Borrowed and Original Techniques in the Trio by Leonid Hrabovsky

Relevance of the study. During several years that preceded the creation of the Trio (1964), Leonid Hrabovsky wrote many other works in various genres and forms, ranging from suites and a sonata for solo instruments, a song cycle, and a cappella choruses, to large-scale compositions for orchestra and for mixed choir with orchestra, and even two one-act operas (piano scores). The composer’s stylistic priorities had been rapidly and strikingly evolving from “social realism with a human face” as evident in the Four Ukrainian Songs, towards a much more radical “sharp” expressionism and constructivism. This evolution caused the necessary changes in the techniques utilized by the composer. Hrabovsky was deeply impressed by the article Genealogia nowej muzyki (Genealogy of the new music) of the Polish musicologist Tadeusz Zieliński that was published in the magazine Ruch muzyczny, n. 20–21, 1963. Zieliński stated that, after historical periods of monody, polyphony and functional harmony, a new sonoric and timbral era had come. These ideas inspired Hrabovsky to move towards the radical avant-garde. The object of this research is the Trio by Leonid Hrabovsky. The purpose of the study is to reveal the inherent features that differentiate the piece from other avant-garde works of the early 1960s. Methods of research include technical analysis of the musical form and its dependence upon the pitch organization of the work, as well as comparative analysis. The results and conclusions. Being composed during several days in the spring of 1964, Trio became the first piece of Hrabovsky’s written in a definitely avant-garde style. It was premiered in 1966 and since then has become one of the composer’s most frequently performed works. The reason for such a success lies in the original concept of the piece that essentially differs from the other avant-garde works of that time. When discussing Trio, Hrabovsky always stresses the influence of the Polish avant-garde music attracting him during that period. Indeed, he borrowed a lot of devices from Miniatures for violin and piano by Krzysztof Penderecki, a score Hrabovsky knew and studied at that time. However, a comparative analysis of the two works reveals serious differences between them. While Penderecki operated with purely timbral (sonoric) objects and did not pay special attention to the pitch organization, Hrabovsky composed almost a classical three movement suite with the first movement in a ternary form and the last movement in the binary form. The classical principles of the pitch organization and the distribution of the pitch structures in Trio are similar to those in tonal music. These principles have been unusually applied to the sound material that has nothing in common with tonality. A combination of the traditional and new approaches to the form provided Hrabovsky’s Trio with unique qualities which made it not only an interesting artifact of the avant-garde period but one of the most valuable and artistically perfect works in the Ukrainian chamber music.

„Łzy lejąca” w arcydziełach muzyki polskiej XX wieku

„Mother weeping” in the masterpieces of Polish music of the 20th century The theme of the sorrowful mother has been present in music for centuries. The medieval sequence Stabat mater dolorosa brought many excellent interpretations. As far as the music of Polish composers in the 20th century is concerned, the first name to be mentioned is Karol Szymanowski and his masterpiece: Stabat Mater, Op. 53 (1926). This work, using a text in Polish and referring to folklore, set one direction for the interpretation of the theme of the sorrowful mother in the Polish music of the last century. It was continued by Andrzej Panufnik in his touching interpretation of Gorzkie żale in the suite Hommage à Chopin for voice and piano (1949), and particularly Henryk Mikołaj Górecki in his Symphony of Sorrowful Songs (1976). The second line is marked by compositions referring to the Latin tradition, with no clear references to Polish themes – such as Stabat Mater by Roman Padlewski (1939) and Stabat Mater by Krzysztof Penderecki (1962). The article outlines both lines of interpretation of the “Mother weeping” motif in the works of Polish composers of the 20th century on the example of the above-mentioned masterpieces of Polish musical culture of the last century. Abstrakt Motyw Matki Bolesnej obecny jest w muzyce od wieków. Średniowieczna sekwencja Stabat Mater dolorosa przyniosła wiele znakomitych interpretacji. Jeśli chodzi o muzykę polską XX wieku, w pierwszej kolejności należy tu przywołać nazwisko Karola Szymanowskiego i jego arcydzieło Stabat Mater op. 53. Utwór ten, wykorzystujący tekst w języku polskim oraz odwołujący się do ludowości, wyznaczył jeden kierunek interpretacji motywu Matki Bolesnej w muzyce polskiej ubiegłego stulecia. Nawiązał do niego m.in. Andrzej Panufnik w niebanalnej interpretacji Gorzkich żali w suicie Hommage à Chopin na głos i fortepian, a przede wszystkim Henryk Mikołaj Górecki w Symfonii pieśni żałosnych. Drugą linię interpretacyjną wyznaczają kompozycje utrzymane w tradycji łacińskiej, bez wyraźnych odniesień do wątków polskich – jak Stabat Mater Romana Padlewskiego i Stabat Mater Krzysztofa Pendereckiego. Artykuł przybliża obie linie interpretacyjne motywu „łzy lejącej” w twórczości kompozytorów polskich XX wieku na przykładzie przywołanych wyżej arcydzieł polskiej kultury muzycznej ubiegłego stulecia.

AN INTERVIEW WITH KRZYSZTOF PENDERECKI

This article transcribes an interview with the great Polish composer Krzysztof Penderecki and is one of the last interviews that Penderecki gave before his death on 29 March 2020. It traces the composer's career, from his early musical education to the Ninth Symphony on which he was working at the time of his death, and focuses on the composition of his Threnody for the Victims of Hiroshima, the St Luke Passion and the Polish Requiem.

