A TRANSCRIPTION AND ANALYSIS OF WITOLD LUTOSLAWSKI'S
MELODIE LUDOWE
(For Solo Guitar)
by STANLEY ALEXANDROWICZ
Submitted to
The Manhattan School of Music
in partial fulfillment of the requirements
for the degree of
Doctor of Musical Arts
New York, New York
May 1993
Witold Lutoslawski
ABSTRACT OF THE THESIS
The purpose of this thesis is to address the paucity of repertoire for the classical guitar through an arrangement of a substantial twentieth-century work originally intended for another medium. Witold Lutoslawski has achieved a pre-eminent position in the history of modern music in Poland, and a transcription of one of his major works completed at the close of the second World War, fills niches both in the history of guitar music of this period, and that of repertoire for the instrument deriving from sources outside both the Germanic tradition of music, and the tradition of guitar music whose inspiration is based upon the 'Iberian spirit.'
In addition to the transcriptions themselves, three pertinent topics are addressed in relation to these works:
- Lutoslawski's background, history, and growth as a composer,
- An overview and examination of the role played by folksong in
Polish society,
- A theoretical analysis of the complete Melodie ludowe.
PREFACE
The twelve Melodie Ludowe of 1945 present a cycle of compositions by one of Poland's greatest living composers which is demonstrative of the Eastern European nationalistic tendency to manifest high artistic thoughts via the vehicle of native folk-melody. Consider Chopin's Chant Polonaise, Liszt's Hungarian Rhapsodies, Bartok's Mikrokosmos, etc., for example. The use of folk material as the basis for artistic response dates back to the beginnings of music history, and includes the rich tradition of the English Virginalists, Haydn and Beethoven, and in our own day, Bartok and Benjamin Britten. The other aspect feasible in relation to these works - namely transcription or arrangement - has also been partaken of by the greatest minds in the history of music: Bach, Stravinsky, Busoni, among others. Three essential thoughts have given rise to the task of adapting these "miniature masterpieces" to the classical guitar: first, the dearth of such repertoire for this instrument; second, the appropriateness of musical substance to the medium (in terms of register, timbral palette, and instrumental resource), and lastly, Lutoslawski's own precedent of arranging a selection of these for string quartet. It has been my intention to render musically faithful guitar versions of these folk-melodies (arrived at through careful study of the composer's piano originals, string quartet versions, and other "functional" music-period works), and to present both a harmonic analysis and an overview of related Polish folk-song materials.
CHAPTER ONE
BIOGRAPHY OF THE COMPOSER
Witold Lutoslawski was born in Warsaw, Poland on 25 January 1913. He was the youngest child of Jozef and Maria Lutoslawski. Both Jozef's and Maria's (nee Olszewska) families belonged to the ziemianstwo - the highly educated and influential landed gentry. The older Lutoslawski generation held prominent positions in Polish cultural and artistic life, counting among its members philosophers, authors, poets and politicians.
The brief early years Witold spent with his father were of immense importance. (Jozef was a political activist who died before trial in a mass execution outside Moscow in 1918.) In addition to inheriting the dedication of his father's posthumously published book Chleb i ojczyzna (Bread and Fatherland), Witold also received his great love of Classical music. One of the composer's earliest memories is of his father playing Beethoven and Chopin "very musically." By the age of six, young Witold implored his widowed mother to begin piano lessons and he became a student of Henela Hoffman. A rich musical culture existed in the Lutoslawski household, and, along with his older brother Henryk, Witold extemporized extensively and played at being a composer. In 1922, at the age of nine, he completed his first composition for solo piano. Young Witold entered the Stefan Batory Gimnazjum in Warsaw at the age of eleven and continued his study of the piano with Jozef Smidowicz (1888-1962), a concert pianist and teacher at the Chopin College of Music. This same year a revelation happened - Witold had his first experience with modern music, the Third Symphony , Op. 27, of Karol Szymanowski. The young composer remarked, "Afterwards I ran home and spent days trying to recapture those sounds at the piano. For weeks I could think of nothing but this work."
CHAPTER TWO
LUTOSLAWSKI'S MUSICAL ACTIVITY DURING HIS 'FOLKLORIC' PERIOD
Upon graduating from the Warsaw Conservatory in 1937, Lutoslawski, a then unknown and relatively undistinguished young composition student, faced two major tests for the upcoming decades: the foreseeable challenge facing any young composer just starting out, and, the unforeseeable and long-reaching impact that the second World War would have on his future life and work. The exposure level in Poland to the advances made in 20th-century compositional techniques lagged far behind most of Europe - Le Sacre du Printemps was still unheard in this country, and the general mood of both audiences and critics was staunchly conservative. Karol Symanowski was one of the few enlightened "cognoscenti" to offer either guidance or encouragement to young musicians exploring new paths.
