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2013 (LXVII) |
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Dariusz Czaja, Songs are sung. Przystanek Jarosław Maciej Kaziński, Jarosław Passions. ”Song of Our Roots” Piotr Kaplita, Jarosław. Town on the Borderland Three texts introducing the reader to the contents of this issue: Dariusz Czaja presented the anthropological dimension of the musical festival in Jarosław by following relations and affiliations between musicological and anthropological reflection. Maciej Kaziński, the current festival director, stressed the fundamental differences between the methodological premises of the musical encounters in Jarosław and the premises of other “ancient music” festivals. Piotr Kaplita outlined a synthetic historical and geographical depiction of the town of Jarosław, accentuating its borderland, multi-cultural. and mediation character.
Błażej Matusiak OP, Musical Temple The author disclosed varied multi-level relations between religious music (in particular liturgical) and sacral space. In doing so he demonstrated the enrootment of this music in prayer and the daily praxis of Western Christianity (the Gregorian choral and Gothic cathedrals). Particular stress was placed on the value of chanted prayer and its essence: the monotonous recitations of the psalms. The author also pursued the close relations between music and the word (the great role played by the psalms) as well as their material (sensual) and spiritual dimension. Separate attention is paid to a detailed discussion of a masterpiece of Early Baroque liturgical music: Vespro della Beata Vergine by Claudio Monteverdi.
Łukasz Tischner, Excarnation. A Certain Dilemma of Contemporaneity The titular term: excarnation, discussed and explained in the text, appeared upon several occasions in A Secular Age, an outstanding work by the Canadian philosopher Charles Taylor. In most general terms, it is applied for describing those tendencies in European culture that stifle, relegate to the margin or outright repress impulses of the body and passions. Its etymology directs the reader towards the religious sphere since Taylor used this word as an antonym of incarnation, keeping in mind a reference to the Christian conception of the Incarnation. Excarnation is a gradual deprivation of spiritual life of its corporeal features, and as a result it becomes increasingly distant from real life, barren and “intellectual”. Following the example of Taylor, the author brought us closer to the sources of this process, demonstrating that it is a phenomenon that exceeds the sphere of religion and leaves its imprint upon all domains of human activity.
Anna Chęćka-Gotkowicz, Pure Hearing: Experiencing. Music in Reflections by Pascal Quignard The spiritual and intellectual formation of the outstanding French man of letters – Pascal Quignard – was delineated by musical passion, alongside philological and philosophical studies. Quignard learned how to play the organ, the violin, the viola and the cello. It was his wish that each encounter with music was to commence with its discovery within oneself, an inner hearing. That what was heard had to be, therefore, exteriorised. This was the condition for a true experiencing of music by the performer and the listener. For this reason Quignard regarded being-in-music as an inner experience. In this perspective, all that which the author wrote about the lost voice, the recollections of his own beginning, words and sounds preceding music, and the process of reaching via music that, which we feel prior to the moment when we are capable of rationalising it, assumes a new dimension.
Pascal Quignard, La dernière leçon de musique de Tch’eng Lien In accordance with his strategy as a man of letters Quignard rewrote and foretold already existing history in his own manner. Great musicians, the protagonists of his tales, actually existed. I am amplifying an old legend. I read it in a note written to Tchang Fou Jouei, that can be found at page 432 of the second volume of the “Mandarin’s Chronicle”. The French translation of the book written by Wou King-tseu was published in 1976. I embroider dreams and reflections around the legend of Po Ya. I am inventing the dialogues, the souvenirs. But the final scene is the one in the legend.
Jordi Savall, Music, Memory, Tears Statement recorded for Polish Radio Programme 2 by the eminent Catalonian viola player and conductor Jordi Savall after his concert in Jarosław, commemorating his wife, the soprano Montserrat Figueras (d. 2011).
Dariusz Czaja, The Savall Library For several years now, Jordi Savall has been issuing in his Alia Vox studio a special CD series granted the form of books, which arranged on a shelf resemble a uniform edition series. Each contains two or three records devoted to only a single topic, person or theme (e.g. Jerusalem – la ville des deux Paix: La paix céleste et la paix terrestre, Le Royaume Oublié - La tragédie Cathare, Christopher Tye Lawdes Deo) while the accompanying texts have erudite texts translated into more than ten languages. The author demonstrated the way in which it is possible to make creative use of this unusual library for the sake of original and augmenting school education.
Marcel Pérès, Le chant vieux romain: nouveaux horizons pour la compréhension du chant grégorien et des répertoires des Eglises orientales The beginning of the twentieth century witnessed the discovery of five manuscripts originating from the eleventh and twelfth century containing the Old Roman chant. They were depreciated, however, by the Benedictines of Solesmes Abbey, who at the time were initiating a great reform of the Roman liturgy and chant. Marcel Pérès, an outstanding musicologist and musician, presented the causes and consequences of this rejection. The Old Roman chant appeared to its discoverers as a complete anomaly. Actually, it is testimony of the very essence of the Church chant, being not merely a collection of melodies but the living word, whose life is that of the person who foretells; in addition, it teaches that the repertoire, even if recorded, continues to be an expression of the whole, whose space of existence is predominantly the art of oration.
