KWINTETY DĘTE MILHAUDA, BARBERA, LUCKIEGO I PETERSONA. IDEE, KONTEKSTY, PERSPEKTYWY INTERPRETACYJNO-WYKONAWCZE

Mirosław Płoski

Wydawnictwo: Akademia Muzyczna w Krakowie, 2008, format A5, s. 160

Uwagi wstępne
Rozdział I. Twórcy i ich dzieła. Faktografia
1. Program nagrania płytowego;
2. Darius Milhaud;
3. Samuel Barber;
4. Štěpán Lucký;
5. Robert Paterson
Rozdział II. Z zagadnień programowości muzycznej. Inspiracje i odniesienia pozamuzyczne
1. Wprowadzenie. Definicja muzyki programowej. Rodzaje programowości.
2. La cheminée du roi René
3. Summer Music
4. Melting Clocks
Rozdział III. Kwintety w perspektywie intertekstualnej. Idee – strategie. Związki międzydziełowe
1. Pojęcie intertekstualności. Intertekstualność jako główny czynnik wyróżniający typy wypowiedzi twórców kwintetów;
2. Refleksja na temat muzyki żydowskiej;
3. La cheminée du roi René;
4. Summer Music;
5. Divertimento;
6. Wind Quintet. Klezmeshugeh
Rozdział IV. Suburban Waltz Fantasy – melanż humoru "programowego" i "intertekstualnego"
1. Koncepcja humoru muzycznego w walcu-fantazji;
2. Źródła cytatów muzycznych;
3. Szczegółowe omówienie elementów komizmu w poszczególnych odcinkach części
Rozdział V. Humor muzyczny Patersona
1. Miejsce humoru w estetyce Patersona. Strategia wzbogacania tekstu muzycznego o odniesienia zewnętrzne;
2. Próba typologii Patersonowskich środków komizmu muzycznego;
3. „Poziom słuchania” dzieła według Patersona
Podsumowanie
Wykaz literatury cytowanej
Wykaz skrótów, objaśnienia pisowni
Summary
Indeks nazwisk
Opis płyty

SUMMARY

Wind Quintets of Milhaud, Barber, Lucký and Paterson: Ideas, Contexts, Interpretative-Performance Perspectives

