Song for the Unification of Europe, Zbigniew Preisner

 

The finale from Three Colors: Blue (1993) dir. Krzysztof Kieślowski, centered around the “Song for the Unification of Europe” composed by Zbigniew Preisner

The words sung in this song come from the bible. 1 Corinthians 13 to be exact. From these verses, Preisner has made the lyrics for the Song for the Unification of Europe.

Ean tais glosais toon antropoon lalo
kai toon angeloon,
agapen de me echo,
gegona chalcos echoon e kumbalon alaladzon.

Kai ean echo profeteian,
kai eido ta mysteria panta,
pistin ore metistanai,
agapen de me echo, outen eimi

He agape makrotumai, chresteuetai
he agape ou dzelloi, erpereuetai, ou fysioutai.

panta stegei, panta pisteuei, panta elpizei, panta upomenei.

He agape oudepotte piptei
eite de profeteiai, katargetezontai,
eite glosai, pausontai,
eite gnossis katargetesetai

Nuni de menei, pistis, elpis, agape,
ta tria tauta, meidzoon de toutoon, he agape.

If with the tongues of men I speak,
and of angels,
Love I do not have,
I have become a gong resounding or cymbal clanging.

And if I have the gift of prophecy,
and know mysteries all,
faith mountains move,
Love I do not have, nothing I am.

Love is generous, virtuous,
Love does not envy, boast, not proud is.

All she protects, all she trusts, all she hopes, all she perseveres.

Love never she fails. Be it prophecies, they will cease,
Be it tongues, they will be stilled, be it knowledge it will cease.

So remain, Faith, Hope and Love, these three. But the greatest of these is Love.

“Now I have only one thing left to do: nothing. I don’t want any belongings, any memories. No friends, no love. Those are all traps.”

 

It comes from a deep-rooted conviction that if there is anything worthwhile doing for the sake of culture, then it is touching on subject matters and situations which link people, and not those that divide people. There are too many things in the world which divide people, such as religion, politics, history, and nationalism. If culture is capable of anything, then it is finding that which unites us all. And there are so many things which unite people. It doesn’t matter who you are or who I am, if your tooth aches or mine, it’s still the same pain. Feelings are what link people together, because the word ‘love’ has the same meaning for everybody. Or ‘fear’, or ‘suffering’. We all fear the same way and the same things. And we all love in the same way. That’s why I tell about these things, because in all other things I immediately find division

Krzysztof Kieślowski