Pokora (Humility). Dramma giocoso

for soprano, baritone, accordion and strings (2021)

The composition is the finial of the trilogy of works by Aleksander Nowak and Szczepan Twardoch, written in 2019-21. Various motives taken up in earlier two pieces (Drach and Siren) come back and entangle in many not obvious ways. The libretto, like in Drach is an adaptation of a novel – Humility written in 2020, in which the Author returns to Silesia and its tragic history, including his own family. The background is again The Great War, and the fate of two characters, Agnes and Alojs are immersed in the whirlpool of history tossing them ruthlessly as a sea storm. This time human characters are not accompanied by any third voice; there is no metaphysical eye and commentary for human fate here. A man and a woman talk only to each other; they are the only point of reference for one another, the only plague and the only salvation. Awaited in vain.

The piece was created in 2021, on commission of the AUKSO Tychy City Chamber Orchestra.

PERFORMANCE HISTORY:
PREMIERE: 11/5/2021, Auksodrone Festival in Tychy; performers: Joanna Freszel, Sebastian Szumski, Maciej Frąckiewicz, AUKSO Orchestra, Marek Moś

RECORDINGS HISTORY:
11/8-9/ 2021; Joanna Freszel, Sebastian Szumski, Maciej Frąckiewicz, AUKSO Orchestra, Marek Moś; Sound Eigineer: Beata Jankowska-Burzyńska; Academy of Music in Katowice Concert Hall; for PWM/ANAKLASIS