Sonorism and The Polish Avant Garde Vol 1

Copyright and use of this thesis
This thesis must be used in accordance with the

provisions of the Copynght Act 1968.
Reproduction of matertal protected by copyright

may be an infringement of copyright and copyright
owners may be entitled to take legal action
against persons who mfnnge their copyright.
Section 51 (2) of the Copyright Act permits

an authorized officer of a university library or
archives to provide a copy (by communication
or otherwise) of an unpublished thesis kept in
the library or archives, to a person who satisfies
the authorized officer that he or she requires
the reproduction for the purposes of research
or study.
The Copyright Act gran~s the creator of a work a

number of moral rights, specifically the right of
attribution, the right against false attribution and
the right of integrity.
You may infringe the author's moral rights if you:

• fail to acknowledge the author of this thesis if
yo u quote sections from the work
• attribute this thesis to another author
• subject this thesis to derogatory treatment
which may prejudice the author's reputation
For f urther information contact the University's

Director of Copyright Services
Te lephone: 02 9351 299 1
e-mail: copyright@usyd .edu .au
Declaration:
I declare that the research presented here is my own original work and has not been
submitted to any other institution for the award of a degree.
Signed:~
Date: 3,1. 0'8. ~o<q

Sonorism and the Polish A vant-Garde 1958-1966
(Two Volumes)
VOLUME I
18 SEP 2009
Anna Maslowiec
""~-
A thesis submitted in fulfilment

of the requirements for the degree of
Doctor of Philosophy
Conservatorium of Music
The University of Sydney
2008
ABSTRACT
Towards the end of 1950s a new trend in Polish music now known as 'sonorism'
[sonorystyka, from the French sonore], pioneered by young composers such as Krzysztof
Penderecki and Henryk Mikolaj G6recki, infiltrated the works of both younger and older
generations of composers. The prominent Polish musicologist J6zef Chominski responded
to this trend in a number of articles and referred to the new technique, in which timbre and
texture are used as the principal means of expression and sonorous quality assumed the
primary role in shaping a musical structure, as 'sonoristic'.
This study reappraises the sonoristic trend in Polish music and reexamines the core
sonoristic repertoire written between 1958 and 1966 by members of the Polish post-war
avant-garde, including Krzysztof Penderecki, Henryk Mikolaj G6recki, Boguslaw
Schaeffer, Kazimierz Serocki, Wojciech Kilar, Witold Szalonek and Tomasz Sikorski.
While some of the key sonoristic works such as Threnody by Penderecki have received
much analytical attention in the musicological literature, many equally important
emblematic sonoristic pieces remain neglected or completely forgotten.
The aim of this study is not only to provide a context for the better known works by
Penderecki and G6recki but more importantly to critically reassess emblematic sonoristic
works according to the typical criteria which help to define a sonoristic work. These
criteria are sharp and often rapid contrasts in timbre and texture and particular aspects of
articulation and notation. The study examines two complementary aspects of sonorism
together: the widely shared sonoristic traits prevalent in all works participating in this style
('footprints') and individual stylistic traits that distinguish different composers
('fingerprints'). The concept of 'footprints' as the characteristics that define the movement
is best seen in the broader European context and enables one to distinguish sonoristic
works from contemporary textural pieces by other European composers such as Xenakis
and Ligeti. The 'fingerprints', however, are equally important and highlight traits that
shape the distinct sonoristic profiles of individual composers.
11
The study also highlights the importance of the unique historical and political
circumstances out of which sonorism grew, and reappraises the importance of the Warsaw
Autumn Festival in understanding the sonoristic trend. A consideration of the legacy of
sonorism and retrospective views of it concludes the study.
iii
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I would like to express my sincere gratitude to the great number of people who at various
stages of this project provided me with support, encouragement and advice. My deepest
gratitude should be paid to my supervisor, Peter McCallum for his assistance, patience,
ongoing support and enthusiasm for my work. I greatly appreciate his insights into
analytical issues and valuable feedback. During the course of tbis project I also greatly
benefited from discussions with Richard Toop whose knowledge of the Polish
contemporary music and invaluable insight into the Polish repertoire was inspiring. For
anyone involved in research into post-war Polish music - especially from the antipodes -
would know that access to scores and recordings is a great challenge. In tbis matter I am
indebted to Richard Toop whose impressive collection of original scores and recordings
from tbe 'Warsaw Autumn' festivals on semi-permanent loan to me, apart from being a
source of inspiration, was an invaluable resource.
One of tbe most exciting parts of my research was to meet and talk to the composers and
musicologists who were part of tbat fascinating era in Polish music. I offer my thanks to
the Human Research Ethics Committee (Ref. No. 8679) who granted permission to
interview Wojciech IGiar, Wlodzimierz. Kotonski, Boguslaw Schaeffer and Krzysztof
Baculewski. I had a rare opportunity to talk to Wojciech Kilar in Dzierzoni6w, my home
town, during the celebrations for the 30th anniversary of my primary music school which is
now proud to bear his name. I thank him for his sincere and honest comments about his
works and vivid memories of that period. I visited Wlodzimierz Kotonski in his home in
Warsaw. He was very generous witb his time and hospitality. Our discussion of his works,
technical issues surrounding sonorism in general together with his personal experiences
from the time of tbe Second World War immensely enriched my understanding of the
complexity of tbe time. I extend my gratitude to Krzysztof Baculewski whose insight first
of all as a composer but also as a writer was of great reassurance to me. He was very
generous with his time, resources and information. I also thank Boguslaw Schaeffer for his
letters and sincere answers to my questions regarding sonorism.
IV
I also extend my thanks to the Conservatorium of Music for their generous research grant
to study in Berlin which allowed me to visit the late Witold Szalonek who was extremely
helpful and provided me with scores, recordings, his writings and articles. Witold
Szalonek's generously extended the time to a whole day visit which concluded with a
concert of his music. It was a pleasure to see great respect given to him by his students,
colleagues and musicians. His sensitivity to art and music, his memories of Poland, vitality
and enthusiasm for sonorism will always have a special place in my memory. I also wish to
thank Zygmunt Krauze and Michal Bristiger for offering their time to respond to my
questions.
Here at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music we are very fortunate to have on staff Wanda
Wilkomirska who was also a part of that distinctive period. Her recollections of
experiences in learning new scores and colourful details from the point of view of a
performer add to the complex historical picture of sonoristic period.
I would also like to thank Jennie Shaw, Kathleen Nelson, Diane Collins, Peter Dunbar-Hall,
Jane Hardie, and Marcus Hartstein for their ongoing support and advice at various stages
of this project. The Sydney Conservatorium library staff, particularly Claire McCoy and
Jackie Luke, were always very helpful in obtaining numerous materials. I wish to thank
Oxford University Press, Chester, Schott and the Polish Music Publishers (PWM) for
granting permission to reproduce parts of the scores in this thesis. I am grateful to the Head
of the Copyright Department at the PWM Janina Warzecha who was kind to show me
around and spend time discussing the involvement of visual artists in the publication of the
scores during the 1960s. I thank the Warsaw Autumn Archives staff, Mieczyslaw Kominek
and Izabella Zymer for assisting me in the research of archival recordings and scores. I
extend my thanks to Malgorzata Salo-Frycz, Malgorzata and Marcin Gmys, Iwona
Lindstedt and Martina Homma for help in collecting research materials. I'm also indebted
to very special people, David Harvey and Jane Hardie, Marcus Hartstein, Alex Newman
and Patricia Del Favero who kindly offered to read drafts of my thesis and helped with
corrections.
v
I owe in no small part the completion of this project to the support from Leonie Henderson
in particular. Leonie was instrumental in providing a vital thread that helped me to return
to my research after the passing away of close family members and the birth of my son
Conrad Joseph during this project. I thank my family, my parents and my sister, for their
love and ongoing support, and last but not least my husband and my son for their patience
and tolerance, particularly during the final stages of completion.
vi
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Volume 1
Abstract 11
Acknowledgements iii
Table of contents vi
List of figures IX
List of tables X111
Abbreviations XV
Introduction I.
PART 1: SONORISM
Chapter 1 Historical Overview 10.
Poland after the War: between 1945 and 1954 15.
The Polish 'thaw': between 1954 and 1956 22.
After 1956: the Warsaw Autumn Festival of Contemporary
Music and the Birth of the Polish Avant-Garde 31.
Chapter 2 Concept of Sonorism and Sonoristics 42.
J6zef Chominski and the Notion of Sonorism 42.
Early Responses to Chominski's Article 44.
Towards the Theory of Sonoristics: Chominski's Later Writings 46.
Resonance: Writings from 1970s and 1980s 51.
Sonorism Revisited: after 1990 54.
Vll
PART II: THE SONORIST REPERTOIRE
Introduction to part 2 77.
Chapter 3 'Sound as Texture': Sonorism in its European Context 84.
Chapter 4 From Pointillism to Sonorism 102.
Chapter 5 Sonoristic Notation 123.
Chapter 6 'Total Sonorism' 1960-1966 138.
Penderecki: Threnody- to The Victims of Hiroshima (1960) 146.
Dimensions of Time and Silence ( 1960-61) 157.
Schaeffer: Scultura (1960) 175.
Gorecki: Genesis cycle: Elementi (1962) 184.
Canti strumentali (1962) and Monodram (1963) 194.
Serocki: Segmenti (1960) and Symphonic frescoes ( 1963-64) 204.
Kilar: Diphthongos (1964) 219.
Szalonek: Le sons ( 1965) 227.
Sikorski: Sequenza I ( 1966) 237.
Chapter? From footprints to fingerprints 249.
Chapter 8 Legacy of Sonorism 255.
Chapter 9 Epilogue: Epilogue: Retrospective Views on Sonorism
and the Sonoristic Period. 264.
viii
Xf
·r sa.ml!!.tJ
sa.mlly JO lS!'l
·osz
List of Figures
(Volume II)
Fig. 4.1 Serocki, Musica concertante, first movement, mm. 1-5. I.

