Ballades and romances - on the 200th anniversary of the publication of Ballads and Romances by A. Mickiewicz

Pieces with music by Schubert, Loewe, Moniuszko, Paderewski

Stanisław Moniuszko (1819-1872)
Do Niemna, sł. Adam Mickiewicz
Rozmowa, sł. Adam Mickiewicz
Liro ty moja (Lirnik wioskowy, III), sł. Ludwig Kondratowicz (pseud. Władysław Syrokomla)

Franz Schubert (1797-1828)
Auf dem Wasser zu singen D 774, sł. Leopold Friedrich zu Stolberg
An die Musik D 547, sł. Franz von Schober
Der Leiermann z cyklu Winterreise D 911, sł. Wilhelm Müller

Ignacy Jan Paderewski (1860–1941)
Polały się łzy me
Piosnka dudarza
z cyklu Sześć pieśni op. 18, sł. Adam Mickiewicz
***
Carl Loewe (1796-1869)
Das Switesmädchen, sł. Adam Mickiewicz, tłum. Carl von Blankensee
Der Woywode, sł. Adam Mickiewicz, tłum. Carl von Blankensee

Stanisław Moniuszko
Czaty, sł. Adam Mickiewicz
Dziad i baba, sł. Józef Ignacy Kraszewski

Wojciech Parchem, tenor
Dagmara Dudzińska, piano

Collegium Novum UJ, 7:00 p.m.

Tickets prices: N 50 zł/ U 30 zł

***

That Moniuszko had already become acquainted with a number of Schubert's songs as a child, we know from a letter his mother wrote in 1834; these were probably early songs circulated by Diabelli and other Viennese imprinters. They certainly did not include the masterpiece Der Leiermann, completing the Winterreise cycle of 1828, or the song Auf der Wasser zu singen, which Schubert wrote in 1823. There is no evidence of Moniuszko's interest in Schubert in his mature period, when he wrote the idyll Lirnik wioskowy to words by Syrokomla, Znasz-li ten kraj to a text by Goethe paraphrased by Mickiewicz, or Do Niemna to words by Mickiewicz, published after Moniuszko's death, in the 6th Śpiewnik domowy (Home Songbook), a collection of songs written by him to words by the bard. They also include Rozmowa, one of Moniuszko's first songs, published in Berlin in 1839 in Schlesinger's collection Polyhymnia, with Polish and German texts (translated by Carl Blankensee).
Blankensee - a teacher and literary enthusiast living in Stettin - published a comprehensive collection of Mickiewicz's poetry in his own translation in 1836, as the first volume of a planned cycle of the Polish poet's complete works; it included the Odessa and Crimean sonnets, as well as the ballads Trzech Budrysów, Czaty (the oboe title Wojewoda) and Pierwiosnek. The composer Carl Loeve, who was a friend of Blankenss and also lived in Stettin, took an interest in these translations. As early as 1835, he composed music for them and published them with Schlesinger. It is certain that Moniuszko reviewed them during his stay in Berlin. The fruit of this reading is his own arrangement of the Three Budrys for voice and piano. It appeared in print in Berlin in mid-1840. Later Moniuszko returned to the ballad genre several more times, including an arrangement of Świtezianka, Wilija, Pania Twardowska, and before 1846 he reached for Czaty, which was included in the Third Home Songbook published in Vilnius in 1851. The humorous ballad Dziad i baba to words by Józef Ignacy Kraszewski - appeared in print in the 1st Śpiewnik domowy (1843). Although it would be difficult to prove that Moniuszko modelled himself on Loeve's works when writing his ballads, the works of both authors are certainly linked by a similar approach to the text: it determines the dramaturgy of the ballads, and hence their form, the so-called recomposed - subordinated to the twists and turns of the literary plot. Compared to Loevy's compositions, Moniuszko's ballads have a lighter genre weight and contain much more humour.
Mickiewicz's lyric and ballad works were of interest to many Polish composers working in the post-Moniuszko era; prominent among them are Władysław Żeleński and Ignacy Jan Paderewski. Piosnka dudarza and Polały się łzy me na leżą are among Paderewski's most popular songs. Both belong to the collection of Six Songs for voice and piano, Op. 18, published in Berlin in 1894. The collection comprises songs to words by Mickiewicz (in one case, to a poem attributed to Mickiewicz). The author dedicated it to the poet's son Władysław, with whom he met in Paris. Paderewski's Mickiewicziana fall within the idiom of the Romantic song; they are characterised by great emotional tension and a wealth, even a certain extravagance of means; in terms of construction, what draws attention is the free handling of the text: Paderewski adapts it to the music, using numerous repetitions of words and whole phrases.

Magdalenia Dziadek

 

     
NEWSLETTER


designed by Karolina Grzywnowicz