One of the most important early music festivals in Europe, Misteria Paschalia is held every year during Holy Week. Held for the 18th time, this year’s festival is a continuation of the journey through Europe launched in 2017. This time, Misteria Paschalia’s perambulations take us even further afield, exploring the music and culture of the Iberian Peninsula and its influence on Central and South America. Events run between 1 and 5 April.
From repertoires of nuns from mediaeval Spanish convents, via Spanish songs of the 17th century and the most important masterpiece of Portuguese music of the 18th century to extraordinary Baroque compositions from the New World, intertwining Iberian influences with native traditions, this year’s festival is a true cornucopia of music. There is surely no other European tradition as heavily influenced by myriad cultures, with traditional Arabic and Jewish sounds coexisting in harmony with music by Flemish and Italian masters. All this resounds during the 18th Misteria Paschalia Festival, streamed on PLAY KRAKÓW.
We kick off on Maundy Thursday with Cantrix, with Agnieszka Budzińska-Bennett and her ensemble Peregrina presenting music from royal Spanish convents in Sigena and Las Huelgas. The concert resounds with chorales and compositions exploring early polyphony recalling the acclaimed Notre Dame style. The concert was recorded especially for the festival at Ritterhaus Bubikon, the former mediaeval monastery of the Knights Hospitaller dating back to the 12th century; the organisers worked with the Order of Malta and Schola Cantorum Basiliensis.
On Good Friday, we head to Teatro Fraschini in Pavia in Italy where the concert Mattutino de’ Morti was recorded for the festival in collaboration with the Ghislieri Foundation. The composition by Davide Perez – Spanish composer born in Naples and working at the Portuguese royal court – is regarded as the most important masterpiece of 18th century Portugal. Written in 1770, it was first performed later the same year during a pilgrimage to the Nossa Senhora do Cabo sanctuary. Closing with rites for the departed, it served as a remembrance for deceased pilgrims and monks; dating back to the Middle Ages, the tradition was brought back in the 18th century on the request of the royal court. Since the original performance, Mattutino de’ Morti has been a part of the permanent repertoire of the Order of St. Cecilia in Lisbon, and it was performed during the annual service commemorating the dead until the late 19th century. Perez’s masterpiece will be accompanied by antiphons Salve Regina and In paradisum deducant te angeli, traditionally performed during funeral liturgies, arranged by the Cracovian composer Grzegorz Gerwazy Gorczycki from his acclaimed Conductus funebris.
Holy Saturday resounds with Pasiones de España – a meditative concert exploring the mystery of Easter. Soprano Mariana Flores and lutist Mónica Pustilnik take us on a journey to the Iberian Peninsula and beyond. Following in the footsteps of the Habsburgs whose rule stretched all over Europe between the 16th and 18th centuries, we explore Spain, the Netherlands and the kingdoms of Sicily and Naples.
The second part of the evening is dedicated to tonos humanos by José Marín (1619 – 1699) – some of the most beautiful secular vocal music of 17th-century Spain.
The festival culminates on Easter Sunday with Carmina Latina exploring polyphonic music written in Latin America in the late 16th and 17th centuries, intertwining influences from European and native cultures. The remarkable concert is presented by Argentinian conductor Leonardo García Alarcón – one of the most acclaimed performers of early music working today.
Following the many years of tradition, the festival’s closing concert Vivaldi e Handel – Arie e concerti on Easter Monday will present a choice of consummate arias produced by two eminent baroque composers: George Frideric Handel and Antonio Vivaldi, whose music has provided the foundation for the Misteria Paschalia Festival and the Opera Rara cycle for years. The first part of the concert focuses on the person of Armida, a role performed by the delectable mezzosoprano Natalia Kawałek. We will hear her in a selection of Armida’s arias from Rinaldo, an opera considered one of Handel’s greatest masterpieces, and the secular cantata Armida abbandonata. The second part will resound with excerpts from two of Vivaldi’s works – Griselda and Juditha triumphans – and the whole will close with the beauteous aria of Ginevra, daughter of the King of Scotland, Volante amori from Handel’s opera Ariodante. Moreover, the programme of the concert is complemented with Vivaldi’s concertos for two trumpets.
