Górecki, Henryk.(b. 1933)

"Amen" - Autograph Musical Quotation

An unusual AMQS from the celebrated Polish composer whose music was known only to a small number of connoiseurs, until a 1992 recording of his 15-year-old Third Symphony sold over a million copies. Seven measures for S.A.T.B. from his AMEN, Op. 35, marked "Lento e tranquillo," signed and inscribed Katowice, 20.2.99, on a 4 x 6 index card.

Amen is one of the first three works for unaccompanied choir written by Górecki between 1972 and 1975. The piece is a tribute paid by the composer to the tradition of Polish church hymns which are extremely dear to him. The character of concentrated meditation, typical of this composition, has been accentuated, on the one hand, by the limitation of the textual layer of the work to one title word amen, which is ''dressed'' by the composer in different harmonic-tonal ''attires'', culminating in A major, and, on the other hand, by sustained, slowly progressing values like steady, quiet breathing. (21899)

AMQS Classical Music