A study of Marta Ptaszynska's Holocaust Memorial Cantata / by Philip Hong Chan.

The Holocaust Memorial Cantata, written by Marta Ptaszynska, is for three solo voices, mixed choir, percussion, and orchestra. The Cantata received its premiere under the baton of Lord Yehudi Menuhin during the 1993 Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival in Germany. The performance, held in remembrance of the fiftieth anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, has drawn great attention in Germany and received extensive coverage in the German press. This paper focuses mainly on the Cantata: the process of commissioning; its text; its formal structure, harmonic language, text setting, and melodic treatment; and specific considerations in preparing this work for performance.