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W artykule omówiona jest recepcja dorobku polskiego muzykologa, Mieczysława Tomaszewskiego, na Litwie. Autorka stwierdza, że przełom w rozpropagowaniu polskiej myśli muzykologicznej na Litwie nastąpił dzięki nawiązaniu nieformalnych relacji pomiędzy nieoficjalną polską sceną muzyki współczesnej i niezależnymi od instytucji działaniami litewskich kompozytorów i muzykologów – od lat siedemdziesiątych do dziewięćdziesiątych dwudziestego wieku. To właśnie stało się przyczyną intensywnej recepcji wybitnego dorobku Mieczysława Tomaszewskiego w kontekście kultury Litwy i zaowocowało intensywną refleksją dotyczącą filozoficznych interpretacji muzyki w litewskim piśmiennictwie i muzykologii.
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W artykule omówiona jest recepcja dorobku polskiego muzykologa, Mieczysława Tomaszewskiego, na Litwie. Autorka stwierdza, że przełom w rozpropagowaniu polskiej myśli muzykologicznej na Litwie nastąpił dzięki nawiązaniu nieformalnych relacji pomiędzy nieoficjalną polską sceną muzyki współczesnej i niezależnymi od instytucji działaniami litewskich kompozytorów i muzykologów – od lat siedemdziesiątych do dziewięćdziesiątych dwudziestego wieku. To właśnie stało się przyczyną intensywnej recepcji wybitnego dorobku Mieczysława Tomaszewskiego w kontekście kultury Litwy i zaowocowało intensywną refleksją dotyczącą filozoficznych interpretacji muzyki w litewskim piśmiennictwie i muzykologii.
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Johann Strauss (son); Erich Wolfgang Korngold; Karl Tutein; operetta; Cagliostro in Wien Operetka jest indywidualnym, pełnoprawnym gatunkiem o specyficznych tradycjach, dotyczących przede wszystkim bezpośredniego kontaktu z publicznością, a także odwołań do bieżącej sytuacji społecznej i politycznej. Tak też nie można operetki jako gatunku pogodzić z artystyczną zasadą wierności oryginałowi – stanowi ona jego absolutne przeciwieństwo, a zarazem odważną adaptację istniejących warunków społecznych. Operetka Cagliostro w Wiedniu autorstwa Johanna Straussa (syna) z roku 1875 jest tego znakomitym przykładem; oryginalnie powstała dla uczczenia zwycięstwa „Niemców” (Prus i sojuszników) nad ich odwiecznym wrogiem (Francją) w historycznym przebraniu setnej rocznicy wyzwolenia Wiednia spod oblężenia tureckiego (1683). W roku 1927 Erich Wolfgang Korngold w sposób zasadniczy przekształcił to dzieło i przeobraził bogatą, pełną starodawnych figur wizję Straussa, w poważny dramat psychologiczno-muzyczny. W 1941 roku Karl Tutein znów wydał tę operetkę, przeobraziwszy ją prawie nie do poznania. Hojnie uzupełnił ją o popularne utwory Straussa (na przykład Kaiserwalzer) oraz przepisał fabułę na modłę niemal błahych burżuazyjnych konceptów moralności. Artykuł ma na celu dokładne prześledzenie zmian muzycznych i wprowadzenie porządku w labiryncie różnych wersji.
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The term “piano duet” in the title refers to a musical work that may be written for four hands, as well as one written for two pianos (a.k.a. “piano duos”). The latter rather calls for a concert hall. Its assets include the possibility to fully use the sound scale of both instruments, and also to achieve a full partnership of both performers – an equilibrium of both parts, their superimposition and mutual, alternate variating. Alfred Einstein called it the “play of dialogue”, relating to Mozart’s Sonata for two pianos in D Major KV 448.When dealing with a “four hand” duet, each performer has at their disposal, roughly, just one half of the keyboard – with different sound characteristics than the other. Therefore the aesthetic goal of two performers playing together on one keyboard is often not a dialogue and exchange of thought, but a lyrical monologue of a most intimate character, as in Franz Schubert’s Fantasia in F minor, D. 940 (Op. posth. 103).
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One of Krzysztof Penderecki’s key works is classified by scholars to the period of the so-called “Great Synthesis”: composition techniques from the previous phases of the composer’s oeuvre underwent a new selection and re-hierarchization. Synthesis, as the creator has it, is not a mere, mechanical connecting of elements, but an act of including them in a “unifying experience”. In Credo, it manifests itself by allusions not only to Penderecki’s entire oeuvre, but also to the thousand-year European musical tradition and, what is most significant, by giving the whole piece a particularly personal character. Out of many perspectives in interpreting of Penderecki’s masterpiece, the author of this article focuses on three: creating the musical narrative in accordance with the “musical characters and symbols” of the romantic era, multi-level new rhetorical references in the musicalization of the Word, and finally – a reflection on the alluded to religious archetypes, or as Mieczysław Tomaszewski called them, the “sacrum characters.”
