26 September, 7 pm
Franciscan Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Trakų g. 9/1, Vilnius
Bogurodzica
Marian devotion hymns of the 16th-17th centuries in Poland and Lithuania
Project director Bartosz Izbicki (Poland)
Jerycho (Poland) and participants of the singing workshop
The city of Vilnius, a cultural centre of great importance in the 16th century and home to many different ethnicities and religious confessions, became, in the 17th century, the centre of a cult dedicated to the Virgin Mary, Mother of Mercy, which centred around the miraculous painting housed at Aušros Vartai (Polish: Ostra Brama, the ‘Gates of Dawn’).
We recreate the aura of those times by diving into the musical repertoire dedicated to the Virgin Mary. The centrepiece of the programme is a four-part version of ‘Bogurodzica’ (Mother of God) notated by the Dominican Father Błażej Derey, ca. 1630. Other works include compositions connected with Vilnius – from the chantbook ‘Parthenomelica’ (1613), the Vilnius Tablature (1626), ‘Graduale pro exertatione studentium’ (1693) by Sigismundus Lauxmin, and others. Framing the programme is the Officium Parvum de BMV (Švč. Mergelės Marijos valandos), still practised in Poland and Lithuania, performed with a basso-continuo section. This is alternated with Marian hymns (1606) by the composer Diomedes Cato.
* Here you can download the concert programme.
Free admission to the concert, prior reservation is necessary
