Soprano: Isabel Bayrakdaraian, Sinfonietta Cracovia, conducted by John Axelrod. Taken from "HOLOCAUST - A Music Memorial Film from Auschwitz". For the first time since its liberation, permission was granted for music to be heard in Auschwitz and a number of leading musicians were brought there to perform music for the film.
這是亨利克•葛瑞茲基(Henryk Górecki)第三號交響曲 「哀傷之歌」(Sorrowful Songs)的第二樂章。女高音獨唱的部分,取材自二次大戰期間納粹秘密警察的囚室牆上,一位十八歲的女孩所寫下一句話。簡單的字眼,化為歌詞: Mother,no,do not cry, Queen of heaven most chaste Help me always. Hail Mary. (母親,不,不要哭 天上最純潔的女王 聖母瑪麗亞 一定會幫助我)
Górecki learned of an inscription scrawled on the wall of a cell of a Gestapo prison in the town of Zakopane, which lies at the foot of the Tatra mountains in southern Poland. The words were those of 18-year-old Helena Wanda Błażusiakówna, a highland woman incarcerated on 25 September, 1944. It read "O Mamo nie płacz nie—Niebios Przeczysta Królowo Ty zawsze wspieraj mnie" (Oh Mamma do not cry—Immaculate Queen of Heaven support me always). The composer recalled, "I have to admit that I have always been irritated by grand words, by calls for revenge. Perhaps in the face of death I would shout out in this way. But the sentence I found is different, almost an apology or explanation for having got herself into such trouble; she is seeking comfort and support in simple, short but meaningful words". He later explained, "In prison, the whole wall was covered with inscriptions screaming out loud: 'I'm innocent', 'Murderers', 'Executioners', 'Free me', 'You have to save me'—it was all so loud, so banal. Adults were writing this, while here it is an eighteen-year-old girl, almost a child. And she is so different. She does not despair, does not cry, does not scream for revenge. She does not think about herself; whether she deserves her fate or not. Instead, she only thinks about her mother: because it is her mother who will experience true despair. This inscription was something extraordinary. And it really fascinated me. (FROM Wikipedia)
youtube上的另一個版本,是著名的錄音,極美。 Performed by David Zinman, conductor, and Dawn Upshaw, soprano.
〈她名叫「伊萊莎」!〉寫的是台灣首位女宣教師伊萊莎‧庫克(Eliza C. Cooke),以往大家只知道她是李庥牧師娘,而不知其名。鄭仰恩在劍橋韋斯敏斯德學院的檔案室找到了一些台灣早期宣教師的資料,才終於知道她的名字。伊萊莎在李庥牧師去世後,繼續在台灣推動「女學」的設立,致力婦女宣教工作,可惜在她獨力奉獻三百英鎊所建的女學落成之前,就因病而不得不離開台灣。