HAVASI — Ad Martem

In this gripping composition, HAVASI sets to music a striking Latin poem Ad Martem, precatio pro pace (To Mars, a prayer for peace) by the late mediaeval poet Janus Pannonius. Pannonius was the earliest of the great Hungarian poets, writing in the land that was the first to receive the cultural fruits of the Renaissance from Italy.

The poem begins by describing the ferocity of Mars, the classical war god, and the awful devastation that he trails in his wake, and finally implores this deity of bloody conflict to spare the Pannonians, the ancient name given to the people who live in Hungary and surrounding lands.

The music perfectly captures both the fearful mood of menacing aggression and the gentle mood of prayerful supplication, with powerful positive energy triumphing in the end.