Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
durval cesetti
The narrative of a composers biography:
some aspects of Szymanowski reception
A
composers reputation is slowly constructed in a process that
relies not solely on musical characteristics but on many other factors
as well. Furthermore, the perceived status of a composers oeuvre
reflected in the amount of exposure it receives in concerts, recordings,
radio, and through published scores has a powerful influence in shaping
how new listeners will ultimately consider its worth. When confronted with
a piece by an unfamiliar name, the novice listener might be curious to listen
to it, and may even become a fervent admirer of it later, but it is hard to
deny that a part of us instinctively tends to accept that a lack of prestige
especially in a composer from a bygone era must be connected to some
kind of musical lack, thus creating a self-perpetuating cycle that reinforces
the original perception. Because of this, it is imperative that the musical
establishment constantly reassess the value of a composers output, lest
it remain stuck with outworn notions and prejudices that try to shoehorn
unique individuals into Procrustean models. Whether a composer such as
Szymanowski deserves a greater space under the limelight is something that
could be debated for a long time based on purely personal views. However,
if this debate is to arrive at a productive and valid conclusion, one must
leave personal preferences aside for a moment, and examine which factors
historical, biographical, sociological and musical might have influenced
the way posterity has perceived his value.
The notion that history is simply a collection of facts, which are impartially
observed and presented to the reader, has been persuasively dethroned by
historians such as Hayden White, who emphasises that historical accounts
are basically verbal fictions, relying on previously accepted concepts of
how a narrative should be established.1 Events, on their own, do not contain
sense; by selecting and ordering them into a coherent whole, we are indeed
presenting an interpretation and evaluation of them. White affirms that the
more we know about the past, the more difficult it is to generalize about it.2
1. See, for instance, Hayden
White: The historical text as However, generalisations are just as inevitable as they are unwelcome; one
literary artifact, in Geoffrey must first accept them before deconstructing their elements. Evidently, the
Roberts, ed.: The history and need to create meaningful narratives out of many disjointed facts applies
narrative reader (London &
New York, 2001), pp.22136. not only to large historical events, but also to personal biographies; there
2. White: The historical are certain concepts of how a great composer should look, and those who
text, p.228. do not fit these concepts are not granted admission into the introductory
books used in music history survey classes.
However, before moving on to the complex issues involved in the
manipulation of a composers biography for public consumption, one should
also explore more prosaic reasons that might be partially responsible for the
neglect that Szymanowskis output has suffered outside Poland. For example,
it is undeniable that his music tends to be highly difficult and complex, for
performers, theorists and listeners alike. The 1951 Record Guide, for example,
affirmed that his highly wrought music full of exquisite effects of color [...]
is unlikely ever to be popular; but those with a taste for recondite art will
continue to be fascinated by its rarefied and ecstatic beauty.3 Even those
who appreciate Szymanowskis artistry have acknowledged his passion for
complexity (often for its own sake). Stuckenschmidt blamed this on his
aristocratic dislike of the commonplace, which made him afraid of being
too easily understood a fear that is somewhat decadent, yet immensely
3. Quoted in Ates Orga: creative and fertile .4 When Szymanowski made two trips to the United
Karol Szymanowski States in the early 1920s in order to publicise his works, his own publisher
(18821937), liner notes to was sceptical (rightly, as it turned out to be) that these trips would result
Szymanowski: piano works,
vol.2, performed by Martin in anything concrete, since he did not think that Americans possessed
Roscoe (NAXOS 8.553300, the complex sensitivity required to appreciate Szymanowskis subtle and
1996), p.4.
intricate appeal.5
4. Hans Heinz
Stuckenschmidt: Karol
The difficulties Szymanowski presents to performers are also staggering.
Szymanowski, in Music & His piano works, for instance, are often written on three staves, displaying
Letters 19/1 (January 1938), contrapuntal intricacies that challenge both the pianists physical skills and
p.38.
his or her ability to understand how these multiple levels of action should
5. Related by Alistair
Wightman: Karol interact.6 Szymanowski also uses a variety of technical effects and virtuoso
Szymanowski: his life and passages (such as the superimposed tremolos, fluttering arpeggios, and
work (Aldershot, 1999), rapid repeated notes often found in his middle period) that keep his works
p.256.
inaccessible to many. While other composers are also known for writing
6. This is also true for
the rest of his output; his exceedingly difficult pieces, it can be argued that Szymanowskis unpopularity
symphonic works have a might be partially attributed to his unwillingness to compromise creating
great danger of degenerating some works that might have been more commercially accessible to amateurs,
into a massive sonic jumble
if the conductor does not for instance. Even when the technical demands are not transcendent, his
take a firm and unambiguous pieces have other stumbling blocks for the performer: his Mazurkas op.50
decision about which voices
should be more prominent and op.62, for instance, are not easily understood (nor memorised), due to
at every single moment. their complex harmonies and asymmetrical phrase structures.
