Texts of The Psalms of David in Krzysztof Knittel's intermedial composition

Abstract

Krzysztof Knittel, a composer who has been writing at the turn of the 20th and 21st century, is faithful to his artistic vision that bears testimony to his affiliation to the transavantgarde aimed at synthesizing the codes of modernity and tradition. One of its manifestations is the phenomenon of intermediality, picturing the relationships emerging between a given object (action) and media. Novelty in Knit- tel’s works is based on composing intuitive music, described as free improvised music, and recycled, or ecological, music. The 1970s saw increased interest in the sacred and the spiritual in Polish music. The song cycle Z głębokości wołam do Ciebie, Panie... (‘Out of the depths I cry to thee, O LORD!’, 2000) for choir and electronic media, the first religious composition by Knittel, was written, as the composer claims, ‘to express the truth and the strength of faith’. The songs were written to texts of the Psalter of King David from Biblia Tysiąclecia (‘The Millenium Bible’). The aim of this article is to assess how the source of inspiration influenced the structure and aesthetics of the intermedial work being discussed.