Sakralna twórczość na chór a cappella Mariana Borkowskiego

Abstract

After 1989, sacred music in Poland was enriched with numerous compositions of diverse character. An upsurge of interest in sacred art in general was enhanced by the political transformations which resulted in the freedom of expression and ample opportunities for the presentation of this type of art. As regards music, composers turned to the sacrum even earlier, after the election, in 1978, of a Polish Cardinal, Karol Wojtyła, to the highest office in the Roman Catholic Church. In the last three decades of the twentieth century, a growing number of composers explored religious themes. In Poland, Marian Borkowski is among those composers for whom sacred music occupies a prominent role. Born in 1934 in Pabianice, he is also a pianist, musicologist, teacher and organiser of musical life. He is the recipient of numerous prestigious awards. His oeuvre includes five sacred works for a cappella choir: Adoramus (1991), Regina caeli (1995), Ave. Alleluia. Amen (2000), Ubera me (2005) and Sanctus (2009). He has also written vocal-instrumental compositions: three versions of Pax in terra: I – for female voice, four guitar groups and bells (1987), II – for female voice, percussion and organ ( 1988), III – for mixed choir, strings and percussion (2007) and Hosanna I for mixed choir and four instruments ( 1994) as well as works for mixed choir and symphony orchestra: De profundis (1998), Dies irae (2004), Hymnus (2005), Hosanna II (2009). Careful selection of the text is one of the most important features of Borkowski’s choral compositions. In Regina caeli he employs the full text of the antiphon, whereas in the remaining works he uses selected words (Ave – Alleluia – Amen) or sayings taken from specific texts (Libera me, Sanctus) or just vocalise (Adoramus, fragments of Sanctus). These are all short pieces, in single movement, consisting of segments, often of a symmetrical construction. Three of them (Regina caeli, Libera me, Sanctus) are in the key or have the tonal centre of G major. All of these compositions have homophonie textures and a chordal-based development of musical material. The choral parts are treated on a par with the instrumental parts. As regards compositional techniques, all the pieces contain similar patterns in their construction, which are responsible for their structural cohesion. These devices include unison or all’unison progressions, octave doublings, sequences of tritones, the isolation of the melodic line in the sopranos with the harmonic accompaniment given to the remaining vocal parts, unison singing on a single note by the whole choir, and the diagonal development of sound structures by adding successive parts to the lowest part. One of the most important features of these compositions (and of Borkowski’s non-choral works as well) is the technique of contrast. It manifests itself in the extreme changes of dynamics and register, coupled with an augmentation or diminution of rhythmic values. These pieces are characterized by a sense of discipline, at both micro- and macroformal level. All the above features are subordinated to a single, overriding concept – that of expression.