Maliszewski, Witold (EN)

Maliszewski Witold, *20 July 1873 Mohyliv-Podilskyi, †18 July 1939 Zalesie (near Warsaw), Polish composer and teacher. He attended the music school of the Imperial Musical Society in Tiflis (now Tbilisi) and then went to St. Petersburg, where he studied mathematics at the university (1891/92) and medicine at the Military Medical Academy (1893–97). He also began studying music at the St. Petersburg Conservatory (1898–1902) with A. Bernhardt (theory) and N. Rimsky-Korsakov (composition). In 1902, he received a prize at the K. Lubomirski Competition for 10 piano pieces; he was also awarded for his chamber works at the composition competitions of the St. Petersburg Chamber Society: in 1903 (for String Quartet No. 1), 1904 (for String Quartet No. 2) and 1905 (for String Quintet). From 1908, he was active in Odessa: in 1908–11, he was conductor of the symphony orchestra of the Odessa Musical Society, in 1908–21 – director of the music conservatory and professor of composition, harmony and counterpoint, and from 1921 in Warsaw: in 1921–25 and 1931–39 – professor of composition and musical forms at the conservatory (his student was W. Lutosławski), in 1925–27 – director of the WTM, where he founded the M. Karłowicz section. In 1929, he lectured at the Chopin Higher School of Music in Warsaw. In 1927, he co-organised the 1^st Chopin Competition in Warsaw; in 1934, together with M. Idzikowski, he founded the Fryderyk Chopin Institute (now TIFC). In 1927–34, he was head of the Music Department at the Ministry of Religious Denominations and Public Enlightenment. Several of his works from the 1920s and 1930s won awards: Suite for cello and piano Op. 20 (version of the Suite for cello and orchestra) – 2^nd prize at the A. de Smith International Composition Competition in Paris (1923), Fantasia Kujawy for piano and orchestra – 1^st prize at the K. Łada Composition Competition in Warsaw (1929), the opera-ballet Mermaid and Piano Concerto Op. 27 – Polish State Awards (1931 and 1938), Bajka for orchestra, Op. 30 – 1^st prize at the A. de Smith International Composition Competition in Paris (1923). L. Kronenberg in Warsaw (1932), Lullaby for a cappella choir – distinction at the competition of the Polish Singing Society “EchoMacierz” in Lviv (1935) and the completion of Schubert’s 7^th Symphony – 2^nd prize at the F. Schubert International Composition Competition in Geneva (1928).

Maliszewski’s compositional work presents a style that could be briefly described as “classicising neo-romanticism.” The following features of Maliszewski’s music support this description: expanded major-minor tonality, orchestration based on romantic models, and classical forms expanded and transformed according to romantic patterns. In the symphonies, the composer used a 4-part, traditional symphony cycle structure: fast part 1, in allegro form, slow part 2, scherzo part 3 (exceptionally in Symphony No. 3 – theme with variations), final part 3, mostly in reprise form. Metamorphoses of the classical scheme consist of shaping the sonata allegro from two thematic groups (in Symphonies No. 3 and No. 4), and not from closed melodic themes, and in expanding the finale, which is the main part of the work, containing developed musical action and the climax of the piece. Maliszewski’s Piano Concerto also presents the classical model of the cycle: fast part (sonata allegro) – slow – fast; the evolutionary shaping of theme 1 in movement 1 is one of the romantic features of the piece. The architectural features of symphonic pieces are emphasised by the way of orchestration: emphasising phrases, themes, and larger formal units through the use of different instrumentation, articulation, and variable volume of sound. The most important role is entrusted to the string and woodwind instruments, which realise the main thematic ideas. The operation of the instruments resembles traditional models; instruments are combined on the basis of appropriate registers or contrasted in a colouristic dialogue. The composer used a performing apparatus modelled on a small or slightly expanded romantic orchestra (double, sometimes quadruple cast of wind instruments, few percussion instruments, sometimes a harp). In symphonies, a homogeneous sound prevails (created from different sounds of instruments occurring simultaneously), but evolves thanks to the addition or exchange of instruments, or entire groups of instruments. More interesting colouristic structures appear in the Piano Concerto thanks to the introduction of the sound of, among others, xylophone, bells, triangle, cymbals and harp. In Fantasia Kujawy, the characteristic way of shaping the continuum of form consists of changes in the instrumentation of the same thematic idea (e.g. in the introduction of the piece). Orchestration in Maliszewski’s symphonic pieces also contributes to building tension and climax, especially in the elaborate finales.

