Actus contritionis

Actus contritionis (2006) portrays the battle between angels and demons for a human soul in a dark and bright work for speaker, mixed choir, chamber ensemble and electronics. After studying with Kurt Schwertsik, Leopold Hager and Ingomar Rainer at the mdw – University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna, I spent some time working abroad as an orchestra conductor. In 2006, after being accepted as a student of Krzysztof Penderecki, I moved to Poland to study with him at the Academy of Music in Kraków. At the same time, some European foundations that wanted to remain anonymous commissioned me a trilogy of sacred music works of pastoral nature. World religions and myths have fascinated me since my childhood and, during my education as a historian, I became interested in angels and demons while studying anthropology, theology and church history at the university. Thus, I gladly started to conceive these pieces.

Several theistic worldviews still believe in the existence of intellectual beings who are different than humans and ontologically lower than their creator deity. The Hebrew Bible and the Christian New Testament state that, by moving between heaven and earth, some of these angelic beings help humans, while others harm them. The Fourth Council of the Lateran explained that, even if all angels were created good by God, some of them turned evil on their own and became known as demons after rejecting him. Thus, many theologians think that angels protect humankind and watch over its salvation, while demons try to cause moral damage to humanity by tempting it into sin, which is defined as an offense against God that turns humans away from his love. The Council of Trent claimed that the Church received from Jesus Christ the power to forgive the sins of the baptized through the Sacrament of Penance, which reconciles man with God. And, according to exorcist Gabriele Amorth, this sacrament tears human souls away from the demon.

When remembering the aforementioned concepts, an overwhelming emotion came over me and, in my mind, I heard and saw a battle in heaven between angels and demons for the soul of a person who was praying the Act of Contrition before receiving absolution. And this is how my work Actus contritionis was born (hence its title). I composed this piece in the tradition of Polish sonorism, which I absorbed while studying with Krzysztof Penderecki, and added to it the result of my interest in bioacoustics and integer sequences. Thus, this work makes use of sound masses, clusters, glissandos, tremolos, extended performance techniques, elements of freedom and choice, etc.

Actus contritionis was premiered in Kraków (Poland), on 13 January 2007, thanks to the efforts of Teresa Malecka and Michal Pawelek, who provided the venue (Chamber Hall of the Academy of Music in Kraków) and the performers: Wojciech Leonowicz, narrator; Chór Kameralny Muzyki Wspólczesnej; Wiktoria Chrobak, percussion; Michal Pawelek, piano; Piotr Grodecki, double bass; Grzegorz Brajner, conductor. The dedication of this work includes the Jesus Prayer and also reads: “In memory of Gabriele Amorth”. This piece won the TRINAC Prize 2008 (EIMC-ISCM).

Dr. Jan Emanuel Abras, Ph.D. (born 1 February 1975 in Stockholm, Sweden)

www.janemanuelabras.com