Many recordings of his
symphonies seem reluctant Szymanowskis music has also been prone to cause puzzlement among
(maybe because of too theorists. Theorys desire to organise music into models and systems is of
much respect?) to banish course necessary, but it often leaves gaps in our musical understanding.
some of the many voices
of his counterpoint to The positivistic wish to find an explanation for everything goes unfulfilled
the background, creating in many of Szymanowksis works, something that might create deep
instead an undifferentiated,
uninteresting, and confusing consternation and reprobation amongst certain individuals. As Joseph
panorama. Kerman correctly points out, ideologies often lurk behind the faade of
deal with the breaking apart of tonality as any other early 20th-century
composer, he did not have the Teutonic propensity to consider theory as an
essential part of [the] solution,26 making him feel no strong need to replace
traditional tonal organization with alternative unifying disciplines.27 His
instinctive approach was an intrinsic part of his compositional ethos, but this
made his pieces hazardous for future generations of theorists. Therefore,
the best analyses of his music have been those that accepted it as it is, and
used various procedures in order to describe it. This has been the approach
taken by Ann Louise Kosakowski in her description of his Mazurkas,28 and
26. Scruton: Between by Samson, who realises that different passages must be approached from
decadence and barbarism,
p.159.
different analytical angles.29 Conversely, the least effective analyses of his
music have been done by those who, armed only with a hammer, consider
27. Samson: The use of
analytical models, p.149. everything to consist of nails. Marylynn Louise Fletchers application of set
In 1927, Adrian Collins theory, for instance, discovers four cells (0125, 015, 025, 026) in Masques, but
remarked that Szymanowski
was a man of finer musical laments that she could not discover a larger system which incorporates all
endowment than Scriabin, these pitch constructions.30 Coupled with this admission comes the implicit
whose later compositions assumption that, because she could not find this overarching system, it does
seem to be absolutely
stifled by the rigidity of his not exist, which consequently detracts from the pieces value. Another
method. Quoted by Ann quantitative approach has been Zents attempt to decipher Szymanowskis
Louise Kosakowski: Karol
Szymanowskis mazurkas: style in the middle-period piano triptychs. His thorough analysis culminates
cyclic structure and in the description of Szymanowskis 27 [!] preferred chords; while much
harmonic language (Ph.D.
dissertation, Yale University,
of what he writes is useful, he also creates the misguided impression that
1980), p.5. it is possible to find total cogency in his works (something that, obviously,
28. Kosakowski: Karol is not convincingly achieved), and he often perpetrates the sin of cherry-
Szymanowskis mazurkas, picking, arbitrarily choosing notes that fit his predetermined sonorities.31
p.248.
These issues already show how our evaluations are not unbiased; we
29. He believes that tonal require certain criteria in order to make them. There would be nothing
expectations operate
frequently at a local level, wrong with that, except that we often use these criteria unquestioningly,
but it would be inappropriate based on premises that have been inherited from different composers in
to look for an overall tonal
centre. He also believes in different contexts. Therefore, before discussing the value of Szymanowskis
the usefulness of Schenkerian music, it is advisable that the analyst undergo a self-examination to reveal
analysis, since Szymanowski what sort of implicit judgments are present in his or her analysis, and it is
always displayed a
consciousness of long-range essential that the analyses apply standards that are appropriate to the works
linear motions in the bass; in hand. Furthermore, all of Szymanowskis influences not only create a
however, Samson explores
the value of other analytical problem for the analysis of his music (which, as we have seen, will inevitably
tactics as well, such as Rtis create value judgments), but they have also been used in order to malign
concept of pantonality, and
the theories of Lendvai, Szymanowskis capacity as a composer. From his early years, Szymanowski
Chailley, Siohan, and
Krenek. See Samson: The Karol Szymanowski (DMA 31. See, for instance, his chords are absolutely
use of analytical models. dissertation, University of identification of precise inaudible, but there could
Texas at Austin, 1984), p.66. sonorities in the rapid be other ways of logically
30. Marylynn Louise Was she perhaps looking for figuration at the beginning grouping those notes
Fletcher: Pitch constructions the wrong thing in the wrong of the first movement together. Donald Zent: The
in the Masques, op.34 of place? of Metopes. Not only his harmonic language, p.115.
