Annual List of Works : Polish Music Information Centre

~2.5M

Title
O Sapientia

Composer
Name: Pawel Lukaszewski (Year of birth: 1968, nationality: Polish,
Address: ul. Odkryta 38A m 20, 03-141 Warsaw, Poland;
e-mail: lukaszewski@musicasacra.com.pl, lukaszewski@chopin.edu.pl)

Genre
for unaccompanied mixed choir

Instrumentation
S I, S II, A I, A II, T I, T II, B I, B II

Year of composition
1998

Duration
ca 4 minutes

Place of premiere performance
Concert Hall, City: St Nicholas Church, Gdansk

Date of premiere performance
(12-12-1998)

Performers
Polish Chamber Choir ‘Schola Cantorum Gedanensis’, Jan Lukaszewski cond.

Score
Publisher: PWM Edition, Al. Krasinskiego 11A, 31-111 Krakow, Poland
URL: www.pwm.com.pl
E-mail: pwm@pwm.com.pl, internet@pwm.com.pl
Edition-No.: PWM 9927
Price: EUR 1,95 per copy (minimum 16 copies should be ordered)

Recording

Record company: Wydawnictwo Muzyczne Acte Préalable, skr. pocztowa 71,
02-800 Warsaw  93, Poland
URL: www.acteprealable.com
E-mail: actepre@wp.pl, acteprealable@op.pl
Edition-No.: AP0029; Price: EUR 10 (USD 14)
Performers: Polish Chamber Choir ‘Schola Cantorum Gedanensis’, Jan Lukaszewski cond.

Motivation
The antiphon “O Sapientia” (with a text from the Old Testament Book of Wisdom) bears testimony to Pawel Lukaszewski’s genuine artistry and to his fascinating, very individual musical imagination as an academic composer (he studied composition at the Music Academy in Warsaw, where he is a lecturer at present), as well as to his vast knowledge and profound understanding of the immense wealth of choral church music tradition. He is a man deeply involved in the development of new liturgical music, the organiser of an association, a competition and a festival of sacred music, as well as founder of a choir in one of Warsaw’s two cathedrals. “O Sapientia” is neither eclectic nor experimental – it is rather a mature continuation of the tradition on the highest artistic level.
The composition sounds beautiful when performed independently, however, the effect may be even stronger if it is sung directly after the traditional choral antiphon, as it is presented by Jan Lukaszewski with the Polish Chamber Choir on the recommended Acte Préalable CD.

Programme note
“O Sapientia” (opening the cycle of “Seven Great Advent Antiphons”) was created in 1998. The musical material of the composition consists of two main, interwoven themes (A and B). In the first one (A) it is divided into two groups: the treble and bass voices present the melody, the middle voices accompany them using ostinato sixteenths built on three sounds (e, f, a) and giving the whole motor dynamic. There are changes in accentuation where the first note in the bar is exposed, and, successively, every one from the above sound scheme. Thanks to reducing the melody to a minimum, lively character and monotony, it is a perfect harmonic background, in which wide melody in bas and treble unison based on the words: O Sapientia is led. Both schemes are strongly contrasted but at the same time fit together and create a harmonic whole. In theme A the composer uses the first fragment of the text only - the O Sapientia call. This move makes A an introduction to B, in which tempo (much slower) and structure are varied: in place of two themes there is one in which all voices are treated as equal - they have the same rhythm and dynamics, thanks to which emphasis lies on the text (O Sapientia, qua ex ore Altissimi prodisti). The character is also changed from motoric to peaceful, reflective and moving with depth and mood.
The score was published by Polskie Wydawnictwo Muzyczne - PWM Edition in Kraków (1999).

Composer biography
Born in 1968 in Czestochowa, he graduated from the  Fryderyk Chopin Academy of Music in Warsaw, where he studied both the cello (with Andrzej Wrobel, diploma in 1992) and composition (with Marian Borkowski, diploma in 1995). He also finished the School for Arts Management at the Adam Mickiewicz University in  Poznan and the postgraduate studies in choral conducting at the Music Academy in Bydgoszcz.  He has received numerous prizes and honourable mentions at national and international competitions, as well as commissions and grants. His works are featured on over 55 CDs and have been performed at over one hundred festivals in Poland, almost all the European countries as well as Argentine, Chile, China, Israel, Cuba,  Canada, Peru, South Korea, Uruguay and the United States. Over thirty of his pieces have been published. He is a member of the Polish Composers’ Union and the Council of the Polish Phonographic Academy. He is on the faculty of the Department of Composition of the Music Academy in Warsaw. He has worked as a visiting professor in Chile (2003, 2006) and Argentina (2006), also performing as a conductor in these two countries. His honours include the ‘Fryderyk’ award  in the ‘vocal music’ category (2005) and the Award of the town of St Quentin (for the best performance of a contemporary work) at the Concours Europeen de Choeurs et Maitrises de Cathedrales (2006).
He is Chairman of the ‘Musica Sacra’ Association (since 2000), the secretary of the Board of the ‘Laboratory of Contemporary Music’ Association (since 1995) and a a member of the artistic council of the ‘Gaude Mater’ International Festival of Sacred Music in Cz?stochowa. He is also the director of the ‘Musica Sacra’ Choir.