“Rudolphina I” is the first in a series of six concerts presenting works collected in the library of Legnica Duke Jerzy Rudolf, one of the most extensive music collections in seventeenth-century Europe.
Concerts in the “Rudolphina II” series, performed by the Cantores Minores Wratislavienses ensemble, will take place in November and December 2014 in Wrocław, Warsaw and Legnica (23 November, 6:00 p.m., the I LO assembly hall at Klasztorny Square), presenting polychoral motets by seventeenth-century masters of polyphony.
Jerzy Rudolf, the youngest son of Duke Joachim Rudolf of Brzeg and Anna Maria of Anhalt, was born at the castle in Oława on 22 January 1595. In March 1611, it was decided to divide the Duchy of Legnica and Brzeg between Joachim’s two living sons. The elder, Jan Christian, remained in the Duchy of Brzeg, while the younger, Jerzy Rudolf, received (on 8 May 1612): Legnica, Złotoryja, Lubin, Wołów, Grodziec, Prochowice, Wińsko, Wąsosz, Ryczeń, Rudne and Chojnów (from 7 July 1616).
Studies at the University in Frankfurt on the Oder and travels through the countries of the Reich, the Italian Peninsula, Switzerland and the Netherlands instilled in the duke a desire to create a book collection. He temporarily housed his library at St John’s Church in Legnica because renovation work was underway in the castle rooms. Had he done otherwise, the numerous looting raids on the castle during the Thirty Years’ War would have destroyed the collection. Placing it in the church, however, saved at least part of it. An inventory made in 1636 listed 530 volumes, including 55 music prints. Music was the duke’s great passion, and he collected works by the most distinguished composers of the period, such as A. Gabreli, O. di Lasso, L. Marenzia, C. Merula, G. P. Palestrina and others, as well as all Silesian composers. He knew some of the artists personally; for example, Henryk Schützem of Dresden dedicated his works to him. Because of the war, Jerzy Rudolf left Legnica in 1633 and later lived in the Legnica dukes’ residence in Wrocław. He died in Wrocław on 14 January 1653, but was buried in Legnica’s St John’s Church.
Wrocławscy Kameraliści was formed on the basis of the chamber choir Cantores Minores Wratislavienses, founded by Edmund Kajdasz in 1966. From 1974 to 1976, the choir operated under the Centre for Culture and Art, then under the State Philharmonic in Wrocław, and since 1979 it has been an independent cultural institution; since 1994, it has been an institution of the Municipality of Wrocław. Wrocławscy Kameraliści collaborate with Poland’s leading early-music ensembles (Concerto Polacco, Wrocław Baroque Orchestra, Polish Eighteenth-Century Orchestra and others), soloists and conductors (S.-L. Kaakinen, W. Ochman, M. Toporowski, J. T. Adamus, L. Tamminga, P. Esswood and others), and orchestras including Wratislavia, Leopoldinum, Ricordanza, AUKSO, the Silesian Chamber Orchestra, the L. Janáček Philharmonic Chamber Orchestra of Ostrava and others, as well as W. Malicki, J. Trela, R. Gonera, guitar master Paco Peña and panpipe virtuoso G. Zamphir.
To date, the institution’s ensembles have performed more than 2,600 concerts throughout Europe, as well as in Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Israel, Turkey and Mexico. In addition to radio recordings—more than 2,500 minutes—the ensemble’s achievements include 37 albums, numerous television recordings, 36 appearances at the Wratislavia Cantans Festival and eight concerts during Gaude Mater in Częstochowa.
The ensemble also performs in an expanded formation of up to 70 people under the name Cantores Maiores Wratislavienses. It consists of former Cantores Minores Wratislavienses singers, including professional musicians and lecturers from Wrocław’s Academy of Music and music schools. In 2002, the ensemble performed at a gala concert marking the 750th anniversary of the city of Breda, the Netherlands, and since 2007 it has performed annually at the E. Kajdasz Festival of Generations in Lower Silesia.
The Ars Cantus ensemble was founded in 2000 as a vocal group associated with Wrocławscy Kameraliści, working under the artistic direction of Tomasz Dobrzański. The artists perform music from earlier periods, from the Middle Ages to the early Baroque, as well as madrigals, motets and intradas by the renowned German composer Hans Leo Hassler. An important part of their repertoire consists of musical treasures of Lower Silesia dating back to the fourteenth century. The ensemble’s artists
In 2001, at the 11th Early Music Festival at the Royal Castle in Warsaw, the ensemble was honoured with the Zofia Rayzacher Award “for the greatest artistic individuality in the field of early music” for its performance of medieval songs from the “Carmina Burana” collection. In December 2004, an Ars Cantus concert was broadcast from Studio S1 to the countries of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU). In 2011, the ensemble received the Adam Jarzębski Award “for the best performer at the 20th Early Music Festival at the Royal Castle in Warsaw” for its performance of the programme “Mikołaj z Radomia – opera omnia”. Early-music enthusiasts know the ensemble from festivals and concerts in Poland, Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Slovakia and Italy.
“Rudolphina” received multi-year funding from the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage as part of the 2014 Cultural Events programme.
Witold Łaszewski