"Karol Szymanowski's ""Stabat Mater"""

"This dissertation focusses on a broad range of topics associated with Karol Szymanowski and his Stabat Mater, opus 53. The culmination of Karol Szymanowski's compositional career occurred in his final, nationalist period, during which he brought together all of his past experience in a valiant effort to reawaken Poland's interest in its musical heritage. Szymanowski's early studies, isolated in the village of Tymoszowka, created a lifelong interest in and knowledge of Polish tradition and enabled him to acquire extensive basic skills in music. The ""Young Poland in Music"" movement brought Szymanowski out of his isolated environment and exposed him to the realities of contemporary Polish musical culture. Because he was unable to express his musical beliefs in his own country and because of the unstable political and social climate in Warsaw, Szymanowski turned to other countries for performance opportunities and new compositional ideas. His travels through exotic countries such as Morocco and Algeria and his encounters with Debussy, Stravinsky and others broadened the scope of Szymanowski's musical concepts. When he finally settled in his homeland in 1919, he dedicated much of his time to learning the folk traditions of the Goral culture located in the Zakopane region. This helped him to understand the roots of Polish peasant life, something he had never experienced until the Bolshevik revolution. Szymanowski wove all of these strands into the fabric of his musical thinking, animating the whole with his desire that Poland develop a national tradition in music. This desire was manifested above all in the Stabat Mater (1925-26)."

Name thesis:degree_name

D.M.A.

Level thesis:degree_level

Dissertation

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Music

Grantor

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Year dc:date

2011

Author dc:creator

• Zielinski, Richard Thomas

Contributors dc:contributor

• Brooks, William

• Biography
• Music

Statement dc:rights

• Copyright 1991 Zielinski, Richard Thomas

Language dc:language

eng

Identifier

AAI9211060
(UMI)AAI9211060

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/22221