Fig. 4.2 Serocki, Musica concertante, second movement, mm. 1-6. 2.
Fig. 4.3 Serocki, Musica concertante, third movement, mm. 1-13. 3.
Fig. 4.4 G6recki, Scontri, layout of the orchestra. 4.
Fig. 4.5 G6recki, Scontri, 'sheet' 6, score no. 1-10. 5.
Fig. 4.6 G6recki, Scontri, 'sheet,' 10, score no. 11-20. 6.
Fig.4.10 G6recki, Scontri, 'sheet,' 8, score no. 8-17. 10.
Fig. 4.13 Lutoslawski, Venetian Games, first movement: sketch of the
overall form. 13.
Fig. 4.14 Lutoslawski, Venetian Games, first movement: sections A,
C,E,G. 14.
Fig. 4.15 Lutoslawski, Venetian Games, fourth movement: section G. 15
Fig. 4.16 Lutoslawski, Venetian Games, fourth movement: section H. 16
Fig. 4.17 Lutoslawski, The Three Poems by Henri Michaux, Legrand
combat, score no. 33. 17.
Fig. 4.18 Lutos!awski, The Three Poems by Henri Michaux, Legrand
Fig. 4.19 Lutos!awski, The Three Poems by Henri Michaux, Legrand
Fig. 6.1 Penderecki, Threnody to the Victims of Hiroshima, opening
of the piece. 20.
Fig. 6.2 Penderecki, Threnody to the Victims of Hiroshima, score no. 6. 21.
X
Fig. 6.3 Penderecki, Threnody to the Victims of Hiroshima,
'wedge' clusters, score no. 13. 22.
the 'megaphone' clusters, score no. 18. 23.
central part of the piece, score no. 26. 24.
score no. 62-65. 25.
Fig. 6.7 Penderecki, Threnody to the Victims of Hiroshima, the coda. 26.
Fig. 6.7 Penderecki, Dimensions of Time and Silence, section D,
score no. 46. 27.
Fig. 6.8 Penderecki, Dimensions of Time and Silence,
score no. 175-I87. 28.
Fig. 6.9 Penderecki, Dimensions of Time and Silence, score no. 48-50. 29.
Fig.6.IO Penderecki, Dimensions of Time and Silence, score no. 103. 30.
Fig. 6.Il Penderecki, Dimensions of Time and Silence, climax of the piece,
score no. I74-I88. 31.
Fig. 6.I2 Penderecki, Dimensions of Time and Silence, score no. II4-Il6. 32.
Fig. 6.13 Schaeffer, Scultura, movement I, score no. I-5. 33.
Fig. 6.I4 Schaeffer, Scultura, movement 2, score no. II b-45. 34.
Fig.6.I5 Schaeffer, Scultura, movement 4, score no. 14-53. 35.
Fig. 6.16 Schaeffer, Scultura, movement 4, score no. 46-62. 36.
Fig. 6.I7 Schaeffer, Scultura, movement 5, score no. I-9. 37.
Fig. 6.18 Schaeffer, Scultura, movement 3, score no. 37-57. 38.
Fig. 6.19 Schaeffer, Scultura, movement I, score no. 6-17. 39.
Fig. 6.20 Schaeffer, Scultura, movement 2. 40.
Fig. 6.21 Schaeffer, Scultura, movement 3, mm. 58
and movement 4, mm. 1-13. 41.
Fig. 6.22 G6recki, Canti strumentali, spatial arrangement of the ensemble. 42.
Fig. 6.23 G6recki, Monodram, spatial arrangement of the ensemble. 43.
Fig. 6.24 G6recki, Elementi, score no. 17. 44.
XI
Fig. 6.25 G6reck:i, Elementi, score no. 25. 45.
Fig. 6.26 G6reck:i, Elementi, the second 'fragment group,' score no. 5-6. 46.
Fig. 6.27 G6reck:i,Elementi, the thirteenth 'fragment group,' score no. 16. 47.
Fig. 6.28 G6reck:i, Elementi, score no. 20 mm. 1-9. 48.
Fig. 6.29 G6recki, Elementi, score no. 7 mm. 2-7; score no. 8, mm. 1-17. 49.
Fig. 6.30 G6reck:i, Canti strumentali, opening of the piece. 50.
Fig. 6.31 G6reck:i, Canti strumentali, score no. 12-13. 51.
Fig. 6.32 G6reck:i, Canti strumentali, the coda, score no. 22. 52.
Fig. 6.33 G6reck:i, Canti strumentali, the symmetrical arrangement in gong
parts, score no. 4. 53.
Fig. 6.34 G6reck:i, Monodram, vocal part, score no. 21. 54.
Fig. 6.35 Serock:i, Segmenti, opening. 55.
Fig. 6.36 Serocki, Segmenti, spatial arrangement of instruments. 56.
Fig. 6.37 Serock:i, Segmenti, segment 0. 57.
Fig. 6.38 Serocki, Segmenti, segment S - T. 58.
Fig. 6.39 Serock:i, Segmenti, segment R. 59.
Fig. 6.40 Serock:i, Symphonic frescoes, opening. 60.
Fig. 6.41 Serock:i, Symphonic frescoes, first movement, bb. 77-81. 61.
Fig. 6.42 Serock:i, A piacere. 62.
Fig. 6.43 Serock:i, Segmenti, segment D. 63.
Fig. 6.44 Serock:i, Symphonic frescoes, second movement, opening. 64.
Fig. 6.45 Serock:i, Symphonic frescoes, second movement, bb. 24-36. 65.
Fig. 6.45 Serock:i, Symphonic frescoes, second movement, bb. 24-36. 66.
Fig. 6.47 Serock:i, Symphonic frescoes, third movement, mm. 459-480. 67.
Fig. 6.50 Kilar, Diphthongos, opening of the piece, phase A, panel A. 70.
Fig. 6.51 Kilar, Diphthongos, phase B, panel B. 71.
Fig. 6.52 Ki1ar, Diphthongos, phase B, panel B3. 72.
Fig. 6.53 Kilar, Diphthongos, phase C, panel C. 73.
Fig. 6.54 Szalonek, Les sons, opening of the piece:
xii
section A and B mm. 1-13. 74.
Fig. 6.55 Szalonek, Lessons, section C, mm.l-19. 75.
Fig. 6.56 Szalonek, Lessons, end of section C, m. 41; section D, mm. 1-26. 76.
Fig. 6.57 Szalonek, Lessons, the first culminating point, section Hand I. 77.
Fig. 6.58 Szalonek, Lessons, the second culminating point, section K,
mm. 50-52, section L- coda. 78.
Fig. 6.59 Szalonek, Lessons, section Fmm. 54-58 and section G, mm. 1-6. 79.
Fig. 6.60 Szalonek, Lessons, section section G, mm 72-84. 80.
Fig. 6.61 Sikorski, Sequenza I, opening of the piece, section A,
score no. 1-6. 81.
Fig. 6.62 Sikorski, Sequenza I, section D, score no. 1-2. 82.
Fig. 6.63 Sikorski, Concerto Breve, section F, score no. I. 83.
Fig. 6.64 Sikorski, Sequenza I, section D, score no. 3-4. 84.
Fig. 6.65 Sikorski, Prologhi, section A, score no. I. 85.
Fig. 6.66 Sikorski, Concerto Breve, section J, score no. I. 86.
Fig. 6.67 Sikorski, Sequenza I, section F, score no. 10. 87.
Fig. 6.68 Sikorski, Sequenza I, section G, score no. 4-6. 88.
Fig. 6.69 Sikorski, Sequenza I, section G, score no. 7-10. 89.
Fig. 6.70 Sikorski, Concerto Breve, textural block in hom
and trumpet parts, score no. 1. 90.
xiii
List of Tables
Table 4.1 Lutoslawski, Jeux venitiens: formal scheme of the contrasting 115.
sections.
Table 6.1 Penderecki, Threnody: formal outline. 149.
Table 6.2 Penderecki, Threnody, score no. 6-9: ordering of percussive
effects. 151.
Table 6.3 Penderecki, Dimensions of Time and Silence: formal outline. 162.
Table 6.4 Penderecki, Dimensions of Time and Silence, the successive
entries of the vocal parts, score no. 47. 165.
Table 6.5 Penderecki, Dimensions of Time and Silence:
consonance sequences, score numbers 175- 187. 166.
Table 6.6 Penderecki, Dimensions of Time and Silence: sound generators
of individual sections in Phase I. 170.
Table 6.7 Penderecki, Dimensions of Time and Silence: instrumentation. 158.
Table 6.8 Schaeffer, Scultura: formal outline. 177.
Table 6.9 Schaeffer, Scu/tura, instrumentation. 176.
Table 6.10 Gorecki, Genesis cycle, instrumentation. 203.
Table 6.11 Gorecki, Canti strumenta/i: formal outline. 195.
Table 6.12 Gorecki, Monodram: formal outline. 201.
Table 6.13 Serocki, Segmenti: formal outline. 206.
Table 6.14 Serocki, Episodes and Symphonic Frescoes: formal outline. 213.
Table 6.15 Serocki, Symphonic frescoes: instrumentation. 217.
Table 6.16 Serocki, Segmenti: instrumentation 218.
Table 6.17 Kilar, Diphthongos: instrumentation. 222.
Table 6.18 Kilar, Diphthongos: formal outline. 223.
Table 6.19 Szalonek, Lessons: formal outline. 231.
Table 6.20 Szalonek, Lessons: formal outline of section D. 233.
Table 6.21 Szalonek, Les Sons: instrumentation. 229.
xiv
Table 6.22 Sikorski, Sequenza /: overall structure and the dynamic
contrast between the phases. 239.
Table 6.23 Sikorski, Sequenza /, section A (the revised version: the score). 240.
Table 6.24 Sikorski, Sequenza /: formal outline of section D. 242.
Table 6.25 Sikorski, Sequenza /, sections E and F: textural expansion
in the string section over four dynamic rises. 243.
Table 6.26 Sikorski, Sequenza /, section A, the original version versus
the revised version. 247.
Table 6.27. Sikorski, Sequenza I: instrumentation. 238.
XV
ABBREVIATIONS
AK Armia Krajowa (Home Army)
ISCM International Society for Contemporary Music
PZPR Polish United Worker's Party (Polska Zjednoczona Partia Robotnicza)

PWM Polskie Wydawnictwo Muzyczne (Polish Music Publishers)
WA Warsaw Autumn Festival of Contemporary Music (Warszawska Jesien)

WOSPR Wielka Orkiestra Symfoniczna Polskiego Radia (Great Symphony
Orchestra of Polish Radio)
ZKP Zwi:tzek Kompozytor6w Polskich (Polish Composers' Union)
UNESCO United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization.
XVI
Introduction
Today out of the Polish sonoristic repertoire written in the 1960s only one piece survives
in the majority of studies of20th century European art music. Threnody- to the Victims of
Hiroshima by Krzysztof Penderecki is the most frequently mentioned work as an
example of 'texture style' music earlier pursued by Xenakis and Ligeti. This thesis aims
to critically re-appraise the whole sonoristic trend in Polish music, and re-examine key
sonoristic works composed between 1958-1966 which are vital to an understanding of
sonorism and which provide the context for the better known pieces by Penderecki and
Gorecki. Re-examination according to sonoristic criteria of the key works of the period,
many of which are unknown or neglected today, will give, for the first time, a
comprehensive appraisal of the whole period, leading to an understanding of the distinct
and different profiles of individual composers, and the role of sonorism in their artistic
development. A comprehensive examination of this core sonoristic period between 1958
- 1966 also allows for clarification of some current misunderstandings about sonorism
and for a distinction to be drawn between works for which sonorism was the core of the
basic aesthetic and construction basis of the piece and those in which the sonoristic side
was secondary and exists alongside serial, neo-tonal or other elements.
Among the features which clearly distinguished the Polish post-war avant-garde from
other similar European movements of the late 1950s and early 1960s were an emphasis
on timbre and texture and a search for non-traditional instrumental and vocal techniques.
In addition to these qualities, a new expression and emotional impact on the listener were
observed. As Andrzej Zielinski remarked at the time:
...the striking characteristic here is the lack of purely technical experimentation, nothing but
technical inventiveness which ignores the esthetic experience - a phenomenon occurring in the
creative output of the Western countries. Polish composers are concerned with the aesthetic
1
reaction of the listener (of course an informed listener), his emotionality, sensitivity and taste.
1
Tadeusz Andrzej Zielinski, 'Nowa sytuacja polskiej muzyki wsp61czesnej'[The Situation of Polish
Contemporary Music], Ruch Muzyczny 5, no. 2 (15-31 January 1961): 3.
1
Zielinski's statement refers to music created by both the young and old generations of
Polish composers- 'the new Polish music is created today by about ten composers at the
age between 27 and 64 years old' - and the new state of Polish music in general. 2 This
enlivenment in music came after a chain of historical events beginning with Stalin's
death in 1953 followed by a political 'thaw' and was crowned by the establishment of the
Warsaw Autumn Festival of Contemporary Music in 1956. The history ofthe Polish post-
war avant-garde is almost inseparable from the history of the first Warsaw Autumn
Festivals, which served as an invaluable platform of exchange between East and West. In
1959 Wolfgang Steinecke commented after his first visit to Warsaw Autumn:
Warsaw Autumn has a special place because it reflects in its program all contemporary directions
in music of the Western and Eastern World. It informs objectively and neutrally about all the
3
stylistic trends in music of East and West.
The rapidly changing situation of Polish composers was immediately noted by foreigners:
It does not take a prophet to state that in a short time European music will be strengthened by a
strong dose of new blood from Poland. 4
General excitement with the 'new' and euphoric atmosphere surrounded the festival and
its numerous premieres of new Polish works. Part of that climate is reflected on the pages
of Ruch Muzyczny (Musical Movement) a fortnightly magazine established in 1945 and
devoted to musical life in Poland. Apart from the usual reviews and reports on musical
events taking place around the country, it provided a forum for serious discussions on
contemporary issues in music, interviews with composers, polemics and debates by
respected scholars (such as Bohdan Pociej, Tadeusz Andrzej Zielinski, critics and
composers (including Stefan Kisielewski, Zygmunt Mycielski). In 1960 Ruch Muzyczny
was proud to publish the voices of foreign press on the achievements in Polish music:
2
Ibid.
3
Wolfgang Steinecke (Sueddeutsche Zeitung 30.IX. 1959), quoted in 'Warszawska Jesien na
cenzurowanym. Glosy Prasy Zagranicmej' ['Warsaw Autumn' on censorship. Voices of the Foreign Press],
Ruch Muzyczny4, no. 2 (15-29 February !960): 19.
4
Franz Willnauer (Deutsche Zeitung, Koln October 5 1959). Quoted in 'Warszawska Jesien na
cenzurowanym. Gtosy Prasy Zagranicznej,' 19.
2
The most attention was devoted to the perfonnance of young Polish composers -Symphony no. 1
by G6recki or Co'lfessions by Szalonek (the reciting voices merge into one another to fonn one
inseparable organism) - which already testify to a certain artistic development of the composers,
and later- when there is a discussion of 'new music' - their names will have to be taken into
consideration to the same degree as Kotor\ski, who we already know from Dannstadt.'
By 1959 Penderecki, Gorecki and Schaeffer were already the leaders of the youngest
generation of composers recognized as an avant-garde at the Warsaw Autumn Festival,
and were joined in 1960 by Wojciech Kilar. Boguslaw Shaeffer, the most prolific and
versatile composer of the group, was already well known as an author of New Music,
Almanac of Polish Contemporary Composers and A Guide of 2dh Century Music. By
1960, with sixty-six compositions already to his name, Schaeffer was also regarded as a
representative of the Polish avant-garde:
Even superficial familiarity with Schaeffer's preceding theoretical and compositional output is
enough to realize the impressive creative vitality of this young (in age!) theorist and critic - seen
more often as a composer. It is easy to presume, knowing the theoretical assumptions of the author
of New Music, that his compositional output represents an avant-garde direction.6
'An avant-garde direction' in Polish music did not have to mean 'sonorism' or the use of
sonoristic technique. Contacts with the West brought overall modernization of musical
language and compositional techniques which for some meant only turning away from
tonal thinking and neoclassical tendencies, for others definite pitch lost its significance.
In 1961 Tadeusz Zielinski listed leading composers such as Szabelski (Gorecki's teacher),
Lutoslawski, Baird, Serocki and Bacewiczowna - as the forefront of the 'pre-
revolutionary period'- composers who 'took the side of revolution and expressed
solidarity with the "rebels" - hence an uncompromising character of change.' 7 What is
more important, however, is the fact that a substantial number of new works presented by
younger and older generations were characterized by the predominance of texture,
' Diether de Ia Motte (Neue Zeitschrifl fiir Musik, Mainz, November I 959). Ibid.
6
Rozmowa z Boguslawem Schaefferem Part I [An Interwiew with Boguslaw Schaeffer, Part I], Ruch
Muzyczny, 4, no. 18 (I5-30 September I960): 3.
7
'Nowa sytuacja polskiej muzyki wsp61czesnej' [The New Situation of Polish Contemporary Music], Ruch
Muzyczny 5, no. 2 (15-3 I January I 96I): 3.
3
increasing sensitivity to colour as a form-building element, and a whole new attitude
towards timbre quality, form and innovation. These characteristics - as unifying factors
within otherwise diverse compositional profiles - allowed listeners to perceive Polish
composers as a group. 'Sonorism' (sonorystyka) and the 'Polish School' used
interchangeably became the labels to describe this new trend. 8 The list of significant
composers associated with sonorism includes at least thirteen names. The oldest
composer associated with the Polish avant-garde is Witold Lutoslawski (1913-1994). The
generation born between 1920 and 1930 includes names like Andrzej Dobrowolski
(1921-1990), Kazimierz Serocki (1922-1981 ), Zbigniew Wiszniewski (b. 1922),
W!odzimierz Kotm1ski (b. 1925), Witold Szalonek (1927-2000) and Bogus!aw Schaeffer
(b. 1929). The younger generation, born after 1930, includes the most famous of the
Polish avant-garde composers such as Henryk Mikolaj Gorecki (b. 1933) and Krzysztof
Penderecki (b. 1933) as well as Wojciech Kilar (b. 1932), Zbigniew Rudzinski (b. 1935)
Zygmunt Krauze (b. 1938) and Tomasz Sikorski (1939-1988). Naturally not all of these
composers were involved in sonorism to the same degree. The beginning of the sonoristic
movement is particularly associated with two names Penderecki and Gorecki, often
referred to as 'generation '33.' 9
Certainly the early 1960s, as Droba described it, were the years when sonorism 'was an
innocent and fresh occurrence full of impetus to discover and conquer new unknown
areas of sound and colour.' 10 By 1962 the majority of the core sonoristic repertoire
(including all the sonoristic works by Penderecki, the Genesis cycle by Gorecki and
Scultura by Schaeffer) had already been composed and premiered. 11 The mid-1960s mark
the phasing out of sonorism. In the works of the avant-garde leaders such as Penderecki
and Gorecki there is a definite turn away from sonorism, for Gorecki beginning with
Refrain ( 1965), and for Penderecki with St Luke Passion ( 1963-1966). However, the
8
The development of the use of this term will be discussed in Chapter 2.
9
Andrzej Ch!opecki, 'Polish Music 1958-1966. The Syndrome of the Double Opening,' in Studies in
Penderecki. vol. 2. ed. Ray Robinson (Princeton: Prestige, 2003), 124.
°
1
Krzysztof Droba, 'Son oris tic. The term and range of the notion,' (paper presented at the IMS 16th
International Congress. London, 19m August 1997).
11
The exceptions are Scultura premiered in 1965 and Monodram from Genesis cycle not premiered as this
study is written. Naturally there are many works composed after 1962 by Penderecki in which sonoristic
elements are present but are not necessarily the driving force behind the piece and do not determine the
character of the piece in the same way as in his core son oris tic works composed before 1962.
4
I
influence that radical sonoristic works, such as Penderecki's Threnody (1960) and
Gorecki's Genesis cycle (1962-1963), exerted on Polish composers lasted beyond the
early 1960s. Kazimierz Serocki wrote his large scale sonoristic work Symphonic frescoes
in 1963-64, Witold Szalonek wrote Les sons - regarded as one of the 'sonoristic
manifestos" 2 - in 1965, and the younger Tomasz Sikorski responded to 'total sonorism'
with his radical piece Sequenza I in 1966. While 'the 1960s was a particular sonoristic
phenomenon - a decade of sonoristic euphoria,' for each composer the high point of their
sonoristic style came at a different time. 13 Naturally the younger generation - including
'generation 33' was the first to experiment and the first to leave. Sonorism passed
through the landscape of Polish music of the 1960s like a current at different points of
time for different composers. The last years of the 1960s, as Droba described it, 'were
more peaceful and silenced (H.M. Gorecki's 'Old Polish Music' of 1969 sounded the
trumpets for retreat).' 14 The time frame, 1958 - 1966, indicated in the title of this thesis
not only embraces the works considered here as emblematic, but more importantly it
delineates the fascinating avant-garde period in post-war Polish music. While the 1958
Warsaw Autumn is regarded as the birth of the Polish avant-garde, the 1966 premiere of
St Luke Passion by Penderecki in the Munster Cathedral in Germany grew to a symbolic
event which initiated the notorious accusations that Penderecki betrayed the avant-
garde.15
Sonorism (sonorystyka) as a concept was introduced into Polish musicology by a