Lutoslawski was scheduled for a year's conscription in the Army after graduation, and this he served relatively painlessly in the field of radio communications. By 1938, he was performing again as a pianist, and his long and fruitful association with the Polish Radio was also then begun. Moreover, he was free of the restrictions of his composition professor, Witold Maliszewski, at the conservatory, to finish unhindered, the Symphonic Variations which would be completed in 1938. He appreciated Maliszewski, but knew that much he had to say musically (in thought and style) was beyond the professor's ken:
[he]...belonged to the Russian school, had studied with Rimsky-Korsokov and was not interested in modern trends. For example, he regarded Symanowski as a talented composer who 'degenerated' in the middle of his career and developed in the wrong direction. It was inevitable for us to gradually come into ideological, or rather aesthetic conflict - as private people, however, we remained on good terms. I showed him my Symphonic Variations which I had started to compose a year before the end of my studies, but had written completely independently, without his help. He declared openly that he did not understand it. I prepared the harmonic analysis of the piece - and he said: 'Now we talk a common language, now I understand it. But that does not mean I like it. For me your work is simply ugly.' He added that if I developed along these lines, he would not be able to give me advice...I respected him for that, after all my style was completely alien to him.
CHAPTER THREE
OVERVIEW AND SUMMARY OF FOLK MUSIC IN POLAND
Two years stand out in marked importance in the history of Polish folksong study: 1802, the year when Hugo Kollataj initially specified the requirements of Polish historiography (this can be deemed the beginnings of Polish folksong research); and 1904, the year in which historical collection and documentation (via gramophone recordings) of Polish folksongs began. For a nation as politically unstable as Poland, the acquisition of a national identity seemed a prerequisite in the concurrent years of the Industrial Revolution and the Romantic Movement. One outgrowth of this movement found its manifestation in the adoption of nationalistic sources.
Chopin, Poland's most important Romantic voice, can be sighted as one of the earliest composers to utilize folk elements as an integral source in some of his compositions. He was one of the first great Nationalists, and could easily 'paraphrase' folk-like melodies without directly quoting them. This artistic elevation/elaboration, springing from the racial/ethnic subconscious, allowed for both melodic and rhythmic formulae (dance types) to be transformed from their utilitarian origins into high art. Chopin's settings of Polish songs, the Chant Polonaise , may be looked upon as direct precedents to the folk and nationalistic arrangements done by Lutoslawski.
THE ROLE OF FOLKSONG IN POLISH SOCIETY
The generation of composers born during the first decade of the present century can be considered the last to have been raised and educated before the advent of 'wireless' or radio technology. This factor, which on the surface may appear insignificant, places a difference of perspective varying from participatory to responsorial. Music was for these artists, truly a living (albeit ephemeral) creative act and experience. This situation is remarkably similar to the orthodox role played by folk music in a societal context. Village life revolved around a cyclical continuum of expected events - births, deaths, weddings, the change of season, harvests, etc. - and to complement and codify these happenings, the villagers would use 'rituals' to mark the significance of these events. Song and dance played a major part in almost all of these occurrences. The folk tradition was fundamentally a 'living' one (utilitarian to some degree), and its method of 'tutelage' (from one generation to the next) was oral communication.
CHAPTER FOUR
HARMONIC ANALYSIS
The authentic folk melodies used in this cycle are not as a rule distinguished by any tonal peculiarities, but the organically natural union of the melodic raw material with an accompaniment full of rhythmic and harmonic subtlety - (this) results in a unity of striking freshness and originality.
These explanatory remarks by Adam Walancinski touch upon several aspects of the compositional procedures used by Lutoslawski in his Melodie Ludowe. The 'unity' mentioned, refers to the balance, naturalness, and integration of all compositional 'devices' used therein. The composer has truly achieved a 'final product' of 'striking freshness and originality' - the results of which substantiate the thoughts of Bernard Stevens concerning the role of folksong in modern society:
No-one knows the 'original' or 'pure' form of any folksong - it is lost in antiquity - and even if anyone did, that knowledge would not help bring it to life....folk-music must be interpreted so that it reflects present-day life, if it is to have real meaning to the people who perform and listen to it.
Certainly the devastating effects of the war on Poland (and the resulting 'philosophical climate') would disallow a treatment of nationalistic materials which one might in any way term 'innocent.' Lutoslawski's musical treatment (one may hypothesize) is a reflection of his and also his homeland's mood after the horrors due to the Nazi devastation.
