO Holiday Tree Lighting December 22, 2022
  • VocalEssence Holiday Programming 2022 December 15, 2022
  • Thank you for your support at the VocalEssence 2022 Gala! November 4, 2022

Musical Moments

  • #inspiration
  • 2020
  • Argentinan Composers
  • Australian Composers
  • Basque Composers
  • Black Composers
  • Bradley Greenwald
  • British Composers
  • Canadian Composers
  • choir
  • Clara Osowski
  • Composers from Minnesota
  • Composers of the 17th 18th and 19th Centuries
  • Composers of the Early-Mid 20th Century
  • Composers of the Late 20th-21st Century
  • composing
  • concerts
  • Czech Composers
  • Dan Dressen
  • Dutch Composers
  • Early-mid 20th Century
  • Eastern European Composers
  • French Composers
  • German and Austrian Composers
  • Hungarian Composers
  • Italian Composers
  • Late 20th-21st Century
  • Latin American Composers
  • Maria Jette
  • Mexican composers
  • planning
  • Portuguese Composers
  • repertoire
  • Russian Composers
  • Scandinavian Composers
  • Scottish Composers
  • South American Composers
  • Spanish Composers
  • Swiss Composers
  • United States Composers
  • Women Composers
  • About Us
    • About VocalEssence
    • Press Room
    • Annual Report
    • Financial Information
    • Staff
    • Board of Directors
    • VocalEssence COVID Protocols
  • Get Involved
    • Donate
    • Sing with Us
    • Volunteer
    • Work at VocalEssence
  • Connect
    • Email Sign Up
    • Contact Us/Location
    • Chorus Connection
    • VocalEssence Board Login
  • VocalEssence
  • 1900 Nicollet Avenue, Minneapolis, MN 55403
  • Phone: 612-547-1451
  • Fax: 612-547-1484
  • info@vocalessence.org
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • Instagram
  • Privacy Policy

Copyright © 2023 VocalEssence. All rights reserved.

https://www.vocalessence.org/henryk-gorecki-musical-moments-with-philip-brunelle

This website uses cookies for necessary functions and to enhance your browsing experience.

Accept & Continue