Two stage works by Maliszewski with a fairy-tale theme, the opera-ballets The Mermaid and Boruta, are a manifestation of the hybridisation of forms – tendencies characteristic of music at the turn of the 19^th and 20^th centuries. The ballet parts in The Mermaid are mimic and dance scenes, presenting the action of the work based on Andersen’s fairy tale (scenes featuring the silent Mermaid) and separate dance episodes unrelated to the content of the libretto. Dances – as independent instrumental fragments – also play an important role in Boruta; five of these dances, later included in the form of the Devil’s Suite, were commented on by the composer (in a handwritten note in the score) as “in rhythm and sensuality similar to modern dances, undoubtedly of devilish origin.”

Songs for voice accompanied by piano or orchestra, as well as choral pieces, were written mostly in recomposed form (e.g. Owiał mnie smętek and the ballad Królestwo – both to words by L. Staff), but also in ABA1 (e.g. Królewicz maj, Kołysanka) and in stanza-variation (Trzy pióra). These songs present a great variety of moods and expressions dictated by the content of the text; reflective pieces predominate (especially to poetry by L. Staff), but there are also fairy-tale songs (Królewna Basia, variations for voice and orchestra) and feast songs (W Lignoreria). The songs to words by L. Staff seem to be the most interesting due to their harmony and the multi-layered structure of the accompaniment.

Maliszewski’s Missa Pontificalis and Requiem present a structure referring to the traditional mass cycle. In Missa Pontificalis, each of the five parts: Kyrie, Gloria, Credo, Sanctus, Agnus Dei constitutes a separate closed structure, different from the others in terms of material, tonality, agogics and, as a result, expression. In terms of uniformity of material, the Kyrie stands out, based on transformations of one, main motif. Requiem consists of nine parts: Requiem, Dies irae, Rex tremendae, Confutatis, Lacrimosa, Domine Jesu, Hostias, Sanctus and Agnus Dei; in the last of them, Maliszewski added selected verses from the final part of the requiem mass – Communio. Lux aetema. The ensemble parts (duets, trios and quartets) in Missa Pontificalis constitute short formal sections as an element of dialogue with the choir part and orchestra; in the Requiem, an important structural role is played by the soloists’ quartets, varied in terms of texture and expression.

Maliszewski’s harmony is interesting, although based on the major-minor tonal system, but contains characteristic combinations of chords and of keys that give the composer’s music a stylistic identity. Maliszewski avoided arranging tonal planes in fifth relations and instead used mediant and second relations with pleasure. Moreover, between tonal centres, he often introduced parallel octave or chord progressions after the notes of the chromatic scale. It is characteristic that the tonic chord often does not appear at the beginning of the piece, but rather “grows” from the harmonic progression only after a longer introduction (e.g. in both masses). In the construction of chords, Maliszewski followed the example of late Romantic composers and used chords containing diminished and augmented components, transitional and delaying sounds, often diminished chords with a seventh, and various forms of dissonant chords, difficult to define in terms of their functional relations in the major-minor system.

In works composed after Maliszewski had settled in Poland, there are rhythms of Polish folk dances, e.g. mazurka and krakowiak in the finale of Symphony No. 4 and in ballet fragments of The Mermaid, oberek in the finale of Piano Concerto, polonaise, kujawiak and mazur in the Fantasia Kujawy. The composer also introduced other dance rhythms, e.g. waltz in Królewna Basia or Russian dance motives in his early works, e.g. in Symphony No. 2. Maliszewski’s melodics with a broad musical phrasing often resemble a “flowing” cantilena (typical of Russian music). However, Maliszewski’s religious works have a different type of melodics; in Missa Pontificalis, there are traditional musical-rhetorical figures, and in Requiem – alongside song and litanic structures – motives from Bogurodzica.

