for mixed voices (SATB div) a cappella
Text: Polish or Latin (Latin by Edward Tambling)
Difficulty: 3/5
Use: General, Liturgical, Holy Week, Easter


Volume 2: Holy Week & Easter (view contents above)


These Church Songs, based on melodies from Rev Jan Siedlecki’s Spiewniki Koscielne (‘church songbooks’), were composed in 1986 although left incomplete: the manuscript of the twenty-first and final song was torn. This publication is based on the PWM edition of 2013, which was produced with the assistance of the composer’s children, Anna and Mikolaj Górecki, and incorporates alternative Latin words by Edward Tambling. Tempo and dynamic markings omitted by the composer are left to the discretion of the conductor. Reference English literal translations of the original Polish are provided, but these should not be used in performance.


The PWM edition reproduced the songs in chronological order, numbered I to XX. This edition groups the songs into three publications according to liturgical usage: 1 – The Blessed Virgin Mary; 2 – Holy Week & Easter; 3 – Saints, the Blessed Sacrament & the Trinity. The PWM numbering is therefore included only in the contents list for information. In concert performance the songs, or a selection of them, may be performed in any order or combination.


The first performance of Church Songs was given on 23 June 2013 in the Basilica of St Francis of Assisi, Kraków, by the Kraków Singers in Tribute to H M Górecki, conducted by Wlodzimierz Siedlik.

Two of the seven songs found in this volume (PDF sample pages above)