TRUE LIFE - A Celebration of Poet Adam Zagajewski

PROGRAM:
J.S. Bach | Prelude from Suite No. 1 for cello in G Major
Adam Zagajewski | “Self-Portrait” (archival recording)
J.S. Bach | Allemande from Suite No. 1 for cello in G Major
SARAH ROTHENBERG | Music and Poetry
EDWARD HIRSCH | In memoriam
Frederic Chopin | Mazurka in A minor, Op. 17, No. 4
RICH LEVY | “Errata from Many Years Past”
“Mysticism for Beginners”
“My Favorite Poets”
Franz Schubert | Andantino from Moments Musicaux, Op. 94/D780
LILLIE ROBERTSON | “Franz Schubert: A Press Conference”
SARAH ROTHENBERG | “Three Angels”
Dmitri Shostakovich | Prelude and Fugue No. 4 in E minor, Op. 87
EDWARD HIRSCH | “Try to Praise the Mutilated World”
Gustav Mahler (arr. Teddy Abrams) | Adagietto from Symphony No. 5

The Menil Collection, Houston, Texas
February 27, 2023

Sonia Wieder-Atherton, cello
Sarah Rothenberg, piano

Edward Hirsch
Rich Levy
Lillie Robertson
Sarah Rothenberg


Adam Zagajewski was one of Poland’s most famous contemporary poets, and was a prominent member of the Polish New Wave. He published eight poetry collections in English, including Asymmetry, Eternal Enemies, Without End and Mysticism for Beginners as well as works of prose including Two Cities, Another Beauty, A Defense of Ardor and Slight Exaggeration. Translated around the world, Zagajewski received many of literature’s most prestigious international awards, such as the 2004 Neustadt International Prize for Literature, the 2010 European Poetry Prize and the 2013 Zhongkun International Poetry Prize. Through his insightful and quietly radiant poems, Zagajewski acquired loyal readers around the world; and as a member of the UH Creative Writing Program faculty for eighteen years and faculty member of the University of Chicago’s Committee on Social Thought, he leaves a vibrant legacy of friends, students and colleagues across the U.S.

An English-language translation of Zagajewski’s posthumous collection, True Life, was published this month by Farrar, Strauss & Giroux. (The original Polish collection was published in 2019.) About the English-language edition, Publisher’s Weekly writes in a starred review, “While devastating truths anchor the reader to a foreclosed present, there is evidence of hope in beauty. This is a remarkable collection by one of the century’s finest poets.” Reviewing two earlier collections, Charles Simic in The New York Review of Books observes that Zagajewski’s poems “celebrate those rare moments when we catch a glimpse of the world from which all labels have been unpeeled.” In the words of Mary Oliver, Zagajewski is “the most pertinent, impressive, meaningful poet of our time.”

In an essay titled Poetry and Music for the UK literary journal PN Review, Sarah Rothenberg wrote, in 2018: “Music has always been central to Adam Zagajewski’s writing... Not being a musician himself, [he] is free to wander in music’s mysteries, culling from the works of Schubert, Mahler, Shostakovich, a seed that becomes a poem. Capturing in the listener’s experience a sensation that is unique to music, that is free from the connotations of spoken language and exists in its own realm... Adam’s sensitivity as a listener opens up unknown worlds to him that he then reflects back to us in words. He recently wrote, ‘Music reminds us what love is. If you’ve forgotten what love is, go listen to music.’”