Inaugural Concert of the celebratory cycle for the Vasa Year - Commemoration of the Golden Age of Polish Music - Royal Castle, Warsaw, 3 February 2019
The Baroque movement in Poland began with the Vasa dynasty, ostentatious patrons of painting and music. Assuming the reader's familiarity with the election of Kings in Polish history, there were three Vasa kings: Zygmunt III (1587-1632), Władisław IV (1632-48) and Jan Kazimierz (1648-68). King Zygmunt III despite his chaotic reign, loved large-scale polychoral music. There seems to be a great deal we still do not know about the Polish Baroque composer Marcin Mielczewski (d. 1651) and musicologists hope to discover more. In this inaugural concert of the coming Vasa concert cycle in 2019, I was to discover surprising and deeply satisfying musical riches. Władisław IV Vasa on horseback (Studio of Rubens) Mielczewski (whose sacred music is featured in tonight's concert) almost certainly took part in musical performances under Asprillio Pacelli and Giovanni Francesco Anerio, as well as studying with Franciszek Lilius, a composer of Italian descent. Warsaw was the