Mirosław Kocur, The Monk as a Performer The history of English literature starts in the second half of the seventh century with a performance by a simple and illiterate shepherd, mentioned only by a single author. No archaeological evidence or any other texts confirm the shepherd’s existence. Quite possibly he could be a figment of the imagination of a learned author. Nonetheless, the story about a miraculous transformation of a shepherd into a singer, read and commented, contains a cohesive and radical description of a revolution in the art of the performer. Many of its motifs returned in the praxis of later artists of the theatre, not merely mediaeval. The shepherd who due to this wondrous event turned into a singer did not realise that he had become an artist. This is the way in which the Christian art of the performance came into being.
Bartosz Izbicki, To Play Strauss Like in Vienna, to Sing the Chant Like in Rome What are the relations between musical notation and the very essence of music? Is a musical record sufficient guarantee of its authentic performance? Initially, the author followed these issues upon the basis of various musical material (Palestrina, W.A. Mozart, J. Strauss), but his goal consisted of contemporary performances of the Gregorian chant. Assorted experiments also abound and multiply - attempts at implanting assorted living traditions into the chant or the application of the principles of successive treatises, read anew. Apparently, such experiments provide an image of this music much more convincing than performances “according to the record” or the Solesmesian method.
Marcel Pérès, Was the Disappearance of Cantors the End of Liturgical Chants? Today, the function of the church cantor is totally absent in the liturgy. For more than a century everything possible was done to eliminate it and replace it with parish choirs, and in the wake of the last council with the ideology of the singing People of God. Only few Catholics know that in certain rural parishes cantors fulfilled their function to the mid-twentieth century as the prime actors of liturgical celebrations. From the very first centuries men known as psalmists or lectors took on the proclamation of the words of joint prayer via the song. The prime task of the cantor was guarding living memory, the memory of the song and sound of the prayers of ancestors.
Marcin Bornus-Szczyciński, Why is the Church Ceasing to Sing? The first director of the festival in Jarosław, a musicologist and a singer, analysed the reasons and consequences of the split between the chant and liturgy in the Western Church. he convincingly presented losses generated by this process and indicated the importance of a return to the sources and praxis of “serious” singing in the Church. In doing so he also pointed to the absence of a similar split in Eastern liturgies and perceived an opening towards experiencing the tradition of the East as a great chance for the liturgical reconstruction of the Roman Church. In addition, the author regarded Euro-centrism, cultivated for long centuries, as totally barren. A recreation of the Gregorian chant in the form of perfect monody without an opening towards Eastern tradition and benefitting from the experiences of the present-day Eastern Churches, traditional due to their nature, is doomed to fail.
Marcel Pérès, The Art of Cantillation at the Sources of a Transmission of Faith Chanting of readings of holy texts is the joint feature of the praxis of all religions. Musical repertoires, which across the ages created the spiritual heritage of mankind, are either an expansion of assorted techniques of reading or comprise elements whose function consisted of marking spaces between readings. A study of various forms of cantillation makes it possible to capture the basic organic unity of the art of cantillation at the sources of three monotheistic religions: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.
Björn Schmelzer, Missa Caput: Two Years After a Recording That Brought Us to Jarosław The singer and founder of the brilliant Graindelavoix group disclosed behind-the-scenes preparations for a pioneering performance of the masterpiece Missa Caput by Johannes Ockeghem (for centuries regarded as of Flemish descent and according to the most recent discoveries born as a Walloon). Upon the example of this composition Schmelzer demonstrated and justified his approach to the reconstruction of old music while drawing attention also to the creative role of anachronism.
Egon Wellesz, The Origin of Byzantine Music The presented text is a sub-chapter from the classical A History of Byzantine Music and Hymnography (1961). The author introduced the reader to the foundations of Byzantine culture, indicating against this background its particular features and emphasising the fact that it was a creative synthesis of Eastern and Western elements. Particular attention is due to an extensive discussion of the tradition of the synagogue chant in the development of Byzantine music (psalms, hymns, spiritual songs).
Maciej Kaziński, The Voices of Byzantium. Postscriptum A translation-commentary to a text by Egon Wellesz: The Origin of Byzantine Music, accentuating that despite the half a century that passed from its first edition the publication still possesses canonical features. Despite certain gaps and omissions (not always the fault of the author) the book continues to be topical. The presentation proposed by Wellesz is reliable and accessible, and its conceptual structure is understandable for a reader accustomed to analytical thinking.
