20th-century classical music is art music that was written between the years 1901 and 2000, inclusive. Musical style diverged during the 20th century as it never had previously, so this century was without a dominant style. Modernism , impressionism , and post-romanticism can all be traced to the decades before the turn of the 20th century, but can be included because they evolved beyond the musical boundaries of the 19th-century styles that were part of the earlier common practice period . Neoclassicism and expressionism came mostly after 1900. Minimalism started later in the century and can be seen as a change from the modern to postmodern era, although some date postmodernism from as early as about 1930. Aleatory , atonality , serialism , musique concrète , and electronic music were all developed during the century. Jazz and ethnic folk music became important influences on many composers during this century.
106-469: Five Songs may refer to: Music [ edit ] Classical compositions [ edit ] Five Songs (1956–57) by Witold Lutosławski Cinq mélodies , Op. 2 (1869) by Henri Duparc Albums and EPs [ edit ] Five Songs and a Cover , a 2005 EP by Foo Fighters 5 Songs (Seether EP) , 2002 5 Songs (The Decemberists EP) , 2001 5 Songs (Iced Earth EP) , 2011 5 Songs ,
212-583: A Cello Concerto which followed, were composed during a particularly traumatic period in Lutosławski's life. His mother died in 1967, and in 1967–70 there was a great deal of unrest in Poland. This sprang first from the suppression of the theatre production Dziady , which sparked a summer of protests; later, in 1968, the use of Polish troops to suppress the liberal reforms in Czechoslovakia 's Prague Spring , and
318-673: A Prom concert in London in 1991, and the Fourth Symphony in 1993 in Los Angeles. In between, and after initial reluctance, Lutosławski took on the presidency of the newly reconstituted "Polish Cultural Council", which was set up after the 1989 legislative elections led to the end of communist rule in Poland. In 1993, Lutosławski continued his busy schedule, travelling to the United States, England, Finland, Canada and Japan, and sketching
424-402: A composition by Jean Françaix Cinq Chansons de femme (1952), by Philip Cannon Cinq chansons de Paul Fort , Op. 18 (1935), by Jean Absil Five Spanish Songs , a 2013 EP by Destroyer Topics referred to by the same term [REDACTED] This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the title Five Songs . If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change
530-443: A semitone ; human voices and unfretted strings can easily produce them by going in between the "normal" notes, but other instruments will have more difficulty—the piano and organ have no way of producing them at all, aside from retuning and/or major reconstruction. In the 1940s and 50s composers, notably Pierre Schaeffer , started to explore the application of technology to music in musique concrète . The term electroacoustic music
636-528: A "Futurist" context. The "Machine Music" of George Antheil (starting with his Second Sonata, "The Airplane") and Alexander Mosolov (most notoriously his Iron Foundry ) developed out of this. The process of extending musical vocabulary by exploring all available tones was pushed further by the use of Microtones in works by Charles Ives , Julián Carrillo , Alois Hába , John Foulds , Ivan Wyschnegradsky , Harry Partch and Mildred Couper among many others. Microtones are those intervals that are smaller than
742-416: A "farewell to folklore". From the late 1950s he began developing new, characteristic composition techniques. He introduced limited aleatoric elements, while retaining tight control of his music's material, architecture, and performance. He also evolved his practice of building harmonies from small groups of musical intervals . During World War II , after narrowly escaping German capture, Lutosławski made
848-778: A 2007 EP by The Story So Far See also [ edit ] Music to Five Poems by J. P. Jacobsen , Op. 4 (1891), songs composed by Carl Nielsen Five Songs from the Norwegian (1888), a compositions by Frederick Delius Five Mystical Songs (1906–1911), by Ralph Vaughan Williams Five Flower Songs (1950), by Benjamin Britten 5 Songs Dedicated to Louis Hornbeck , compositions by Edvard Grieg Cinco canciones populares argentinas (1943), by Alberto Ginastera Cinco canciones negras (1945), by Xavier Montsalvatge Cinco canciones para niños y dos canciones profanas (1938–1939), by Silvestre Revueltas Cinco canciones
954-559: A Lutosławski signature: he introduced randomness into the exact synchronisation of various parts of the musical ensemble in Jeux vénitiens ("Venetian games"). These harmonic and temporal techniques became part of every subsequent work, and were integral to his style. In a departure from his usually serious compositions in 1957 to 1963, Lutosławski also composed light music under the pseudonym Derwid . Mostly waltzes , tangos , foxtrots and slow-foxtrots for voice and piano, these pieces are in
1060-594: A Recitative for organ in 1941). He taught Anton Webern and Alban Berg and these three composers are often referred to as the principal members of the Second Viennese School (Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven—and sometimes Schubert—being regarded as the First Viennese School in this context). Webern wrote works using a rigorous twelve-tone method and influenced the development of total serialism . Berg, like Schoenberg, employed twelve-tone technique within
1166-468: A Theme by Paganini (1941), the Concerto for Orchestra (1954), and a cello concerto (1970) are his best known works. See The Witold Lutosławski Society for a comprehensive list . Books Online 20th-century classical music At the turn of the century, music was characteristically late Romantic in style. Composers such as Gustav Mahler , Richard Strauss and Jean Sibelius were pushing
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#17328865771341272-652: A century earlier— Warsaw was part of Tsarist Russia ). Dmowski's strategy was for Russia to guarantee security for a new Polish state. In 1917, the February Revolution forced the Tsar to abdicate, and the October Revolution started a new Soviet government that made peace with Germany. Józef's activities were now in conflict with the Bolsheviks , who arrested him and his brother Marian. Thus, although fighting stopped on
