Abstracts
Abstract
Among the greatest fascinations of Karol Szymanowski’s Mazurkas, op. 50 and op. 62, are their rich and sophisticated harmonic vocabulary. Many stylistic elements are combined together in this musical language, including pedal points, bagpipe fifths, modal mixture, and bitonality. The interplay of all these phenomena tends to destabilize functional harmonic relationships, leading to many instances of harmonic clashes by semitone, dubbed “Szymanowski clashes.” Considering this harmonic language through the lens of the Szymanowski clash can offer an understanding of this music that points to underlying compositional design and structural logic, while acting in accord with the listener’s perceptions of the musical surface.
Résumé
La richesse et le raffinement du vocabulaire harmonique est probablement ce qui fascine le plus dans les mazurkas op.50 et op.62 de Karol Szymanowski. Son langage musical combine plusieurs éléments stylistiques, incluant l’utilisation de pédales, de quintes parallèles, de modes mixtes et de bitonalités. L’interaction entre ces techniques d’écriture contribue à déstabiliser les relations harmoniques fonctionnelles, conduisant à de multiples collisions harmoniques basées sur les demi-tons, que l’on a baptisées « Szymanowski clashes ». L’examen de ce langage harmonique à partir du concept de « Szymanowski clash » peut aider à mieux comprendre cette musique en mettant en lumière une conception et une logique structurelle compositionnelles, tout en rendant compte de la perception des surfaces musicales.
Download the article in PDF to read it.
Download
Appendices
Biographical note
Pianist Matthew Bengtson offers a unique combination of musical talents ranging from extraordinary pianist, fortepianist, harpsichordist, analyst, and scholar of performance practice. He offers a diverse repertoire, from Byrd to Ligeti and numerous contemporary composers, and has performed extensively in the United States, Mexico, and Europe, including numerous solo performances at Carnegie’s Weill Recital Hall. His recordings of the complete Scriabin Sonatas garnered numerous rave reviews; the American Record Guide relates his performances of the complete Scriabin sonatas to legendary performances by Horowitz and Richter, asking, “Has Scriabin ever been played better?” He is co-author of The Alexander Scriabin Companion: History, Performance, and Lore (Rowman and Littlefield Press, 2017). Equally devoted to the music of Karol Szymanowski, he won a Stefan and Wanda Wilk Prize for Research in Polish Music, and recently released a 3-CD recording of the great Polish composer’s violin/piano and solo piano works on the Musica Omnia label with violinist Blanka Bednarz. He is currently Assistant Professor of Piano Literature at the University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre and Dance, where he teaches piano, fortepiano, and courses and seminars on piano repertoire.
Bibliography
- Ballard, Lincoln, and Matthew Bengtson, with John Bell Young. 2017. The Alexander Scriabin Companion: History, Performance, and Lore. Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield.
- Bartók, Béla. 1976. Béla Bartók Essays. Selected and edited by Benjamin Suchoff Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press.
- Bengtson, Matthew. 2001. “Karol Szymanowski: Revitalizing the Solo Piano Mazurka Genre.” DMA diss., Peabody Conservatory of Music.
- Cadrin, Paul. 1985. “A Tonal Analysis of the First String Quartet, opus 37, by Karol Szymanowski.” PhD diss., University of British Columbia.
- Chylinska, Teresa. 1993. Karol Szymanowski: His Life and Works. Edited by Wanda Wilk. Translated by John Glowacki. Polish Music History Series. Los Angeles: Friends of Polish Music, University of Southern California.
- Dahlhaus, Carl. 1987. “Structure and Expression in the Music of Scriabin.” In Schoenberg and the New Music, trans. Derrick Puffett and Alfred Clayton, 201–9. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
- Downes, Stephen. 1994. Szymanowski as Post-Wagnerian: The Love Songs of Hafiz, op. 24. Outstanding Dissertations in Music from British Universities, ed. John Caldwell. New York: Garland Publishing.
- Downes, Stephen. 2003. Szymanowski, Eroticism and the Voices of Mythology. Aldershot: Ashgate.
- Downes, Stephen, and Paul Cadrin, eds. 2015. The Szymanowski Companion. Aldershot: Ashgate.
- Hindemith, Paul. 1942. The Craft of Musical Composition. Translated by Arthur Mendel. New York: Associated Music Publishers.
- Koechlin, Charles. 1930. Traité de l’harmonie. Paris: Max Eschig.
- Kosakowski [McNamee], Ann Louise. 1980. “Karol Szymanowski’s Mazurkas: Cyclic Structure and Harmonic Language.” PhD diss., Yale University.
- Kostka, Stefan. 1990. Materials and Techniques of Twentieth-Century Music. 2nd ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.
- Lendvai, Ernö. 1971. Bela Bartók: An Analysis of His Music. London: Kahn and Averill.
- McNamee, Ann [Kosakowski]. 1985. “Bitonality, Mode and Interval in the Music of Karol Szymanowski.” Journal of Music Theory 29:61–85.
- Milhaud, Darius. 1923. “Polytonalité et Atonalité.” La Revue musicale 4 (4): 29–44.
- Persichetti, Vincent. 1961. Twentieth-Century Harmony. New York: Norton.
- Randel, Don Michael, ed. 1986. The New Harvard Dictionary of Music. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
- Sadie, Stanley, ed. 2001. The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians. London: Macmillan.
- Salzman, Eric. 1967. Twentieth-Century Music: An Introduction. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
- Samson, Jim. 1977. Music in Transition: A Study of Tonal Expansion and Atonality, 1900–1920. New York: W.W. Norton.
- Samson, Jim. 1981. The Music of Szymanowski. New York: Taplinger.
- Szymanowski, Karol. 1999. Szymanowski on Music: Selected Writings of Karol Szymanowski. Musicians on Music, no. 6. Translated by Alistair Wightman. London: Toccata.
- van den Toorn, Pieter. 1983. The Music of Igor Stravinsky. New Haven: Yale University Press.
- Wightman, Alistair. 1999. Karol Szymanowski: His Life and Work. Aldershot: Ashgate.
- Zieliński, Tadeusz. 1960. “Mazurki Karola Szymanowskiego.” In Z Zycia i Twórczosci Karola Szymanowskiego: Studia i materialy, ed. Józef M. Chomiński, 117–51. Kraków: PWM.