In this dissertation an attempt has been made to characterize four quintets for wind instruments, recorded on the CD entitled Jewish Roots (Medialogic 2006), in terms of their program (elements of musical representation) and intertextuality. By combining two research-interpretative perspectives, the author puts emphasis on the artistic competence of the performer, covering both semantic references inherent to the music and relations between works, references to tradition, styles and genres within musical work as well as references to broad cultural reality. According to the author’s thesis, illustrated on the example of recorded quintets, it is the artistic competence of the performer that conditions the proper reading of the musical text (both in the aspect of program and intertextuality), and thus it is crucial for the proper performance realization and for the truth of artistic message.
In the case of one of the quintets presented in the recording, Wind Quintet written in 2004 by Robert Paterson (contemporary American composer), it is the world premiere recording, whereas the remaining quintets were recorded for the first time in Poland.
The title reflects the author’s opinion that apart from religious heritage, folk tradition and the folk-artistic current (encompassing e.g. Klezmer music and various modes of its continuation) the notion of Jewish music covers also art music, and within it – Western music written by composers with Jewish background. The formula of the title (Jewish Roots) is broad and therefore enabling to include the quintet written by Samuel Barber (non-Jewish composer) in the recording; in this context it is worth emphasizing that Barber’s quintet (Summer Music; 1955) was commissioned by Chamber Music Society of Detroit – American music society whose initiators were mostly artists with Jewish background.
Chapter I outlines the composers’ profiles and circumstances in which their works were created.
In Chapter II, the quintets are discussed in the light of their musical program. The discussion is based on the belief that differentiation between program and absolute music is not a sharp dychotomy and the programmatic idea in various musical compositions does not always translate into a concrete, entirely clear extramusical content; it often is only a certain representative tendency with variable intensity. Furthermore, it has been assumed that the program category is closely connected with the category of musical representation, and the basic condition for the musical representation in a given work is a recognizable relationship between the music and extramusical representative sphere. The relation is meticulously analyzed with reference to the recorded quintets. The programmatic sphere of Darius Milhaud La cheminée du roi René – The Chimney of King René suite (1939) undertook critical evaluation. The actual authorship of the unsigned preface run by the publisher in the score was attributed to Milhaud and as a consequence the preface is treated as a substitute for verbal program and as one of the basic attributes of the programmatic character of the work. The author of this dissertation points to numerous errors and inconsistencies of historical-chronological and factual nature that can be found in the preface and which concern the Troubadour musical culture (12th–13th c.) and the figure of 15th century Count of Provence – René d’Anjou. Ambiguous titles of the suite movements and unclear commentary in the score do not contribute to the idea of program music. Whereas the comparative analysis of two works, the music composed by Milhaud for the first part of the film Cavalcade d’amour directed by Raymond Bernard and his suite for wind quintet La cheminée du roi René (the work which is an arrangement of the abovementioned film music) conducted by the author of the dissertation, points to the discrepancy between the program thread of the quintet and the reality illustrated in the film; according to the author it is another factor weakening the programmatic idea of the chamber work. In the conclusion it is stated that the ambiguous and inconsistent programmatic message of the suite has symbolic meaning, the idea behind it concerns the glorification of Provence, the composer’s homeland.
In the sub chapter devoted to Barber Summer Music, the author points to the elements of musical representation that are present in certain fragments of the work and which are connected with the vision of a hot summer day evoked by the music. Programmatic interpretation is completed by a facultative program scope that often appears in non-scholarly papers and which is based on the composer’s recollections of his childhood. The scope, which according to the author too excessively specifies the extramusical content of the work, can not be justified on the basis of factographical sources.
The third movement of Paterson’s Wind Quintet, Melting Clocks, is analyzed within the context of extensive program that has been attached to the score by the composer, complemented by the composer’s reflections published on his Internet blog. Paterson approaches motive of clocks and the abstract category of time, notions well known in music literature, in an original way. His programmatic presentation is characterized by the emphasis put on the substantial quality of time which is its relativity, and – above all – by humour.
Chapter III discusses the quintets from the intertextual perspective. The semantic scope of the notion of intertextuality (a category relatively new in musicography) is being established on the basis of a well known definition developed by literary scholar Ryszard Nycz and adapted to musical utterance. The author of the dissertation believes that all works recorded on the CD are characterized by intertextual poetics which is the result of various composition strategies that had been applied. The strategies are discussed in close connection with superior ideas to which they are subordinated. Additionally, relations between works are highlighted.
Milhaud suite is discussed with emphasis on archaization of musical language and on the influences of Provencal folklore. The scope of intertextual references used by the composer for the purpose of stylization is much broader than the historical period evoked by the program (i.e. preface to the score) would justify. The quintet should be perceived as a free metaphor of Old Provencal sung poetry. The folk elements that appear in the work are of exceedingly sublime and ambiguous nature.
In Summer Music, the composer develops the programmatic sphere basing on the strategy that can be described as active continuation of French Impressionism. The influence of French school of woodwind writing can be seen.
The idea behind Divertimento (1974) by Štěpán Lucký, a recently deceased Czech composer, is “approachability” of music, turning towards a listener with average musical perceptibility. The author of the dissertation describes Lucký’s strategy as restitution of social-realistic poetics. In the first movement of Divertimento there appear references to the repertoire of amateur Czech wind orchestras (dechovka), and in the third movement – to the indigenous Czech folklore, the source of inspiration is a folk dance furiant.
In Robert Paterson Wind Quintet two movements are characterized by intertextual poetics. The second movement, Suburban Waltz Fantasy, is particularly “intertextually active”; it is a kind of postmodern stylization, based on quotations from both popular and philharmonic music. Similarly ostentatious musical borrowings and allusions appear in the fourth movement, Klezmeshugeh, which refers mainly to Klezmer music. The idea of intertextual strategies applied by Paterson in both movements is musical humour. The initial section of Klezmeshugeh is a pastiche of popular Klezmer arrangements, using Jewish folk dance bulgar. The prototype (archtext) for the stylization is Heyser Bulgar from the repertoire of Naftule Brandwein, based on one of traditional bulgar melodies. The prototype evoked in Klezmeshugeh is very close to he original – Paterson quotes the Jewish melody faithfully, using ahavah rabbah scale; he takes into consideration the conflicts of accentuation systems which occur between the melodic voices and accompaniment thus creating a rhythmic tension typical for bulgar; the composer also makes several allusions to the Klezmer performance style.
Chapter IV is entirely devoted to Suburban Waltz Fantasy (second movement of Paterson Quintet). It is an almost complete (conducted measure by measure) interpretative proposal for the movement, emphasizing musical humour. The interpretation is derived from programmatic and intertextual analysis of the score and in comparison with other chapters it is distinct in its meticulousness. Suburban Waltz Fantasy is crucial for the dissertation, for it is abounds in elements of external references (both intertextual and programmatic), applied to achieve musical humour.
Chapter V sums up the discussion on Robert Paterson Quintet (attempt at generalisation) and discusses elements of humour based on musical representation, quotations and musical allusions within the context of Paterson’s general concept of musical humour – and certain performance problems connected with it. The author of the dissertation attempts to specify the means that the composer uses in order to achieve ludic effect. Since “programmatic” and even to a larger extent “intertextual” method of evoking humour is a characteristic feature for the majority of Paterson’s oeuvre, the author looks closer into the matter; the material of Wind Quintet remains the central point for the discussion.