1378-566: A gesture of support, he sent a recording of the first performance (in Chicago) of the Third Symphony to Gdańsk to be played to strikers in a local church. In 1983, he was awarded the Solidarity prize, of which Lutosławski was reported to be more proud than any other of his honours. Through the mid-1980s, Lutosławski composed three pieces called Łańcuch ("Chain"), which refers to the way the music
1484-595: A large-scale, dramatic work worthy of the name. In 1968, the Symphony earned Lutosławski first prize from the International Music Council 's International Rostrum of Composers, his third such award, confirming his growing international reputation. In 1967, Lutosławski was awarded the Léonie Sonning Music Prize , Denmark's highest musical honour. The Second Symphony, and Livre pour orchestre and
1590-634: A late-romantic or post-romantic style ( Violin Concerto , which quotes a Bach Choral and uses Classical form). He wrote two major operas ( Wozzeck and Lulu ). The development of recording technology made all sounds available for potential use as musical material. Electronic music generally refers to a repertory of art music developed in the 1950s in Europe, Japan, and the Americas. The increasing availability of magnetic tape in this decade provided composers with
1696-521: A living playing the piano in Warsaw bars. After the war, Stalinist authorities banned his First Symphony for being " formalist ": accessible only to an elite. Rejecting anti-formalism as an unjustified retrograde step, Lutosławski resolutely strove to maintain his artistic integrity, providing artistic support to the Solidarity movement throughout the 1980s. He received numerous awards and honours , including
1802-572: A medium which allowed recording sounds and then manipulating them in various ways. All electronic music depends on transmission via loudspeakers, but there are two broad types: acousmatic music , which exists only in recorded form meant for loudspeaker listening, and live electronic music, in which electronic apparatus are used to generate, transform, or trigger sounds during performance by musicians using voices, traditional instruments, electro-acoustic instruments, or other devices. Beginning in 1957, computers became increasingly important in this field. When
1908-407: A particular process which is essentially laid bare in the work. The term experimental music was coined by Cage to describe works that produce unpredictable results, according to the definition "an experimental action is one the outcome of which is not foreseen". The term is also used to describe music within specific genres that pushes against their boundaries or definitions, or else whose approach
2014-465: A physician, and translated books for children from English. In 1924, Lutosławski entered secondary school ( Stefan Batory Gymnasium ) while continuing piano lessons. A performance of Karol Szymanowski 's Third Symphony deeply affected him. In 1925, he started violin lessons at the Warsaw Music School. In 1931, he enrolled at Warsaw University to study mathematics, and in 1932 he formally joined
2120-626: A piano duo with friend and fellow composer Andrzej Panufnik , performing together in Warsaw cafés. Their repertoire consisted of a wide range of music in their own arrangements, including the first incarnation of Lutosławski's Variations on a Theme by Paganini, a transcription of the 24th Caprice for solo violin by Niccolò Paganini . Defiantly, they sometimes played Polish music (the Nazis banned Polish music in Poland—including that of Frédéric Chopin ), and composed Resistance songs. Listening in cafés
2226-503: A scholarship to enable young Polish composers to study abroad; Lutosławski also directed that his fee from the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra for Chain 3 should go to this scholarship fund. In 1986, Lutosławski was presented (by Tippett) with the rarely awarded Royal Philharmonic Society's Gold Medal during a concert in which Lutosławski conducted his Third Symphony; also that year a major celebration of his work
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#17328865771342332-481: A set of children's songs. He commented: "[I]t was for those functional compositions of mine that the authorities decorated me ... I realised that I was not writing indifferent little pieces, only to make a living, but was carrying on an artistic creative activity in the eyes of the outside world." It was his substantial and original Concerto for Orchestra of 1954 that established Lutosławski as an important composer of art music. The work, commissioned in 1950 by
2438-415: A short piece for cello in honour of Paul Sacher 's seventieth birthday, occupied Lutosławski throughout the 1970s, while in the background he was working away at a projected Third symphony and a concertante piece for the oboist Heinz Holliger . These latter pieces were proving difficult to complete, as Lutosławski struggled to introduce greater fluency into his sound world and to reconcile tensions between
2544-428: A silent film depicting the city's reconstruction), sets of Polish Carols , and the study pieces for piano, Melodie Ludowe ("Folk Melodies"). In 1945, Lutosławski was elected as secretary and treasurer of the newly constituted Union of Polish Composers (ZKP— Związek Kompozytorów Polskich ). In 1946, he married Danuta Bogusławska. The marriage was a lasting one, and Danuta's drafting skills were of great value to
2650-563: A student of Jerzy Lefeld , he gained a diploma for piano performance from the Conservatory in 1936, after presenting a virtuoso program including Schumann 's Toccata and Beethoven 's fourth piano concerto . His diploma for composition was awarded by the same institution in 1937. Military service followed; Lutosławski was trained in signalling and radio operating in Zegrze near Warsaw. He completed his Symphonic Variations in 1939. The work
