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- Flute with harpsichord

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Products featuring this work

Format	Title	Version	AMC Library	Price
Score & Part	Iluminada: Três Reflexões sobre : Fátima iii. Dança Sagrada for flute and harpsichord / Katia Tiutiunnik. 1 facsimile score 10p. -- A4 (portrait)) and 1 part (4p. -- A4 (portrait)) Published by Australian Music Centre — 2022 Library shelf no. 788.363/TIU 6	Flute with harpsichord	Available for loan	$POA
Score & Part	Iluminada: Três Reflexões sobre : Fátima iii. Dança Sagrada for tenor recorder and harpsichord / Katia Tiutiunnik. 1 facsimile score 10p. -- A4 (portrait)) and 1 part (4p. -- A4 (portrait)) Published by Australian Music Centre — 2022 Library shelf no. 788.363/TIU 5	Recorder with harpsichord	Available for loan	$POA

Work Overview

Dança Sagrada for harpsichord and tenor recorder (with a version for flute and harpsichord) is the third composition in my trilogy, Iluminada: Três Reflexões sobre Fátima, commissioned by Australian harpsichordist, Diana Weston, on 25th February 2022. The title of the composition is Portuguese for "Sacred Dance", while the English translation of the title of the entire trilogy is, "Illuminated: Three Reflections on Fatima". The second composition in the trilogy is entitled, Rainha Resplandecente (Portuguese for "Resplendent Queen"), while the title of the first composition is Sombras de Segredos (Portuguese for "Shadows of Secrets").

The inspiration for all three compositions of the trilogy, Iluminada: Três Reflexões sobre Fátima, emanated from my own research into, and my ensuing reflections on, the series of apparitions of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of Jesus, to the ten-year-old Lucia dos Santos and her cousins, Francisco and Jacinta Marto, who were eight and seven years of age respectively. This series of six apparitions took place at the Cova de Iria, in the vicinty of Fatima, Portugal, beginning on May 13 1917 and continuing on the 13th day of each successive month, before finally culminating in the "Miracle of the Sun" on October 13 1917.

Dança Sagrada is intended as a musical expression of destiny's "sacred dance", as elegantly manifested in the history of the town Fatima, Portugal, in the vicinity of which Our Lady of Fatima's apparitions took place. In the 12th century, Catholic armies sought to reconquer cities in Portugal and Spain that were occupied by Islamic forces. During this period, a Catholic knight named Gonçalo and his companions abducted a Muslim princess by the name of Fatima, who subsequently fell in love with her captor. Gonçalo reciprocated Fatima's love for him and the two of them were soon betrothed. Prior to her marriage to Gonçalo, Fatima was baptized into the Catholic faith and took on the name Oureana, So great was Gonçalo's love for his new wife that he named the Portugese town of Fatima and Ourem after her.

One of the most fascinating aspects of this story is that this Muslim princess was named after the Prophet Muhammad's daughter, Fatimah bint Muhammad, one of the most highly revered women in Islam. Her father, the Prophet Muhammad, even bestowed upon her the title, "al-Zahra", Arabic for "shining one", and said, "Thou shalt be the most blessed of all the women in Paradise, after Mary, Mother of the Prophet Jesus." (In Islam, Jesus is revered as a prophet, while Mary, his mother, is the only woman mentioned by name in the Quran. She is held in the highest esteem by Muslims worldwide, who even believe in her perpetual virginity and in the Immaculate Conception which rendered her free of original sin.) After Catholics, the largest group of pilgrims to the Shrine of Fatima, Portugal, are Muslims, millions of whom make the pilgrmage there each year.

This intriguing history inspired me to structure Dança Sagrada in a way which resembles Arab compositions, beginning and ending with slow, meditative, rhapsodic music, juxtaposed against a passionate, highly rhythmic presto dance in the middle. Furthermore, although this piece is based on the Japanese Iwato mode, its melodies are adorned with ornaments derived from the Arab Hijaz mode, to which the music briefly modulates in the latter half of the piece.

Work Details

Year: 2022

Duration: 4 min.

The composer notes the following styles, genres, influences, etc in relation to this work:
Japanese music, Arab music, Renaissance music, Sacred music