Capella Cracoviensis | November 25, 2023 | House Program

CLASSICAL / ENSEMBLE SIERIES
CAPELLA CRACOVIENSIS
WAYS TO BACH
Jan Tomasz Adamus, conductor
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 2023
CLASSICAL / ENSEMBLE SERIES
CAPELLA CRACOVIENSIS
WAYS TO BACH
Jan Tomasz Adamus, conductor
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 2023

CLASSICAL / ENSEMBLE SERIES
CAPELLA CRACOVIENSIS
WAYS TO BACH
Jan Tomasz Adamus, conductor
PROGRAM
Mikołaj Zieleński (1550-1615) In monte Oliveti à 5
Giovanni Gabrieli (ca.1554-1612) Magnificat à 12
Mikołaj Zieleński Adoramus te Christe à 4
Claudio Monteverdi (1567-1643) Adoramus te Christe à 6
Mikołaj Zieleński Terra tremuit et quievit à 8
Per signum Crucis à 4
Vox in Rama à 4
Magnificat à 12
Heinrich Schütz (1585-1672) Syncharma Musicum: En novus Elysiis, SWV 49
Johann Hermann Schein (1586-1630) Beati omnes à 8
Bartłomiej Pękiel (1601-1670) Dulcis amor Jesu à 5
Johann Michael Bach (1648-1694) Herr, wenn ich nur dich habe à 5
Andrea Gabrieli (1532/33-1585) O sacrum convivium à 5
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) O Jesu Christ mein’s Lebens Licht, BWV 118
PROGRAM NOTES
In this marvellously curated program of Baroque
choral music composed during the century
before Johann Sebastian Bach’s career, we
have a chance to experience the classical vocal
polyphony that composers were creating
in Europe and, in some instances, may have
provided inspiration and models for Bach himself.
Little is known about Mikołaj Zieleński, except
that he was a Polish composer, organist and choir
director in the early 1600’s. While details of his life
may be missing, his music was so admired, that
he was the only Polish composer of this period
to see his music published in Venice during his
lifetime. His music at times exemplifies a superb
control of chromatic dissonance for expressive
purposes as can be heard in the opening motet,
In monte Oliveti (On the Mount of Olives), and
Vox in Rama (The Voice of Rama). Later, another
early Baroque Polish composer, Bartłomiej Pękiel,
is represented by a five-part motet with continuo,
Dulcis amor Jesu (Jesus, My Sweet Love), that not