2756-508: A tone row. This twelve-note intervallic technique had its genesis in earlier works such as Symphony No. 1, and Variations on a Theme by Paganini. Although Musique funèbre was internationally acclaimed, his new harmonic techniques led to something of a crisis for Lutosławski, during which he still could not see how to express his musical ideas. Then on 16 March 1960, listening to Polish Radio broadcast on new music, he happened to hear John Cage 's Concert for Piano and Orchestra . Although he
2862-493: A una paloma que es el alma (1955), by Ricardo Molinari Cinco Canciones Vascas for Soprano and Orchestra , by Tomás Garbizu 5 Little Songs (5 Petites chansons) (1915), a composition by Reynaldo Hahn Cinq Chansons à Hurle-Vent (2014), by Ben Foskett Cinq chansons folkloriques et deux rigaudons à une voix (c. 1931), compositions by Vincent d'Indy A number of compositions by Eugène Bozza beginning Cinq chansons ... Cinq chansons pour les enfants (1932,
2968-556: A violin concerto, but by the first week of 1994 it was clear that cancer had taken hold, and after an operation the composer weakened quickly and died on 7 February, aged 81. He had, a few weeks before, been awarded Poland's highest honour, the Order of the White Eagle (only the second person to receive this since the collapse of communism in Poland—the first had been Pope John Paul II ). He
3074-434: Is a further development of electroacoustic music that uses analyses of sound spectra to create music. Cage, Berio, Boulez, Milton Babbitt , Luigi Nono and Edgard Varèse all wrote electroacoustic music. From the early 1950s onwards, Cage introduced elements of chance into his music. Process music ( Karlheinz Stockhausen Prozession , Aus den sieben Tagen ; and Steve Reich Piano Phase , Clapping Music ) explores
3180-454: Is a hybrid of disparate styles, or incorporates unorthodox, new, distinctly unique ingredients. Important cultural trends often informed music of this period, romantic, modernist, neoclassical, postmodernist or otherwise. Igor Stravinsky and Sergei Prokofiev were particularly drawn to primitivism in their early careers, as explored in works such as The Rite of Spring and Chout . Other Russians, notably Dmitri Shostakovich , reflected
3286-691: Is a reaction to modernism, but it can also be viewed as a response to a deep-seated shift in societal attitude. According to this latter view, postmodernism began when historic (as opposed to personal) optimism turned to pessimism, at the latest by 1930. John Cage is a prominent figure in 20th-century music, claimed with some justice both for modernism and postmodernism because the complex intersections between modernism and postmodernism are not reducible to simple schemata. His influence steadily grew during his lifetime. He often uses elements of chance: Imaginary Landscape No. 4 for 12 radio receivers, and Music of Changes for piano. Sonatas and Interludes (1946–48)
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3392-520: Is a testament to his resolution of purpose in the face of the anti- formalist authorities under which he formulated his methods. In the 21st century, Lutosławski is generally considered the most important Polish composer since Szymanowski, and perhaps the most outstanding since Chopin. This evaluation was not apparent after World War II, when Panufnik was more highly regarded in Poland. The success of Lutosławski's Concerto for Orchestra and Panufnik's 1954 defection to England brought Lutosławski to
3498-530: Is composed for a prepared piano : a normal piano whose timbre is dramatically altered by carefully placing various objects inside the piano in contact with the strings. Currently, postmodernism includes composers who react against the avant-garde and experimental styles of the late 20th century such as Astor Piazzolla , Argentina, and Miguel del Águila , USA. In the later 20th century, composers such as La Monte Young , Arvo Pärt , Philip Glass , Terry Riley , Steve Reich , and John Adams began to explore what
3604-469: Is constructed from contrasting strands which overlap like the links of a chain. Chain 2 was written for Anne-Sophie Mutter (commissioned by Sacher), and for Mutter he also orchestrated his slightly earlier Partita for violin and piano, providing a new linking Interlude, so that when played together the Partita, Interlude, and Chain 2 form his longest work. In 1985, the Third Symphony earned Lutosławski
3710-401: Is indicated ("P.G. 2" at top right of the example). The conductor then gives a cue at number 8 (and indicates the tempo of the following section) for two oboes and the cor anglais . They each play their part, again with no attempt to synchronise with the other players. The harmony of this part is based on the hexachord F ♯ –G–A ♭ –C–D ♭ –D, arranged in such a way that
3816-533: Is now called minimalism , in which the work is stripped down to its most fundamental features; the music often features repetition and iteration. An early example is Terry Riley's In C (1964), an aleatoric work in which short phrases are chosen by the musicians from a set list and played an arbitrary number of times, while the note C is repeated in eighth notes (quavers) behind them. Steve Reich's works Piano Phase (1967, for two pianos), and Drumming (1970–71, for percussion, female voices and piccolo) employ
3922-467: Is often seen as neo-baroque (an architectural term), though the distinction between the terms is not always made. A number of composers combined elements of the jazz idiom with classical compositional styles, notably: Impressionism started in France as a reaction, led by Claude Debussy , against the emotional exuberance and epic themes of German Romanticism exemplified by Wagner . In Debussy's view, art
4028-589: Is one of the most significant figures in 20th-century music. While his early works were in a late Romantic style influenced by Wagner ( Verklärte Nacht , 1899), this evolved into an atonal idiom in the years before the First World War ( Drei Klavierstücke in 1909 and Pierrot lunaire in 1912). In 1921, after several years of research, he developed the twelve-tone technique of composition, which he first described privately to his associates in 1923. His first large-scale work entirely composed using this technique