Lycourgos Angelopoulos, Byzantine Liturgy An introduction to the arcana of Byzantine liturgy by the founder and conductor of the Greek Byzantine Choir and the Archon Protopsaltes (lead protopsaltes) of the Patriarchate of Constantinople. It must be kept in mind that the inner function of Greek classical music is guiding the faithful towards contemplation and prayer, while its natural space consists of a liturgical framework in the very centre of the praxis of the Eastern rite Church. Importantly, it involves assorted forms of art - architecture, iconography, poetry, and music. Liturgy constitutes a carefully devised and integrated w h o l e. Essentially, it exerts an intensive impact upon various senses and stimulates the imagination and memory. It is a dramatic form of a living transmission of theological contents, and leads towards the mysterious reality of the sacraments. Liturgy grants sacral sanction to time and space.
Michał Klinger, The Role of Liturgy in the Russian Orthodox Church. Hermeneutic Comments and Those Obtained from Experience In the East liturgy possesses a certain feature difficult to discern: it not so much evolves as succumbs to stratification in time. It is “archaic” due to its strata of truly ancient texts, which newer texts do not replace, but comment and supplement. In other words, it does not get rid of the “incomprehensible”, but only enriches it and in praxis at times complicates and obliterates. In this manner, it applies the hermeneutic principle of lectio difficilior, acknowledging that the more difficult sense is the most promising for experiencing a mystery. Thus Eastern liturgy is anachronic but also more challenging from the cognitive and pedagogic point of view. It is the domain of beauty but not of obligation and science.
Rev. Henryk Paprocki, Theology of Sacral Music Eastern rite thought does not contain treatises dealing with the theology of music. The whole argumentation pertains to the icon connected directly with iconoclastic disputes. Scare statements by the Fathers of the Church and concerning music are scattered in their works. Upon the basis of Patristic literature the author presented an outline of a theological conception that explains the function and meaning of music in the Orthodox Church.
Marcin Abijski, Akathist – Music An outstanding singer, founder and conductor of the Bogdan Onisimowicz Chamber Choir tells about composing music to a Polish-language translation of Akathist to the Most Holy Mother of God, a great liturgical hymn of the Eastern rite Church.
Adrian Sarbu, Panikhida and a Return to the Sources An interview with the founder and conductor of the Byzantine Choir (Jassy, Romania). Sarbu described the importance of Eastern rite tradition in communist Romania and explained the essence and structure of the panikhida, the Eastern rite service for the repose of the departed.
Dariusz Czaja, Incarnated Voice. Glossa on the Margin of the Psalms Marcin Bornus-Szczyciński, Take up a song and strike the drum! Tomasz Dobrzański, Salvatore Rossi and Hebrew Psalms Vladimir Ivanoff, Ensemble Sarband and Moslem Psalms Four brief texts examining various aspects of the specificity of the Old Testament Book of Psalms and its musical references. Dariusz Czaja stressed the phenomenon of the duration and universal nature of the Psalms as well as their somatic anthropology. Marcin Bornus-Szczyciński presented the specificity of Psałterz by Mikołaj Gomółka against the backdrop of European music. Tomasz Dobrzański discussed the compositions of Salomon Rossi, a Jewish musician at the court of Mantua, and Vladimir Ivanoff recalled the extraordinary Wojciech Bobowski/Ali Ufki and his Moslem psalms.
Joanna Benedyktowicz, Quasi plaustra per gradus. A Carriage Rumbling Down Stairs or on Gregorian Chants among the Franks Art, and music in particular, played an important part at the court of Charlemagne. Upon the basis of extensive sources the author considered grave controversies relating to the liturgical chant and presented fervent debates, brimming with persuasive rhetorical operations, between Roman (source) and Frankish (impure) tradition. A royal “verdict” compelled the Gauls to return to the sources (St. Gregory) in order to restore to the Gregorian chant its original purity.
Benjamin Bagby, Six Strings, Five Fingers, One Voice.
Modus and Text in Early Mediaeval Music Lecture presented in Jarosław by an outstanding British singer and performer of mediaeval music, founder of the Sequentia Ensemble. Remarks about the specificity of performing mediaeval music (history and ”ideological premises”) as well as detailed reflections about associated technical difficulties (musical register, instrumentarium, tuning, etc.).
Benjamin Bagby, Beowulf, the Edda, and the Performance of Medieval Epic: Notes from the Workshop of a Reconstructed “Singer of Tales” The text, presented as “workshop notes”, is an attempt at sketching the background of work dealing with the great mediaeval poems: Beowulf and Edda. The comments are not addressed to experts dealing with mediaeval music but rather to listeners experiencing the performance of mediaeval works for the first time. Such an approach lacks the key element of sound - the visual and audial presence of the performer and the instrument, which we encounter in the course of live performances. The author’s task, therefore, consists of discovering common ground on which the listeners (or potential listeners)) could meet the performer. The purpose is for the listeners to become acquainted with the premises and arguments behind a hypothetical reconstruction of mediaeval epics.
