The haunting motif of the Adagietto
There are compositions, especially short ones, which emerged spontaneously, written continuously from the start to the end. This was the case with my Adagietto from Paradise Lost, though, admittedly, I already had the material since I wrote it after the opera. One of the motifs did not let me rest. I decided to develop it, and so I wrote this Adagietto, which may be performed separately, not necessarily as part of the opera, especially since it halts the action for six minutes. --- Krzysztof Penderecki, Conversations in Lusławice, p. 121.