4134-399: Is the case with conventionally notated classical ensemble music. The LaSalle Quartet, however, specifically requested a score from which to prepare for the first performance. Bodman Rae relates that Danuta Lutosławska solved this problem by cutting up the parts and sticking them together in boxes (which Lutosławski called mobiles ), with instructions on how to signal in performance when all of
4240-680: The Gdańsk Shipyards strike of 1970—which led to a violent clampdown by the authorities, both caused significant political and social tension in Poland. Lutosławski did not support the Soviet regime, and these events have been postulated as reasons for the increase in antagonistic effects in his work, particularly the Cello Concerto of 1968–70 for Rostropovich and the Royal Philharmonic Society . Indeed, Rostropovich's own opposition to
4346-665: The Grawemeyer Award and a Royal Philharmonic Society Gold Medal . In 1994, Lutosławski was awarded Poland's highest honour, the Order of the White Eagle . Witold Roman Lutosławski was born on 25 January 1913, in Warsaw , Poland. His parents were both born into the Polish landed nobility; they owned estates in the area of Drozdowo . His father Józef was involved in the Polish National Democratic Party ( "Endecja" ), and
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4452-726: The Tom and Jerry cartoons. After the First World War, composers started returning to the past for inspiration and wrote works that drew elements (form, harmony, melody, structure) from it. This type of music thus became labelled neoclassicism . Igor Stravinsky ( Pulcinella ), Sergei Prokofiev ( Classical Symphony ), Ravel ( Le Tombeau de Couperin ), Manuel de Falla ( El retablo de maese Pedro ) and Paul Hindemith ( Symphony: Mathis der Maler ) all produced neoclassical works. Italian composers such as Francesco Balilla Pratella and Luigi Russolo developed musical Futurism . This style often tried to recreate everyday sounds and place them in
4558-524: The Variations on a Theme by Paganini (1941), the Concerto for Orchestra (1954), and his cello concerto (1970). During his youth, Lutosławski studied piano and composition in Warsaw . His early works were influenced by Polish folk music and demonstrated a wide range of rich atmospheric textures . His folk-inspired music includes the Concerto for Orchestra (1954)—which first brought him international renown—and Dance Preludes (1955), which he described as
4664-477: The Warsaw Uprising . During the complete destruction of the city by Germans after the failure of the uprising, most of his music was lost, as were the family's Drozdowo estates. He was able to salvage only a few scores and sketches; of the 200 or so arrangements that Lutosławski and Panufnik had worked on for their piano duo, only Lutosławski's Variations on a Theme by Paganini survived. Lutosławski returned to
4770-430: The expressionism that arose in the early part of the 20th century. He later developed the twelve-tone technique which was developed further by his disciples Alban Berg and Anton Webern ; later composers (including Pierre Boulez ) developed it further still. Stravinsky (in his last works) explored twelve-tone technique, too, as did many other composers; indeed, even Scott Bradley used the technique in his scores for
4876-458: The 1920s and later, including Albert Roussel , Charles Koechlin , André Caplet , and, later, Olivier Messiaen . Composers from non-Western cultures, such as Tōru Takemitsu , and jazz musicians such as Duke Ellington , Gil Evans , Art Tatum , and Cecil Taylor also have been strongly influenced by the impressionist musical language. At its conception, Futurism was an Italian artistic movement founded in 1909 by Filippo Tommaso Marinetti ; it
4982-460: The 20th century. The former trends, such as Expressionism are discussed later. In the early part of the 20th century, many composers wrote music which was an extension of 19th-century Romantic music, and traditional instrumental groupings such as the orchestra and string quartet remained the most typical. Traditional forms such as the symphony and concerto remained in use. Gustav Mahler and Jean Sibelius are examples of composers who took
5088-408: The Concerto for Orchestra, folk music is unrecognisable as such without careful analysis. As Lutosławski developed the techniques of his mature compositions, he stopped using folk material explicitly, although its influence remained as subtle features until the end. As he said, "[in those days] I could not compose as I wished, so I composed as I was able", and about this change of direction he said, "I
5194-674: The Eastern Front in 1917, the Lutosławskis were prevented from returning home. The brothers were interned in Butyrskaya prison in central Moscow, where Witold—by then aged five—visited his father. Józef and Marian were executed by a firing squad in September 1918, some days before their scheduled trial. After the war, the family returned to the newly independent Poland , only to find their estates ruined. After his father's death, other members of
5300-662: The Lutosławski family became intimate with its founder, Roman Dmowski (Witold Lutosławski's middle name was Roman). Józef Lutosławski studied in Zürich , where in 1904 he met and married a fellow student, Maria Olszewska, who later became Lutosławski's mother. Józef pursued his studies in London, where he acted as correspondent for the National-Democratic newspaper, Goniec . He continued to be involved in National Democracy politics after returning to Warsaw in 1905, and took over
5406-477: The Russians Artur Lourié, Mikhail Matyushin , and Nikolai Roslavets . Though few of the futurist works of these composers are performed today, the influence of futurism on the later development of 20th-century music was enormous. Sergei Prokofiev , Maurice Ravel , Igor Stravinsky , Arthur Honegger , George Antheil , Leo Ornstein , and Edgard Varèse are among the notable composers in the first half of
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#17328865771345512-544: The Soviet authorities, a situation that continued throughout the era of Khrushchev , Brezhnev , Andropov and Chernenko . In 1954, the climate of musical oppression drove his friend Andrzej Panufnik to defect to the United Kingdom. Against this background, Lutosławski was content to compose pieces for which there was social need, but in 1954 this earned him—much to the composer's chagrin—the Prime Minister's Prize for
