Conductor Jan Latham-Koenig

Stage Director Aleksey Veiro

Choirmaster Yulia Senyukova

Krzysztof Penderecki, a composer:

”In March we will celebrate the 50thanniversary of the first performance of St Luke Passion.The piece was first performed in Munster,Germany; the conductor was Henrik Chizh. In June of 2016 my Passion will be presented by the Novaya Opera.

I compose a lot of sacred music; now it is returning. In the 1960s it was seldom performed, even in Poland, not to speak of Russia. Today I can perform it in Russia and I really love it!”

Recommended for 12+

The St Luke Passion (full title: Passio et mors Domini nostri Jesu Christi secundum Lucam, or the Passion and Death of Our Lord Jesus Christ According to St Luke) is a work for chorus and orchestra written in 1966 by Polish composer Krzysztof Penderecki. The work (one of several musical settings of the Passion story) contains text from the Gospel of Luke as well as other sources such as the Stabat Mater. Despite the Passion's almost total atonality and use of avant-garde musical techniques, the musical public appreciated the work's stark power and direct emotional impact and the piece was performed several more times soon after its premiere on March 30, 1966.

The text of the St Luke Passion is entirely in Latin. The primary source of the text is the Gospel of Luke; however, it contains other sources such as hymns, Psalms and Lamentations.

The Passion is divided into two parts and twenty-seven sections, thirteen in Part I and fourteen in Part II. Their titles are as follows.

Part I

1. O Crux Ave ("O Holy Cross," from the hymn Vexilla Regis prodeunt), chorus and orchestra
2. Et egressus ibat ("And he went out," Garden of Gethsemane), narrator, baritone and orchestra
3. Deus Meus ("My God," Christ's prayer at Gethsemane, from Psalm 21), baritone, chorus and orchestra
4. Domine, quis habitat ("Lord, who shall dwell...", from Psalms 14, 4 and 15), soprano and orchestra
5. Adhuc eo loquente ("And yet while he spake," Judas's betrayal of Christ), narrator, baritone, chorus and orchestra
6. Ierusalem ("Jerusalem," from the Lamentation of Jeremiah), chorus and orchestra
7. Ut quid, Domine ("Why, Lord," from Psalm 9), chorus a cappella
8. Comprehendentes autem eum ("Then they took him," Peter's denial of Christ), narrator, soprano, bass, chorus and orchestra
9. Iudica me, Deus ("Give sentence with me, O God," from Psalm 42), bass and orchestra
10. Et viri, qui tenebant illum ("And the men that held Jesus...," mocking of Christ), narrator, baritone, chorus and orchestra
11. Ierusalem (text identical to section 6)
12. Miserere mei, Deus ("Be merciful to me, O God," from Psalm 55), chorus a cappella
13. Et surgens omnis ("And the multitude arose...," Christ's trial before Pilate and death sentence), narrator, baritone, bass, chorus and orchestra

Part II

14. Et in pulverem ("And into the dust," from Psalm 21), chorus and orchestra
15. Et baiulans sibi crucem ("And bearing his cross," the road to Calvary), narrator and orchestra
16. Popule meus ("My people," from the Improperia), chorus and orchestra
17. Ibi crucifixerunt eum ("There they crucified him," the crucifixtion of Christ), narrator and orchestra
18. Crux fidelis ("O faithful cross," from Pange Lingua Gloriosi Proelium Certaminised, soprano, chorus and orchestra
19. Iesus autem dicebat ("Then said Jesus," Christ's forgiveness), narrator, baritone and orchestra
20. In pulverem mortis ("Into the dust of death," from Psalm 21), chorus a cappella
21. Et stabat populus ("And the people stood," Christ's mocking on the cross), narrator, chorus and orchestra
22. Unus autem ("And one of them...," the good and bad thieves), narrator, baritone, bass, chorus and orchestra
23. Stabant autem iuxta crucem ("Now there stood by the cross," Jesus addressing his mother and John, from the Gospel of John), narrator, baritone and orchestra
24. Stabat Mater ("The mother stood...," from the Stabat Mater sequence), chorus a cappella
25. Erat autem fere hora sexta ("And it was about the sixth hour," Christ's death account from both Luke and John), narrator, baritone, chorus and orchestra
26. Alla breve (a tempo marking in Italian indicating a quick duple meter), orchestra alone
27. In pulverem mortis... In te, Domine, speravi ("Into the dust of death...In thee, O Lord, I have put my trust" from Psalm 30), soprano, baritone, bass, chorus and orchestra