This work was written in 1980 and first performed on 2 March 1980 by the Symphony Orchestra of Polish Radio and TV with Elzbieta Chojnacka (harpsichord), conducted by Stanislaw.
The polish composer Henryk Gorecki, born in 1933, readily acknowledges the influence of national, religious, and folk traditions upon his music, including the avant-garde works which made his name in the late 1950s.