5618-481: The Soviet regime in Russia was just coming to a head (he shortly afterwards declared his support for the dissident Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn ). Lutosławski himself did not hold the view that such influences had a direct effect on his music, although he acknowledged that they impinged on his creative world to some degree. In any case, the Cello Concerto was a great success, earning both Lutosławski and Rostropovich accolades. At
5724-468: The Symphony No. 2. At number 7, the conductor gives a cue to the flutes, celesta and percussionist, who then play their parts in their own time, without any attempt to synchronise with the other instrumentalists. The harmony of this section is based on a 12-note chord built from major seconds and perfect fourths . After all the instrumentalists have finished their parts, a two-second general pause
5830-413: The additive process in which short phrases are slowly expanded. La Monte Young's Compositions 1960 employs very long tones, exceptionally high volumes and extra-musical techniques such as "draw a straight line and follow it" or "build a fire". Michael Nyman argues that minimalism was a reaction to and made possible by both serialism and indeterminism. (See also experimental music .) Arnold Schoenberg
5936-928: The balanced forms and clearly perceptible thematic processes of the 17th and 18th centuries, in a repudiation of what were seen as exaggerated gestures and formlessness of late Romanticism. Because these composers generally replaced the functional tonality of their models with extended tonality, modality, or atonality, the term is often taken to imply parody or distortion of the Baroque or Classical style. Famous examples include Prokofiev's Classical Symphony and Stravinsky's Pulcinella , Symphony of Psalms , and Concerto in E-flat "Dumbarton Oaks" . Paul Hindemith ( Symphony: Mathis der Maler ), Darius Milhaud , Francis Poulenc ( Concert champêtre ), and Manuel de Falla ( El retablo de maese Pedro , Harpsichord Concerto ) also used this style. Maurice Ravel 's Le Tombeau de Couperin
6042-565: The bounds of post-Romantic symphonic writing . At the same time, the Impressionist movement, spearheaded by Claude Debussy , was being developed in France. Debussy in fact loathed the term Impressionism: "I am trying to do 'something different—in a way realities—what the imbeciles call 'impressionism' is a term which is as poorly used as possible, particularly by art critics". Maurice Ravel 's music, also often labelled as impressionist, explores music in many styles not always related to it (see
6148-426: The brief Epitaph for oboe and piano, around the time Lutosławski was struggling to find the technical means to complete his Third Symphony. In chamber works for just two instrumentalists the scope for aleatory counterpoint and dense harmonies is significantly less than for orchestra. Lutosławski's formidable technical developments grew out of his creative imperative; that he left a lasting body of major compositions
6254-487: The century who were influenced by futurism. Characteristic features of later 20th-century music with origins in futurism include the prepared piano , integral serialism , extended vocal techniques, graphic notation, improvisation , and minimalism . In the early part of the 20th century, Charles Ives integrated American and European traditions as well as vernacular and church styles, while using innovative techniques in his rhythm, harmony, and form. His technique included
6360-543: The composer formed a lasting friendship.) Shortly after this, Lutosławski started work on his Second Symphony , which had two premieres: Pierre Boulez conducted the second movement, Direct , in 1966, and when the first movement, Hésitant , was finished in 1967, the composer conducted a complete performance in Katowice . The Second Symphony is very different from a conventional classical symphony in structure, with Lutosławski using his many compositional innovations to build
6466-561: The composer four years to complete. This work brought international recognition, and the annual ZKP prize and the International Rostrum of Composers prize in 1959. Lutosławski's harmonic and contrapuntal thinking were developed in this work, and in the Five songs of 1956–57, as he introduced his twelve-note system, he realised the fruits of many years of thought and experiment. Another new feature of his compositional technique became
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#17328865771346572-476: The composer: she became his copyist , and solved some of the notational challenges of his later works. In 1947, the Stalinist political climate led to the adoption and imposition by the ruling Polish United Workers' Party of the tenets of socialist realism . The political authorities condemned new compositions deemed to be non-conformist. This artistic censorship, which ultimately came from Stalin personally,
6678-418: The composition classes at the Conservatory. His only composition teacher was Witold Maliszewski , a renowned Polish composer who had been a pupil of Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov . Lutosławski was given a strong grounding in musical structures, particularly movements in sonata form . In 1932, he gave up the violin, and in 1933 he discontinued his mathematics studies to concentrate on the piano and composition. As
6784-473: The conductor Witold Rowicki for the newly reconstituted Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra, earned the composer two state prizes in the following year. Stalin's death in 1953 allowed a certain relaxation of the cultural totalitarianism in Russia and its satellite states. By 1956, political events had led to a partial thawing of the musical climate, and the Warsaw Autumn Festival of Contemporary Music