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W artykule przedstawiono strategie zestawiania ze sobą różnych stylów muzycznych, a także tekstów w różnych językach, co można określić jako tropowanie Credo z Mszy Łacińskiej. Poza definicją tropu dla muzyki średniowiecznej (dotyczącą tekstowych lub muzycznych uzupełnień pieśni liturgicznych), artykuł odwołuje się do tropowania w rozumieniu kreatywnego powstania znaczenia muzycznego za sprawą procesu podobnego do metafory czy ironii. Tropy czysto muzyczne tworzone są poprzez bliskie interakcje odrębnych stylów, tematów i aluzji intertekstualnych w ramach specyficznych lokacji funkcjonalnych. Strategie te wymagają interpretacji opartej na wyjątkowych relacjach znaczeń kojarzonych z każdym elementem muzycznym. Poprzez analizę zawartych w Credo różnych sposobów zestawiania jakości muzycznych i tekstowych oraz interpolacji, ukazuję jak Penderecki odnosi się do złożonego problemu wiary i duchowości w naszych czasach. Jego Credo jest wyrazem ciągłego, chwilami bolesnego dramatu – wyrazem walki o to, by wierzyć. Prowadzi ona w końcu do zbawienia dzięki poświęceniu Jezusa. Jest to dramat pełen tragedii, żałoby i smutku. Sugeruje alegoryczną analogię cierpień Jezusa, które Go spotkały po staniu się człowiekiem, oraz cierpień człowieczeństwa w poszukiwaniu duchowego odkupienia.
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VIII Symfonia Krzysztofa Pendereckiego Lieder der Vergänglichkeit przynależy do tradycji symfonii wokalnych. Oparta – w uzupełnionej wersji z roku 2007 – na poezji niemieckiej powstałej pomiędzy 1780 a 1920 rokiem, jest dziełem dogłębnie duchowym. Penderecki dobrał rozmaite teksty o drzewach; jest to muzyczny pomnik drzew, które zasadził w swym lusławickim parku. Opisy poetyckie są zarazem medytacjami na temat związku człowieka i natury. Poruszają temat przejściowości i słabości kondycji ziemskiej, zestawione jakby w kontrapunkcie z wizjami spokoju i radości w obliczu pogodnego porządku i świętości wszelkiego życia na tej planecie. W oparciu o krótkie opisy całościowej struktury oraz perspektyw każdego z zawartych w dziele wierszy, w artykule tym skupiam się na kluczowych elementach języka muzycznego, kładąc nacisk zwłaszcza na ich rolę w osobistym poszukiwaniu podjętym w VIII Symfonii przez kompozytora.
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The article presents a formal and hermeneutic analysis of Marek Stachowski’s From the Book of Night I. The former deals with four interconnected aspects of the work’s function: tonal centres, modalities, chord typology, and the use of the twelve-tone harmony. The main result of the inquiry is the defining of the macroform marked by the nodal points based on two opposite tonal centres (C and B), and their dominants (G and F-sharp). This structure correlates with the hermeneutic aspect of an allusion to Richard Strauss’ Also sprach Zarathustra. Another hermeneutic notion is the topos of musica coelestis, initiated in the second part of the work by a group of metallophones, connected with the motto, taken from a poem of Rainer M. Rilke (translated by Babette Deutsch): “Now the hour bows down, it touches me, throbs/metallic, lucid and bold:/my senses are trembling”.
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The music of Paweł Szymański (b. 1967) goes beyond the scope of unambiguous classification – it is impossible to include it in the clear trend of style. Szymański, as a contemporary of the composers of the Stalowa Wola Generation and in a sense corresponding with their assumptions (e.g. in the characteristic “returns to tradition”), creates an individual musical world. Strongly rooted in tradition, he expresses at the same time the artistic freedom that can be perceived in several spheres – both on the level of syntax (breaking the rules, conventions) and of semantics of his works (playing with the recipient’s expectations). The individual relation to tradition is also visible in the composer’s approach towards the category of a genre, which – to include the most characteristic features – can be the artistic continuation of given models, unique stylisation, sometimes of the border of “explicit imitation” or mirroring the postmodern distance of the author towards the work and its recipient. In the light of such a diverse attitude towards the tradition of a genre, the question arises concerning the artistic freedom, about which Szymański says, following Søren Aabye Kierkegaard: “Freedom is beyond any choice”.