distinguished musicologist Jozef Chominski in 1956. 16 Chominski's writings from 1956
and 1961, created in parallel with the growing sonoristic repertoire, were the first
theoretical elaboration of the phenomenon and the first reaction to the changes that were
rapidly taking place in Polish music. In Polish musicological writings Chominski is
12
Droba, 'Sonoristic. The term and range of the notion,' 4.
13
Ibid.
14
Ibid., 3.
15
Mieczyslaw Tomaszewski, 'Listening to Pendereck.i,' in Studies in Penderecki, vol. 2, ed. by Ray
Robinson and Regina Chlopicka (Princeton: Prestige Publications, 2003), 25.
16
J6zef Chominski, 'Z zagadnien techniki kompozytorskiej XX wieku' [Problems of the 20'" century
composition technique], Muzyka 1, no. 3 (1956): 23-48.
5
regarded as the founder of the 'theory of sonorism.' 17 Whether his writings amount to a
theory is debatable and beyond the scope of this study; however, they certainly
demonstrated his ambition to formulate such theory and provided analytical tools which
gave rise to a substantial body of literature on sonorism. The responses to Chominski's
notion of sonorism not only sparked an interest in the analysis of contemporary Polish
music but also inspired some writers to look for the roots of sonorism in Polish music
going back as far as Szymanowski and even Chopin. 18
It is interesting to note that with his first article on Polish music written in 1956,
Chomiilski anticipated the development of Polish music for the next decade. He also
reacted immediately to the higb point of the sonoristic movement in 1961 and
subsequently in 1968 published extended, in-depth analytical discussion of Polish
19
repertoire. After 1970, when sonoristic style lost its impetus Chomiilski changed
terminology and his focus shifted from sonoristics to sonology, an area closer to
electronic music.
The contentious issues surrounding sonorism are numerous. These include problems
arising from the terminology itself, and an understanding and interpretation of the
concept. Other problematic issues come from the association of sonorism with the Polish
School: as Adrian Thomas noted 'sonorism and the "Polish School" are the most frequent
17
See, for example, Iwona Lindstedt 'Teoria sonologii muzycznej J6zefa Michala Chomi6skiego' [J6zef
Michal Chomit\ski's Theory of Music Sonology], Muzyka 51, no. 1-2 (2006): 33-84 and Maciej Gol![b's
'The Evolution of J6zef M. Chomit\ski 's Theory of Sonology: An Assessment,' (paper presented at !he I 8~
Congress of the International Musicological Society, ZUrich, July 2007).
18
See Antoni Prosnak, 'Zagadnienie sonorystyki na przykladzie etiud Chopina' (Sonoristics in the
Chopin's Etudes), Muzyka 3, no. 1-2 (1958): 14-32 and Wladyslaw Malinowski, 'Problem sonorystyki w
Mitach Szymanowskiego' [The problem of sonoristics in Myths by Szymanowski], Muzyka 2, no. 4 (1957):
31-44.
19
J6zef Chomiilski, 'Technika sonorystyczna jako przedmiot systematycznego szkolenia' [Sonoristics as a
subject of systematic schooling], Muzyka 6, no. 3 (1961): 3-10; J6zef Chomit\ski. 'Wklad kompozytor6w
polskich do rozwoju j~zyka sonorystycznego' [The contribution of Polish composers to the shaping of a
modem language in music] in Polska wsp61czesna ku/tura muzyczna 1944-1964, ed. Elzbieta Dzi~bowska
(Krakow: PWM, 1968), 95- I I I. The same essay appeared as a chapter 'Udzial polskich kompozytor6w w
ksztaltowaniu nowoczesnego j~zyka muzycznego' in J6zef Chomiilski's Muzyka Polski Ludowej [The
Music of People's Poland] (Warsaw: PWN, 1968), 127-169. This chapter was reprinted in English as 'The
Contribution of Polish Composers to the Shaping of a Modem Language in Music' in Polish Musicological
Studies I, ed. Zofia Chechlit\ska and Jan St~szewski (Krak6w: PWM, 1977): 167-215.
6
and among the most elusive (terms).' 20 The notion of sonorism linked to the 'Polish
school' is not surprising. While, under the rubric label 'Polish School', Western critics
focused on the similarities of the Polish repertoire presented at the festivals, Polish
reviewers were reluctant to use the term 'Polish school' and emphasised the stylistic
differences of individual composers. 21 Although both terms were interchangeably used in
relation to the core sonoristic repertoire, their application to the fringes of the movement
remains debatable. From the outset both terms were neither precisely defined nor did
their use indicated the range of repertoire.
The concept of sonorism in Polish musicological literature and even in some musical
journalism from the early 1960s includes the whole range of derivative terms: sonorism
itself refers to the movement, while sonoristic as an adjective may describe the piece,
compositional technique, texture, harmony, notation or articulation. The various
analytical attempts to deal with the works written after 1956 confirm the lack of
uniformity and understanding of what sonorism was supposed to mean. The loose
application of the term introduced by Chominski is reflected in the range of repertoire
often labeled as 'sonoristic' which includes works written even before 1956. Thus what
constitutes a sonoristic piece, what are the tenets of sonoristic technique, what are the
borders of sonorism and who belongs to the movement or the Polish School are the major
problematic issues encountered even in the most recent Polish musicological literature. It
is these questions that this thesis seeks to address.
Although the term has been widely used in Poland by composers and musicologists, it
has never been fully adopted outside Poland despite the fact that a substantial part of the
sonoristic repertoire was known to an international audience. The difficulty in
dissemination of Polish musicological writings outside of Poland may have contributed to
the reasons for sonorism as a concept never crossing the language barrier. The body of
literature in other languages than Polish is rather modest. An early instance of the
20
'Among the terms and labels attached to Polish music after 1956, those of the 'Polish School' and
'sonorisrn • are the most frequent and among the most elusive.' Adrian Thomas, Polish Music since
Szymanowski, (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005), 159.
21
See Dan uta Mirka, The Sonoristic Structuralism of Krzysztof Penderecki (Katowice: Akademia
Muzyczna, 1997), 4-5.
7
introduction of the concept into Italian musicology was an article by Michal Bristiger
published in 1970 22 The first English translation of Chominski's extended article on
sonorism was published in 1977, well after the movement had dissipated. Another article
on the trend by Lidia Rappoport-Gelfand, a translation from the Polish, appeared in
1983. 23 Although it presents Chominski's and other scholars' writings and places the new
style in the European context, the analytical discussion is mainly limited to two names:
G6recki and Penderecki. Thus a small number of general articles, which were either
translations from Polish sources or else written in other languages by musicologists
trained in Poland, used the term but most often narrowed its meaning to the sonoristic
features. In non-Polish literature - primarily in music history books - scholars referred to
sonoristic works under the rubric of 'textural music' (Robert Morgan, Paul Griffifth) and
often emphasized the sound quality with focus on extended instrumental technique. 24 For
example in a study of Penderecki's instrumental works written between 1960 and 1973
Randolf Foy does not mention sonorism at all and does not differentiate the important
turning points in Penderecki's works written during the 1960s. 25 Instead the term 'texture
style' is applied to the works across the 1960s to 1973. Only in the most recent English
language monograph on Polish music by Adrian Thomas does sonorism appear as a term
and together with experimentalism is treated as a period in Polish music. Along with
Penderecki and G6recki, the list of composers discussed by Thomas under this heading,
also includes Schaeffer, Kilar, Dobrowolski, Kotonski and Szalonek. 26 Sonorism - as
Krzysztof Baculewski also observed - adequately reflects the essence of this tendency,
even though the term found only limited use outside Poland. 27
22
Michal Bristiger, ,Sonorismo e strutturalismo' [Sonorism and Structuralism], Collage 9 (Palermo 1970):
72-76.
23
Lidia Rappoport-Gelfand, 'Sonorism: Problems of style and form in modem Polish music,' Journal of
Musicological Research 4 (1983): 399-416.
24
See, for instance, Robert Morgan, Twentieth-Century Music. A History of Musical Style in Modern
Europe and America, (New York: Norton, 1991}, 386-390 and Paul Griffifths, Modern Music and After.
Directions since 1945, (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1995}, 136.
25
Randolf Foy, 'Textural Transformations: The Instrumental Music of Krzysztof Penderecki, 1960-1973,'
(D.M.A. diss., Baltimore, Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University, 1994).
26
Adrian Thomas, Polish Music since Szymanowski (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005), 159-
207.
27
Krzysztof Bacu1ewski, Historia Muzyki Polskiej, tom VII: Wspt!lczesnosc 1: 1939-1974 [History of
Polish Music, vol. 7: Contemporary, part 1: 1939-1974] (Warsaw: Sulkowski Edition, 1996), 269.
8
The present study is divided into two parts. The first (Chapters I - 2) gives the historical
and theoretical context for sonorism, while the second (Chapters 3 - 9) is primarily
devoted to a critical discussion of the core sonoristic repertoire. Chapter I outlines the
dynamics between the artistic and political events and highlights the importance of
Warsaw Autumn underlying the emergence of the Polish avant-garde. As a necessary
background to the understanding of the sonoristic trend it draws largely on two major
sources: Bylander's study of the Warsaw Autumn Festivaf 8 and Baculewski's historical
introduction to the monograph on Polish music. 29 Chapter 2 discusses the concept of
sonorism and its accompanying literature. While Chapter 3, 'Sound as Texture,' provides
the European context for Polish fascination with textural music, Chapter 4, 'From
Pointillism to Sonorism,' indicates the development of the sonoristic trend and
contextualises sonorism within Polish post-war repertoire. It also deals with sonoristic
aspects of important works such as G6recki'sScontri and Lutoslawski's Venetian Games,
and Trois poemes d'Henri Michaux. Chapter 5, preceding the analytical discussion of the
main sonoristic works, deals with the issue of notation in sonoristic music and the notion
of the sonoristic score. Chapter 6, 'Total Sonorism 1960-1966,' proceeds piece by piece
through the core sonoristic works in chronological order, beginning with Threnody (1960)
by Penderecki and ending with Sequenza I (1966) by Sikorski. The chronological order
here intentionally emphasises the time line of the analysed works. Chapter 7, 'From
Footprints to Fingerprints' draws on analytical observations and highlights the individual
characteristics within a sonoristic repertoire. Chapter 8, 'Legacy of Sonorism,' outlines
the boundaries of sonorism for individual composers and points to further research on the
influence of sonorism. Chapter 9, 'Epilogue,' features retrospective views of the period
and concludes the thesis.
28
Cynthia Bylander, 'The Warsaw Autumn International Festival of Contemporary Music, I 956-1961: Its
goals, structures, programs and people,' Ph.D. diss., (Ohio State University, 1989).
29
Krzysztof Baculewski, Historia Muzyki Polskiej, tom VII: Wsp6lczesnosc 1: 1939-1974 [History of
Polish Music, vol. 7: Contemporary, part 1: 1939-1974) (Warsaw: Sulkowski Edition, 1996).
9
Chapter 1
Historical Context
The emergence of the Polish post-war avant-garde towards the end of 1950s was neither a
sudden nor an isolated event. Similar avant-garde movements emerged at around the
same time in Japan, Spain, Scandinavian countries, Italy and other Eastern European
countries such as Czechoslovakia and East Germany. In the case of the Polish music
scene however, the avant-garde grew out of a unique set of historical and political
circumstances. The cultural and political situation of the decade following the war (1945-
1955) became the preparatory ground for the development of the avant-garde years of the
late 1950s and 1960s. Composers had to find the balance between their personal response
to new ideological demands imposed upon them, their attitude to the use of prohibited
new techniques current in the rest of Europe, and their own individual development. To
understand the extraordinary explosion of creativity in Polish music during the sonoristic
period after 1958 and the context in which the Polish composers found themselves, it is
necessary not only to reappraise the role of the Warsaw Autumn Festival in the
development of the Polish avant-garde but to go right back to the musical situation in
Poland during World War II and the state of the arts in Poland in the decade after the war.
The six years beginning with the German invasion of Poland on September 1, 1939 until
the end of the war in Europe in May 1945 constitute the darkest pages of Polish history.
The cultural and material devastation of Poland under Nazi and Russian occupation
during the war were incomparable to other countries invaded by Hitler. From the first
days of the war the two occupants began a systematic destruction of the nation ranging
from confiscation of wealth, closure of schools, libraries and churches, to mass killings of
the Polish intelligentsia, deportations to the concentration camps and working camps
(Iagrow) organised by the Germans and the Russians and the genocide of the Jewish
population. Poland was divided between the two occupants and experienced, on the one
hand, the 'Rusification' process and, on the other, 'Germanisation', both aimed at a
10
complete elimination of the Polish identity. In the regions under Russian occupation, this
included forced change to Russian citizenship, change of all names and education under
Lenin-Stalinist ideology. Those regions under German occupation, Wielkopolska,
Pomorze, Slqsk, were immediately merged into the Third Reich, while the rest of the
Polish territories, comprising the central part of Poland with Krak6w as its Capital were
renamed General Government - (Generalna Gubernia), and became the labor land
(Arbeitsbereich) in which two kinds of punishment were implemented: either death
penalty or concentration camp. 1 According to Baculewski,
The level of officially allowed culture (theatres, cinemas, newspapers, books) was purposely
lowered. Germans were fully aware that what helped the Polish nation to survive during the
previous partitions of the country was the strong attachment to national art and culture. Hence the
prohibition of its popularization; for performing the music by Chopin was the death penalty, so it
was for possession of a radio?
Yet music did not entirely disappear from the cultural life of Poland under occupation. 3
Up until 1940 Germans prohibited any music performances.4 After 1940 cafes were the
1
Krzysztof Baculewski, Historia Muzyki Polskiej, tom VII: Wsp6/czesnosc 1: 1939-1974 [History of Polish
Music, vol. 7: Contemporary, part 1: 1939-1974] (Warsaw: Sulkowski Edition, 1996), 54, 8n. This edition
first published in 1987, substantially supplements the historical background on the political situation of
Poland during the war. Baculewski outlines the reality under both German and Russian occupation: 'the
problem of social and cultura11ife of Poland under Russian occupation is still awaiting adequate assessment
in Polish literature, the more so as up until 1989 it was a prohibited topic. Russian wardship censored all
references made in relation to the Polish provenance of the territories to the east of the river Bug (the post-
war border) as well as the Katyn massacre, the problem of deportations and working camps [lagry], in
short, all matters which could publicly portray the soviet ally and perpetual friend in a negative light and
could also be a reminder to the Poles of the time and methods under the Tsar. Therefore not without a
reason was the friendship with the Soviet Union officially amended in 1976 Constitution of Polish Peoples
Republic. Indeed not before the change of the political system (not only in Poland), after the first post-war
free election in 1989 completely lost by the communists, and above all geopolitical changes in the Soviet
Union and its disintegration into the independent states "defrosting" of all historical tabu (including the
retreat of Soviet military forces continuously stationed in Poland since the Second World War). For the
same reason the problem of opposition movement to the Soviet occupant is still awaiting its assessment.'
2
Ibid., 43.
3
For more information see Krystyna Kopeczek-Michalska, 'Jawne i tajne Zycie koncertowe w Warszawie
w latach okupacji' [Open and Secret Concert Life in Warsaw], Muzyka 15, no. 3 (1970), 47-64 and by the
same author 'Music During the Nazi Occupation 1939-1945,' Polish Music 14, no. 1-2 (1979): 8-14, '0
:iyciu muzycznym w latach okupacji' [On Musical Life During Occupation], Ruch Muzyczny 19, no. 10
(1975): 4-5; Elzbieta Dzi~bowska, 'Muzyka w Warszawie podczas okupacji hitlerowskiej' [Music in
Warsaw during Hitler occupation] in Warszawa /at wojny i okupacji, [Warsaw during the years of war and
occupation] vol. 2 (Warsaw: Czytelnik, 1972); KrzysztofDudin-W~tsowicz, Warszawa w /atach 1939-1945
[Warsaw between 1939-1945] (Warsaw: PWN, 1984).
II
most important of a few legal venues for performing music. The programs of these
concerts were under strict control and performing musicians and composers had to be
registered with the German authorities. From 1940, for instance, in the cafe, Gastronomia,
pianists such as Jerzy Lefeld, Zbigniew Drzewiecki and Jan Ekier performed, as did the
Panufuik-Lutoslawski piano duo, the Wilkomirski trio (Wanda, Maria and Kazimierz),
and the Eugenia Umil1ska String Quartet. The Lutoslawski-Panufuik duo alone gave
1300 concerts between 1940 and the Warsaw uprising in 1944. 5 At the Aria, another of
the cafes at which the Lutoslawski - Panufnik duo performed, Lutoslawski wrote
Variations on the Theme of Paganini (Wariacje na temat Paganiniego) for two pianos,
one of the best known pieces and the only one from that period which survived the
Warsaw Uprising.' 6
In spite of the strict German censorship, Poles managed also to perform prohibited music.
Among the works performed were pieces by Moniuszko, Karlowicz, Chopin and
contemporary composers such as Bacewicz, Rudzinski, Panufnik, Wojtowicz and
Lutoslawski. The role of these concerts should not be underestimated:
... never in the history of Polish music was the contact of composers and perfonners with their
audience so close, direct, and maintained on such a broad scale as in the years of Hitler's terror
and the battle with that terror.'
Occasionally with the permission of the authorities, concerts took place at churches. In
the Methodist Church in Warsaw, for instance, in spite of the ban on music by Polish
composers, performances included fragments of Szymanowski's Stabat Mater, Overture
by Antoni Szalowski and the premiere of The Tragic Overture by Andrzej Panufuik. 8
4
Cynthia Bylander, 'The Warsaw Autumn International Festival of Contemporary Music, I956-1961: Its
goals, structures, programs and people,' Ph.D. diss., (Ohio State University, 1989), 21.
5
Danuta Gwizdalanka and Krzysztof Meyer, Lutoslawski. Droga do dojrza/osci (Krak6w: PWM, 2003),
115.
6
Ibid., 130.
Dzi~bowska, 'Muzyka w Warszawie,' 71, quoted in Bylander, 'The Warsaw Autumn International
7
Festival of Contemporary Music, 1956-1961...,' 19-21.

