Interdisciplinary Studies in Musicology
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Narrative strategies of the Romantic “philosophical epics” in the piano works of Franz Liszt (Analysis o/Sposalizio, Valee D’Obermann, Ballade No. 2 and the Sonata in B minor)
Get PDFThe article explains how ideas, characters and images borrowed from literary works and of fine arts are represented in Liszt’s the piano works of (i.e. with the help of motives, themes and narrative strategies). I. The first level of analysis concerns the typology of basic elements in the new lisztian forms: A. Four types of musical motives or figures and their signifieds (semes). B. Sixteen types of musical themes with their signifieds (classemes). C. Considering the great parts or sections of a piece we discovered seven types with their signifieds (isotopies). II. The second level of analysis consists in the presentation of three types of narrative strategies. The narrative strategy would mean the conscious organization of concatenation of the above mentioned signifying elements. A. The “figurative strategy” refers to the formal variation [‘Formalvariation” in German] of onetheme, or of one “thematic complex” (theme introduced and followed by expressive describing motives or refrain), for example: Sposalizio. B. The “simple narrative strategy” consists in a succession of character variations [‘Charaktervariation’], i.e. variation in the musical genre, in the signified of one musical theme (for example: Vallee d’Obermanri). C. The “complex narrative strategy” describes the structures which combine sonata form, cyclical sonata in four movements and variation form. This strategy implies that a whole thematic complex (exposition) is submitted to different stages of the character variation (for example: Dante sonata, Sonata in B minor, 2nd Ballade in B minor, etc.)
The spectralism of Gerard Grisey: from the nature of the sound to the nature of listening
Get PDFThe paper is an attempt to consider Grisey’s music from an ontological perspective, not only as a cultural product, but above all as an entity derived from the order of nature. The spectral music, as an entity derived from the order of nature, may be studied primarily as mental reality that refers directly to the composer’s stance, physical reality, that refers to the material from which the music is produced, and psychological reality of relating to its perception. In Grisey’s creative attitude, one distinguishes several tendencies. The article describes treating sound as a living organism in time, replacing the idea of timbrematière, from the traditional art of orchestration, with timbre-son, based on the science of acoustics, a processual approach to time and form, taking account in the creative process of human perceptual abilities and seeking a musical language based on scientific premises. These tendencies are described in the context of the composer\u27s statements and examples of his work. Taking the nature of sounds as his starting point, Grisey headed towards the nature of listening, and the effects of this journey are his clearly specified views and their manifestation in composed musical works
Biological and social aspects of the theoretical thought of Richard Wallaschek
Get PDFThe article is devoted to the work of Richard Wallaschek, who was sharply criticised during his lifetime, and only in the 1980s did the academic community renew its interest in his achievements. His book Primitive Music (London 1893) is considered to have laid the foundations for comparative musicology. He sought to prove that comparing European music with the music of primitive peoples was essential, and was the only way to attain a proper view of the products and development of our own culture. The year 1896, in which Wallaschek received his habilitation from the University of Vienna, is regarded as the beginning of comparative musicology in Vienna. Wallaschek postulated that ‘formal aesthetics’, describing merely ‘the chronology of composers’ and marked by an europocentricism, be replaced by a modern musicology, collaborating with music psychology and music ethnography and based on the natural foundations of musical aesthetics - a musicology which would formulate its conclusions on the basis of ‘facts and examples’, which it would verify by means of natural material. A central place in his research was occupied by the genesis of music, musical experiencing and aesthetic judgment, and the perception and creation of music. Taking up the question of musical abilities, Wallaschek devoted much space to women. He considered them more gifted than men, in which he differed from Eduard Hanslick and from other of his contemporary scholars. Postulating a sociological analysis of the situation of musical women in various cultures, he pointed to the methodological necessity of making a strict distinction between the actual musical abilities of women and the social appraisal of those skills
Gaetano Donizetti by Franz Liszt, the piano in the service of the opera