only uses chromatic dissonance to equally inspire
expressiveness, but also displays a high-level of
imitative counterpoint where the same melodic
idea moves through all five parts.
Giovanni Gabrieli, the principal organist and
composer of Venice’s St. Mark’s Basilica from
1585 until his death in 1612, benefited from
the mentorship of his uncle, Andrea Gabrieli,
and similarly returned the favour to the many
composers who visited Venice from across
Europe, including Heinrich Schütz. The three,
4-part choirs that Giovanni Gabrieli used in
dialogue in the Magnificat setting is an excellent
example of resonantly glorious choral writing and
Zieleński’s 12-part version is similarly impressive.
Another Venetian composer, Claudio Monteverdi
(1567-1643), was equally adept at writing
beautiful choral music that combines chordal
writing with florid counterpoint as can be heard
in this six-part setting of the Good Friday text,
Adoramus te, Christe (We Adore Thee, O Christ).
J.S. Bach knew and studied the music of Heinrich
Schütz and Johann Schein, with Schein also
having served as the Cantor of the St. Thomas
Church in Leipzig from 1615-1630, a post Bach
held from 1723-1750. Schütz’s Syncharma
Musicum: En novus Elysiis, is the only secular
work on this program and is a very triumphant
ceremonial motet written for the 1621 swearing
of allegiance of the Silesian nobility to Johann
Georg of Saxony as the representative of
Emperor Ferdinand.
A distant relative of J. S. Bach, the older church
organist and composer, Johann Michael Bach,
later became more closely connected through
marriage when his youngest daughter, Maria
Barbara, married Johann Sebastian in 1707. In
J.M. Bach’s funeral motet, Herr, wenn ich nur
dich haben (Lord, if I have you alone), it is worth
listening closely to the soprano’s ornamented
chorale because it is the same melody used in
the J. S. Bach motet that ends today’s concert.
As with J. M. Bach’s treatment, J.S. Bach places
the chorale melody in the sopranos, but with
contrapuntal ingenuity, treats each phrase of
the melody in imitation in the lower parts
reaching a density of seven separate voices.
©2023 by John Burge for the Isabel
ABOUT CAPELLA CRACOVIENSIS
Capella Cracoviensis (CC) chamber choir and
orchestra is one of the most interesting ensembles
on the contemporary scene of period music.
Its repertoire ranges from Renaissance polyphony
to early Romantic operas performed on period
instruments using historical performance
techniques. CC has been hosted at many
important festivals and concerts halls, including
Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Bachfest Leipzig,
SWR Festspiele Schwetzingen, Händel Festspiele
Halle, Haydn Festspiele Brühl, Opéra Royal
Versailles, Theater an der Wien, the Polish
National Radio Symphony Orchestra in Katowice,
Szczecin Philharmonic and the Misteria Paschalia
Festival in Krakow. The ensemble has already
performed with such eminent guests as Evelino
Pidó, Christophe Rousset, Alessandro Moccia,
Giuliano Carmignola, Paul Goodwin, Andrew
Parrott and Paul McCreesh.
One of CC’s greatest successes was the
performance of all Beethoven’s symphonies
on historical instruments within one day, on 27
August 2016 in Krakow, with live transmission
on the radio. The total of 2300 audience
members could appreciate the mastery of 90
instrumentalists, 44 singers and 5 conductors.
The latest achievements of CC include the first
performance of Wagner’s works on historical
instruments with the participation of Waltraud
Meier (Wesendonck-Lieder) and the recording of
the following operas by Pergolesi and Porpora for
Decca Records: Pergolesi: Adriano in Siria (Fagioli
Basso Sancho Adamus) and Porpora: Germanico
in Germania (Cencic Leznieva Adamus) which
was awarded with Diapason d’Or.
CC’s other albums include Te Deum / Lully
& Charpentier with Le Poème Harmonique
(conducted by Vincent Dumestre) and the
recordings of Bach’s motets (conducted by
Fabio Bonizzoni) for Alpha records as well as
the piano concerto in F minor and the unfinished
symphony by Schubert (Klimsiak / Adamus)
for AviMusic.
In May 2018 CC began the six-year project Haydn:
complete symphonies 2018-2023 including
concerts and live recordings.

CC has staged the following operas: Amadigi di
Gaula by Handel, The Marriage of Figaro by Mozart
and Orfeo ed Euridice by Gluck, and prepared
such special projects as Monteverdi’s madrigals
performed in a milk bar, Mendelssohn’s songs for
choir staged in the woods and A Midsummer Night’s
Dream with the participation of children with visual
impairments as actors or Mozart’s Requiem as
karaoke directed by Cezary Tomaszewski.
CC was established in 1970 on the initiative of
Jerzy Katlewicz, Director of Krakow Philharmonic
at that time, who appointed Stanisław Gałoński to
create an ensemble specialising in period music
performance. Over the years, Capella Cracoviensis
became an independent entity performing various
repertoire ranging from Medieval music to world
premieres of contemporary pieces. Since November
2008, Jan Tomasz Adamus has been CC’s General
and Artistic Director.
Capella Cracoviensis owes special
thanks to the Embassy of the
Republic of Poland in Ottawa for
its support of the concert tour in
Canada in November 2023.
ABOUT JAN TOMASZ ADAMUS,
CONDUCTOR
Jan Tomasz Adamus – a conductor, organist,
harpsichordist and culture creator; he studied in
Krakow and Amsterdam and taught at the Academy
of Music in Wrocław for a number of years.
In 2008 he was appointed General and Artistic
Manager of Capella Cracoviensis, an institution
of culture which is a chamber choir and period
instrument orchestra based in Krakow with which he
performed at many major festivals and in renowned
concert halls: Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Theater
an der Wien, Haydn Festspiele Brühl, Festiwal
Muzyki Polskiej, NOSPR Katowice, SWR Festspiele
Schwetzingen, Bachfest Leipzig, Händel Festspiele
Halle. His numerous recordings include solo organ
repertoire, Polish old music, baroque operas and
Romanticism on period instruments (Chopin,
Schubert, Moniuszko).
Give the gift of music this holiday
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MANCHESTER COLLECTIVE
WITH ABEL SELAOCOE
TREY MCLAUGHLIN
& THE SOUNDS OF
ZAMAR GOSPEL CHOIR
SING AND SWING—
A JAZZ AT LINCOLN CENTER
PRESENTS PRODUCTION
GRYPHON TRIO
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