8
Baculewski, Historia Muzyki Polskiej, tom VII: Wsp6/czesnosc 1: 1939-1974, 47.
12
Other musical activities during this time, including tertiary music education, had to
function underground and The Secret Union of Musicians (Tajny Zwiqzek MuzykOw),
formed in 1939, had the function of coordinating and directing many of these. In the
Conservatory building, later totally destroyed during the Warsaw uprising, there was only
one officially functioning secondary music school, the Staatliche Musikschule, in which
the Secret Union of Musicians organized tertiary courses in composition, conducting and
instrumental training. The staff, under the directorship of composer and theoretician
Kazimierz Sikorski, included most of the pre-war professors such as Zbigniew
Drzewiecki, Ludwig Kurkiewicz, Bronislaw Rutkowski, Irena Dubiska and Kazimierz
Sledzinski. 9 Amongst the graduates of the underground functioning Conservatorium were
Andrzej Dobrowolski and Kazimierz Serocki, both later to become part of the Polish
avant-garde in the early 1960s. Krakow also had one music school, but for German
citizens; a second school open to Polish citizens, the Zelenski Conservatorium, could
only function underground. 10
Jewish Ghettos in Warsaw, Krakow and Lodz had their own cultural life. In Warsaw and
Lodz, in addition to street bands and chamber music groups, there were also symphony
orchestras, while the Krakow Ghetto had only a chamber orchestra. From 1942, the
liquidation of Jewish Ghettos, mass deportations to the concentration camps and finally
the 1943 uprising in the Warsaw Ghetto put a stop to the Jewish performances ofmusic. 11
Not many musicians survived the liquidation of Ghettos and the Warsaw uprising.
As Baculewski describes it:
All musicians from the Warsaw Ghetto symphony orchestra died: so did Marian Neuteich, a
composer, conductor and viola player, the pianist Ignacy Rosenbaum, a composer Dawid Laks and
many others. On the streets of Warsaw, Nazis executed Henryk Trzonek, a viola player, in the
Warsaw uprising the talented young composer Roman Padlewski died, and in the region of Ojc6w
near Krakow the first Polish dodecaphonist, J6zefKoffler was murdered."
9
Baculewski, His/aria Muzyki Polskiej,tom VII: Wsp6/czesnosc I: I939-I974, 47.
10
Ibid.
11
Ibid., 48. For more details about the cultural life of Ghettos see Marian Fuks, 'Zycie muzyczne w gettach
Warszawy, Krakowa i Lodzi' [The musical life in Ghettos of Warsaw, Krakow and L6dz], Biu/etyn
Zydowskiego Instytutu Historycznego, Warszawa 1972.
12
Baculewski, His/aria Muzyki Polskiej, tom VII: Wsp6/czesnosf: I: 1939-1974, 48.
13
A major part of the creative output of Polish composers during the war, except for the
patriotic and resistance songs, remained under neoclassical influence, as expressed in the
string quartets by Grazyna Bacewicz, Roman Pal ester, Artur Malawski, Witold Rudzinski
or Piano Studies, 1940-41 (Etiudy fortepianowe) and Lutoslawski's Variations on the
Theme of Paganini. 13 The older generation of composers such as Ludomir Rozycki
(1883-1953), Stanislaw Kazuro (1882-1961) and Feliks Nowowiejski (1877-1946) wrote
in a more necromantic style. However, as Baculewski noted, in parallel with the music
cultivated and created during the war there were pieces which marked the newer trends.
These included The Tragic Overture (1942) by Panufuik and Symphony No. I (1941-
1947) by Witold Lutoslawski. Both works point to the new direction: in Panufuik's case,
'harmonic density often based on the triadic constructions. In Lutoslawski's music, the
prototypes of new texture and sonic transformations appeared.' 14
By 1944, when the liberation of Poland began with the Red Army and the newly formed
Polish Army crossing the pre-war border along the river Wolyn, there was great hope and
enthusiasm, as expressed by Jerzy Sulikowski:
The war has scattered Polish musicians; some of them are in the United States, some in neutral
countries, many of them have perished on the war or underground fronts; but the remainder -
defYing German persecutions - carry on in occupied Poland, creating new works, which will be
known one day, and also helping the youngest generation in their studies. All testimonies agree
that Poland at present is undergoing a tremendous -though secret- development in all domains of
art, out of which a new weapon is being forged to protect the nation's soul and extol its glory
when freedom is finally regained. 1'
Although Poles had managed to continue musical education during the war and did what
they could to protect 'the nation's soul' by cultivating musical and artistic activities, the
long awaited freedom did not come with the end of the War. Poland, with its newly
13
Baculewski, Historia Muzyki Polskiej, tom VII: Wspblczesnosc 1: 1939-1974, 49.
14
Ibid.
1
' Jerzy Sulikowski, a professor at the L6dz Conservatory of Music taught aesthetics and history of music.
J. Sulikowski, Polish Music (Liverpool: printed by the Northern Publishing Co. Ltd. for the Polish
Publications Committee, 1944, 30), quoted in A. Bradley Gene, De natura sonoris I and II by Krzysztof
Penderecki, A Comparative Analysis. D.M.A. Dissertation (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign,
1978), I.
14
established borders and newly formed Provisional Government headed by Wladyslaw
Gom6lka experienced a bitter new reality under the control of the Soviet Union. This new
reality would not be changed until 1989. 16
Poland after the War: between 1945 and 1954
In the first few years after the War the main emphasis was to rebuild and develop musical
life. The cultural losses had been immeasurable. When the Germans invaded Warsaw for
instance, the Philharmonic building was completely destroyed, as was the Teatr Wielki
together with all its music collections. After the fall of the Warsaw uprising only a small
number of the manuscripts from the Warsaw Music Society Library (Warszawskie
Towarzystwo Muzyczne), the National Library (Biblioteka Narodowa) and the
Conservatory collections survived. The systematic destruction of Warsaw by the
retreating Germans after the Warsaw uprising left one side of the city virtually
destroyed. 17 With the destroyed buildings, gone were the scores and manuscripts of many
composers, notably all of Zbigniew Turski's compositions, unpublished manuscripts of
Boleslaw Woytowicz, Panufnik' s compositions (later reconstructed from memory) and
numerous Lutoslawski-Panufnik transcriptions. Thus, for many composers, the period
after the war was, in Baculewski's words, a time, for a fresh 'compulsory debut.' 18 The
process of rebuilding Poland's cultural life began with the reconstruction of towns and
the resuscitation of a destroyed economy. While the state's patronage helped to rebuild
concert halls, opera houses and introduce reform into music education, Polish composers
found themselves under the increasing pressure of socialist realism.
The year 1945 saw the birth of many important cultural institutions still functioning today.
The inaugural concert of the Polish Radio Orchestra in Katowice in March 1945 under
16
The lost territories of Eastern Poland include major cultural centers of pre-war Poland such as Lw6w and
Wilno. In exchange Poland regained in the West Prusy Wschodnie (Mazury), Gdansk, Dolny Sli\Sk and
Pomorze. With the Eastern border on river Bug moved to the West only 54% of the pre-war Poland
remained. In effect together with the re-gained territories Poland's total area constitutes 80% of the pre-war
area, that is 312 OOOm'. Baculewski, Historia Muzyki Polskiej, tom VII: Wsp6/czesnosc 1: 1939-1974, 50.
17
Ibid. 46.
18
Ibid., 56.
15
Witold Rowicki initiated a remarkably fast recovery of cultural life in Poland. Krakow,
much less damaged by the war, became home for Poland's important musical institutions.
In April the new Polish Music Publishers, (PWM) was founded in Krakow under the
directorship ofTadeusz Ochlewski. Also in Krakow, one of the major events of 1945 was
the first annual convention of Polish composers organised by the newly formed Polish
Composers Union (Zwiqzek Kompozytor6w Polskich) under Piotr Perkowski. 19 A four-
day festival of Contemporary Polish Music, which accompanied the convention,
presented a diverse compositional output from the war-years. A direct outcome of the
festival was the establishment of a fortnightly magazine Ruch Muzyczny (Musical
Movement) under chief editor Stefan Kisielewski. 20 In 1946 the Polish section of the
International Society of Contemporary Music resumed its activities which included
performances of Polish works and trips abroad. Between 1945 and 1949 composers
frequently visited Western Europe- mainly Paris and London. 21 However, from 1949 to
1955, during the period of socialist realism and deliberate isolation, international contacts
were reduced significantly.
In the immediate post-war years, within the wide diversity of styles and aesthetic criteria,
folkloristic style and neoclassical styles prevailed. The composers still active in the first
decade after the war ranged from the generation born before 1900 (notably Feliks
Nowowiejski and Ludomir Rozycki) to those born after 1919 (including representatives
of the post-war avant-garde such as Serocki, Kotonski and Dobrowolski)?2
19
J6zefChominski, Muzyka Polski Ludowej [The music of the PRL] (Warsaw: PWM, 1968), 175-176.
20
Baculewski, Historia Muzyki Polskie), tom VII: Wsp61czesnosc I: 1939-1974, 53.
21
Bylander lists Witold Lutoslawski, Kazimierz Serocki, Grazyna Bacewicz, Zbigniew Turski, Andrzej
Panufuik, Roman Palester, Artur Malawski and Stanislaw Skrowaczewski (Bylander, 'The Warsaw
Autumn International Festival of Contemporary Music, 1956-1961. .. ,' 25).
22
According to Baculewski the oldest generation, born before 1889, was unified and close to the nco-
romantic style. The second (born 1889- 1898) and the third group of composers (born 1899-1908) were
stylistically and aesthetically more diversified. The generation of composers born after 1909, however,
includes some composers who were part of the Polish post-war avant-garde: GraZyna Bacewicz, Stefan
Kisielewski, Witold Rudzinski, Witold Lutoslawski and Andrzej Panufuik. Finally the fifth and the
youngest group (born after 1919-1928) included almost all avant-garde representatives: Andrzej
Dobrowolski, Wlodzimierz Kotonski, 'Group 49' with Tadeusz Baird, Kazimierz Serocki and Jan Krenz.
Baculewski,Historia Muzyki Po/skiej, tom VII: Wsp6/czesnosc 1: 1939-1974, 56-70.
16
While at first it was perhaps natural to focus on nationalism and tum to folklore, the
composers' attitude to the use of folk material changed when discussion of the role of
music and folk culture in the state intensified. The increasing intervention from the Soviet
Union in the political life of Poland had a direct impact on all walks of life. After the
dismissal of Wladyslaw Gom6lka as leader of the communist party and the formation of
the Polish United Workers party led by Boleslaw Bierut, the Stalinist era began in Poland.
The role of creative artists was defined by the president of the Polish People's Republic
in his speech in November 1947:
The obligation of the creative artist, who is shaping the spiritual life of the country, is to feel the
throb of the work of the common people, their desires and needs, to draw the creative inspiration
for his own efforts from their emotions and experiences. His main and basic goal should raise and
ennoble the mass's level of living. Creativeness removed from this goal, art for art's sake, comes
from anti-social irnpulses. 23
The 'dark decade' in Polish music began in 1948. The implementation of the socialist
realism aesthetics sprang from the Moscow Conference of Musicians held in January
1948 at the Central Committee of the All-Communist Party (Bolsheviks) in the Soviet
Union during which the head of the Soviet Composers Union, Andrei Zdanov, humiliated
Shostakovich and Prokofiev. Subsequently, the Second International Congress of
Composers and Musicologists in Prague, in 1948, provided the forum for Soviet
delegates to voice the tenets of socialist realism. Following the visit of representatives of
the Soviet Composers Union to Poland, Ruch Muzyczny published the speech of Tikhon
Krennikov, the successor of Andrei Zhdanov and Stalin's protege, in which he contrasted
the 'formalistic' music characterized by purposeless abstractionism, atonality and
dissonances with the music for the masses. 24 The fundamental idea of socialist realism
was the close relationship of the artists with the people. The relevance of music however,
was based on the premise of a single state endorsed culture. Thus the art should be
accessible, optimistic and should reflect everyday life and revolutionary changes that
23
Bolestaw Bierut, Przem6wienie wygloszone w dniu 16 listopada 1947 r, na otwarciu radiostacji we
Wroclawiu,' [An Address Delivered on the Opening of the Radio Station in Wroclaw], Biuletyn
Ministerstwa Kultury i Sztuki, no. 4 (1947), 51-52, quoted in Bylander, 'The Warsaw Autumn International
Festival ofContemporaryMusic,l956-1961...,' 33.
24
Bylander, 'The Warsaw Autumn International Festival of Contemporary Music, 1956-1961...,' 36.
17
were taking place. Mycielski's comment on the accessibility of art was that 'the pieces
that are below the level of an art work receive the easiest reception.' 25 Similarly, Stefan
Kisielewski, who was never afraid to voice his opposition to the socialist realism
dictatorship, wrote in Ruch Muzyczny as follows:
The expectation of a composer to adapt his writing to the current liking of musically retarded mass
oflisteners could paralyze any creativity and originality in genera1. 26
The main conflict, as Baculewski pointed out, lay in the fact that:
... music was to reflect contemporary life and problems, thus new situation was to be presented to
the new audience using old and out of date means and techniques. Moreover the stylistically
'moderated music' directed to all levels of society couldn't reach sophisticated audience, because it
27
was too primitive, nor could it interest the masses to whom it did not mean anything.
Control over the creativity of composers tightened at the National Convention of Polish
Composers in Lagow organised by the Vice-Minister of Arts and Culture, Wlodzimierz
Sokorski between 5 and 8 of August 1948. The conference had one goal: 'to establish
concepts and definitions concerning the totality of today's music problems, and further-
to attempt to apply these definitions in practice within the framework of discussions.' 28
The proclaimed definitions of socialist realism and formalism did not help the composers,
nor did they provide practical solutions. 'Socialist realism,' as defined in a 1966 edition
of a Russian dictionary provided 'the methodological basis for all Russian artists [... ] and
allowed for richness and variety of artistic means, strong initiative in the fight for
communist ideals, patriotism and national character of the arts. Socialist realism demands
uncompromising struggle against antinational modem trends which reflect the failure and
disintegration of bourgeois arts. ' 29 Zofia Lissa, a musicologist, was a central figure in
articulating and executing the policies of 'socialist realism' in Poland. As Bylander noted,
25
Witold Rudzinski, 'Nowe czasy- nowe zadania,' Ruch Muzyczny, no. 1(1945): 7, quoted in Baculewski,
Historia Muzyki Po/skiej. tom VII: Wsp61czesnoH: 1: /939-1974. 78.
26
Stefan Kisielewski, 'Jak'! muzyke upowszechniac,' Ruch Muzyczny, no. 3-4 (1947): I, quoted in
Baculewski, ibid.
27
Baculewski, Historia Muzyki Polskiej, tom VII: Wsp61czesnosc I: 1939-1974, 71.
28
Bylander, 'The Warsaw Autumn International Festival of Contemporary Music, 1956-1961..., 37-38.
29
Quoted in Baculewski, Historia Muzyki Polskiej. tom VII: Wsp6iczesnosc 1: 1939-I974, 73.
18
her definition of formalism became the definition used in the Soviet Union and Eastern
Europe.' 30 Lissa defined 'formalistic music' as follows:
It is music in which the innovation of technical means results from intellectuaJ speculation rather
than from the new essence of this music; it is music that abandons the living elements of folklore
and seeks new technical bases speculatively - thus atonality, in the sense of a resignation from
permanent relationships and the centralization of pitches; it is music opposed to all substance, and
even more so to the realization of substance in programmatic lines. It is music whose abstractness
and emotionality cause the neglect of the element of melody and the limitation of itself to more
speculative instrumental forms. 31
The most criticized work at the conference was Zbigniew Turski's Olympic Symphony
(1948) which in 1948 received a gold medal at the International Olympic Arts
Competition in London. For Sokorski, Olympic Symphony was:
... incompatible with the spirit of our time. True, one can detect an emotional content, but it is the
emotion of someone who is lost, in this case in the terrible period of the occupation ... The piece
terrifies and confuses the listener ... its language is formalistic through and through. 32
Within a few months of the Lagow conference, in response to the imposition of this new
aesthetic direction, two composers Serocki and Tadeusz Baird (1928-1981) (often cited
as the founders of Warsaw Autumn Festival) together with composer and conductor Jan
Krenz (b. 1926) formed a 'Group 49.' The group aimed 'to create emotional music
directed to the wide audience but without relinquishing the contemporary means of
expression.' 33 From the perspective of the time, the declared credo is often interpreted as
a form of negotiation and the first attempt to find a way out of the complete closure of
creative freedom:
30
Zolia Lissa, spent the war years in Moscow; until 1947 she was a cultural attacht! at the Polish Embassy.
Bylander, 'The Warsaw Autumn International Festival of Contemporary Music, 1956-1961..., 36.
31
'Konferencja kompozytor6w w Lagowie Lubuskim' [Conference of composers in Lag6w Lubuski],
quoted in Bylander, Ibid., 38, trans!. Bylander.
32
W!odzimierz Sokorski, 'Ku realizmowi socjalistycznemu w muzyce,' Ruch Muzyczny no, 14 (1949),
quoted in Thomas, Polish Music since Szymanowski, 41.
33
Tadeusz Marek, 'Grupa 49' [Group 49], Muzyka, no. 5-6 (1953), quoted in Baculewski, Hisloria Muzyki
Polskiej, tom VII: Wsp6/czesnosc I: I939-1974, 66.
19
There is method in this madness: in Serocki's and Baird's case the attitude of Shakespeare's
Polonius proved to be right, because it greatly reduced the danger of the works being pigeon-holed
as 'formalistic' and, thereby, the threat of performances being banned (as had happened to
Malawski); this allowed composers to slip the shackles of an imposed aesthetic."
It seemed that in order to be allowed to test the boundaries of creative freedom,