6890-574: The discussion on Neoclassicism, below). Many composers reacted to the Post-Romantic and Impressionist styles and moved in different directions. An important moment in defining the course of music throughout the century was the widespread break with traditional tonality, effected in diverse ways by different composers in the first decade of the century. From this sprang an unprecedented "linguistic plurality" of styles, techniques, and expression. In Vienna , Arnold Schoenberg developed atonality , out of
6996-542: The end of the 19th century (often called the Fin de siècle ), the Romantic style was starting to break apart, moving along various parallel courses, such as Impressionism and Post-romanticism . In the 20th century, the different styles that emerged from the music of the previous century influenced composers to follow new trends, sometimes as a reaction to that music, sometimes as an extension of it, and both trends co-existed well into
7102-651: The explicit use of folk music. His twelve-tone technique allowed him to build harmony and melody from specific intervals (in Musique funèbre , augmented fourths and semitones ). This system also gave him the means to write dense chords without resorting to tone clusters , and enabled him to build towards these dense chords (which often include all twelve notes of the chromatic scale) at climactic moments. Lutosławski's twelve-note techniques were thus completely different in conception from Arnold Schoenberg 's tone-row system, although Musique funèbre does happen to be based on
7208-512: The family played an important part in Witold's early life, especially Józef's half-brother Kazimierz Lutosławski , a priest and politician. At age six, Lutosławski started two years of piano lessons in Warsaw. After the Polish-Soviet War the family left Warsaw to return to Drozdowo, but after a few years of running the estates with limited success, his mother returned to Warsaw. She worked as
7314-462: The first Grawemeyer Prize from the University of Louisville , Kentucky. The significance of the prize lay not just in its prestige but in the size of its financial award (then US$ 150,000). The award is intended to remove recipients' financial concerns for a period to allow them to concentrate on serious composition. In a gesture of altruism , Lutosławski announced that he would use the fund to set up
7420-469: The forefront of modern Polish classical music . Initially, he was coupled with his younger contemporary Krzysztof Penderecki , due to their music's shared stylistic and technical characteristics. When Penderecki's reputation declined in the 1970s, Lutosławski emerged as the major Polish composer of his time and among the most significant 20th-century European composers. His four symphonies, the Variations on
7526-498: The genre of Polish actors' songs . Their place in Lutosławski's output may be seen as less incongruous in light of his own performances of cabaret music during the war, as well as his relationship by marriage to his wife's sister-in-law, the famous Polish cabaret singer Kalina Jędrusik . In 1963, Lutosławski fulfilled a commission for the Music Biennale Zagreb , his Trois poèmes d'Henri Michaux for chorus and orchestra. It
7632-588: The harmonic and melodic aspects of his style, and between foreground and background. The Double Concerto for oboe, harp and chamber orchestra —commissioned by Sacher—was finally finished in 1980, and the Third Symphony in 1983. In 1977, he received the Order of the Builders of People's Poland . In 1983, he received the Ernst von Siemens Music Prize . During this period, Poland was undergoing yet more upheaval: in 1980,
7738-423: The harmony of the section never includes any sixths or thirds. When the conductor gives another cue at number 9, the players each continue until they reach the repeat sign , and then stop: they are unlikely to end the section at the same time. This "refrain" (from numbers 8 to 9) recurs throughout the movement, slightly altered each time, but always played by double-reed instruments which do not play elsewhere in
7844-477: The influential movement Solidarność was created, led by Lech Wałęsa ; and in 1981, martial law was declared by General Wojciech Jaruzelski . From 1981 to 1989, Lutosławski refused all professional engagements in Poland as a gesture of solidarity with the artists' boycott. He refused to enter the Culture Ministry to meet any of the ministers, and was careful not be photographed in their company. In 1983, as
7950-494: The link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Five_Songs&oldid=1249109876 " Category : Disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Short description is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages Witold Lutos%C5%82awski Witold Roman Lutosławski ( Polish: [ˈvitɔld lutɔˈswafski] ; 25 January 1913 – 7 February 1994)
8056-445: The management of the family estates in 1908. Witold Roman Lutosławski, the youngest of three brothers, was born in Warsaw shortly before the outbreak of World War I . In 1915, with Russia at war with Germany, Prussian forces drove towards Warsaw. The Lutosławskis travelled east to Moscow, where Józef remained politically active, organising Polish Legions ready for any action that might liberate Poland (which had been divided over
8162-428: The movement: Lutosławski thus also carefully controls the orchestral palette. The combination of Lutosławski's aleatory techniques and his harmonic discoveries allowed him to build up complex musical textures . According to Bodman Rae, in his later works Lutosławski evolved a more mobile, simpler, harmonic style, in which less of the music is played with an ad libitum coordination. This development first appeared in
8268-434: The parts of the ensemble are not to be synchronised exactly. At cues from the conductor, each instrumentalist may be instructed to move straight on to the next section, to finish their current section before moving on, or to stop. In this way, the random elements within compositionally controlled limits defined by the term aleatory are carefully directed by the composer, who controls the architecture and harmonic progression of
8374-455: The piece precisely. Lutosławski notated the music exactly; there is no improvisation , no choice of parts is given to any instrumentalist, and there is thus no doubt about how the musical performance is to be realised. For his String Quartet , Lutosławski had produced only the four instrumental parts, refusing to bind them in a full score, because he was concerned that this would imply that he wanted notes in vertical alignment to coincide, as
