When I gave last week's lecture/demo on which folk tale I "hear" in the 2nd Chopin Ballade, I featured an animated film called "Switez". I hope some of you followed up on that and viewed the film. If you did, could you please help me figure out what the "fleeing townspeople" are singing as they run from the marauding solidiers? It took me forever to figure out the text - they are singing, in Russian, "Vos po me pomeluis", which I think translates to "have mercy on us". The film doesn't credit the song. The weird thing is, I KNOW I've sung this before, I can remember how difficult it was to enunciate that phrase, and I can almost see the director's face drilling us. It's driving me crazy trying to think what it is - Is it Rachmaninoff?
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Ruth - thank you so much for your comments! The "Gos" makes more sense than "Vos", thanks. I listened (sort of scanned) to the All-Night-Vigil, it's not that. I'll have to start the Divine Liturgy and just let it play in the background since it's so lengthy, but sounds beautiful. Yes, I was aware that Poland was Eastern Orthodox. Kind of what prefaced my recent research was not only starting to study the 2nd Ballade, but also signing up for Ancestry.com. We know that my paternal grandparents were from Snakov, Slovakia and Poland, they spoke Polish as their primary language, and they were Eastern Orthodox. When they immigrated to Calumet, MI there was only a Roman Catholic church, so all…
We tend to think of Poland as a Roman Catholic country but it was Eastern Orthodox entirely for a long time. The religious history of Poland is enough to make one weep! Since it is tied in so intricately to its political history, which is a cause of yet more weeping.
I haven't tried to find the film yet, so I wonder if they are using either the Rachmaninoff Vespers from the All-Night Vigil, or the Divine Liturgy? Or something else altogether? There are numberless settings of this phrase.
Carol, they are singing Lord have mercy. The text is Gospody pomiloy. This is sung for every litany for every Orthodox service.