Buczek, Barbara (EN)

Buczek Barbara, *9 January 1940 Kraków, †17 January 1993 Kraków, Polish composer and pianist. After graduating from the piano class of M. Bilińska-Riegerowa in the State Secondary Music School in Krakow in 1959, she continued learning the piano with L. Stefański in PWSM (now Academy of Music) in 1959–65, and from 1969 to 1974 she studied composition in B. Schaeffer’s class; he graduated both courses with distinctions and worked at the university as a teacher until the end of her life. In 1990, she defended her doctoral dissertation, Spotkania współczesnej twórczości muzycznej ze sztukami plastycznymi jako problem filozofii kultury. Lata 1945–1990, at the Humanistic Department of the Maria Curie-Skłodowska University in Lublin. She belonged to the artistic association Grupa Krakowska and the international association Frau und Musik. In 1970, she was awarded the 3^rd prize at the G. Fitelberg Composition Competition in Katowice for Two Impressions; in 1982, she received an honourable mention at the International N. Paganini Composition Competition in Rome for Violin Concerto; in 1985, he got the 3^rd prize at the International Composition Competition in Vienna for String Quartet No. 2 “Transgressio.”

The composer created her unique style distinguished with a sublime expression and original sound. She was experimenting freely, creating atypical musical constructions, yet she did not forget about the aesthetics which was the centre of her creative interests. She used a full 12-note material expanded with microtones, without the use of structures characteristic of the tonal system, and also used unusual performance methods, thanks to which she provided her works with rich colours.

The important element of her works is the innovative sound which is a consequence of the use of specific compositional ideas. Characteristic features of Buczek’s pieces are dense, intricately constructed sound material and dense texture, the basis of which is multilayering modelled on polyphony. Instrumental parts, which are structurally diverse but usually of a similar type of material, create one layer. The layered parts create a sound mass in which it is difficult to distinguish the components. Monolithic sound blocks or those with high material cohesion are rare because for Buczek diversity and complexity – the opposite of simplicity – are the main compositional ideas. The multi-plan instrumental texture and the large accumulation of precisely defined details constitute a barrier that is difficult for performers to overcome. All these features allow us to classify Buczek’s work as new complexity.

In Buczek’s pieces, the focus is on the sound material itself and the way it is transformed, while the time aspect, understood as the idea of formal development, becomes less important. The time course model is closer to the Eastern patterns – each moment of the work is equally important, and the arrangement of the piece’s particles is not subject to a cause-and-effect system. The course of time is treated as a compositional element and thanks to this the form acquires the features of a collage. Buczek writes on this subject in her work O sposobie istnienia utworu muzycznego (“Studia filozoficzne” No. 11–12 (216–217), 1983, pp. 47–48): “By modelling eidos, the creator can quite freely use this imagined “internal” time, regardless of chronological time. The imagination allows for the use of accelerations, decelerations, recurrences and symmetry of time, a multitude of different simultaneous time courses, various types of their changes, free movement of individual “sections” of time, etc. Such a seemingly risky fantasy game, however, has interesting real consequences; they may include new agogic or metro-rhythmic solutions, as well as innovative macrostructural approaches.” Such a vision of time has its consequences in her works. A manifestation of, for example, “multiple different time courses at the same time” is a narrative conducted in two tracks, where sequences with a noticeably slow and fast pace overlap. Another consequence of this approach to the course of time is the lack of a clear organising idea that would determine the predictability of consequences. (The exception is the fourth movement of Labyrinth, where we observe a gradual transition from high to low sounds combined with a process opposite to evolution, leading to disappearance; however, even here there is a lack of consistency because, at the end of the movement, the opposite tendency appears for a moment.) The result of such a formal approach is the free rearrangement of particles characteristic of different phases of the work, e.g. the beginning and end. In this way, typical endings of Buczek’s works are created, where there are sequences of increasing mobility and tension typical of the beginning instead of cadence shifts. Since the piece does not have any signs of development, the listener has the impression that time has stopped; at the same time, music takes on characteristics typical of visual arts. Paintings or sculptures float in the listener’s imagination, and the sound character being viewed remains in constant motion, seen each time from a different angle or in different lighting. Duration becomes important (the idea of Nirvana), and time passes unnoticed and without the participation of our consciousness.

