„Chopin bez fortepianu” – muzyka we władzy spojrzenia
“Chopin without piano” – music in the authority of the gaze

Author(s): Weronika Łucyk
Subject(s): Theatre, Dance, Performing Arts, Fine Arts / Performing Arts, Music, Sociology of Art
Published by: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Śląskiego
Summary/Abstract: Chopin without piano produced by CENTRALA and directed by Michał Zadara (premiere 23 March 2013) is based on the idea of performing two of Chopin’s concertos without the solo instrument part. The grand piano was ridden of its function as a musical instrument, and was used as an element of stage installation. Instead of playing the instrument Barbara Wysocka, starring as a soloist, monologues about the score and its various interpretations, as well as about stereotypes built around the composer’s work. The course of the monologue is strictly subordinated to musical rhythm, phrasing of the score, tempo of the orchestra. Thus the producers achieved a radical shift – the actress’s body replaces the grand piano as the instrument proper, and it is seen in interaction with the grand piano or the onductor. This deconstruction exposes the ambivalence of the listener’s gaze inscribed into a concert performance of a piece, and at the same time it imposes a reflexion on the soloist’s condition, remaining under the authority of the gaze. As a counterpoint to the actress’s appearance, Chopin’s letters are quoted in which the composer’s disease-degraded corporeality is described. As an additional element the paper compares three performances (Festiwal Prapremier in Bydgoszcz, the Gdansk Shakespeare Theatre and Festiwal R@Port in Gdynia) in various performative configurations, thus including incidental marginalia.

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