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For centuries, musical works have been associated with the idea of order, harmony and beauty. From the nineteenth century, also on the basis of tonality (tonalité, Tonalität). The dispute over the concept of tonality is generally related to the question: is the principle of ordering in the world of sounds in the human mind, or in the phenomenon of harmonic series described by acoustics? The term tonalité was defined and propagated by François-Joseph Fétis (1784-1871), a Belgian theoretician, historian, and music critic who in his historical-theoretical work tried to define the principle of musical masterpieces composed over the centuries. Under the influence of Kant’s philosophy, this term referred to the properties of our mind, which seeks perfection and beauty in the world of sounds (in the art of composition). But in the works of Hugo Riemann and Arnold Schoenberg, the concept of Tonalität or tonality is connected not with the trait of the human mind, but with the ordering inherent in corps sonore (a harmonic series). Musicologists associated Riemann’s theory of music and his reflections on tonality with the term “harmonic tonality”, limiting the concept of tonality to the music of the seventeenth, eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, and came up with the idea of the process of evolution of “harmonic tonality”. One of the basic concepts of Schoenberg’s theory of music is the term “monotonality”. The theory of “monotonality” – a new terminology and graphic characters – was to be used in order to logically describe the relationships between notes in a given score. Schoenberg assumed that each score could be interpreted as a logically coherent whole. He claimed that any sound systems created from the components of the chromatic scale are “related”, because their relationship is determined by the phenomenon of corps sonore – a series of overtones. In contemporary studies conducted by psychologists and musicologists the concept of tonality refers to the skills of shaping and recognizing melodies. They perceive tonality as a universal and innate property of our mind, which can be variously developed in different cultures. The term tonality is combined with the concept of “induction” and “instinct”.
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One might think that in recent years the theme of tonality in music has been the subject of such vast and deep research that it should now be deemed finished and closed. Tonality has been placed within the scope of the humanities, within empirical and formal studies; from psychoacoustics, cognitive and computer studies, through evolutional aesthetics, neurology and psychology, semiotics and narratology, to anthropology and social sciences, various branches of philosophy, aesthetics, phenomenology and hermeneutics – and those are just the most crucial disciplines. And yet the topic has not been fully exhausted. Now and again discussions around it bloom, especially around the formation of axiological criteria when the so called “artistic value” is at stake. Prior to Schönberg and his contemporaries, i.e. composers experimenting with other than tonal ways of pitch organisation, tonality itself used to be a phenomenon axiologically neutral, even transparent, due to its universality and obviousness. It is since the emergence of the twelve-tone and serialist techniques that tonality has been used in relation with the “artistic value”. In its culmination point, i.e. the so called “Second Avant-Garde od the 20 th Century”, a lack of tonal references becomes a crucial requirement (though – hopefully – not a precondition) for the presence of artistic value. In other words: from some perspectives (which shall be further elaborated on), tonality – the persona non grata of “artistic” music, disqualifies a work, it seems to be a clear criterion of distinguishing between kitsch or a piece of popular culture and a true artistic work or a sound structure eligible to be considered as one.
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Due to the intrinsic and inherent oppositions within the major-minor system, it is naturally binary and dialectic. One of those oppositions is that of directions, or tonal melos up/down of the circle of fifths, that is towards sharp keys or toward flat keys. The idea of the sharp/flat keys opposition, present in its nascent form already in the works of Johann Mattheson and Jean-Philippe Rameau, with time – especially in the 19th century – became the main factor in the formation of tonal semantics. It can be understood very widely, as opposing every sharp (dominant) modulations to flat-leaning (subdominant) modulations. It can be also understood in a narrow way: as a deviation or sometimes a modulation, to the subdominant or dominant key. An intrinsic element of the opposition in question is still the conviction of the existence of a relationship between the sphere of sharp keys and brightness, as well as between the flat keys and darkness. This is what Rita Steblin calls the sharp/flat principle.Therefore flat/sharp seen as brightness/darkness is a topic used primarily in the context of attributing certain characteristics to particular keys. For the purpose of this article, the key concepts are those showing relation to the way of thinking about tonality in spacial categories and which emphasise the relationship between keys – and not the ethos of keys perceived as an absolute entity. This way of thinking can be seen in the works of Joseph Schalk, Ernst Kurth, and Heiner Ruland, as well as in an article by Mattew Bribitzer-Stull. The views of these scholars, enrichened and reinforced by Yeleazar Meletinsky’s findings on the axiology of space became the starting point for presenting a more detailed set of conclusions on the topic of expression and the semantics of the tonal melos. The sharp-flat antithesis, interpreted according to Meletinsky, is first of all one of the many concretizations of “elementary semantic oppositions” such as up/down, brightness/darkness or hot/cold. Secondly, on the level of “mythology proper”, it remains in a relationship of equivalence with the oppositions day/night, heaven/earth, life/death, etc. Moreover, on the level of axiology, it functions as the metaphor of the good and the evil, the truth and the false, the sacred and the profane.