Get PDFThe aim of the paper is to analyze Franz Liszt\u27s piano interpretations that constitute excellent operatic transcriptions and reminiscences from the operas of Gaetano Donizetti. There are seven piano works based on six of Donizetti’s operas, among them bar-for-bar transcriptions of particular fragments as well as masterly syntheses of many musical themes. We try to argue that Donizetti was an inspiration for Liszt and that the Hungarian composer was not only an eminent connoisseur and admirer of bel canto, but also made an important contribution to the rediscovery of Italian opera. These transcriptions are an excellent example of a sincere tribute from one great composer to another; they highlight some of the treasures among Donizetti’s compositions, as well as the talent of the author of the transcriptions
Musicology as a meta-theory of musical meaning
Get PDFThe article is dedicated to the problem of musical meaning and its role in contemporary musicological and semiotic research and reflection on music and musical culture. Nowadays, semiotics of music became semiotics of becoming rather then semiotics of being, as it was earlier during the period of structuralism. What became the important is that the category of aisthesis is emphasized as well as the question of the experience, the aesthetic dimension of that experience and the subject itself. It is interesting to evaluate the postmodern thought as well, taking the question of its positive vs negative virtues, and — as a result — do not treat the postmodernism in negative way only (the aesthetic and the cognitive value of the sublime). To see the current changes of musicology one can speak not only about its relative autonomy and how to understand the limits of the discipline but also how to redefine the scope and core of musicology by treating to find more unconventional, closely ethic, perspectives and approaches (means: imagination, freedom of thought, openness to alternatives and to praise the uncertainty). If the musicology could be ready and able to join some efforts from other humanities: semiotics, history of arts, anthropology and cultural studies, the thesis of the musicology as a meta-theory of musical meaning could be valid
On the trail of a trail, the trace of a trace. Kazimierz Przerwa-Tetmajer’s Cień Chopina and its compositional interpretations
Get PDFAt the beginning of this article, the author points out how quickly the image of Chopin as an artist who wrestled all his life with a mortal sickness (Chopin as a “singer of Weltschmerz”) took shape - an image which was subsequently taken up by European art of the fin de siecle. Attention then turns to the poem Cień Chopina [Chopin’s shadow], by the poet Kazimierz Przerwa-Tetmajer, highly fashionable during the Young Poland period, which can be ascribed to the “Weltschmerz current”. In contrast to earlier interpreters of this lyric, the author does not identify the lyrical subject of Tetmajer’s poem with the shadow (that is, the soul) of the Polish composer, but - referring to the observations of Barbara Sienkiewicz, who applied the Heideggerian formula of the “trace of a trace” to her exegesis of Tetmajer’s works - maintains that its hero is the shadow of Chopin’s shadow (or the shadow of his soul). Going on to analyse four song settings of this poem composed during the period 1900-1926 by Władysław Żeleński, Stanisław Lipski, Juliusz Wertheim and Ryta Gnus, and also the composition Cień Chopina by Witold Friemann (1913-46), scored for piano, baritone and orchestra, the author arrives at the conclusion that four composers - Żeleński, Wertheim, Gnus and Friemann - interpreted Tetmajer’s lyric in a way that is not entirely in keeping with the poet’s intentions. These composers, employing stereotypical Chopin formulas (a quasi-folk drone or chords imitating bells) or allusions to specific Chopin works, treated the lyrical subject of Tetmajer’s poem as identical to Chopin’s soul. Only Stanisław Lipski, who in his song forged a “pastoral scene”, referring to some extent to the most important features of the pastoral idiom elaborated by Beethoven on the pages of his Sixth Symphony, interpreted the figure of the lyrical subject of Tetmajer’s poem, listening to voices from the past, as a “double epiphenomenon” - a shadow of Chopin’s shadow
Manuscripts of Antoni HabeVs symphonies in Wielkopolska archives
Get PDFThe main aim of this article is to present the manuscripts of Antoni Habel’s symphonies preserved in archives in the Wielkopolska region of Poland and attempt to order them chronologically in respect to their dates of composition. Habel lived in Gniezno around the turn of the nineteenth century. Most of our information about him comes from payroll registers, inventories and other documents preserved in the Archiépiscopal Archive of Gniezno, but they do not contain any information about his symphonies. The following works by Habel have survived to this day: a Sinfonia D, preserved in two copies (in Grodzisk and Gniezno), and a Sinfonia ex F, preserved in Gostyń. A critical analysis of these two compositions allows us to indicate which was composed first, since the simplicity of the composition techniques used in the F major Symphony suggests that it is older than the D major. We must also address, however, the question of the differences between the two copies of the D major Symphony, which vary with regard to melody, rhythm, dynamics, articulation and even form. Analysis makes it possible to reconstruct the order in which the two manuscripts were produced and determine the original version of the D major Symphony