8480-417: The players should proceed to the next mobile. In his orchestral music, these problems of notation were not so difficult, because the instructions on how and when to proceed are given by the conductor. Lutosławski's called this technique of his mature period "limited aleatorism". Both Lutosławski's harmonic and aleatory processes are illustrated by example 1 , an excerpt from Hésitant , the first movement of
8586-443: The process of gradually substituting beats for rests (or rests for beats); (2) the gradual changing of timbre while rhythm and pitch remain constant; (3) the simultaneous combination of instruments of different timbre; and (4) the use of the human voice to become part of the musical ensemble by imitating the exact sound of the instruments”. Drumming was Reich’s final use of the phasing technique. Philip Glass's 1 + 1 (1968) employs
8692-488: The radio unit for the Kraków Army . He was soon captured by German soldiers, but escaped while being marched to prison camp, walking 250 miles (400 km) back to Warsaw. Lutosławski's brother was captured by Russian soldiers and later died in a Siberian labour camp . To earn a living, Lutosławski joined "Dana Ensemble", the first Polish revellers, as an arranger-pianist, singing in "Ziemiańska Cafe". He then formed
8798-557: The ruins of Warsaw after the Polish-Soviet treaty in April 1945. During the postwar years, Lutosławski worked on his First Symphony —sketches of which he had salvaged from Warsaw—which he had started in 1941. It was first performed in 1948, conducted by Fitelberg. To provide for his family, he also composed music that he termed functional , such as the Warsaw Suite (written to accompany
8904-456: The same year by the first performance of his orchestral song-cycle Paroles tissées . This shortened title was suggested by the poet Jean-François Chabrun, who had published the poems as Quatre tapisseries pour la Châtelaine de Vergi . The song cycle is dedicated to the tenor Peter Pears , who first performed it at the 1965 Aldeburgh Festival with the composer conducting. (The Festival was founded and organised by Benjamin Britten , with whom
9010-494: The social impact of communism and subsequently had to work within the strictures of socialist realism in their music. Other composers, such as Benjamin Britten ( War Requiem ), explored political themes in their works, albeit entirely at their own volition. Nationalism was also an important means of expression in the early part of the century. The culture of the United States of America, especially, began informing an American vernacular style of classical music, notably in
9116-437: The technique called phasing in which a phrase played by one player maintaining a constant pace is played simultaneously by another but at a slightly quicker pace. This causes the players to go "out of phase" with each other and the performance may continue until they come back in phase. According to Reich, “ Drumming is the final expansion and refinement of the phasing process, as well as the first use of four new techniques: (1)
9222-413: The traditional symphonic forms and reworked them. (See Romantic music .) Some writers hold that Schoenberg's work is squarely within the late-Romantic tradition of Wagner and Brahms and, more generally, that "the composer who most directly and completely connects late Wagner and the 20th century is Arnold Schoenberg". Neoclassicism was a style cultivated between the two world wars, which sought to revive
9328-402: The use of polytonality , polyrhythm , tone clusters , aleatoric elements, and quarter tones . Edgard Varèse wrote highly dissonant pieces that utilized unusual sonorities and futuristic, scientific-sounding names. He pioneered the use of new instruments and electronic resources (see below). By the late 1920s, though many composers continued to write in a vaguely expressionist manner, it
9434-737: The work's première with the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra , Arthur Bliss presented Rostropovich with the Royal Philharmonic Society's gold medal. In 1973, Lutosławski attended a recital given by the baritone Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau with the pianist Sviatoslav Richter in Warsaw; he met the singer after the concert and this inspired him to write his extended orchestral song Les Espaces du sommeil ("The spaces of sleep"). This work, Preludes and Fugue , Mi-Parti (a French expression that roughly translates as "divided into two equal but different parts"), Novelette , and
9540-525: The works of Charles Ives , John Alden Carpenter , and (later) George Gershwin . Folk music (Vaughan Williams' Five Variants of Dives and Lazarus , Gustav Holst 's A Somerset Rhapsody ) and jazz (Gershwin, Leonard Bernstein , Darius Milhaud 's La création du monde ) were also influential. In the last quarter of the century, eclecticism and polystylism became important. These, as well as minimalism , New Complexity , and New Simplicity , are more fully explored in their respective articles. At
9646-517: Was a Polish composer and conductor. Among the major composers of 20th-century classical music , he is "generally regarded as the most significant Polish composer since Szymanowski , and possibly the greatest Polish composer since Chopin ". His compositions —of which he was a notable conductor—include representatives of most traditional genres, aside from opera: symphonies , concertos, orchestral song cycles , other orchestral works, and chamber works . Among his best known works are his four symphonies,
9752-485: Was a performance of this work and the Third Symphony at the Warsaw Autumn Festival in 1988 that marked the composer's return to the conductor's podium in Poland, after substantive talks had been arranged between the government and the opposition. Around 1990 Lutosławski also worked on a fourth symphony and his orchestral song-cycle Chantefleurs et Chantefables for soprano . The latter was first performed at