Pendereccy wywodzą się z Iranu

The Penderecki Family Comes from Iran The author conducts linguistic research to support the thesis that the surname of the outstanding Polish composer Krzysztof Penderecki is of Iranian origin. The name was formed by adding the suffix –i (Persian suffix indicating origin) to the word root Fenderesk, which is the name of the district in the Iranian province of Golestân on the Caspian Sea, where the Armenian minority still resides. In the Persian language there is a correspondence between the letter P and F. This confirms the Penderecki family’s tradition that their ancestor came from Isfahan, he initially bore the name Pendereski (Fenderesk-i) and was of Persian-Armenian origin.

Aspects of Intertextuality in the Works of the ‘Stalowa Wola Generation’ (Eugeniusz Knapik, Andrzej Krzanowski, Aleksander Lasoń)

In the panorama of Polish music of the 2nd half of the 20th century the works of Silesian composers stand out. They were born in 1951 and thus they are referred to as the ‘Generation 51’ or the ‘Stalowa Wola Generation’ (from the place of their debut at the Festival ‘Young Musician for the Young City’ in Stalowa Wola in 1976): Eugeniusz Knapik, Aleksander Lasoń and Andrzej Krzanowski. They constituted the first generational phenomenon of such significance in Polish music since the debut of ‘Generation 33’ (Krzysztof Penderecki, Henryk Mikołaj Górecki and others). The musical style of these young authors was in tune with the Polish popular phenomenon of the 1970s of ‘New Romanticism’, consisting in a return to certain artistic and aesthetic values lost in modernism and avant-garde. One of the distinguishing features of Knapik’s, Lasoń’s and Krzanowski’s work is the application of various ‘intertextual strategies’ – quotations, allusions, and clear references to more or less specific musical traditions. In the works of ‘Generation 51’ composers, these strategies have a certain superior ‘axiological sense’ (Władysław Stróżewski), which is far from a purely ludic, postmodernist play on conventions and texts. The aim of the text is a review and an attempt to interpret those strategies. A methodological reference point will be the semantic analyses of possible intertextual references performed by Mieczysław Tomaszewski and Stanisław Balbus.

Mieczysław Tomaszewski. Muzykolog wolny, niezależny i zaangażowany

The article discusses the culture-creating activities of Mieczysław Tomaszewski (1921–2019) at the Polish Music Publishing House and within the context of Musical Encounters at Baranów Sando- mierski (1976–1981). The text is mainly concerned with Tomasze-wski’s publications relating to twentieth-century Polish composers: Karol Szymanowski, Witold Lutosławski, Krzysztof Penderecki and Henryk Mikołaj Górecki. The reflections of the Polish musicologist are closely entwined with the theoretical conceptions developed by himself: the conception of Wort-Ton, the method of integral interpre-tation of a musical work, the conception of nodal points in the lives of composers, or intertextuality in music. Applying these conceptions allowed him to describe Polish twentieth-century compositions at different levels and in different contexts: beginning with a synthetic periodisation of creative development, up to masterly analyses and interpretations of individual works that take into consideration their intertextual references. The Polish musicologist also paid careful at-tention to composers’ statements testifying to their original views and inner transformations. The problem of freedom was of particular im-portance to him, both in its personal, artistic aspect and in its histor-ical dimension. Tomaszewski as a person reveals himself throughout his activities as someone both free and committed.

Composition trends in polish vocal lyric. Musical language features in polish songs after the mid-20th century based on selected examples

The subject for analysis were works for voice and piano by selected Polish composers of the 20th and 21st centuries, e.g. Grażyna Bacewicz, Tadeusz Baird, Henryk Czyż, Henryk Mikołaj Górecki, Henryk Hubertus Jabłoński, Wojciech Kilar, Zygmunt Krauze, Szymon Laks, Witold Lutosławski, Juliusz Mieczysław Łuciuk, Wojciech Łukaszewski, Paweł Łukaszewski, Maciej Małecki, Paweł Mykietyn, Edward Pałłasz, Konrad Pałubicki, Krzysztof Penderecki, Witold Rudziński, Marian Sawa, Kazimierz Serocki, Tadeusz Szeligowski and Romuald Twardowski. An important matter for the author was to determine whether there are common features for this creative genre. She also attempted to find an answer to the question if the trends from the second half of the 20th century were reflected in songs. The scope of analysis covered the repertoire the author knew from her performance practice from the standpoint of a pianist. To the general characteristics of selected songs she added a review of famous trends, techniques and styles of composition, such as impressionism, neoromanticism, expressionism, dodecaphony, serialism, punctualism, minimalism, sonorism, spectralism, neoclassicism, vitalism, postmodernism, aleatoricism, bruitism, microtonality, electronic music, musique concrète, stochastic music, references to previous periods, to folklore and to popular music. She compared musical notation of the analysed works. She also confronted forms of songs with contemporary composition techniques. Interesting was the approach of composers to chamber relations in a duo and the way they made texts musical. Most composers distanced themselves from the avant-garde in works for voice and piano which had a specific poetic text because of the clarity of narration. Matching composers unequivocally to just one trend turned out impossible. Various techniques and phenomena may co-exist in one piece and in the same way one creator may search for different means of expression.