“My” “Musical” “Language” ?

• Authors: Rafał Augustyn
• Languages of publication: EN

Abstracts

EN

The problem associated with the musical “language” of a particular composer can be understood either literally, i.e. with some possible analogies to natural language, or metaphorically, as a substitute of style, technique, or manner. I try to combine both usages. In fact, my approach to composing music is not so much - to develop a consistent language ready for use in multiple instances and thus to attain a recognisable personal style, but rather - to try to build a tool for use in one particular composition on many levels of musical “grammar”. Another basic problem is the proportion between impulse and design as defined in a well-known book by Andrzej Panufnik. The examples discussed illustrate some core problems of the music creation process, such as the deliberately incomplete ‘‘monadic’’ form (Gamma from String Quartet No. 3); the evolution of style in the process of composition and its dependence on the medium (Rondeau for wind quintet); and purely intuitive composition (Con tenerezza from Cinque pezzi diversi).

Keywords

EN

Polish contemporary music; composers‘ self-analysis; language of music; music analysis; Rafał Augustyn

• Publisher: Sciendo
• Journal: Musicology Today
• Year: 2015
• Volume: 12
• Issue: 1
• Pages: 3-17

Dates

published

2015-12-01

online

2015-12-31

Contributors

author

Rafał Augustyn

• University of Wrocław

References

• Augustyn, R., Kozińska, D. (2007). Każdy wie jak i każdy potrafi. Czym jest krytyka? Jaka jest praktyka? [Everyone Knows How and Everyone Can Do It. What Is Criticism? What Is the Practice?], Ruch Muzyczny. No. 21, p. 6.
• Jolanta Bauman-Szulakowska, J. (2013). Mój Mistrz. Rafał Augustyn wobec Henryka Mikołaja Góreckiego [My Master. Rafał Augustyn on Henryk Mikołaj Górecki], Scontri. No. 1, pp. 125-132.
• Burszta, W.J. (1986). Język a kultura w myśli etnologicznej [Language and Culture in Ethnological Reflection]. Wrocław: PTL.
• Jourdain, R. (1997). Music, the Brain, and Ecstasy. German transl. Das wohltemperierte Gehirn. Wie Musik im Kopf entsteht und wirkt. Heidelberg-Berlin: Spektrum Akademischer Verlag.
• Meyer, L.B. (1974). Emotion and Meaning in Music. Polish transl. Emocja i znaczenie w muzyce by A. Buchner and K. Berger. Kraków: PWM Edition.
• Panufnik, A. (1974). Impulse and Design in my Music. London: Boosey and Hawkes.
• Pasiecznik, M. (2011). Kwartety Rafała Augustyna [Rafał Augustyn’s Quartets], Odra. No. 3, pp. 95-96.
• Thomas, A. (2001). Entry: Rafał Augustyn. In: The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians (p. 175), Second Edition, Vol. 2. London: Macmillan Publishers Limited.
• Zduniak, M. (1998). Entry: Rafał Augustyn. In: Encyklopedia Muzyczna PWM [PWM Music Encyclopaedia], Vol. A-B [Supplement]. Kraków: PWM Edition, p. 21

Identifiers

DOI

10.1515/muso-2015-0002