Interdisciplinary Studies in Musicology
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Chopin and the Warsaw literati - part two
Full text linkChopin’s life in Warsaw fell at a time of important phenomena and processes in history, the arts, aesthetics, etc. This article deals with the artistic and social milieu to which the composer belonged and looks at the question of the common artistic imagination and aesthetic ideas elaborated within that environment, based on the example of Chopin and two poets: Stefan Witwicki and Dominik Magnuszewski. Chopin’s relationship with Witwicki, which gave rise to his songs to the poet’s texts and lasted into their time in exile, is considered in respect to discussion on folk culture that was on-going at that time. That culture was treated as a sign of the nobly archaic or else as a manifestation o f modern art, of the “art of the future”. These convictions did not function as alternatives; their overlapping characterised various aspects of early romanticism. The output of Magnuszewski, meanwhile, shows the transformation of traditional figures of rhetoric into Romantic means of expression. It displays a style of writing that constitutes an act o f Romantic hermeneutics in respect to the language of tradition. Avoiding simple comparisons of works of very different artistic level and significance, the author analyses Chopin’s relationships with the two poets by reference to the generational experience - as variously understood - of creative artists born during the first decade of the nineteenth century, which connected artists of different levels of talent and varying individual fortunes
Slowacki’s Chopin
Full text linkSupposed analogies between Fryderyk Chopin and Juliusz Słowacki form a recurring thread that runs through the subject literature o f Romantic culture. Legions of literati, critics, literary scholars and musicologists have either attempted to find affinities between Chopin and Słowacki (on the level of both biography and creative output) or else have energetically demonstrated the groundlessness of all analogies, opinions and assumptions. Consequently, stereotypes have been formed and then strengthened concerning the relations between the two creative artists, particularly the conviction of Slowacki’s dislike of Chopin and his music, which - in the opinion of many scholars - the poet simply did not understand. Considerations of this kind most often centre on a famous letter written by Słowacki to his mother in February 1845. However, a careful reading of this letter and its comparison with Slowacki’s other utterances on the subject of Chopin shows that opinions of the poet’s alleged insanity, petty-mindedness or lack of subtlety in his contacts with Chopin’s music are most unjust. The analysed letter is not so much anti-Chopin as anti-Romantic. It inscribes itself perfectly in the context of the thinking of “the Słowacki of the last years”, since the poet negates crucial aesthetic features o f Romantic music, but at the same time criticises his own works: W Szwajcarii [In Switzerland] and, in other letters, Godzina myśli [An hour of thought] and the “picture of the age”, the poetical novel Lambro. It also turns out that what Słowacki says about the polonaises tallies with the opinions of musicologists and musicians writing about “late Chopin”
Fractals and music. A reconnaissance
Full text linkAmong the many definitions of the fractal employed by mathematicians, one of the most suggestive holds that ‘the fractal is a self-similar figure displaying an invariability in respect to the transformations of scaling’. This article is an effort to present the overview of fractals in mathematics and nature and then to describe the current state of research on fractal nature of music. It is shown that self-similarity and scaling are properties of many canonic works of Western music (e.g. Johann Sebastian Bach, Ludwig van Beethoven), appearing in various forms in all historical periods. It is found in binary and ternary divisions of form and in melodic structures. It is also noted that a frequent point of reference in fractal studies of the properties of music is twentieth-century repertoire (e.g. Per Norgárd, Conlon Nancarrow, Gyórgy Ligeti, Charles Wuorinen). The case of l/f noise in which frequency (pitch) scaling naturally occurs is also discussed. Such ‘scaling noise’ is typical of many natural phenomena; it is observed, for example, in the variable tension of nerve cells and in heartbeats. It was also discovered in music. The article summarizes the results of the research made by Voss and Clarke (1975, 1978), Hsü and Hsü (1990,1991), Henze and Cooper (1997) who analyzed stylistically diverse works - classical, jazz, blues, rock and non-European music - and found in them l/f relationships referring to Fourier spectra, notes or intervals. The article reports also the psychological experiments raising the statements about a close relationship between fractal structure and the human sense of beauty. It is stressed that the fractal orientation of modern mathematics provides interesting cognitive tools allowing us to discover hitherto unexplored links between nature and art, both in the area of listeners’ aesthetic preferences and also in the fascinating realm of artistic creation
The musical practice of the Sandomierz Benedictine nuns during the eighteenth century
Full text linkThe congregation of the Benedictine nuns of Sandomierz, active between 1615 and 1903, belonged to wealthy magnatial foundations, which allowed the convent to foster cultural activities. Special emphasis was placed on musical performance of various types - the musical adornment of the liturgy. The ‘Glory of God’, as Benedictine nuns referred to it, constituted the essence of their congregational life. On weekdays, the celebration of the Liturgy of the Hours, Masses and - occasionally - other services in choir took six hours, and on numerous feast days of the liturgical year, when the Liturgy of the Hours was sung, not read, it required even more time. The higher the rank of the feast day, the greater was the effort to stress its importance by providing it with a proper musical setting, which led to the cultivation of musical practices of various kinds on special occasions. The musical repertory of the Sandomierz Benedictine nuns comprised plainchant without instrumental accompaniment, plainchant with organ accompaniment, polyphonic a cappella singing (referred to as ‘figure’), vocal instrumental music (‘fractus’) and instrumental music. A picture of religious musical practice emerges primarily from extant musical sources, and also from a ‘choir agenda’ from 1749, a convent chronicle of the years 1762-1780, ‘treasury records’ from 1739-1806 and convent registers. Eighteenth-century sources document the musical activity of twenty-four nuns of the Sandomierz convent, some of them considered to be ‘professional’ musicians and referred to as ‘singers and players’. The most interesting, but also most problematic, areas are vocal instrumental practice and the likely consitution of the nuns’ music chapel. We find information about nuns playing keyboard instruments, violin, viola da gamba, tromba marina and horn
Music and its meaning, how has the last 30 years of music psychology research progressed our knowledge?