The freedom to manipulate both small and larger parts of the work allows you to create a formal whole by combining the most surprising, “incompatible” elements. The composer uses unconventional combinations and creates the principle of contrast with the basic construction idea; it allows for the playing along of sounds with contrasting dynamics, different duration, articulation and expression (e.g. in the third movement of the Violin Concerto, the sharp staccato sounds of the violin are contrasted with the gentle, glissando sounds of the orchestra), groupings of a different type of mobility (e.g. in the second part of Anekumen, very quick successions of sounds appear as “counterpoints” against the background of long sounds,), sounds of various expressiveness (e.g. in the first part of the piece Waltornia kontra kwartet, expressive staccato sounds are an opposition to the “blurred,” register-spread glissando sounds with simultaneous tremolando creating the impression of a “sound mist”), sound groups with a clear sound disproportion (e.g. in the third part of Fantasmagoria, where the long sounds of the bass clarinet and trombone are drowned out by the dominant group of short sounds), passages with different energy and tempo (e.g. at the end of the third movement of the Violin Concerto, the fragment performed accelerando in the violin part causes an increase in tension, while the simultaneous ritenuto of the orchestra is associated with a tendency to die down).

An interesting example of the use of the collage technique is the piece Dikolon. It was created by adding a new part of the score containing parts of wind and percussion instruments to the string part from the previously composed piece Simplex. Another example from this piece is the introduction of solo instrumental parts, which are to be performed completely freely, independent of the orchestra.

The piece Assamblage for flute and string orchestra also has an unusual form. The canonical technique was used here, but not only by doubling or shortening the duration of sounds, but also by other values, e.g. fractional. The different duration of individual “voices” was achieved thanks to agogic changes. The threads juxtaposed at different paces differ only slightly, e.g. in dynamics or articulation. The canons overlap in layers, creating a rich, varied texture. 

The generally prevailing compositional idea is total variability. It involves using maximum differences in all elements. Repetition or uniformity constitutes an oppositional value that should be avoided. Buczek always remains faithful to this principle but introduces a certain innovation. She creates stable sound frequencies resulting from the modification of constant sound. Instead of a sound with an unchanged pitch, it is fragmented, i.e. broken down into several little sounds (in Buczek’s works, the repetitions are always modified with micro-intervals). However, such a “classic” character is rare. Most often, these are low-ambitus passages with repeated pitches and sound patterns. As a result, a stable, non-developmental narrative is created. There are also other variants of these forms, more distant from the original. Their structure is more diverse, but the basic features remain preserved – the variability is limited and concerns a strictly defined range. There are usually several sound bands in a piece that run simultaneously, creating a varied texture.

Stable sound frequencies appear very often as one of the components in Buczek’s compositions, while a piece composed exclusively of this type of material is Waltornia kontra kwartet. In the first part, there are three types of frequencies with different sounds: sound impulses with smooth changes in mobility (usually constituting two overlapping independent passages in the parts of string instruments), glissando sounds with simultaneous tremolando creating the impression of delicate, register-spread, “elusive” tissue – characteristic of Buczek’s pieces sound material and the long sounds of the French horn contrasting with those. In the second movement, similarly to the first one, in the quartet part, there are stable sound frequencies made of short sounds contrasting with the long sounds of the French horn; now they take on a different, structurally complex form. The sounds of string instruments merge, creating a resultant sound of a static nature, shimmering with colours.

