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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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The word remplissage (French for ‘filling’ or ‘padding’) is known, at least to Russian readers, first of all due to Tchaikovsky, who used it to label a ‘routine’, secondary material filling the space between themes. Though ‘secondary’, the remplissage is by no means insignificant, at least in a purely quantitative sens: every large-scale form of classical or romantic music contains transitional, connecting, leading passages of various kinds. According to Tchaikovsky’s observation, the post-Beethoven music evolved in the direction of the hypertrophy of such ‘padding’ material. Hence, remplissage deserves to be treated as a noteworthy theoretical issue. In the present article the category of remplissage is examined through the prism of the opposition ‘paradigmatics–syntagmatics’, playing the key role in F. de Saussure’s theory of text structure. Remplissage can be formally defined as a paradigmatically weakened section between structures occupying strong paradigmatic positions.The feeling that the valuable thematic stuff risks to be ousted by remplissage, stimulated the musical revolutions of the early 20 th century, perhaps, to the same degree as the crisis of Romantic harmony. Specific compositional techniques, leading to the minimization of remplissage, were developed within the framework of impressionist and expressionist aesthetics. At the same time any ‘radical’ composer of the last century faced the danger that the music done with the use of new language would be perceived by the audience as a poorly differentiated (paradigmatically undistinguished) remplissage. A number of examples illustrate how this danger was overcome in the works by composers representing different generations and currents. Similar devices used by them independently of each other highlight those peculiarities of the complex contemporary music language that are responsible for its insurmountable (or still not surmounted) paradigmatic ‘insufficiency’.
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Przyjęcie perspektywy narratologicznej zapewnia ciekawe podejście do analizy muzyki współczesnej. W przypadku muzyki tonalnej harmoniczne przebiegi napięć, konfliktów i ich rozwiązań postrzegane są jako archetyp narracyjny. Wielu wiodących semiotyków i badaczy wypowiadało się o narracyjności w kategoriach zdarzeń, ciągłości lub jej braku (m.in. Hatten 2004). Biorą oni pod uwagę takie kategorie jak czas progresywny i linearny versus czas nieciągły (zawierający „puste” momenty czy pauzy). Są to niezbędne elementy struktury narracyjnej. Jednakże w przypadku utworów atonalnych, w których poszczególne wysokości dźwięków nie współdziałają w określonej hierarchii napięcie muzyczne musi być osiągnięte w inny sposób. Decydująca jest potrzeba zbadania, w jaki sposób tworzenie wydarzeń muzycznych staje się znaczące; stanowi to podstawowe podejście do analizy muzyki współczesnej. Celem wówczas staje się ustalenie, co w konfiguracjach czysto sonorystycznych można przyjąć jako wydarzenia muzyczne następujące kolejno po sobie oraz w jaki sposób jesteśmy w stanie zrekonstruować ciąg różnych muzycznych wydarzeń sekwencyjnie. Kiedy wyjdziemy poza pojęcie kontinuum syntagmatycznego (Tarasti 1994), dostrzeżemy znaczenie kulminacji jako niezbędnego elementu muzycznej czasowości. Dokładne zbadanie punktu kulminacyjnego wiąże się z ideą telosu i teleologią. Waga telosu w procesie analitycznym ukazuje również aspekt strategiczny (za sprawą dramaturgii muzycznej) oraz gest, który staje się centralnym pojęciem w badaniu muzyki współczesnej. W artykule ukazany został jeden model rozwiązania problemu. Aby skupić się na telosie i funkcji jaką pełni w całej strukturze narracyjnej, jednym z najważniejszych zadań jest być może zbadanie związku pomiędzy telosem a gestami. Jego celem jest ukazanie wstępnej koncepcji studium teoretycznego dotyczącego zagadnienia analizy utworu współczesnego, stanowiacego dynamiczne continuum.