Full text linkThere are three different types of scholarship, primary, secondary, and meta-scholarship. This paper applies a meta-approach to the question of musical meaning, which involves some assessment of where the enterprise as a whole has come from and is heading, its value and external impact. Three aspects of meaning are discussed: referential, functional and socially transformative. Referential meaning refers to our ability to apprehend a musical object as pointing beyond itself. Functional meaning refers to valued personal outcomes that musical engagement engenders. Transformative meaning refers to effects on the wider society. Consultative data from an expert panel is used to frame the discussion. This data shows multiple ways in which recent psychology research has advanced our understanding of how music acquires referential and functional meaning. To date, stronger theoretical clarity has been achieved in the area of referential meaning than in functional meaning. The strongest socially transformative effect of music psychology research has been on the discipline of musicology itself. Weaker, but still significant, effects are found in the wider society, relating to understandings of the benefits of musical engagement, and the acceptance universality of musical capacity as an inherent human attribute
Symphony No. 7 by Krzysztof Meyer - strategy of building the form, expressivity of the work
Full text linkThe article brings closer the formal and expressive properties of the 7th Symphony by Krzysztof Meyer, composed in the years 2002/2003. Meyer distinguishes several specific features that should be taken into consideration during the process of composing.1 These include: the capacity to adapt, the limitation of soundinformation transferred onto the listener, and a division of the form into integrant phases. The capacity to ‘adapt’ occurs through opposing emotional states connected with the reception of music: remembering, familiarising, and becoming used to a certain property of the musical progress - surprise that emerges with the appearance of a change. The surprise effect is a strong reaction, and one that is sought after for the purpose of maintaining a high level of the listener’s engagement in the reception process of music. The need to ‘limit the sound-information’ that the composer transfers onto the listener allows the latter to take note of it and remember it. An information overload leads to a sense of disorientation, being lost, and consequently discouragement from active listening. Finally, ‘the significance of the structural elements of the form’ is considered. In his conclusion, Meyer presents a model of musical form as a progress based on phases unfolding in time. The composer outlines the following phases: the initial phase, the essential phase, the transitional phase, the phase of particular importance, and the final phase. However, he warns against literal and orthodox understanding of his concept. ‘Meyer’s fundamental aim is ‘to lead’ the listener and not to overstretch their perceptive capabilities. A ‘planned spontaneity’ is the purpose’.2 ‘All the symphonies by Meyer, both early and recent, were shaped in the same manner. The process is at the forefront: build-up, development, clashing collisions, conflict of contrasting elements’.3 The 7th Symphony is also built according to similar constructional principles. What distinguishes it from the earlier works in this genre is connected with the expressivity of the work. The composer notes: ‘The symphony evolves according to musical laws par excellence, but not without admitting some thoughts about myself in metaphorical categories, because, after all, the subtitle ‘Sinfonia del tempo che passa’ - Symphony of the Passing Time - was not chosen accidentally’.4 Thus it is a tale about one of the most fundamental existential experiences of every human being: the passing. This is suggested by the emotional aura of the music, the subtitle that the work was given, and references to emphatic rhetoricalmusical figures known from the Baroque period. As Thomas Wesselman wrote: ‘The subtitle Symphony of the Passing Time clearly invites the assigning of a retrospective character to this opus no. 97’.5 ‘It is true that the composer has never commented on the subject, but the justification of the suspicion seems to be confirmed by the expressivity of the final movement (molto lento), which, in a way, is a statement filled with peace and tranquillity made by a human being with years of experience behind him. In any case, it suffices to compare this symphony with its two predecessors, i.e. the 5th, full of energy and scored for strings, and the dramatic 6th written as a reaction to the introduction of the martial law in Poland; one has a sensation that a moment of reflection (pondering over life’s end?) plays a special role in the 7th\u27.
Accents of Chopin anniversaries in territories annexed by Prussia
Full text linkThis article discusses the way in which the Chopin Year of 1910 was celebrated in Wielkopolska. It presents a script prepared in the nineteenth century and shows similarities with celebrations of Mickiewicz and other Polish heroes and artists. Invariably used in such commemorations was a “symbolic capital” that made it easier to create an intergenerational code, thereby disseminating knowledge of national culture and history. A significant role was played in 1910 by a centenary panel, which produced “Guidelines for popular Chopin celebrations” and also many occasional, popular materials. Chopin’s induction into the national pantheon involved the use of audio material (vocal and instrumental concerts), verbal material (articles, poems, lectures and brochures) and also a visual code (anniversary window stickers, tableaux vivants or tableaux illuminés). Illuminated pictures - recommended by a catalogue of slides produced in Poznań - stimulated the imagination of the masses and served as a guide through the composer’s life and work, and their impact was enhanced by a commentary. Most of the living pictures were probably inspired by Henryk Siemiradzki’s canvas Chopin grający na fortepianie w salonie księcia Radziwiłła [Chopin playing the piano in Prince Radziwill’s salon] and Józef Męcina Krzesz’s painting Ostatnie akordy Chopina [Chopin’s last chords]. This combination of codes made it possible to create a model adapted to the times and to the expectations of a mass audience. The Chopin anniversary, in which admiration was inseparably intertwined with manipulation, was a pretext for strengthening the national identity