Szymanowski, K.: Stabat Mater / Veni Creator / Litany To the Virgin Mary / Demeter / Penthesilea

Featuring

Antoni Wit
Iwona Hossa
Ewa Marciniec
Jarosław Bręk
Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra
Warsaw Philharmonic Choir

Karol Szymanowski

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Composer Biography

Karol Szymanowski, a Polish composer, was born in 1882 in Tymoszówka, Ukraine, to a Polish landowner father and a Swedish mother.

Performer Biography

Iwona Hossa, the soprano soloist, has won numerous awards, including the Grand Prix and Gold Medal at the Maria Callas International Singing Competition in Athens.

Composition History

The Litany to the Virgin Mary, Op. 59, completed in 1933, was originally intended to set the entire seven-verse poem by Jerzy Liebert, but Szymanowski ultimately used only two verses.

Recording & Production

This recording was supported by the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage, Warsaw, Poland.

Composition History

Szymanowski's Stabat Mater, Op. 53, was composed between 1924 and 1926, initially conceived as a "peasant requiem" and dedicated to Izabella Krystallowa, the recently deceased wife of industrialist Bronislaw Krystall.

Composer's Artistic Vision

The Stabat Mater, Op. 53, reflects Szymanowski's return to the popular roots of his art, blending "candid religiosity and paganism, with a touch of austere and rural realism."

Composition History

Szymanowski's Veni Creator, Op. 57, was written in 1930 for the opening of the Warsaw Academy of Music, where he served as the first rector, and uses a Polish text by Stanisław Wyspiański.