composers were also obliged to compromise and no one was spared from the obligation
of writing the preferred genre of mass song. 35 Although the list of works written during
that period includes Serocki's cantatas The Bricklayer of Warsaw (Murarz Warszawski)
and Song about Revolution (Piesrt o rewolucji) and Baird's Ballad of the Iron Cup
(Ballada o telazym kubku) the long term goal of 'Group 49' was eventually achieved.
The door to freedom from the socialist aesthetic was eventually to be opened with the
first Warsaw Autumn in 1956 with the same composers now officially cited as the
founders of the Warsaw Autumn Festival (in the case of Serocki and Baird) and actively
involved in programming (Krenz).
Prior to 1956, however, with the pressure from their eastern neighbour, there was very
little hope of exchanging ideas with the rest of Europe. Nevertheless, the polemics and
lively discussions about formalism and socialist realism were supported principally by
Ruch Muzyczny, which provided the main forum until severe criticism was expressed in
Sovietskaja Muzyka. All polemical debates and criticism of the type published on the
pages of Ruch Muzyczny since 1945 had to end:
Ruch Muzyczny had enough time to print a report from the conference in Lagow and subsequently
was liquidated. Socialism realism, transplanted with success in LagOw, an elusive cloud, darkened
the artistic horizon for the next few years? 6
To ensure the composers' compliance with the new aesthetics in 1950 the Polish
Composers Union implemented so called educational 'review sessions' (przesluchania)
34
Baculewski, Historia Muzyki Polskiej, tom VII: Wsp6/czesno.§C 1: 1939-1974, 66.
35
See Thomas, Polish Music since Szymanowski, 56.
36
Baculewski, Historia Muzyki Po/skiej, tom VII: Wspolczesnosi: 1: 1939-1974, 73-74.
20
which could take form of interrogations, discussions or auditions depending on the
circumstances. 37
At this time composers' popularity depended on their 'creative' response to the Stalinist
aesthetics. Tadeusz Szeligowski, for instance, was quite popular during the 1950s. 38 His
compositional output, characterised by classical form and tonal language, fulfilled Soviet-
style requirements. Andrzej Panufuik, meanwhile, was writing in the neoclassical style,
and while drawing from folklore, also tried to experiment. His use of quarter tones and
serial procedures, however, had to be compensated by some ideologically engaged pieces
such as the United Party's Song (PieSft Zjednoczonej Partii, I 948) and later the
Symphony of Peace (Symfonia Pokoju, 1951). Kotm1ski stopped writing music between
1954 and I 957 and turned to folklore research. Artur Malawski and Lutoslawski
represented the most independent attitude for which there was always a price to pay.
Malawski's works ceased to be performed after I 948. Lutoslawski turned to folk music
and focused mainly on development of his language. However, under increasing pressure
from the authorities he too wrote a few mass songs. 39 On the whole, the compositional
output between 1950 and I 956 was reduced to a bare minimum. At the I 98 I Congress of
Polish Culture, Lutoslawski recalled the bleak years of repression as follows:
The return to the simple, open tonal system based on nineteenth-century language [was] the only
path to the creation of music [that was] accessible to the broad masses and expressed our times in
a realistic manner...
This treacherous, although primitive operation, which was a characteristic form of attack on the
truth of art, had pitiful results. The necessity of concealing one's most important works in the
drawer, of excluding from performance one's output to date, the falseness of the general situation
in the musical world, the persecution by critics of the least sign of individuality or stylistic or
technical searches, everything was the cause of gloom and depression for many of us. This process
of devastation of the social good was achieved on a broad scale ...
37
Bylander, 'The Warsaw Autumn International Festival of Contemporary Music, 1956-1961..., 43.
38
Baculewski, Historia Muzyki Polskiej, tom VII: Wsp6/czesnosc 1: 1939-1974, 60.
39
For the most recent research into this area see Adrian Thomas, 'File 750: Composer, Politics, and the
Festival of Polish Music (1951), Polish Music Journal, 5/1 (Summer 2002),
http://www.usc.edu/dept/polish_music/PMJ/issues.html (accessed July 15, 2005).
21
The gloom, deprivation and lack of hope moreover accompanied the awareness of a complete
isolation from the rest of the world, in which, after all, unusually important events for every
creative artist were happening. The impossibility of participation in them and the complete
ignorance of them became, in particular for the younger generation of composers. the source of
complexes. 40
The Polish 'thaw': between 1954 and 195641
Although the socialist realism implemented in 1949 lasted officially until 1956, the
dynamic between political and cultural events from 1954 to 1956 was crucial for the
further development of Polish music. The tension created by the last attempts to retain
socialist realism policies in 1954 and the intensifYing dissatisfaction of composers with
restrictions imposed on them led to a more liberal attitude of the government towards the
arts in the following year. The constant flux in political life during these two years
(preceded by almost a decade of virtual isolation of Polish artists) created a window of
opportunity immediately taken up by composers in 1956 - a decisive breakthrough
symbolised by the First Warsaw Autumn Festival.
The first signs of the 'thaw' - appeared at the beginning of 1954 - almost a year after
Stalin's death in March 1953. Despite Lissa's continuous commitment to Stalinist
aesthetics and reassurance that 'we follow the same road as the USSR, the road leading to
a socialist society', calls for reassessment of socialist realism in fact came higher up,
from Russia's chief propagators of Stalinist ideology.' 42 The key event was the Eleventh
Session of the Council of Culture and Art held in April 1954 during which the Minister of
Culture and Art, Wlodzimierz Sokorski, stated that 'the relinquishing of innovations ...
40
Kongres kultury polskiej [Proceedings from the Congress of Polish Culture (Warsaw, December 11-13,
1981), 34-35, quoted in Bylander, 'The Warsaw Autumn International Festival of Contemporary Music,
1956-1961..., 67-68.
41
'Thaw' after the title ofllja Ehrenburg's novel is commonly used particularly in relation to post-Stalinist
Poland.
42
Zofia Lissa, 'Z perspektywy dziesieciolecia' [From the perspective of a decade], Muzyka 5, no. 7-8 (July-
August 1954): 7, quoted in Thomas, Polish Music since Szymanowski, 84. Stefan Kisielewski (1911-1991 ),
a composer and music critic. Well known for his criticism of socialist realism aesthetic; wrote for Ruch
Muzyczny, Muzyka, Tw6rczosc, Znak and Tygodnik Powszechny.
22
[was] conducive ... to trivial, unaesthetic works ... Socialist realism is neither a definite
artistic school, nor a definite style, nor a recipe.' 43 Such a critical assessment of the
Stalinist aesthetic was one of the first in the chain of events to come in the following year.
Artists, however, remained skeptical. Panufuik, who was at the time regarded as one of
the greatest Polish composers and whose works were published and regularly performed,
decided to leave Poland in July 1954. 44 Panufnik was subsequently declared a 'betrayer
of the Polish nation' and his music was banned in Poland for almost 25 years. 45 In a
speech in Paris Panufnik described the reality of life for creative artists fenced by the
precepts of socialist realism:
One of the most dangerous sides of the system is the complete isolation of music - and art in
general- in Poland. It seems to me sometimes that the slogans of 'socialist realism' are simply a
pretext. Mainly [the government] wants the separation of Poland from Western culture. All of the
slogans about an art that is 'national in form, socialist in content,' while not suiting any reality and
extracting only a climate of hypocrisy and depression among composers, are precisely a pretense
under which this policy of isolation is conducted. It is tragic for Polish composers. They are
greatly interested in Western compositions, but the maintenance of any kind of contacts with them
is impossible. Already, our young musicians do not even know the problems that they are ordered
to reject. Not only are they ignorant of the dodecaphonists aligned with Schoenberg, but they do
not even know the music of Stravinsky or the French 'Groupe des Six.' Of course all new Western
experiences ... are completely unknown. 46
The chain of cultural and political events during 1955 was to change this isolation.
Gradually scores and recordings began to reach Poland. During private sessions held in
Warsaw from 1955 by members of the Polish Composers Union, composers finally began
to know the works of Webern and Berg. 47 For Lutoslawski, for instance, it was a
43
Nowa kultura, no. 17 (1954), quoted in Bylander, 'The Warsaw Autumn International Festival of
Contemporary Music, 1956-1961..., 75.
44
Roman Palester (1907-1989), a composer, left Poland in 1949 and settled in Paris. The same year
Czeslaw Milosz (1911-2004), writer and recipient of the Nobel Prize for literature in 1980 also left Poland.
After WW II while working in Paris as a cultural attache for Polish People's Republic he asked for political
asylum; in 1960 at the invitation of the University of California, settled in Berkeley. The Nobel Prize
Award ended the ban on his works in Poland. Milosz returned to Poland after the collapse of communism.
45
Gwizdalanka and Meyer, Droga do dojrzalosci.' 278.
46
Andrzej Panufuik, 'Zycie muzyczne w dzisiejszej Polsce' [Musical life in Today's Poland], Kultura
(Paris), nos. 87-88 (January-February, 1955): 7-21, quoted in Bylander, 'The Warsaw Autumn International
Festival of Contemporary Music, 1956-1961..., 69-70.
47
Wlodzimierz Kotot\ski. an interview with author (Warsaw, November II 2005).
23
revelation to discover at the time that 'everybody was composing in the style of
Webem.' 48 1955 marked the tenth anniversary of the Polish Peoples Republic and it was
an eventful year in the cultural and musical life of Poland. In an effort to maximize
opportunities for propaganda, the government supported every artistic event. The greatest
in scale was the second Contemporary Polish Music Festival.
There wasn't any other comparable musical undertaking of equally propagandist nature either
before or after. The festival inaugurated on the anniversary of liberation of Warsaw - 17 January
1944 -lasted until 20 May. In the whole country 250 concerts took place; amongst them 163 of
symphonic concerts. Over one hundred and fifty thousand people listened to about 450 works
49
which included 320 pieces written by 80 living composers.
The festival ended with a series of concerts under the banner of 'Warsaw Spring' in a
reconstructed National Philharmonic building which had been totally destroyed at the
beginning of the war. The concluding series of concerts involved six orchestras
performing fifty symphonic works written by twenty-four composers. During the festival
the Ministry of Culture gave seventy-nine prizes.5° Most reviewers, however, concluded
that 'the Festival was too long, too many compositions of little value had been presented,
attendance was low, and in general it had not been an event of major importance.' 51
Notwithstanding these criticisms, in the context of cultural events in Poland in 1955, the
fact that the Festival had taken place at all was seen as positive and was, in the end, a
stepping stone towards the establishment of the Warsaw Autumn. Symptomatic of
irreversible changes towards cultural politics in Poland was a disappearance of
ideological rhetoric in the media:
One of the notable differences between this Festival and the one in 1951 was the lack of references
to socialist realism or formalism in either published critiques or in the introductory essay to the
concert gm'd e ... 52
48
Balint A. Varga, Lutoslawski Profile, (London: Chester, 1974), 10, quoted in Bylander, 'The Warsaw
Autumn International Festival of Contemporary Music, 1956-1961..., 81.
49
Gwizdalanka and Meyer, Droga do dojrzalosci, 290.
50
Ibid., 230.
51
52
Ibid., 81
24
Another significant cultural event that followed the second Contemporary Polish Music
Festival was the Fifth International Festival of Youth and Students held in Warsaw from
July 31 to August 14, 1955. An atmosphere of excitement created by the contact with
Western counterparts - finally possible after years of isolation - surrounded sports
competitions, exhibitions, concerts, theatre spectacles and poetry evenings. The liberal
attitude of the government toward the whole undertaking should not be underestimated.
Poland at the time was the only country in the Eastern Block where such events could
take place:
The government assessed it [the festival] very positively. The atmosphere surrounding the event
was extraordinary- Jerzy Jasietlski recaiJed. - I think that the essential part was the artistic setting
of the festival. It was something totally new. After what we were familiar with from May Day or
22 July and October revolution celebrations, its diversity, colourfulness but above all its difference
were shocking to us. The Soviet Minister of Culture, Michajl6w, who earlier was an ambassador
in Poland arrived for the Festival. Sokorski, the then Minister of Culture in Poland, was proudly
showing the city of Warsaw to Michajl6w who said: 'What are you doing, this is pure formalism!'
Sokorski repeated this to Bierut who replied that he likes it, it is pretty, lively and that they should
continue. It was a breath of Europe and everybody wanted to do something. It was then that the
idea of the Warsaw Autumn was born. 53
The idea of organising the International Festival of Contemporary Music had been
contemplated by composers in the early 1950s but was not designated as an official
project by the Composer's Union until June 1955. 54 The presidium of the Composer's
Union headed by Sikorski also included Baird, Serocki, Dobrowolski, Kotonski and
Stefan Jarocinski. Since the state was the only sponsor of the arts in the Communist
country, the permission to organise such an undertaking had to be granted by the
government. After the initial rejection of the project by the Ministry of Culture and Art,
Sikorski approached the First Secretary of PZPR Boleslaw Bierut who found the idea
interesting: 'such comparison between East and West. They can show what they have,
53
Jerzy Jasienski, 'A chance taken up. Marta Lugowska talks to Jerzy Jasienski' [Wykorzystana szansa. Z
Jerzym Jasietiskim rozmawiaMarta Lugowska], Studio (October, 1992): 9.
54
For more details on the politics and procedures in relation to Warsaw Autumn see Bylander, 'The
Warsaw Autumn International Festival of Contemporary Music, 1956-1961...,' 87-100.
25
and we can show what we have.' 55 The composers were aware that the festival could be
seen as yet another propaganda tool but for them it was a chance to gain artistic freedom
and access to information. As Jerzy Jasieiiski remarked: 56
First of all we thought - recalls one of the first organizers- that the international Festival of
contemporary music would provide a great opportunity to confront compositional output from the
East and West. Of course the suggestion was, that we would come out from this competition on
top. "
Indeed the fact that such an undertaking could eventuate - the approval of the Festival
granted in 1955 58 - was a combination of two factors. Gwizdalanka points out a cleverly
formulated proposal by the composers and the support of the government. ' ... Bierut and
Cyrankiewicz, who held the two most powerful positions in Poland's government, were
the crucial voices in the government's decision to approve the Composer's Union
project.' 59 The festival was scheduled for October 1956.
Although the ban on the Polish section of the International Society for Contemporary
Music which had previously organized trips abroad was not lifted until 1957, the
possibility of travel to Western countries emerged in 1955. Lutoslawski was one of the
first to take up the offer to travel to Helsinki for the Festival of Sibelius' music in 1955
and in the following year visited Salzburg for the Mozart Festival and Liege as a member
of jury in a composers' competition. 60 Symptomatic of the Polish 'thaw' under way was
the visit of Bertold Brecht in May 1955 (only months earlier condemned by Sokorski),
55
Bylander, 'The Warsaw Autumn International Festival of Contemporary Music, 1956-1961...,' 92-93.
56
It is interesting to note that on the other side of the 'iron curtain', in Paris, similar mechanisms were
being used to the same ends, but on behalf of the Western standpoint. In 1951 a Russian emigre and
composer Nikolai Nabokov was appointed as a Secretary General to the CIA-funded Congress for Cultural
Freedom. To demonstrate the superiority of the Western music Nabokov organised four Festivals beginning
with the most ambitious one in 1952. Ian Wellens, Music on the Frontline. Nicolas Nabokov's Struggle
against Communism and Middlebrow Culture (A1dershot: Ashgate, 2002), 45-62.
57
Jasiellski, 'A chance taken up. Marta Lugowska talks to Jerzy Jasiellski,' 9.
58
Bylander, 'The Warsaw Autumn International Festival of Contemporary Music, 1956-1961 ... ,' 93.
59
Ibid., 94.
60
Gwizdalanka and Meyer, Lutoslawski. Droga do dojrzalosci [The road to maturity], 293. Wanda
Wasilewska (1905-1964) was a political activist, member of the Polish Socialist Party (PPS), the deputy
chief of the PKWN (Polish Committee of National Liberation) sponsored by the Soviet Union played an
instrumental role in the fonnation of communist government in Poland. After the war Wasilewska
remained in the Soviet Union and accepted Soviet citizenship.
26
the Polish publication of a novel by Soviet author Ilja Ehrenburg, Odwil:!: [Thaw],
symbolizing post-Stalinist political changes, and a publication of Adam Wa:lyk's poem,
Poem for Adults (Poemat dla doroslych) after which Wanda Wasilewska denounced and
warned Khrushchev about the radical changes that were taking place in Poland. 61 The
liberal attitude of authorities was also evident in the 1955-56 concert season in Poland.
The programs of the Warsaw Philharmonic for instance, included works by previously
banned composers such as Honegger, Hindemith, Messiaen, Bartok, Berg and Stravinsky.
It was becoming clear that the changes that had taken place since 1954 were irreversible.
1955 is also considered a turning point in the visual arts. A symbol of the breakthrough
was the National Exhibition of Young Artists held in the Arsenal building in July 1955 in
Warsaw. The exhibition under the banner, Against War, Against Fascism, organised as a
part of the previously mentioned Fifth International Festival of Youth and Students,
represented 'the symbolic end of socialist realism.' 62 This art exhibition, as with the
Second International Festival of Music, was seen as 'placing our painting in the first
ranks of international art:' however to the artists it was proof of 'provincialism and
shallow imitation with a lack of the symptoms of progressive thinking.' 63 Before the
explosion of the avant-garde could happen, artists had to demand the right to be able to
express what they felt and the exhibition fulfilled that purpose. Anti-Soviet sentiments
were manifest in the depiction of tragedy and pessimism. It documented the protest
against the shallowness of themes and the imposition of limits in terms of subjects
explored. What is more important is the fact that in a sense the exhibition even though
not a controlled 'protest,' was fully accepted by the authorities. It appeared as a result of
'1954 self-examination' - as Sokorski stated - 'a year of the Second Communist Party
Congress and XI session of the Council of Culture and Art.' 64 The results of this 'self-
examination' were far reaching. It is important to note that in spite of the government's
61
Gwizdalanka and Meyer, Lutoslaw.ski. Droga do mistrzowstwa [Lutoslawski. The road to maturity]
(Warsaw: PWM, 2003), 294.
liZ Andrzej Szczerski, 'The Boundaries of Freedom,' in Studies in Penderecki, vol. 2, 157.
63
Ibid .. 67.
64
Bozena Kowalska, Polska A vangarda Malarska 1945-1970 [Polish Avant-garde in Painting 1945-1970],
Warsaw: PWN, 1975,66.
27
reassessment of socialist realism policies in the Soviet Union, the liberalisation towards
arts did not follow either in the Soviet Union or in the other Eastern European countries. 65
As with the Second Festival of Contemporary Music, the success of the Arsenal
exhibition lay not in the level of individualism or in the new artistic concepts and
methods presented in the works but the extent of lively discussions it initiated. After the
exhibition, many groups were formed in other Polish cities. Every group had a different
program, and even within one group each artist had his own outlook. The 'Group 55' was
one of the first groups that initiated the Warsaw avant-garde centre. 66 Its collaboration
with the Club 'Crooked Wheel' resulted in formation of the Crooked Wheel Gallery, the
first experimental gallery in Poland which, until its closure in 1965, played an important
role in fostering the newest trends in Polish art. Under its influence Andrzej Matuszewski
created 'Group R-55' in Poznan; Katowice had already had 'St-53' since 1953 (St from
Strzemh1ski's name and Stalinogrod, the name for Katowice used between 1953-1956),
while the 'Castle Group' (Zamek) was formed in Lublin. From this phenomenon of
forming artistic groups in almost every large city in Poland by 1955, came so called
'special events' in the 1960s.
The avant-garde was attempting at this time to embark upon a political game that, on the one hand
guaranteed the development of a degree of freedom while, on the other hand, exploiting artists as
67
an element in a propagandistic demonstration of the liberty that prevailed in Poland.
A preoccupation for these artists and composers was the relationship of Polish art to the
European avant-garde. Painters and composers were fully aware of the consequences
stemming from a period of long isolation. The Polish avant-garde in painting has been
described as the movement in which 'the rebellious passion for the new and creative
immaturity was not just typical of young groups of painters. This was signum of the time,
marking the beginning of a great adventure into the new.' 68 One of the important and
65
66
The 'Group 55' membership list included Marian Bogusz, Zbiguiew Dlubak, Kajetan Sosnowski,
Barbara ZboZylla, Andrzej Szlagier and Andrzej Zaborowski. Bogucki, Sztuka Polski Ludowej, Warsaw:
Wydawnictwa Artystyczne i Filmowe, 1983, 11-112.
67
Szczerski, 'The Boundaries of Freedom,' 159.
68
Kowalska, PolskaAvangarda Malarska 1945-1970,74.
28
charismatic figures in the Polish avant-garde was the painter and theatre director Tadeusz
Kantor (1915-1990). His creative output ranges from matter painting, the art of the object,
and happenings to paratheatre. The explosion of new trends in Poland came upon his
return from Paris in 1955. After being fascinated with the extreme form of iriformel
painting, tachism, Kantor started traveling around major cities and organising exhibitions
as an enthusiastic protagonist of the new trend. 69 The main tenets of tachist paintings
invoke the metaphors often used to describe the music of the Polish avant-garde:
Tach ism rejected any association with anything familiar from the visual world. It only recalled the
aggression of timbres, fonn and a drawing of tom lines, detennined only by chance constrained by
70
artist's intervention.
As painters retained some sort of control over an element of chance, so composers in