9858-674: Was a sensuous experience, rather than an intellectual or ethical one. He urged his countrymen to rediscover the French masters of the 18th century, for whom music was meant to charm, to entertain, and to serve as a "fantasy of the senses". Other composers associated with impressionism include Maurice Ravel , Albert Roussel , Isaac Albéniz , Paul Dukas , Manuel de Falla , Charles Martin Loeffler , Charles Griffes , Frederick Delius , Ottorino Respighi , Cyril Scott and Karol Szymanowski . Many French composers continued impressionism's language through
9964-500: Was being supplanted by the more impersonal style of the German Neue Sachlichkeit and neoclassicism . Because expressionism, like any movement that had been stigmatized by the Nazis, gained a sympathetic reconsideration following World War II, expressionist music resurfaced in works by composers such as Hans Werner Henze , Pierre Boulez , Peter Maxwell Davies , Wolfgang Rihm , and Bernd Alois Zimmermann . Postmodernism
10070-514: Was cremated; his wife Danuta died shortly afterwards. Lutosławski described musical composition as a search for listeners who think and feel the same way he did—he once called it "fishing for souls". Lutosławski's works up until and including the Dance Preludes (1955) show the influence of Polish folk music , both harmonically and melodically. Part of his art was in transforming folk music, rather than quoting it exactly. In some cases, such as
10176-462: Was founded. Conceived as a biennial festival, it has been held annually ever since 1958 (except under Martial law in 1982 when, in protest, the ZKP refused to organise it). The first performance of his Musique funèbre (in Polish, Muzyka żałobna , English Funereal Music or Music of Mourning ) took place in 1958. It was written to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the death of Béla Bartók , but took
10282-424: Was later coined to include all forms of music involving magnetic tape , computers , synthesizers , multimedia , and other electronic devices and techniques. Live electronic music uses live electronic sounds within a performance (as opposed to preprocessed sounds that are overdubbed during a performance), John Cage 's Cartridge Music being an early example. Spectral music ( Gérard Grisey and Tristan Murail )
10388-558: Was made at the Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival . In addition, he was awarded honorary doctorates at several universities worldwide, including Cambridge . At this time Lutosławski was writing his Piano Concerto for Krystian Zimerman , commissioned by the Salzburg Festival . His earliest plans to write a piano concerto dated from 1938; he was himself in his younger days a virtuoso pianist. It
10494-502: Was not influenced by the sound or the philosophy of the music, Cage's explorations of indeterminacy set off a train of thought which resulted in Lutosławski finding a way to retain the harmonic structures he wanted while introducing the freedom for which he was searching. His Three Postludes were hastily rounded off (he had intended to write four) and he moved on to compose works in which he explored these new ideas. In works from Jeux vénitiens , Lutosławski wrote long passages in which
10600-531: Was premiered by the Polish Radio Symphony Orchestra conducted by Grzegorz Fitelberg , with the performance broadcast on radio on 9 March 1939. Like most young Polish composers, Lutosławski wanted to continue his education in Paris. His plans for further musical study were dashed in September 1939, when Germany invaded western Poland and Russia invaded eastern Poland . Lutosławski was mobilised with
10706-541: Was quickly embraced by the Russian avant-garde. In 1913, the painter Luigi Russolo published a manifesto, L'arte dei rumori (The Art of Noises), calling for the incorporation of noises of every kind into music. In addition to Russolo, composers directly associated with this movement include the Italians Silvio Mix, Nuccio Fiorda, Franco Casavola , and Pannigi (whose 1922 Ballo meccanico included two motorcycles), and
10812-498: Was simply not so interested in it [using folk music]". Also, Lutosławski was dissatisfied with composing in a "post-tonal" idiom: while composing the first symphony, he felt that this was for him a cul-de-sac . As such, Dance Preludes would prove to be his final composition centered around folk music; he described it as a "farewell to folklore". In Five Songs (1956–57) and Musique funèbre (1958) Lutosławski introduced his own brand of twelve-tone music , marking his departure from
10918-566: Was the Wind Quintet , Op. 26, written in 1923–24. Later examples include the Variations for Orchestra , Op. 31 (1926–28), the Third and Fourth String Quartets (1927 and 1936, respectively), the Violin Concerto (1936) and Piano Concerto (1942). In later years, he intermittently returned to a more tonal style ( Kammersymphonie no. 2 , begun in 1906 but completed only in 1939; Variations on
11024-527: Was the first work he had written for a commission from abroad, and brought him further international acclaim. It earned him a second State Prize for music (Lutosławski was not cynical about the award this time), and he gained an agreement for the international publication of his music with Chester Music , then part of the Hansen publishing house. His String Quartet was first performed in Stockholm in 1965, followed
11130-552: Was the only way in which the Poles of German-occupied Warsaw could hear live music; putting on concerts was impossible since the Germans occupying Poland prohibited any organised gatherings. In café Aria , where they played, Lutosławski met his future wife Maria Danuta Bogusławska, a sister of the writer Stanisław Dygat . Lutosławski left Warsaw in July 1944 with his mother, just a few days before
11236-399: Was to some degree prevalent over the whole Eastern bloc , and was reinforced by the 1948 Zhdanov decree . By 1948, the ZKP was taken over by musicians willing to follow the party line on musical matters. Lutosławski resigned from the committee, implacably opposed to the ideas of socialist realism. Lutoslawski's First Symphony was proscribed as "formalist", and he found himself shunned by
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