The Partita for Harpsichord and Orchestra, sometimes also referred to as Partita for

Harpsichord A harpsichord ( it, clavicembalo; french: clavecin; german: Cembalo; es, clavecín; pt, cravo; nl, klavecimbel; pl, klawesyn) is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. This activates a row of levers that turn a trigger mechanism ...

, Electric Guitar, Bass Guitar, Harp, Double Bass, and Chamber Orchestra or ''Harpsichord Concerto'', is a composition by Polish composer

Krzysztof Penderecki Krzysztof Eugeniusz Penderecki (; 23 November 1933 – 29 March 2020) was a Polish composer and conductor. His best known works include ''Threnody to the Victims of Hiroshima'', Symphony No. 3, his '' St Luke Passion'', ''Polish Requiem'', ''A ...

. It was finished in 1971 and is Penderecki's only major composition for a harpsichord soloist.

Composition

Penderecki's ''Partita'' was commissioned by the

Eastman School of Music The Eastman School of Music is the music school of the University of Rochester, a private research university in Rochester, New York. It was established in 1921 by industrialist and philanthropist George Eastman. It offers Bachelor of Music (B.M ...

Rochester, New York Rochester () is a City (New York), city in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York, the county seat, seat of Monroe County, New York, Monroe County, and the fourth-most populous in the state after New York City, Buffalo, New York, Buffalo, ...

to commemorate the institution's 50th anniversary. The work was finished in 1971 and had its first hearing in Rochester on February 7, 1972, with

Felicja Blumenthal Felicja Blumental (28 December 1908 – 31 December 1991) was a Polish piano, pianist and composer. "She was one of the relatively few women born in the first quarter of the twentieth century to have achieved an important career as a concert ...

playing the harpsichord and

Walter Hendl Walter Hendl (January 12, 1917April 10, 2007) was an American conductor, composer and pianist. Biography Hendl was born in West New York, New Jersey, and later went on to study with Fritz Reiner at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia ...

conducting the Eastman School of Music Philharmonia. It was initially conceived as a Partita for Harpsichord; however, the electric guitar, the bass guitar, the harp and a double bass had a quite significant role in the work. Accordingly, when Penderecki revised the composition in 1991 and premiered the revised version on January 5, 1992, these instruments had credit as well. The second premiere took place in

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...

, with

Elisabeth Chojnacka Elisabeth Chojnacka (born Elżbieta Ukraińczyk; 10 September 1939 – 28 May 2017) was a Polish harpsichordist living in France. She was one of the world's foremost harpsichordists specializing in the performance of contemporary harpsichord mus ...

at the harpsichord, Michael Goltz at the electric guitar, Hans Lengefeld at the bass guitar, Han-An Liu at the harp,

Matthias Weber Matthias is a name derived from the Greek Ματθαίος, in origin similar to Matthew. People Notable people named Matthias include the following: In religion: * Saint Matthias, chosen as an apostle in Acts 1:21–26 to replace Judas Iscariot * ...

at the double bass, and Penderecki himself conducting the

Munich Philharmonic The Munich Philharmonic (german: Münchner Philharmoniker, links=no) is a German symphony orchestra located in the city of Munich. It is one of Munich's four principal orchestras, along with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Munich Rad ...

Structure

The work is in only one movement. However, some sources suggest that the work can be divided into two sections, marked ''Allegro ma non troppo'' and ''Allegro molto'' in the score. No recording has divided the work into such sections. Even though the title of the composition may misleadingly suggest a standard suite of dances or dance-related movements, it is generally conceived as a concerto grosso and variation form. The compositions starts with the strings, which play long, asynchronical notes, some of them a semi-tone away. After that, a whole set of trills, fast arpeggios and uneven rhythms is displayed. It is worth mentioning the implementation of three cadenzas for harpsichord, which were added by the composer for the second premiere of the work.

Notable recordings

Here is a list of some of the most well-known recordings of this piece:

References

{{Authority control Compositions by Krzysztof Penderecki 1972 compositions