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Twórczość Eugeniusza Morawskiego w oczach krytyków i kompozytorów

100%

Łapeta O.

Kwartalnik Młodych Muzykologów UJ

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2015

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issue 1(24)

4-23

EN

The aim of this study is to present and synthesize the image of Eugeniusz Morawski’s output as presented by the Polish press and Polish composers. Morawski is an unknown composer, absent from the concert programs. His works were performed during composer’s lifetime and caused mixed and extreme reactions from the critics. His first successful concert – performance of now lost symphony-poem Vae victis in Salle Gaveau, Paris, was barely noted in Polish press. The first performance of symphonic poem Don Quichotte in 1912 caused vivid, yet mixed reactions. An important review was written by Aleksander Poliński, who criticized Morawski for being stylistically dependent on Richard Strauss’s style. Other reviews, some of them anonymous, were positive. The composer was praised for his talent and he was predicted to become a huge success in the future. Later on, his works were infrequently performed. In 1925, the symphonic poem Nevermore was performed in Warsaw under direction of Grzegorz Fitelberg. The work was very well received by the critic Karol Stromenger. Yet Morawski’s greatest success was his ballet The maid of Świteź, presented in Warsaw’s Great Theatre in May 1931. In 1933 Morawski received for this work the musical prize from the Ministry of Religious Beliefs and Publick Enlightment, winning the competition with Karol Szymanowski’s Symphony no.4. The event was discussed in great detail by the press. Some of the reviewers praised this work as Morawski’s masterpiece, others criticized it as worthless and clumsily written. The ballet was presented again in 1962 under the direction of Bohdan Wodiczko. A critic and a composer Stefan Kisielewski praised the word for its great orchestral effects and eerie climate. The article also uses extracts of letters of a composer Szymon Laks, essays of Stefan Kisielewski, and unpublished material from Polish Composers Union archive – letters of Grażyna Bacewicz and Włodzimierz Sokorski.

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Recepcja poematów symfonicznych „Nevermore” i „Ulalume” Eugeniusza Morawskiego w prasie polskiej w latach 1924–1949

94%

Łapeta O.

Muzyka

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2020

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vol. 65

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issue 4

105-127

EN

I discuss the reception of Eugeniusz Morawski’s two surviving symphonic poems inspired by the writings of Edgar Allan Poe, Nevermore and Ulalume. The former was performed in Poland at least nine times in the years 1924–1938, while the latter was presented at least four times between 1925 and 1949. In later years, performances of works by this composer were extremely rare, owing to the poor accessibility of the scores and the composer’s ill repute related to his pre-war conflicts with Karol Szymanowski. In their time, however, both compositions were performed under such leading conductors as Grzegorz Fitelberg, Emil Młynarski, Jascha Horenstein and Walerian Bierdiajew. They attracted much critical interest and earned Morawski a reputation as one of the most interesting active composers. They were praised for their expressive power, brilliant orchestration and uncanny mood, suggestively and vividly conveying the essence of their literary models. The occasional critical remarks concerned their stylistic indebtedness to Richard Wagner and Richard Strauss, and the fact that Morawski had embraced the medium of programme music.

PL

Przedmiotem rozważań jest recepcja dwóch zachowanych poematów symfonicznych Eugeniusza Morawskiego inspirowanych dziełami Edgara Allana Poego – Nevermore i Ulalume. Pierwszy z tych utworów wykonany został w Polsce w latach 1924–1938 co najmniej dziewięć razy, natomiast drugi był w latach 1925–1949 prezentowany co najmniej czterokrotnie. Późniejsze wykonania dzieł tego kompozytora były bardzo rzadkie, a powodem była słaba dostępność partytur i zła sława otaczająca nazwisko Morawskiego ze względu na jego przedwojenne konflikty z Karolem Szymanowskim. Oba dzieła były prezentowane pod batutą czołowych dyrygentów owych lat, m.in. Grzegorza Fitelberga, Emila Młynarskiego, Jaschy Horensteina czy Waleriana Bierdiajewa. Budziły duże zainteresowanie krytyków, którzy na ich podstawie uważali Morawskiego za jednego z najbardziej interesujących kompozytorów działających w owych latach. Chwalono je za siłę ekspresji, błyskotliwą orkiestrację i pełen niesamowitości nastrój, w sugestywny i plastyczny sposób oddający istotę ich literackich pierwowzorów. Okazjonalnie wysuwane zarzuty dotyczyły zależności stylistycznych od twórczości Richarda Wagnera i Richarda Straussa czy faktu korzystania przez kompozytora z medium programowości.

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Zjawisko muzycznych idées fixes w twórczości kompozytorskiej Eugeniusza Morawskiego: w poszukiwaniu genezy i interpretacji

94%

Łapeta O.

Muzyka

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2019

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vol. 64

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issue 3

69-89

EN

The article deals with compositions by Eugeniusz Morawski in which the composer uses one of his constantly recurring ideas, or idées fixes. The first of those ideas appears in a letter sent to his closest friend, the Lithuanian painter and composer Mikalojus Konstantinas Čiurlionis, in which Morawski describes a funeral march with the tolling of bells that are used harmonically as a plagal cadence in first inversion with the third of the triad in the bass. This bell motif was used by Morawski in almost all of his most important works, such as the symphonic poems based on verse by Edgar Allan Poe, Nevermore and Ulalume, the two ballets Świtezianka (‘The nymph of Lake Świteź’) and Miłość (‘Love’) and the incidental music to Juliusz Słowacki’s play Lilla Weneda. In all these works, this motif occurs at moments symbolising death and oppression. Sometimes it is even more sinister, because Morawski used it as an accompaniment to themes symbolising hope. The second idée fixe might be called the theme of a woman’s death. It first appears in Nevermore, where it serves as a second theme, played by cor anglais in E minor. It illustrates the protagonist’s deceased beloved, Lenore. This theme appears for a second time at the very beginning of The Nymph of Lake Świteź, where it functions as a kind of motto, anticipating the death of the main female character, Sagna. It is used with an identical purpose in the incidental music for Lilla Weneda. Both themes recur constantly in five important compositions by Morawski, written between around 1911 and 1930. They seem to have had very significant meaning for the composer, although he never wrote about them. They may have represented autobiographical, intimate and obsessive symbols, so the term idée fixe is more than appropriate.

PL

Przedmiotem refleksji w niniejszym studium są dwie myśli muzyczne, obsesyjnie powracające w wielu dziełach Eugeniusza Morawskiego, będące wręcz emblematem jego stylu kompozytorskiego. Pierwszą z nich jest motyw dzwonów (poematy symgoniczne oparte na utworach Edgara Allana Poego, Nevermore i Ulalume, balety Świtezianka i Miłość, muzyka do sztuki Juliusza Słowackiego Lilla Weneda), drugą zaś – temat kojarzony w dziełach programowych kompozytora ze śmiercią kobiety (Nevermore i Świtezianka). Obie myśli powracają stale w poematach symfonicznych, baletach i muzyce scenicznej Morawskiego, uzasadniając tym samym określenie ich mianem idée fixe.

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2 Muzyka

1 Kwartalnik Młodych Muzykologów UJ

3 Łapeta O.

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Twórczość Eugeniusza Morawskiego w oczach krytyków i kompozytorów

Recepcja poematów symfonicznych „Nevermore” i „Ulalume” Eugeniusza Morawskiego w prasie polskiej w latach 1924–1949

Zjawisko muzycznych idées fixes w twórczości kompozytorskiej Eugeniusza Morawskiego: w poszukiwaniu genezy i interpretacji