Hymnus pro gratiarum actione (Te Deum) for children’s choir, two mixed choirs and instrumental ensemble, 1979.

Hymnus pro gratiarum actione (Te Deum) for children’s choir, two mixed choirs and instrumental ensemble, 1979.

Completed on 10 June 1979, Te Deum was dedicated to John Paul II, who had been elected pope in the previous year. The work is written for an unusual group of performers: three choirs (one children’s choir and two mixed choirs) corresponding to three instrumental sections. The first is the brass section, the second – pitched percussion and the third – percussion instruments with indefinite pitch. The work comprises three movements: Te Deum laudamus (Lento maestoso), Tu rex gloriae (Lento), and Salvum fac(Risoluto e vigoroso). In this monumental composition Palester attempted to synthesise the compositional styles and solutions he used. We find here references to diatonics (as in Missa brevis) but also complex polychoral textures.

The work was premiered in Cracow on 30 September 1983. Tadeusz Strugała conducted and the composer himself came to Poland to attend the concert.