ANALYSES
No.1 Ach, moj Jasienko / O my Johnny
Lutoslawski begins with one of the most plaintive melodies of his collection. This arrangement, in two voices throughout, utilizes a highly chromatic accompaniment right from the start - the composer informing his audience that they are in the mid twentieth-century. He chooses to omit the key-signature, but the tonality is an 'altered' G minor. The opening (melodic) perfect 4th interval is of value both in terms of its allusional qualities (the 'open' sound of folk music), and its structural ones (the composer will continually utilize this as a sonic/structural device throughout the collection). Although set in triple meter (3/8), two-beat groupings (connected by slurs) are used consistently as the accompanimental figures. These figures are placed on both weak (m. 1, m. 3, etc.) and strong (m. 2,
m. 4, etc.) parts of the bar, and in measures 7-8 are intensified by the omission of the rests ('hemiola' technique). The symmetrical aspects are of note - Lutoslawski is employing a 'mirroring' wherein m. 4 is a retrograde of m. 1 (1/2 step lower), and m. 3 is a retrograde of m. 2 (1/2 step higher). The consistent use of these sequential patterns a semi-tone apart leads to an ambiance of tonal instability (and ambiguity), and to a distinctly 'modern' aural impression. Of special interest is the (left hand) figure used in measure eleven. The composer has here halved the quickest note-value (from eighths to sixteenths), and moreover, created an aggregate of unusual sonority. The notes result in a chord of 'augmented sixth-like quality' - but incorporating both the sharped 4th and perfect 5th intervals (also omitting the 3rd). The two outermost pitches (E-flat/C-sharp) should logically resolve outward to octave D notes - but Lutoslawski presents this aggregate simultaneously with a D major triad!
View Musical Excerpt
CHAPTER FIVE
THE TRANSCRIPTION PROCESS FOR GUITAR
The transfer of musical material from other media to the guitar, can be historically traced back to the 1500's, when the Spanish vihuelists first began to transcribe songs, Mass-movements, popular 'folk-tunes,' etc., for their chosen instrument. Judging from extant works, the seven published vihuelist-composers must have been among the greatest musicians of the age - much like the school of English lutenists which flourished during the reign of Elizabeth I. Two hundred and fifty years later, Mauro Giuliani reflected the thoughts of his time, by incorporating melodies from the operas of Rossini into fantastic potpourris aptly entitled Rossinianae. Having acknowledged these early practitioners, it is the responsibility of all who come after, to examine their work (and imbibe their principles), and to try to add to the 'sum of knowledge.' Francisco Tarrega and Andres Segovia can be seen as this other end of the spectrum - the first 'modern-era' pioneers to re-enter this field - and their arrangements for the specific guitar in use today, are the cornerstones and foundations of the modern repertoire.
Above and foremost, it is the responsibility of the present day arrangers to go beyond the guitar, and attempt to comprehend the larger principles of whole world of music, and then return "better informed to serve thy master." The arrangements of Julian Bream and Manuel Barrueco are prime examples reflecting this maxim.
PRINCIPLES OF TRANSCRIPTION
I would like to enumerate and explain the principles (both technical and aesthetic) which must be considered in the guitar transcription process.
- Key of execution . Due to the nature of playing 'polyphonically' on a plucked stringed-instrument, it is of prime importance to select a tonality which can best utilize 'open' strings in the 'context of performance.' Both in terms of melody-to-bass range, and, to facilitate the 'illusion of legato,' it is necessary to incorporate open-string possibilities, not as panaceas, but as integral sonic components.
- Range consideration . The choice of 'placement' upon the guitar should be determined in light of two factors:
- overall compass; a tessitura should be selected which accommodates both the melodic and harmonic factors equally well - an overabundance of octave transpositions should try to be avoided.
- structural/sonic integrity; this factor addresses the inherent sonic differences in the various areas of the guitar's range. Composers often write 'range-specific,' and a musical apex designed around a sonic factor (in the original medium) should be maintained in the transcription.
- Suitability of texture and/or figuration. The lack of the piano's pedal, and the restriction of a six-note sonic maximum, must be considered both in choice of piece, and feasibility of musically acceptable result. A 're-figuration' of a textural component must be approached prudently, and with a historically correct precedent in mind.
- Modulatory Limit. The nature of the guitars physical make-up, often precludes a too distant modulation scheme. The limitations of hand interdependence (in comparison with the piano, for example), should also be taken note of.
- Timbral suitability. Some composers (Chopin, for example) approach specific instrumental-sonority as an integral and inseparable element in their compositions. Others, (Bach, for instance), are less sonically dogmatic. A transcription must be approached in light of the composer's specific designs in this area.
- Aesthetic suitability. Part and parcel of all of the above factors, is the aesthetic one. Highly subjective, the transcriber must ultimately be judge and jury of his 'musical end-result.' Logic, here should (normally) rule supreme. A piece whose fundamental interest lies in its 'purely sustained line' (a vocalaise, for instance), seems little suited to a guitar arrangement, but, if the illusion of this predominant factor could be maintained, then a positive end may result. Broader terms should also be addressed; even if technically possible, would a rendition of the complete Art of Fugue be suitable for the guitar? Is the guitar appropriate for such a temporally sustained undertaking? It must be the voice of one's 'musical conscience' which ultimately decides, and this instructed through a detailed and inclusive study of the transcriptive processes of the past.
© 1994 - All Material Copyright Stanley Alexandrowicz