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In 1807 Beethoven composed an arietta to the Italian poet, Giuseppe Carpani’s, poem In questa tomba oscura. It was done at the request of the Polish aristocrat, countess Aleksandra Franciszka Rzewuska née Lubomirska, who also commissioned sixty other composers to write similar ariettas based on the same poem. It is probable that Carpani’s poem reminded her of her childhood trauma (her mother died on the guillotine during the French Revolution). Carpani’s poem belongs to the group of literary works that expand on the motif of Lenore (T 365 in Stith Thompson’s index of folk literature motifs). A version of this motif can be found in the decisive for Polish romanticism ballad Romantism by Adam Mickiewicz. The author of this article claims that Beethoven’s arietta is one of the first songs of the romantism movement – both in its literary and musical layer – which is proven by an analysis of the poem and music. Due to the qualities of the piece, the arietta is still readily performed by the most distinguished singers.
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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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In the article the sources related to the life and activity of St Cyril and St Methodius are discussed. According to them it is argued that the earliest corpus of Slavic liturgical chants was created by them. The question of the relation between the East and the West in the field of music is discussed. Some arguments are given that the two brothers knew well both the monastic and the cathedral practices. It is concluded that they knew both musical styles of the time – the syllabic and the melismatic. The translated and original works of the two Slavic Apostles are presented. One of the basic musical-hymnographic forms is discussed – the kanon: the two brothers developed this form according to the main tendencies of the time. The compositional technics that were used by both of them, the principles of their translation, as well as the books that were used in their worship are observed. Arguments are given that the hymnographic book, which they used in their worship, was the Tropologion, the universal hymnographic book with a great dissemination in various languages in the East. The book contained chants for the whole liturgical year according to the established church calendar. The approval of the activities of the Holy Brothers by the Roman popes shows that their work was carried out at a high professional level. This means that it was done according to the requirements of the existing worship practice in Western Europe, i.e. the activity of Cyril and Methodius was in accordance with the established service standards of the time. It could have been this fact that could have made possible the use of the Slavic books in the churches in the West. The third cultural civilization in Europe was formed – that of the Orthodox Slavs, known as “Slavia Orthodoxa”. The Slavic books were preserved and developed further in Bulgaria and from there the Slavic writing was transmitted to the the newly baptized Christian countries in the East like Russia, Serbia, Walachia and Moldavia.
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The aim of this article is to present the scattered information on the significant un- dertakings of the Galician Music Society. The scope of the paper covers the period from the founding of this institution in the context of life and musical activity in Lviv at the time, reaching also to the period before its establishment. The author draws attention to the role of the rules and regulations present in the statutes of this institution, which concern the Society's ways of financing its activity.
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The paper supplements the research on the latest Paweł Mykietyn's work. It broadens the spectrum of problems related to the technique of deconstruction in his works and allows for a better understanding of the structure of the Concerto No. 2 for cello and symphony orchestra. The main research method is descriptive analysis, bringing Paweł Mykietyn's musical language closer to the harmonic material, textural systems, agogic-metric structures, and the concept of form. The analysis is based on the score of the 2nd Concerto for Cello and Symphony Orchestra, published in 2019 by the PWM Edition in Kraków. The structure of the paper includes: introduction, three paragraphs and a summary. The characteris- tics of Paweł Mykietyn’s work contained in the introduction will allow the reader to become familiar with stylistic tendencies at various stages of the composer's work. The section devoted to the genesis and reception aims to present the his- tory of the creation of the analysed work, as well as its contexts and resonance. The analytical sketch in the context of the issues of time and form will allow to present selected aspects of the compositional technique.
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In the 1920s, Frenchman Darius Milhaud (1892–1974) and Brazilian Heitor Villa- Lobos (1887–1959), inspired by the carnival, created works that resemble each other in genre and scoring. These are the fantasias for piano and orchestra: Mômoprecóce by Villa-Lobos and Le Carnaval d'Aix, Op. 83b by Milhaud. The ar- ticle presents an attempt to analyse the pieces in the context of carnivalesque aesthetics as well as musical representation (as described by Peter Kivy and Lawrence Kramer) and seeks to deeply comprehend the phenomenon’s reso- nance in the composers’ music.
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