O happy Jerusalem, which art called “Peac” – the opening words of this hymn from the Liturgy of the Hours of the Catholic Church refer to an imaginary, heavenly city. The real Jerusalem, however, has little in common with happiness and peace. Ancient yet unresolvable conflicts remain fresh in the modern city’s memory, indeed they have never truly gone away. Jerusalem – perhaps the most pious city in the world – is filled with synagogues, mosques and churches belonging to the world’s three dominant monotheistic religions, for centuries vying with each other, if not for supremacy then at least for safe access to the sites that all of them regard as holy. Judaism, Christianity and Islam, which in turn are further fractured into innumerable factions, have created an infinite set of ideas and beliefs about the Holy City. It is represented in the rich legacy of these cultures – in literature, architecture, visual arts, and music.
The meticulously arranged concert programme combining diverse musical and literary visions of Jerusalem (past and present) and drawing on traditional works and instruments from different cultures (Jewish, Christian and Islamic) forms a truly poignant narrative. The texts of some of the presented pieces – some have survived without music – were written against the backdrop of the Christian Crusades. They concern not only the Holy City or those who allegedly liberated it, but also the women who pined and wept for their loved ones going off to war. As a consequence, we may find the anonymous text Jerusalem! Grant damage me fais (Jerusalem! Great harm you do to me) more convincing today than the much earlier sequence O Jerusalem aurea citivitas attributed to Hildegard of Bingen, which extols the supposedly “solid foundations” of the “golden city”. In the former text, instead of eulogising – as others did – the mythical city, the female persona imprecates it for taking away her lover, who went to war to “liberate” it.
Bartłomiej Gembicki