their sonoristic pieces carefully designated boundaries of freedom and chance. The
parallels can also be drawn on the aesthetic plane. In 1957 Kantor wrote:
Matter - element and explosion. continuity and boundlessness, lightness and transitoriness.
Matter - glowing, explosive, fluorescent, full of light, dead and quiet. Only the control over
chance creates a new reality ... [which is not a goal of discussed painting). It is a moment of
71
collision of human intervention with matter's e1ement.
Kantor's artistic credo draws one to Gorecki's own comment about the Genesis cycle. He
said, 'the fundamental element linking [the works] into a whole is constantly evolving
Energy existing through Movement: a symbol of Manifestation of Life.' 72 In an interview
with Markiewicz, Gorecki also explains the title:
... 'genesis' describes conditions which contribute to the beginnings of events, from an embryo to fully
developed fonn. I treated this word [genesis] as a symbol of individual stages of beginning,
realisation and development of the three basic elements of music, which I consider to be agogics,
69
biforme/ art represented by Tobey, Mathieu, Michaux and Pollock was shown on the exhibition 'L'art
informel' in Paris in 1954. It was then, according to Kowalska, that the tenn tachism coined by Pierre
Gueguen was used for the first time. Kowalska, Po/ska Avangarda Ma/arska 1945-1970, 76.
70
Ibid., 76-77.
71
Kowalska, PolskaAvangarda Ma/arska 1945-1970,77.
72
'Conversation with Henryk Gorecki: Leon Markiewicz, July I 962,' Context I 4 (I 997): 36.
29
dynamics and colour. This is where the title of the first piece in the cycle comes from, Elementi, in
which these elements appear in an embryonic fonn. 73
In analysis and written commentary on sonoristic works, analogies with the visual arts,
particularly painting, are also often in evidence. Zielinski's 'sound shapes' used in
relation to sonoristic pieces is one of the earliest examples. 74 Thomas frequently borrows
from vocabulary used in relation to painting. When discussing the formal outlines of
Penderecki's sonoristic works, for example, he says: 'It is of interest how the sound
shapes are gathered together in what, to borrow another artistic term, might be called
75
'panels.' While textures and overall sonority attract words such as "broad-brush" sound
shapes' to describe aural images within Penderecki' s sonoristic pieces, the structure and
its perception in time in Gorecki's pieces is compared to 'non-narrative abstract
76
painting.' Another example of terminology from painting being employed captures the
essence between the constructional details and perception is Thomas' comment on
Elementi:
If the textural feel of Elementi is comparable to that of an oil on canvas much worked over and
scraped down with a palette~ knife, it follows that the intervallic ramifications of the series on its
construction are also likely to be inaudible. 77
73
Ibid.
74
Tadeusz Zielinski, 'Neue Klangiisthetik,' Me/os 718 (1966): 212, quoted in Thomas, Polish Music Since
Szymanowski, 161.
75
76
Thomas, Polish Music Since Szymanowski, 177-178.
Ibid., 161 and 177.
77
Adrian Thomas, Gorecki (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1997), 43.
30
After 1956: the Warsaw Autumn Festival of Contemporary Music and the Birth of
the Polish Avant-Garde
1956 is often considered a crucial year and the beginning of a new era in Polish music not
least because of the establishment of the Warsaw Autumn Festival. Above all, 1956 is the
time of the official closure of socialist realism. There was an avalanche of musical events
and the formation of many important musical institutions. However, none of these events
would have happened without the ideological 'thaw.' The seeds planted between 1954
and 1956 now began to germinate. It is important to note that while music was uniquely
treated with the greatest degree of tolerance, literature and the visual arts after a brief
period of freedom and relaxation experienced censorship and repression.
The chain of dramatic political events in Poland was initiated by Khrushchev's