J.D. to The School of Night A contemporary apocryphon written in the form of a letter by John Dowland to The School of Night, with the lutenist betraying the secrets (historical, political, lyrical) of his songs and depriving them of later interpretation deformations.
Frank Pschichholz, Deciphering Second Booke of Songes or Ayres (1600) by John Dowland A meticulous commentary by the German lute player Frank Pschichholz on years-long attempts at a new deciphering, devoid of well-established interpretation canons (impositions?, persuasions?), of the celebrated Second Booke of Songes or Ayres by John Dowland.
Francesco Zimei, Planctus from Montecassino: from Intonation to Staging Several years ago the Italian musicologist Francesco Zimei discovered and deciphered a melody accompanying a folk planctus, preserved only in fragments, from the Passion from Montecassino, presumably from the second half of the twelfth century. According to present-day knowledge this is the oldest Italian-language translation of the text together with music. The finding enabled a reconstruction, with the use of the original music, of a complete version of the Passion, extant as Lamentatio beate Marie de filio in a codex from the last quarter of the thirteenth century, whose owner, tradition has it, was Pietro Morrone (later: Pope Celestine V). The author presented a historical and musicological commentary to his astounding discovery.
Antonello Ricci, Roberta Tucci, Paths of Passion Songs Gianni de Santis, The Chant as Redemption Luigi Chiriatti, Passion Songs: I passiùna tu Cristù and Lu Santu Lazzaru Three brief texts from the book: Canti di Passione. Ce custi o gaddho na cantalìsi (Kurumuny Edizioni, Calimera 2007). The authors commented on the phenomenon of assorted ritual Passion songs in Italy (Antonella Ricci, Roberta Tucci), described Passion songs in griko – the dialect of the Peninsula of Salento (Apulia) – as one of the oldest forms of the folk theatre (Luigi Chiriatti), and considered the Passion song as a form of an encounter in which the song is comprehended as redemption for a life of hardship and toil (Gianni de Santis).
Adam Strug, On Traditional Chants and Folk Piety An interview with an acclaimed singer of traditional music about relations between the traditional chant and folk piety.
Maria Bikont, In Search of the Traditional Chant. My Expeditions to Ukraine, Russia and Belarus Trips to folk singers offer an opportunity to learn about the nature of songs in traditional communities, the role performed by the word, and ways of using the voice. Authentic singers attach great importance to the world and refer directly to life. Only having become familiar with the hardships of the daily life of the local people is it possible to comprehend how much the texts of the songs describe their lot. Singers do not recognise songs according to the melody but to the text. If one hums a melody they are lost, and in order to request a concrete song one has to be acquainted with its opening words or recall the contents. The story as such is so significant for the song that at times mention is made not of singing a song but of telling it.
Katarzyna Jackowska-Enemuo, On a Magnificent Vessel and Fourth Frenzy A personal statement, based on examples, made by a long-term participant of the Schola at the Węgajty Theatre about her experiences both as a listener and a performer with traditional and liturgical chants.
Justyna Piernik, “Kazachiy Krug” “Kazachiy krug” is a vocal group composed exclusively of men representing the current of reconstructing Russian musical tradition. Pertinent undertakings attach enormous attention and respect to original performances - the original folk models. The musicians are not only performers but also collectors of songs travelling across the land, documenting the last traces of old music, meeting singers-members of older generations, and learning from them the specific manner of singing, today succumbing to oblivion.
Marcel Pérès, Singing Brotherhood from Andavías A record of a seminar held in Jarosław in 2009 with Marcel Pérès presenting Spanish singers and describing, i.a. relations between mozarabic music from the end of the fifteenth century and the music performed by a brotherhood from Andavías, as well as between the music score and its live interpretation.
Marcel Pérès, Pigna: A Foundation for Cultivating Live Musicology Recollections by the excellent singer from a journey to the Corsican locality of Pigna: In Pigna I understood that music of the past can be grafted, vibrated with living energy, nourished with juices distilled through the local soil. I sensed that it is possible to discover the memory of gestures that are more than a mere succession of recorded notes shaping the sound of music.
Piotr Dahlig, Two Looks at Folk Music. Emotions and Facts Folk/ethnic/traditional music consists of a repertoire and performance praxis, singing, instrumental performance, gesture and dance, both separately and in synergy, in pure sound and extensive psycho-social and symbolic determinants. Folk music gathers centuries-old experiences of human communities as well as the core or abbreviation of the history of universal music. The author considers such music through a prism of a wide and rich gamut of emotions and its “technical” characteristic (tonality, metro-rhythmics, melodics, tempo and instrumentarium).
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