Camerata Silesia / Coffin on the Catafalque - NOSPR

The reconstruction of the Old Polish Requiem Mass is an archaeological journey back to the year 1721. It was in this year that Andrzej Siewiński, a forgotten yet deserving of remembrance baroque composer, composed his Requiem Mass. It's the only one that has survived to our times. We don't know much about the composer: he was associated with the Jesuit order, although not necessarily as a member of the congregation. We also know that he passed away before 1726. Next to his name on the 1726 manuscript of the "Requiem," there is a Latin note: "May he rest in peace." 

This music moves us back in time to the Old Polish requiems performed over a coffin adorned with a death portrait of a deceased monk, perhaps a nobleman? Maybe even a king, considering the artistry of the piece – written for four voices, two violins, two oboes, and basso continuo. 

The musical reconstruction of the Mass will be enriched with preserved Gregorian chants from that era, as well as other anonymous compositions from collections including those of the Benedictine nuns from Sandomierz – including the "Salve Regina," preserved in a manuscript from 1750. 

The music will be accompanied by a moving, highly poetic sermon: the words of Father Baltazar Łabęcki, delivered in 1624 at the funeral of Piotr Wołowicz, the chancellor of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. It sounds as follows: 

A human living on Earth has many names (...) One of those names is mortalis – mortal!... 

Alexandra Kozowicz

Concert duration: approximately 60 minutes

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