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The perception of musical pitch, even that of a simple melody, is accompanied by the subtle feelings of different levels of stability. These feelings are often described as tonality qualia. These qualia are the basis of the psychological experience of tonality. The specificity of these feelings, the psychological mechanisms behind them, and the reasons for human musical cognition are the subjects of endless debates between philosophers, musicologists and psychologists. The aim of this paper is to present the contemporary knowledge about the abovementioned cognitive mechanisms that are responsible for the experience of tonality. Moreover, the paper proposes an explanation of the origin of these mechanisms in the ultimate categories, together with the original evolutionary scenario.
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Towards the end of 18th century, the discrepancy between intervals of same class within a single octave of keyboard instruments in old tuning systems progressively posed an obstacle for the development of the major-minor tonal harmonic language based on chromatic and enharmonic principles. Musical practice seemed to stay far behind a theory of the enharmonic circle of fifths. The growing predomination of the equal temperament through the 19th century made way for chromatic saturation of musical textures within the major-minor tonality. The process resulted in weakening of tonal principles and a need for revision of the approach to the pitch material organization at the turn of 20th century, as well as a challenge undertaken by many 20th century composers. They realized that the traditional seven step diatonic tonality, coloured by chromatic semitones, was in fact eventually replaced by twelve-tone chromatic material. Another consequence was that substantial changes in musical notation practice followed. Key signatures gradually became obsolete, as it was later the case of double accidentals. That stemmed from the tonal principle of enharmony within the circle of ifths. And yet the equal temperament remained as the main reference for composers. The peak moment of the development of twelve-tone composition happened in the music by Olivier Messiaen and, especially, by Witold Lutosławski. A break in the French spectralists’ music re-established a pitch material organization problem by enhancing the systematic use of microtones and proved their direct presence within the structure of a harmonic tone. It was also revealed that the natural microtones are of progressively smaller (inequal) size and that their diversity was an important advantage for the development of contemporary music. Then, the manning of musical material changed to aesthetical expectations within a spiral of the history of music development over the last three centuries. The symbol of a spiral represents an idea of musical material development, including the circle of fifths as one of its stages. The contemporary state of musical material seems to leave behind theoretical approaches in regards to harmonic pitch material, which is only one of its components. It can be observed in a still missing micro-interval pitch name system.
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The starting point for this article involves reflection on the phenomenon of tonality as such, extending its meaning to include its aspects beyond the historical approach. This is possible by invoking the ancient Greek notion of “tonos” which, as understood by the Pre-Socratics, meant the force (principle) bonding all layers of being together. In order to relate this thought to music, I present the concept of tonality as the bonding force within the cosmos of occurrences of musical nature. In general, I tend to associate the phenomenon of “tonality” with the cognitive approach rather than merely a way of organizing the sound material. In the subsequent part of the article I reflect upon my own works, placing particular emphasis on the phenomenon of processuality in the context of dynamic systems and their states. I derive the very concept of dynamic system from Katarzyna Zahorodna’s definition, included in her publication The Problem of Mental Representation in Extended Cognitive Systems. In my considerations, I distance myself from issues connected with tonality. The only remaining point of reference is the concept of “tonos”, referring to the force, or rather forces, of binding individual sections of the form and, finally, of the whole composition. These forces are perceptible in the context of certain states of musical matter standing in opposition to each other. These states include the following ones: statics – process, clarity – obscurity, as well as various degrees of density of musical matter. It is within these states that a particular kind of gravitational field is created wherein processual phenomena occur. They occur on the linear, as well as the vertical layers, in the context of micro – aswell as macro-forms. Due to the creation of higher-order structures in orchestral works, processes of this type become more complex. In addition, they are influenced by my reflections on chaos as a complex system (SN 1993 J and Initial).The part of the article with my concluding arguments on the issue of dynamic systems includes my explanation of how they affect the shaping of time flow and the dramatic nature of the pieces. In this context, time becomes something of a metaphor and a trace of vital processes. However, the energy resulting from the activity of the sound substance forms a stimulus that initiates and supports perseverance. The article closes with a reflection on the issue of harmony as the state of internal balance. Hereby, I refer to Ancient Greek mythology, according to which harmony is the result of a dynamic, internally contrasting situation.
