Miserere (Górecki)

Miserere, Op. 44 ( sample ) is a choral work composed in 1981 by Henryk Górecki for large (120 voices) a cappella mixed choir. The text comprises five words: 'Domine Deus Noster' (Lord our God), which are repeated for the first ten sections, resolved by a chorus of 'Miserere nobis' (Have mercy on us) in the eleventh and final section. Both lines of the text are formed as simple but imploring pleas. A typical performance lasts 35 minutes.

Górecki wrote the work in 1981 in protest against government intervention in the workings of the Polish Solidarity trade union - specifically, in response to the government-sanctioned assault of activists in Bydgoszcz. After martial law was enacted in December of that year, performance of the piece became impossible, and the piece was not performed until 1987. The first performance took place on 10 September 1987 in Włocławek, and a day later in Bydgoszcz, with conducting the Bydgoszcz Philharmonic Choir.

Henryk Górecki dedicated his Miserere to the city of Bydgoszcz. Bydgoszcz was the site of a confrontation between members of the opposition organizations Solidarity and Rural Solidarity (which were made up of an estimated one-third of the Polish population) and the Polish militia. At around ten past seven on 19 March 1981, approximately two hundred militia, sent in to remove the organizations from a prolonged negotiation with the Provisional Council, violently assaulted the organizations’ members. In the confrontation, one was left with contusions to the skull and ribs, and suspected brain damage; two others were seriously injured, inflaming an already unhappy Polish populace. Nine months after the incident in Bydgoszcz, the opposition organizations was outlawed and General of the Army Wojciech Jaruzelski declared a state of martial law. During this period, no performance of the work was possible, and Górecki placed the completed work out of sight. He revised the work in 1987 before its premiere in Włocławek on September 10, 1987 at the 15th Bydgoszcz Music Festival. Włocławek had been the site of the 1984 assassination of the priest Jerzy Popiełuszko by state police and made a fitting scene for the performance of a work dedicated to those so violently oppressed by their government. Promotion of the premiere was prohibited by the authorities, but every seat ended up occupied.

...
Wikipedia