denouncement of the atrocities committed by Stalin at the 20th Party Congress in the
Soviet Union in February 1956. 78 In the following month, the secretary of Polish United
Worker's Party (PZPR), Boleslaw Bierut died in Moscow. 79 The political crisis deepened
in Poland and the first riots referred to as 'Poznanian June' were followed by 'Polish
October,' a massive patriotic movement during which demonstrations and general
political upheaval swept the whole country. 80 Although the hopes for freedom in Poland
were shattered after 'Polish October', the reinstatement ofWladyslaw Gomulka, who had
been dismissed in 1948 and subsequently jailed, as PZPR leader brought about brief
period of hope and freedom. 81 For the arts, the most important development was the shift
in cultural politics which now allowed diversity in relation to the styles, substance and
78
Baculewski noted that 'although the report was secret, the highest officials in the Polish party received it
and the Party recklessly allowed to published it.' Baculewski, Historia Muzyki Polskiej, tom VII:
Wsp6/czesnosc I: 1939-1974, 79.
79
Cynthia Bylander, 'The Warsaw Autumn International Festival of Contemporary Music, 1956-1961...,
76-77.
80
The riots began on 27 June 1956 at the Railway and Cegielski factory and were continued on the streets
of Poznan. The time of this upheaval was carefully chosen. In June Poznan hosted the International Fair.
Foreign press and journalists could witness the events and report it to the West. Poznanian June was the
first significant rebellion on a large scale against the Communist system: 'If the October '56 events are
labeled as "Polish Spring in October," then Thursday June in Poznan was its political early spring'
(Krzysztof Patek, 'Poznanski Czerwiec w programach Rozglosni Polskiej RWE,' [Poznanian June in the
programs of Radio Free Europe] Przeglad Polski (June 27, 2003): 3. http://www.dziennik.com (accessed
June 18, 2003 ).
81
By lander, 'The Warsaw Autumn International Festival of Contemporary Music ... ,' 77.
31
function of music in society. 82 Finally the idea of organising the International Festival of
Contemporary music could be realised.
In the political arena, however, the tension was rising. The effects of the Polish 'thaw'
alarmed the Soviets. Although the festival was, 'a celebration of the arts' and was not to
be tied with politics the possibility of military intervention, such as was to eventuate in
Hungary later that year, overshadowed musical events. 83 Gwizdalanka points out, 'even
on the steps of the concert hall papers were distributed to inform the public about the
latest developments.' 84 Although military intervention was averted in the end, on
October 19'h the Soviet army stationed in Poland began marching towards Warsaw and
unexpectedly Khrushchev arrived in Poland. As Kotm1ski recalls, 'somehow Gomulka
convinced Khrushchev to get back on the aeroplain and sent him back to Russia, so the
visit did not eventuate.' 85 At the same time 'at the entrance to Gdansk gulf, a cruiser
named- nomen omen- 'Zdanov' was stopped. ' 86
The first Warsaw Autumn (first organized as a biennale), from October I 0 to 21, 1956,
began the process of making up for years of isolation. 87 The composers and organizers
were well aware of the shortcomings in Polish musical life. The majority of non-Polish
works performed had been composed during the first half of the 20th century. Fearing that
audiences would not be able to cope with contemporary music, the organisers decided to
include in each program one work from the traditional repertoire - pieces by Brahms,
Tchaikovsky and Strauss. Amongst foreign compositions presented there was only one
world premiere: Britten's Spring Symphony for solo voices, choirs and orchestra. The list
of Polish premieres included Dutilleux's Symphony no. I (1951), Bartok's String Quartet
no. 5 (1934), Stravinsky's Ebony Concerto (1945) and much awaited dodecaphonic
pieces: Berg's Lyric Suite (1926) and Schoenberg's Piano Concerto (1942): 88
82
Baculewski, Historia Muzyld Pols/de}, tom VII: Wsp6/czesnost I: 1939-1974,79.
83
Danuta Gwizdalanka, Muzyka i polityka [Music and Politics] (Krak6w: PWM, 1999), 231.
84
Ibid.
85
Wlodzimierz Kotm\ski, interview by author (Warsaw, November II, 2005).
86
Gwizdalanka, Muzyka i polityka, 232.
87
Bylander 'The Warsaw Autumn International Festival of Contemporary Music ... ,' 553-555.
88
For the complete schedule of Warsaw Autumn concerts between 1956 and 1961 see Bylander, The
Warsaw Autumn International Festival of Contemporary Music, 553-566. Thomas also provides a list of
32
The expectation to hear (Schoenberg's Piano Concerto] was so great that the concert hall was full
during the general rehearsal. For musicians born around 1910 dodecaphony was not new.
However during the 1940s it did not spark the interest of the Polish composers and it wasn't until
communist propaganda - portraying this technique as the embodiment of the bourgeois
degeneration in art - wrapped it in a glory of extraordinariness. After Schoenberg's piece, the
audiences were disappointed. 89
In his review after the first Warsaw Autumn, Zygmunt Mycielski, although dissatisfied
with the present condition of Polish music, signalled his hope for the future of Polish
mUSIC:
We haven't heard yet the newest directions in music ... not only concrete or electronic
experiments but also pointillism are not known here. ... Poland has not gone through the
dodecaphonic stage of constructing works on the basis of serial ordering of notes. We can either
skip this stage or we will produce something that is ours, something that to some degree will
conform to the needs of our composers. 90
Indeed, in parallel with the process of rapid assimilation of Western avant-garde

