Exactly sixty years ago, in November 1965 – at the end of the Second Vatican Council and in the wake of the millennium of Mieszko I’s baptism – the Polish bishops addressed a letter to the German bishops. It contained the famous words, couched in their neighbour’s language: “Wir gewähren Vergebung und bitten um Vergebung” – “We forgive and ask for forgiveness”. The musicians of the Wrocław Baroque Ensemble, led by Maestro Andrzej Kosendiak, and pianist Piotr Pawlak, one of the Polish semi-finalists of this year’s 19th International Fryderyk Chopin Piano Competition, wish to commemorate this anniversary.

In the official letter, authored and initiated by the then Bishop of Wrocław, Bolesław Kominek, the bishops recalled the long history of neighbourly relations between the Polish and German nations. They placed particular emphasis on its positive chapters. Twenty years after the end of the war, it was difficult for both sides to remember them (many people were forcibly displaced from the so-called Recovered Territories in the wake of WW2). Although the message does not mention the history of music, the encounters of two cultures over a thousand years have borne fruit in this area as well. Especially in the borderland of Lower Silesia and its capital, Wrocław.

The concert will open with works by Mikołaj Zieleński from the early 17th century, dedicated to the three saints to whom the church of St. Stanislaus, St. Dorothy, and St. Wenceslas, adjacent to the NFM, is dedicated. They were, respectively, the patron saints of Poles, Germans, and Czechs living in the city in the 14th century. This will be followed by works by Marcin Mielczewski, a Baroque composer renowned throughout Europe. He worked at the court of the Polish Vasa dynasty and later for Charles Ferdinand, the Bishop of Wrocław, brother of Władysław IV. Although the artist composed for a Catholic bishop, most of his works have survived in copies made in Wrocław’s Protestant communities. The programme will also feature works by Johann Sebastian Bach. It is rarely remembered that from 1736 he held the title of Court Composer to Augustus III, King of Poland and Elector of Saxony. The famous cantata Tönet, ihr Pauken! Erschallet, Trompeten! was composed for the birthday of Queen of Poland, Maria Josepha.

After the intermission, we will witness an unusual concert reenactment. Fryderyk Chopin travelled through Prussian Wrocław several times. The last time was in 1830. The composer of the Mazurkas met there with Joseph Schnabel, a key figure in the city’s musical life at the time. The artists spontaneously decided to perform the second and third movements of the Piano Concerto in E minor, Op. 11, that same evening. The pianist then improvised on the themes from operas. The same programme will be presented by pianist Piotr Pawlak, who will also present improvisations on the themes from Daniel Auber’s opera La muette de Portici.