Flowers laid at the coffin of Henryk Mikolaj Gorecki at his funeral in Katowice. Photo: PAP/Andrzej Grygiel

During the funeral ceremony in Katowice of the late Polish composer Henryk Mikolaj Gorecki, Archbishop Damian Zimon thanked the composer for “consciously joining art with faith.”

“The music of Professor Gorecki is the materialisation of the great mystery of existence,” Archbishop Zimon said during the homily of Gorecki’s funeral Mass, which was led by Zimon as well as Cardinal Franciszek Macharski, formerly Archbishop of Krakow.

The funeral for one of Poland’s most celebrated composers, who died after a long illness on 12 November, was preceded by a musical farewell comprised of a number of pieces by Polish composers, including Karol Szymanowski’s “Stabat Mater”.

The funeral was also attended by Culture Minister Bogdan Zdrojewski, who said that “we are not just bidding farewell to a great composer, but also an eminent figure, an amazing person and personality.”

The closing of the funeral ceremony was marked by Gorecki’s “Amen”, sung jointly by choirs from Katowice and Krakow under the baton of Gorecki’s contemporary, Krzysztof Penderecki.

A procession soon followed, led by Cardinal Macharski from Katowice’s Christ the King church to Gorecki’s final resting place at the cemetery on Sienkiewicza street, where other notable artists also lie, such as actor Zbigniew Cybulski or painter Jerzy Duda-Gracz. (jb)

Sources: IAR/PAP