If the number of instruments creating a stable sound frequency is greater, then we can talk about a stable sound mass. This special form of this type of formation can be found in the third movement of Hypostasis III. Usually, Buczek’s works feature an extremely complicated rhythmic structure, but here a homogeneous rhythm dominates. The layer that is more clearly audible is created by stable sound masses composed of short sounds with constant pulsation. A significant limitation in the freedom to create material can be noticed, i.a. thanks to repeated structures or sounds of a given scale. The second layer, much less audible, consists of long sounds that create a kind of background. This sound becomes more or less clear thanks to textural changes – the clearer the texture becomes, the more likely they are to be noticed.

Buczek’s works also have a spatial dimension, as the layered texture evokes the creation of closer and further layouts. This is facilitated by the arrangement of instruments specified in many songs, using space on the entire stage, and the effect of selective hearing of sounds thus obtained allows for better differentiation of groupings. Another example can be seen in the first movement of the piece Waltornia kontra kwartet, in which, through dynamic changes, the illusion of the sound source approaching and moving away was achieved, associated with changes in mobility (the denser, the louder) or with changes in pitch (the higher, the louder ). This phenomenon, however, is not expressive, because dynamic changes most often occur in the ppp – mp range and are shaped differently in each instrumental part.

The use of material characterised by nuanced variability, whose features are difficult to notice due to the large accumulation of stimuli, raises the question about the meaning of such musical constructions. For the composer, noticing details becomes secondary, and she does not care about the analytical attitude, which could constitute an unnecessary obstacle to the reception of music. The most important thing was to create unusual sound material that listeners could enjoy and, additionally, immerse themselves in, forgetting about the world around them with its inherent temporality.

Buczek marked many new paths in the development of contemporary composition. Her original work of high artistic value is one of the most important achievements of 20^th-century music.

Literature: T. Kaczyński „Anekumena” Buczkówny, “Ruch Muzyczny” 1975 No. 24; B. Schaeffer „Anekumena” B. Buczkówny, in: Dzieło muzyczne. Teoria, historia, interpretacja, J.M. Chomiński’s commemorative book, ed. I. Poniatowska, Kraków 1984; P. Grella, Kompozytorka obszarów nie zamieszkałych, “Tak i nie”, No. 11 (151) 1986; B. Buczek Uwagi o warsztacie współczesnego kompozytora in: Filozofia warsztatu, ed. A. Nowicki, Uniwersytet Marii Curie-Skłodowskiej, Lublin 1990, pp. 136–137; B. Pacholarz-Kunz Pamięci Barbary Buczek, “Ruch Muzyczny” 1995 No. 6; J. Hodor O Barbarze – wspomnienie and Z. Indyk „… in memoriam”, introduction to B. Buczek Utwory fortepianowe, ed. Z. Indyk and P. Grodecki, Kraków 1996 (includes Wariacje and Intermezzo); M. Hanuszewska B. Buczkównie – w trzecią rocznicę śmierci, “Ruch Muzyczny” 1996 No. 6; T. Biernacki Tak się wtedy „nie pisało”… O twórczości Barbary Buczkówny w dwudziestą rocznicę śmierci, “Ruch Muzyczny” 2013 No. 10; P. Grella-Możejko http://glissando.pl/wywiady/rozmowa-z-barbara-buczkowna/ Przystąpić do czystych źródeł. Ostatnia rozmowa z Barbarą Buczkówną, “Glissando” 29 May 2019; P. Grella-Możejko Uroki niemożliwości. Barbara Buczkówna (1940–1993), “Śląsk” No. 1 (278) 25 January 2019; E. Wójtowicz Oblicza kwartetu smyczkowego w twórczości kompozytorów krakowskich, Academy of Music in Krakow, Kraków 2021; E. Wójtowicz Transgressio. Con fanatismo! Muzyczny światopogląd Barbary Buczek, in: Transgresje w muzyce. Transgression in Music, ed. Anna Nowak, Wydawnictwo Akademii Muzycznej w Bydgoszczy Saggitaria, Bydgoszcz 2022.