Seven Gates of Jerusalem - Symphony No. 7

In 1995, Krzysztof Penderecki received a commission to compose a work for the festivities marking the 3000th anniversary of the city of Jerusalem, which King David is said to have declared as his capital city around 1000 BC. Penderecki compiled his own text for the monumental vocal symphony from Psalms and the books of the prophets Isaiah, Ezekiel, Jeremiah and Daniel, whose origins are for the most part located in Jerusalem. The number seven symbolically permeates the entire work: the seven movements represent the seven gates of the city (the eighth gate sealed in 1541 is reserved for the arrival of the Messiah). Th e theme of movements II and IV consists of seven notes and the striking repetition of seven crotchets appears frequently throughout all movements. The sixth movement forms a dramatic climax: here the narrator recites Esekiel’s vision of the awakening of the people of Israel (Chapter 37) in Hebrew: exceptionally powerful in Penderecki’s musical setting and against the background of the Holocaust.