String Quartet No. 1 (Górecki)

Written in 1988 after a long period of focus on vocal music, it was first performed by the Kronos Quartet on 21 January 1989 at the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis.

The choice of quotation was partially inspired by Górecki's dislike of the evenings in a time of political uncertainty in Communist Poland.

The Boosey & Hawkes edition includes the lyrics to the original motet and a notation of the tenor line, which appears in the work.

[4] Similarly to two earlier compositions, it is based on Already it is dusk, which is a popular motet sung by many choirs in Poland, praying for help against evil forces as the night falls.

Cantus firmus and tenor line in Wacław of Szamotuły's piece After a brief introduction on an open fifth composed of the open D and A strings on a violin or viola, which will come to be a central point of return of the work, the piece starts off with a canon on the cantus firmus of the Renaissance motet, with a different transformation of the theme in each instrument: This recalls twelve-tone techniques, which Górecki used extensively in his early avant-garde period.

This section recalls the music of the Polish Highlanders and explores irregular rhythmic divisions, and, typical for the composer, repetition.

The instruments end up switching roles one final time, with the viola and cello now playing a manipulated version of the original cantus firmus.

This kind of texture can be seen in other works inspired by the Polish Highlands, such as Wojciech Kilar's poem for string orchestra Orawa, composed only two years earlier, in 1986.

Here Górecki also includes the performance instruction non risparmiare l'arco, meaning "do not spare the bow" in Italian, suggesting a harsh and uncompromising playing style.

After a climax, the canon theme from the beginning returns, and the piece concludes with a tranquil coda, marked Armonia in the score.