was accused of being a parrot vainly imitating the voices of Wagner and
Strauss, not having the right to be called a composer, only a copyist. And
there is no Pantheon for copyists.32 Later in his life, Szymanowski himself
published a response to another critic, saying that he does not see my real
face behind these masks, which, one after another, he would have me wear,
and asserts that I really do not have a face of my own at all.33
These accusations would persist throughout his life, and would help
tarnish his image for posterity. While patriotism probably helped the Polish
establishment to overcome its initial misgivings about him, the rest of the
musical world was content with labelling him as a composer who did not
possess a strong authorial voice. He has been depicted as someone who,
unsure of his direction, [...] wander[ed] aimlessly among the byways
of contemporary European music,34 someone whose career can be best
described as a journey from one sphere of influence to another in his lifelong
32. Both criticisms were
made by Polinski; the quest to find his own stylistic voice.35 Some authors came to his defence by
first one was addressed showing how all of his stylistic changes ultimately do not affect his true
to both Szymanowski
and his colleagues at the self displayed in his tendency to escape to faraway or imaginary lands
Young Poland in Music and eras, and in the ecstatic fervour that pervades all of his periods and by
group, and the second one
was specifically directed
arguing that his music is unlike anything else in the Western canon. While
at Szymanowskis First these attempts are justified and correct, the main issue remains untouched:
Symphony (which he Szymanowskis perception by posterity is tainted by what Harold Bloom
withdrew after a couple
of performances). Quoted calls the anxiety of influence. Blooms sole and hagiographical concern
in Wightman: Karol is to deal with those strong poets [...] with the persistence to wrestle with
Szymanowski, pp.54, 6869.
their strong precursors, even to the death.36 His oedipal view demands that
33. Karol Szymanowski, the artist mis-read the works that have influenced him (with Bloom, the
ed. Alistair Wightman:
Szymanowski on music: artist even if female is most certainly a him), creating in the process
selected writings of Karol something that strongly asserts the individuals independence from the past.
Szymanowski (London,
1999), p.99. The critic in this As Downes explains, an artist who deviates from this ideal, who is not seen
case was Piotr Ryel. as a fecund procreator of child-texts37 that are uniquely his own, will have
34. Jim Samson: his authorial voice revoked by society. Nevertheless, even those artists who
Szymanowski and Polish do successfully achieve this position will inevitably live in a state of anxiety,
Nationalism, in The Musical
Times vol.131 no.1765 (March constantly trying to prove their individuality.
1990), pp.13537. As Whitesell mentions, Blooms theory can be useful if considered as a
35. Breckendridge: The early description of a patriarchal tradition, even though Bloom himself presents it
works, p.19. in quite prescriptive terms. In many ways, the tradition he describes remains,
36. See Lloyd Whitesell: if not the dominant view to determine how we perceive Western art, at
Men with a past: music and
the anxiety of influence , least an extremely influential one. There have always been exceptions,
in 19th-Century Music 18/2 successful individuals who have assumed (at least partially) a position of
(Autumn 1994), pp.15267. humility, gratitude, and great joy in their relationships with the powerful
37. Stephen Downes: dead (Whitesell mentions a few of these individuals: Roethke, Britten,
Szymanowski, eroticism
and the voices of mythology Schumann, TS Eliot and Walt Whitman); however, in general, Blooms view
(Burlington, VT, 2003), p.13. is the one that most powerfully determined how the creative artist is to be
decisions that would affect his career; he often spent monumental amounts
of time indulging in a languid and dandified lifestyle, wasting money and
creating health problems due to his continuous drinking and smoking
(habits that, if avoided, could have arguably prevented his early death at the
age of 55, allowing him more time to compose and to publicise his work).
Another decision that could have been positive to both his finances and his
health would have been to accept the directorship of the Cairo conservatory
in the late 1920s, rather than taking a much lower-paid similar position in
Warsaw (with its cold climate), where he would eventually become involved
in innummerable arguments that would generate even greater rancour
towards him among certain areas of the Polish establishment (he indeed had
the knack for antagonising many Polish critics and musicians throughout
his life). Alternatively, one might believe that, had he moved to Paris or
Vienna in the 1920s, where his music was more appreciated, he would have
been fted as one of the leading composers of his day, rather than remaining
in backward and antagonistic Warsaw.
While it is certainly fascinating to look at History with the benefit of
hindsight, the fact of the matter is that probably none of these individual
factors would have assured greater receptivity to Szymanowskis music
nowadays (but the combination of them might, though). Among this
myriad of reasons that claim to demonstrate why Szymanowski is not
more renowned, one can indeed see a pattern that suggests how things
could have been different, if only... Yet, ultimately, all that remains is ones
own personal involvement with his music. There are musicians with great
discernment who do not consider Szymanowski to be underrated at all; for
them, he gets exactly the renown he deserves according to his compositional
abilities. There are others, however, who never cease to admire the deep
beauty that seems only to grow with the repeated exposure to his music.
To these individuals, it is certainly a terrible injustice that not more people
have been exposed to Szymanowskis music and, for them, it is evident that
Historys judgment is not always dependable and, hopefully, does not have
to be eternal.