Zbigniew Preisner studied history and philosophy in Kraków; never having received formal music lessons, he taught himself about music by listening and transcribing parts from records. His compositional style represents a distinctively spare form of tonal neo-romanticism.
Preisner is best known for the music composed for the films directed by fellow Pole Krzysztof Kieślowski. His "Song for the Unification of Europe", based on the Greek text of 1 Corinthians 13, is attributed to a character in Kieślowski's Three Colors: Blue and plays a dominant role in the story. His music for Three Colors: Red includes a setting of Polish and French versions of a poem by Wisława Szymborska, a Polish Nobel Prize-winning poet.
After working with Kieślowski on Three Colors: Blue, Preisner was hired by the producer Francis Ford Coppola to write the score for The Secret Garden, directed by Polish director Agnieszka Holland. Although Preisner is most closely associated with Kieślowski, he has collaborated with several other directors, winning a César in 1996 for his work on Jean Becker's Élisa. He has won a number of other awards, including another César in 1994 for Three Colors: Red and the Silver Bear at the 1997 Berlin Film Festival 1997 for The Island on Bird Street.
In 1998, Requiem for My Friend, Preisner's first large scale work not written for film, was premiered. It was originally intended as a narrative work to be written by Krzysztof Piesiewicz and directed by Kieślowski, but it became a memorial to Kieślowski after the director's death. He composed the theme music for The People's Century, a monumental twenty-six part documentary made jointly in 1994 by the BBC television network in the United Kingdom and the PBS television network in the United States. He has also worked with director Thomas Vinterberg on the 2003 film It's All about Love and provided orchestration for David Gilmour's 2006 album On an Island. Silence, Night, and Dreams is Zbigniew Preisner’s new recording project, a large-scale work for orchestra, choir, and soloists, based on texts from the Book of Job. The first recording was released in 2007 with the lead singer of Madredeus, Teresa Salgueiro, and boy soprano Thomas Cully from Libera.
Van den Budenmayer is a fictitious eighteenth-century Dutch composer created by Preisner and director Krzysztof Kieślowski for attributions in screenplays. Preisner said Van den Budenmayer is a pseudonym he and Kieślowski invented "because we both loved the Netherlands". Music by the Dutch composer plays a role in three Kieślowski films: The Decalogue, Three Colours: Blue, and Three Colours: Red . In the second of these, a theme from his musiques funèbres is quoted in "The Song for the Unification of Europe". Its E minor soprano solo is prefigured in the earlier film The Double Life of Veronique, where circumstances in the story prevent the solo from finishing.
Agnus Dei
Zbigniew Preisner Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Qui tollis peccata mundi:
Dona eis requiem.
Agnus Dei,
Qui tollis peccata mundi:
Dona
Eis requiem sempiternam.
Agnus Dei
Agnus Dei
The lyrics of Zbigniew Preisner's song Agnus Dei are in Latin and based on the text of the Latin Mass. The opening line, "Agnus Dei," which means "lamb of God" in English, is used repeatedly throughout the song as a form of worship and supplication. The repeated phrase "Qui tollis peccata mundi" means "who takes away the sins of the world," and is a plea for forgiveness and redemption.
The next line, "Dona eis requiem," is a plea for rest or peace, which is further emphasized in the repeated phrase "Eis requiem sempiternam," meaning "grant them eternal rest." These lyrics have a solemn, reverent tone and convey a sense of humility before a divine being who has the power to relieve us of our burdens and grant us rest and redemption.
Zbigniew Preisner's Agnus Dei has become a popular piece of music for religious and non-religious purposes alike due to its emotional power and beautiful melody. It has been used in a variety of films, including The Tree of Life and The English Patient, and has been covered by several artists, including Sarah Brightman and Andrea Bocelli. Its haunting, melancholic melody and poignant lyrics have resonated with listeners for many years.
Line by Line Meaning
Agnus Dei,
Lamb of God,
Qui tollis peccata mundi:
Who takes away the sins of the world:
Dona eis requiem.
Grant them rest.
Agnus Dei,
Lamb of God,
Qui tollis peccata mundi:
Who takes away the sins of the world:
Dona
Grant
Eis requiem sempiternam.
Them eternal rest.
Agnus Dei
Lamb of God
Agnus Dei
Lamb of God
Agnus Dei
Lamb of God
Writer(s): Jan Garbarek, Antoine Brumel, David Langley James, John Francis Potter, Rogers Henry Covey Crump, Gordon Jones
Contributed by Hannah C. Suggest a correction in the comments below.