3rd Symphony (Szymanowski)

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The 3rd symphony by the Polish composer Karol Szymanowski (1882–1937) is subtitled “The Song of the Night”. The large-scale, one-movement work includes texts by the Persian poet Rumi , which are sung by a solo tenor and choir. It was written from 1914 to 1916 and has the opus number 27.

Origin and premiere

Karol Szymanowski

Karol Szymanowski spent a vacation in Sicily and Algeria in March 1914 . From May 1914 he stayed in Paris, where he saw the outbreak of the First World War in August . He then returned to his family's estate in Tymoszówka - then Polish , now Ukrainian - and in winter began composing his 3rd symphony, which he completed in the summer of 1916. A premiere planned for 1916 in St. Petersburg under Alexander Siloti had to be canceled because of the war. It took place on October 24, 1921 in London with the London Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Albert Coates . The performance under Coates, however, had canceled solo tenor and choir; the full performance with all the intended personnel was not carried out until February 3, 1928 in Lviv , but with the soprano soloist (instead of a solo tenor required by the composer) Stanisława Korwin-Szymanowska as well as choir and orchestra under Adam Sołtys . In the same year further performances followed a. a. in Buenos Aires under Grzegorz Fitelberg and in New York under Leopold Stokowski .

According to other sources, it was premiered in 1921 under Emil Młynarski in Warsaw , or a first full performance in Boston in 1922.

The first printing of Szymanowski's 3rd Symphony op. 27 was done in 1925 by Universal Edition in Vienna.

Instrumentation and playing time

The score provides for the following instrumental scoring before: piccolo , 3 flutes , three oboes , English horn , three clarinets in B, clarinet in Eb, bass clarinet , 3 bassoons , contrabassoon , six horns , four trumpets , four trombones , tuba , percussion ( timpani , bass drum , pool , fanfare , triangle , snare drum , tambourine , glockenspiel ), two harps , piano , celesta , organ and strings . There is also a tenor solo and mixed choir ( ad libitum ).

The performance lasts about 23 to 25 minutes.

characterization

By the time he was composing his 3rd symphony, Szymanowski had broken away from the influences of German music ( Max Reger , Richard Strauss , Richard Wagner ) that were previously strongly felt in his music . Even under the impression of stays in the Mediterranean and Paris, he turned to Impressionism on the one hand , but was also drawn to Islamic culture. The 3rd symphony is based on a poem from the “2nd Diwan "by the Persian mystic and poet Jalal ad-Din ar-Rumi (1207–1273) in a Polish version by Tadeusz Miciński , to whom the work also has its subtitle" The Song of the Night "(or" The Song of the Night ") ; in the Polish original "Pieśń o nocy"). The mood of the mystical- pantheistic poem that glorifies the mysterious atmosphere of the night also determines the course of the one-movement, but three-part symphony.

Characteristic of the work is a harmony that is largely outside the major-minor tonality , reminiscent of the late Alexander Scriabin or Claude Debussy , but allows spacious melodies, some of which are melismatic- orientalizing. In addition, there is a complex polyphony with frequent simultaneity of different meters and rhythms as well as impressionistic timbres. As an overall impression, his composer colleague Sorabji stated : “[...] The whole score glows with splendor of color like a Persian picture or a silk carpet. [...] "

The first part, entitled Moderato assai , begins with a whole-tone chord above the organ point C in pianissimo . In the third bar, the first violins begin with an increasingly dominant theme, which includes the introduction of the solo musician with the first lines of poetry: “Don't sleep, companion, this night! You are spirit, we are the sick tonight. ”Prepare. The second part following attacca Vivace, scherzando is performed by the orchestra and, here, only the choir singing without a word alone. The solo violin with a dance theme plays an important role. In the third part, which is separated by a pause, Largo , the solo tenor comes in again with the words “How quiet it is, everything is asleep”. The music is led to a climax in the maestoso over several climaxes , before the symphony closes with a fourfold piano, broadening the thematic material.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Wulf Konold (Ed.): Lexicon Orchestermusik Romantik. SZ . Piper / Schott, Mainz 1989. ISBN 3-7957-8228-7 , pp. 940-942
  2. ↑ Information at http://culture.pl, text by Anna Iwanicka-Nijakowska (2007) (engl.)
  3. ↑ Felix Abrahamian: LP text on Karol Szymanowski, orchestral works; National SO of the Polish Radio a. a., Jerzy Semkow u. a., LC 0233, EMI 1982
  4. ^ Hansjürgen Schaefer: concert book orchestral music. PZ. VEB Dt. Publisher f. Musik, Leipzig 1974, p. 462
  5. ↑ Stanisław Golachowski : Encounters with Karol Szymanowski, Leipzig, Philipp Reclam jun., 1982, p. 41. Quoted from Wulf Konold (ed.): Lexicon Orchestermusik Romantik. S-Z . Piper / Schott, Mainz 1989. ISBN 3-7957-8228-7 , p. 941
  6. ^ Full text in German translation by Hans Bethge in the program of the VII Philh. Concert, 2010, Laeiszhalle Hamburg, p. 13

literature

  • Felix Abrahamian: LP text on Karol Szymanowski, orchestral works; National SO of the Polish Radio a. a., Jerzy Semkow u. a., LC 0233, EMI 1982.
  • Wulf Konold (Ed.): Lexicon Orchestermusik Romantik. SZ . Piper / Schott, Mainz 1989. ISBN 3-7957-8228-7 , pp. 940-942
  • Hansjürgen Schaefer: Concert book orchestral music. PZ. VEB Dt. Publisher f. Musik, Leipzig 1974, pp. 460–462

Web links