September 21, Saturday, 7 pm
St. Ignatius’ Church, Šv. Ignoto g. 6
Evening Song
16th c. songs, hymns and psalms from Sigismund Augustus’ court and chapel
BREVIS Choir and Consort
Directors Gintautas Venislovas and Darius Stabinskas
As in past years, the Brevis Choir and Consort, formed of international musicians, turns its attention to the musical legacy of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. The Golden Age of art and culture that was the reign of Sigismund Augustus saw famous European musicians gather at the Vilnius palace in the 16th century, among them, the most prominent Polish composers of the day – Wacław z Szamotuł, Mikołaj Gomółka and Cyprian Bazylik. The flourishing Latin religious music tradition was gradually enriched with echoes of the Reformation, where hymns, as well as other religious texts, started being translated into national languages. In Polish literature history, the poetry of Jan Kochanowski was considered the most important in this respect – his Psalms of David (released in 1579 in Krakow) drew the attention of musicians as well. Within a year Mikołaj Gomółka had created a collection of psalms based on the latter’s texts. In Lithuania, translations from the Polish hymns appeared in both Protestant and Catholic works. In this concert, the performers’ aim is to present how the Polish composers’ hymns sounded as psalms translated into Old Lithuanian by the Reformers Merkelis Petkevičius and Steponas Jaugelis-Telega, and by the Catholic Saliamonas Mozerka Slavočinskis.