Maliszewski advocated traditional values (classical forms and major-minor tonality) and criticised modern trends in art: “In music, I seek only content expressed in a clear, bright and compact form. That is why I always support classical forms” (“Muzyka” 1928); “Today it is often said in defence of ‘new’ music that the old tonal system and the system of major and minor scales have already become obsolete. I consider this to be the ultimate and fundamental nonsense. The tonal system is based on natural law, and these laws are indestructible. (…) Making us believe that (…) the riches of counterpoint do not necessarily have to fit within the limits of old harmony but can be used with complete freedom according to the latest theory of the so-called ‘linear’ style, which allow literally everything else without any harmonic control, and then two or three tonalities can be combined into an unnatural whole – all these signs (…) are only a symptom of the inability to create in a healthy and progressive way” (“Muzyka” 1934 No. 4). At the same time, Maliszewski believed that all innovative musical ideas should be observed carefully and without prejudice: “[The composer] must not close his eyes to modern works, even to the most striking products of modernism; he must be able to find in each work at least a particle of inspiration and new artistic truth, which will remain for future times, entering the works of other creators” (“Muzyka” 1928). In his work, Maliszewski remained faithful to classical ideals, in the broad sense of the word, i.e. he took care of the formal clarity of the work, its clear architectural plan and transparent texture. He followed the example of the music of A. Glazunov, whose Symphony No. 8 he considered to be “the pinnacle of human achievements in our era in the field of music,” emphasises its richness of counterpoint and harmony (“Music” 1935).

He conveyed his love of tradition and his conviction of its superiority over so-called modernisms to the listeners of his lectures on musical form, lectures highly valued by W. Lutosławski and S. Kisielewski. Maliszewski treated composing musical forms as shaping musical tensions, and not as filling in the classical architectural scheme with sounds. Analysing the works of great masters with his students, he discussed the phases of a piece, which he defined as initial, growing, narrative, transitional and final music, drawing attention to the various varieties of narrative music. In his recollection of his lectures, W. Lutosławski stated that “they were far from what was taught on this subject at the time. They were his independent reflections based on the traditions of the Russian method. Maliszewski called this method of analysing a piece of music the psychological method. (…) I personally found it very convincing” (“Nurt” 1973).

At the end of the 20^th century, when the tendencies towards musical experimentation had passed, Maliszewski’s anti-innovative work appears in a different light. It is worth looking at it not from the perspective of new values introduced to the history of art, but rather from the point of view of values inherent in it, consisting of the beauty of harmony and clarity of form. Maliszewski’s work, little known today and partly unpublished, deserved to be remembered and to be included in the concert repertoire.

Literature: interviews with Maliszewski: Reorganizacja Państwowego Konserwatorium Muzycznego, “Muzyka” 1931 No. 11–12; Ku czemu idzie muzyka dzisiejsza?, “Muzyka” 1934 No. 4; Symfonia Witolda Maliszewskiego, “Przegląd Muzyczny” from 5 January 1902; F. Sz. [F. Szopski] Z Filharmonii. Witold Maliszewski, “Kurier Warszawski Poranny” from 5 February 1922; jkb [J. KadenBandrowski] „IV Symfonia” Maliszewskiego and „Syrena” w Operze, “Świat” 1925 No. 21 and 1928 No. 17; A. W. [A. Włast] Nasi kompozytorowie. Witold Marjan Maliszewski, “Rzeczpospolita” 1926 No. 16; [Zastępca] „Syrena” Witolda Maliszewskiego. Nowe kompozycje polskie i obce, “Muzyka” 1928 No. 4–5 (discussion of the staging of Syrena at the Warsaw Opera, in the section “Z opery i sal koncertowych”); K. Stromenger „Boruta” Maliszewskiego, “Wiadomości Literackie” 1930 No. 12; E. Wrocki Witold Maliszewski. Rys życia i działalności artystycznej, „Biuletyn koncertowy Filharmonii Warszawskiej” 1931 nr 8; M. Gliński Witold Maliszewski. Z okazji odznaczenia Państwową Nagrodą Muzyczną, “Muzyka” 1931 No. 2; E. Wrocki Witold Maliszewski, “Orkiestra” 1932 No. 2; W. Gieburowski Witold Maliszewski, “Muzyka Kościelna” 1934 No. 3–4; S. Kisielewski Czy w muzyce istnieje formalizm?, “Ruch Muzyczny” 1948 No. 22; W ankiecie „Mój nauczyciel” mówi Witold Lutosławski, “Nurt” 1973 No. 5; L. Stawowy Wczesna twórczość symfoniczna Witolda Maliszewskiego, in: Muzyka polska a modernizm, collective work, Kraków 1981; J. Zawada Twórczość symfoniczna Witolda Maliszewskiego, master’s thesis 1986 UJ, typescript; S. Dąbek Twórczość mszalna kompozytorów polskich XX wieku, Warsaw 1996.