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Since the source and critical edition of Dzieła Mieczysława Karłowicza was published by the end of 1980s, several momentous positions were added to the musicological literature devoted to the Polish composer was increase. The presence of outstanding foreign musicologists among these authors is especially gratifying. Their studies introduced new analyses and interpretations into Karłowicz’s literature, sometimes very creative and inspiring, at other times debatable. The text discusses two extensive articles – Stefan Keym’s and Stephen Downes’s – from Karłowicz’s collective monograph edited by Luca Sala. Both the articles are radically contradictory to one another in interpreting Karłowicz’s music.Stefan Keym argues that Karłowicz was essentially a supporter of “absolute” (or “pure”) music in the sense of Dahlhaus’s “metaphysics of instrumental music”. He does not negate the ideologically-inclined nature of Karłowicz’s orchestra compositions, although he considers it a secondary matter. More than their hermeneutics, he is rather interested in formal, genre and aesthetic models of symphonic music in their unquestionable relations with non-musical ideas, as well as the style and musical language and originality in adaptations and interpretations of patters.The methodology of Stephen Downes is in turn thoroughly heteronymous and hermeneutical in nature, though supported by strict structural analyses of harmonics and the sound process. The starting point in his interpretations of Karłowicz’s works is the Dionysian myth in its diverse forms and modifications as well as complex connections with pessimism, nihilism, and decadence. Karłowicz’s “musical patterns” – are the “holy trinity” of Wagner, Tchaikovsky and Richard Strauss – as well as the work of his favourite writer: Turgenev.The deliberations of both authors aim at similar conclusions – the composer’s music is characteristic for its pessimism which increases with the passage of time, ending with extreme experiences of abyss and nothingness.
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At the end of the 19th century Warsaw was fascinated with the music of Edvard Grieg (1843-1907). The composer visited the Polish capital in 1902 and 1903, when he performed his music as a conductor and pianist with the orchestra of the Warsaw Philharmonic. Some of his piano miniatures and songs were printed in Polish musical journals by Polish music publishers. Within a couple of years Grieg’s songs and piano music was played and sang in almost every place in Warsaw. Grieg’s successes and popularity certainly had impact not only on music lovers and amateur musicians but also on Polish composers.There is no doubt that Mieczysław Karłowicz (1876-1909) belonged to the young group of Polish composers who experienced Grieg’s charm the most. In 1893 as a 17-year-old boy he played all Grieg’s Violin Sonatas, violin transcriptions of Peer Gynt Suite No. 1, Op. 46 and a few other small pieces. Karłowicz attended Grieg’s Warsaw concert in 1902 and wrote an enthusiastic review for the Polish journal Nowości muzyczne. In the 1890s, during his studies in Berlin under the direction of German composer Heinrich Urban (1837-1901), he got acquainted with the Holberg Suite, Op. 40 for string orchestra. A few years later in 1903 he conducted this composition in Warsaw with the string orchestra of the Warsaw Music Society, which was its first performance in Poland.Musicologists like Adolf Chybiński, Barbara Chmara-Żaczkiewicz and Alistair Wightman discovered some traces of Karłowicz’s fascinations with Grieg’s style. Jerzy Morawski in his article about Karłowicz’s school miniatures postulated that a study should be conducted on “the relation between Karłowicz’s and Grieg’s music” 60 . In the present article some of the previous hypotheses on this topic are examined through the analysis of Karłowicz’s works.The author stresses on the chromatic harmonization characteristic for Grieg’s music which was widely discussed by Dag Schjelderup-Ebbe in his book: A Study of Grieg’s Harmony (1953) and presented in Karłowicz’s songs Op. 1 and Op. 3 and his symphonic poems: The Returning Waves, Op. 9, Stanisław and Anna Oświecimowie, Op. 12. The article shows also similarities between some of Karłowicz’s songs and orchestral themes and Grieg’s Lyric Pieces and songs. The music of the Norwegian composer had impact not only on the development of Karłowicz’s harmonic style but also helped the young Polish composer to shape his personal lyricism. The author proved this thesis at the end of the article, drawing a close parallel between the theme of ‘eternal longing’ from the first movement of the symphonic poem Eternal Songs, Op. 10 and the Solveig’s Cradle Song from Grieg’s Music to Peer Gynt, Op. 23.
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