achievements, Polish avant-garde composers began to develop a style that by the late
1950s would become a specifically Polish phenomenon labelled sonorism, a concept
introduced into Polish musicology by Chominski in 1956. It is important to note that the
initial use of the term was neither familiar to composers nor did it refer specifically to the
Polish avant-garde. In retrospect, by describing particular processes and tendencies in
20th century art music in a prophetic way, Chominski indicated the direction Polish music
would develop over the next few years.
In April 1956, the monthly music magazine Muzyka became a scholarly journal and the
following year the fortnightly magazine Musical Movement (Ruch Muzyczny) resumed
activity after an eight-year gap, reporting on revitalised musical life in Poland.
works- divided into Polish and Non-Polish- performed at the Warsaw Autumn 1956- 1961. Thomas,
Polish Music Since Szymanowski, 321-331.
89
90
Zygmunt Mycielski, 'Kryteria i gusty' [Criteria and tastes], Przeglqd ku/turabry 5 (8-14 November
1956): 6, also quoted in Thomas, Polish Music Since Szymanowski, 89.
33
The inauguration of the International Jazz Festival in Sopot, later moved to Warsaw and
named Jazz Jamboree by Leopold Tyrmand, transformed the role of jazz music in the
country and became the biggest jazz festival in Europe. 91 Jazz attracted a substantial
following after 1956 and was transformed from a form of entertainment in the first years
after the war to being suppressed and regarded as yet another bourgeois symbol during
the Stalinist era, to being part of the new radicalism. 92 Jarz~bska notes:
The generation of Polish musicians born during the 1930s was interested equally in the musical
avant-garde and Jazz. Outstanding Jazz musicians of that generation, leaders of their own
ensembles (for instance Komeda, Kurylewicz, Milian, Wroblewski, Namyslowski, Nahorny,
Seifert and Stanko) had professional training, played more than one instrument and didn't treat
Jazz as an entertainment but rather as a specific form of music making often comparable with
actual trends in the avant-garde. 93
As with the Warsaw Autumn, Jazz Jamboree provided a platform of exchange for Polish
and American jazz musicians. From 1958 under the banner 'Jazz in Philharmonia'
composers such as Schaeffer, Kilar and Penderecki presented works which combined jazz
elements with orchestral music. 94 The equivalent of Ruch Muzyczny for jazz fans were the
monthly Jazz and Zeszyty jazzowe (Jazz books).
Another important event at around this time (November 1957) which gave birth to
electronic music in Poland was the establishment of the first Eastern European
Experimental Studio, the result of the initiative of acoustic engineer and musicologist
J6zef Patkowski (1929-2005). 95 The first piece realised in the Studio was music by
Kotm1ski for the animated film by Hanna Bielinska and Wlodzimierz Haupe, Or the
fish ... (Albo rybka ... ), which gave rise to the first music concrete composition by a Polish
91
Alicja Jarz~bska, Sp6r o pi~k:no muzyki. Wprawadzenie do kultury muzycznej XX wieku [Dispute about
the Beauty of Music. An Introduction to the Musical Culture of the 20th Century] (Wroclaw: Wydawnictwo
Uniwersytetu Wroclawskiego, 2004), 269.
92
'The numerous jazz clubs were affiliated under the Polish Federation of Jazz Clubs, later the Polish Jazz
Federation, and in the end as Polish Jazz society.' Ibid.
93
Ibid., 270-271.
94
Ibid., 270.
95
J6zefPatkowski was a director of the Experimental studio until 1985. For more details see Wlodzimierz
Kotm\ski, Muzylw Elektroniczna [Electronic Music] (Krakow: PWM, 2002), 34-43.
34
composer: Concrete Study on one cymbal stroke, (Etiuda konkretna najedno uderzenie w
talerz) by Kotm1ski.
As international contacts with the West dramatically increased after 1956, Polish works
began to be performed in greater numbers in the West. In October 1956, Poland joined
the Music Council of UNESCO International Tribunal of Composers Competition in
Paris. 96 It was a major step towards the dissemination abroad of newly composed works
and this was further increased by reactivation the following year of the Polish division of
the International Society for Contemporary Music (SIMC), suspended in 1950. 97 The
advancement of Polish composition was reflected in the list of prizes awarded by the
UNESCO competition. In 1959, Lutoslawski and Baird shared a prize for Funeral Music
and Four Essays, in 1960 Bacewicz received third prize for Music for Strings, Trumpets
and Percussion (1958) and in 196 I Penderecki 's Threnody for the Victims of Hiroshima
(1960) was awarded fourth prize.
In 1957, for the first time a group of Polish composers, Kilar, Dobrowolski, Kotonski,
Markowski, Schaeffer, Serocki and Patkowski, was able to visit the Darmstadt Summer
Courses during which they heard for the first time Boulez's Le Marteau sans maitre,
Varese's Integrales, Nono's ll Canto sospeso and Stockhausen's Klavierstiick XI,
Zeitmasse and Gesang der Jiinglinge. As Kilar recalls:
In 1957 I went with my collegues- Kazimierz Serocki, Andrzej Markowski, Jan Krenz, Andrzej
Dobrowolski and W!odzimirz Kotonski - to Darmstadt where for the first time we've met
Stockhausen, Luigi Nono and the whole Darmstadt society .... My fascination with this trend was
96
Earlier Panufnik was elected to the UNESCO Music Council but was not granted permission to travel:
'In 1950 I was elected Vice-President of the Music Council of UNESCO together with Arthur Honneger.
Though the Ministry of Culture delightedly accepted the honour for Poland, I was never allowed a passport
to take up any invitations to attend conferences or visit the headquarters in Paris.' Andrzej Panufnik,
Composing Myse!f(London: Methuen, 1987), 194.
97
During 1951-1958, as Bylander notes, the works performed at the SIMC festivals were of composers
who left Poland and were lining in Western Europe: Roman Haubenstock, Roman Palester, Michal Spisak,
Antoni Szalowski and Alexander Tansman. Bylander, 'The Warsaw Autumn International Festival of
Contemporary Music ... ,• 42.
35
very short lived and even before Dannstadt I wrote my only piece under its influence - Oda 'Bela
BartOk in memoriam '98
The benefits of participating at Darmstadt courses went beyond simply hearing the
Western avant-garde works to taking part in discussions and meeting other composers.
Zielinski suggested that perhaps Serocki's compositional output from the late 1950s best
reflects the impact of the Darmstadt experiences: Musica Concertante (1958, with
dodecaphonic and pointillistic technique) and Epizodes (1959, with spatial arrangement
of three percussion groups) directly point to Stockhausen's Gruppen. 99 For Kotor'iski,
hearing Varese's works for the first time opened a new whole way ofthinking. 100
The results of the shift in the cultural life of Poland, Chomir'iski's predictions and
Mycielski's hopes about the direction of Polish music were evident in the repertoire of
Polish composers presented from the second Warsaw Autumn onwards. 101 Indeed, during
the 1958 Festival, the focus was on contemporary music and 'that moment later was
considered as the birth of the Polish avant-garde.' 102 Amongst the Polish works written
between 1956 and 1958 the program included Gorecki's Epitaph (1958), Baird's String
Quartet (1957) and Four Essays (1958), and Kotor'iski's Chamber Music (1958),
Serocki's Musica concertante (1958) and Lutoslawski's Funeral Music (1958). The
highlight of the festival was the concert of electronic music and piano compositions. The
electronic music programme (introduced by Stockhausen) consisted entirely of recent
works receiving their Polish premier: Stockhausen's Gesang der Jiinglinge (1958),
Madema's Continuo for tape (1958), Berio's Perspectives for tape (1957), Pousseur's
Scambi (1957), and Eimert's Five pieces for tape, nos. 4 and 5 (1956). During the same
concert David Tudor premiered Cage's Music of Changes (1951) and Stockhausen's
Klavierstiick XI (1956). The vital and long awaited exchange between the West and East
was taking place with such interest that in 1957 and 1958, contemporary works
98
Klaudia Podobinska and Leszek Polony, Ciesz~ si~ darem zycia. Rozmowy z Wojciechem Kilarem [I am
happy with my gift of life. Conversations with Wojciech Kilar] (Krak6w: PWM, 1997), 28.
99
Ibid., 200
100
Wlodzimierz Kotonski, interview with author (Warsaw November II, 2005).
101
From 1958 Warsw Autumn Festival became an annual event.
102
Gwizdalanka and Meyer, Lutoslawski. Droga do mistrzowstwa, 9.
36
103
constituted almost half of Polish Philharmonic programs. The public interest in
contemporary music concerts is best reflected by concert attendance. Andrzej
Dobrowolski reported that during 18 concerts of the 1958 Warsaw Autumn the audience
reached 9409listeners. By 1964 this number had doubled. 104 The public's enthusiasm for
the 'forbidden fruit' as Dobrowolski remarked, awakened snobbery:
It was good form to be seen at Warsaw Autumn concerts and to be interested in new music . ...
With time snobbery was transformed into real interest, interest into knowledge and then
knowledge turned into connoisseurship. During the first years anything new and foreign was
applauded; with time, however, the public became choosy. The works were listened to with
concentration and attention, later on, at certain concerts the reaction was laughter and
whistling. 105
At the 1959 Warsaw Autumn, the younger generation of composers was represented by
Penderecki, with Strophes, and G6reck:i, with the premiere of Symphony no. I, '1959'.
The list of Polish premieres shifted towards the most recently written pieces: for instance
Szabelski's Improvisations, Szalonek's Wyznania (Confessions) and Baird's Espressioni
varianti, all composed in 1959. During the next three festivals, the Warsaw Autumn
audiences became familiar with the key members of the Polish avant-garde and would
have heard some of the core sonoristic repertoire. In the 1960 Warsaw Autumn, an
emblematic sonoristic work was presented: Penderecki's Dimensiones of Time and
Silence ( 1960-61 ). The same year G6reck:i premiered his colourful but still serial Scontri
(1960). The following year, 1961, upon his return from Paris, Kilar joined the avant-
garde with the premiere of a serial piece, Herbsttag (1960), influenced by Webern and
Kilar's most radical composition up to that point, though he later dismissed it. 106 At the
same festival Penderecki's Threnody for the Victims of Hiroshima (1960) and
Lutoslawsk:i's revised version of Jeux venitiens (1961) received their premieres.
Chomit\sk:i's response to the emerging Polish repertoire was immediate. In an article
103
104
Andrzej Dobrowolski, 'Wplyw festivali 'Warszawska Jesieri' na rozw6j i:.ycia muzycznego w Polsce,'
Muzyka 20. no. 3 (1975): 58-63.
1115
Ibid., 23.
106
Leszek Polony, Kilar. Z.ywiol i modlitwa (Krak6w: PWM, 2005), 83. Kilar regards Herbsttag as the
worst piece he wrote: 'to the marvelous poem by Herbsttag I wrote some dodecaphonic-pointillistic
nonsense piece.' Podobirlska and Polony, Ciesz~ si~ darem tycia. Rozmowy z Wojciechem Kilarem, 64.
37
published in 1961, he outlined the theoretical background to sonoristics and the main
areas associated with it. By 1962 the majority of the core sonoristic repertoire had already
been composed and premiered, and Warsaw Autumn continued to provide the first
platform on which a substantial number of works could be played for the first time. The
central role of the Warsaw Autumn Festival has often been emphasised in relation to the
achievements of the Polish avant-garde:
In fact it is difficult to imagine that the shift in compositional styles apparent in the output of many
of these composers between 1956-1961 would have occurred without the existence of the Warsaw
107
Autumn Festival.
After October 1956 freedom spread across all branches of arts. In Polish literature, poetry
in particular flourished. Amongst the poets who established themselves at this time were
Tadeusz Rozewicz (b. 1921) and the two Nobel Prize winners: Czeslaw Milosz (1911-
2004, Nobel Prize 1980) and Wislawa Szymborska (b.l923, Nobel Prize 1996). The
generation labeled after the magazine WspOlczesnosc {The Contemporary) came to the
surface and brought together the new comers as well as the writers who had made their
debuts before the Second World War but could not publish during the period of socialist
realism (Stanislaw Grochowiak, 1934-1976; Ernest Bryll, b. 1935; Miron Bialoszewski,
1922-1983; Zbigniew Herbert, 1924-1998). The new relationship with the West seemed
so promising that some writers such as S. Cat-Mackiewicz, Melhior Wankowicz, Zofia
Kossak-Szczucka, and Tadeusz Parnicki returned from exile. The work of novelist and
playwright, Witold Gombrowicz (1904-1969), who emigrated in 1939 and is regarded as
one of the finest and most influential Polish writers of the 20th century, became available
in Poland between 1956 and 1957. 108 The plays of Stanislaw Witkiewicz - 'Witkacy'
(1885-1939) - and Slawomir Mrozek (b. 1930) began to appear in the programs of avant-
garde theatres.
However, the liberal attitude towards the arts that Polish October had seemed to initiate
was not to last for long. While the second Warsaw Autumn in 1958 marks the birth of the
107
Bylander, 'The Warsaw Autumn International Festival of Contemporary Music ... ,' 548.
108
Glowit\ski, 'Polish Literature after 1956,' in Studies in Penderecki. 162.
38
I
Polish avant-garde, literature and other areas of public life experienced the return of
censorship as early as 1957. Symptomatic of upcoming repression was the closure of the
liberal periodical Po Prostu in October 1957 followed by the repression of outspoken
journalists in the newspapers. The government also imposed a tighter control on the film
industry by banning films that were not seen as appropriate. 109 At the peak of the musical
avant-garde, in 1961, novels by Hlasko, Iwaszkiewicz and Gombrowicz were no longer
available. The relative autonomy that universities had enjoyed since I 956 ended, along
with religious education in schools. 110
Of all the arts, only the new experiments in music were treated with any great measure of
tolerance by the government. By 1961 Warsaw Autumn was a highly successful event
that fulfilled an important function in communist propaganda:
... the Polish government must have believed that because music was primarily a non-verbal and
non-visual art, it could not express anti-Communist ideas or any other views that could be
construed as affecting the political stability of the country. 111
The continuation of the Warsaw Autumn Festival in presenting new experiments in music
appears to have been tolerated by the authorities not least because it demonstrated to the
West that artistic freedom was allowed behind the Iron Curtain. To a large degree it was
also proof of a sensible and flexible foreign policy. In his recollection of this period,
Kotonski stressed the leniency of the government and its selective approach in
implementing the Soviet's directives: 'for the good of the culture our political leaders
were more relaxed in implementing Soviet's policies; they did not take everything so
seriously as was done in the Czech Republic, East Germany or Hungary.' 112 After all, as
Kilar also remarked, 'everybody knew that Poland was the most jolly barrack in the
Eastern European block.' 113
109
For instance the film The Eight Day of the Week based on Blasko's book of the same name was
withdrawn from the Cannes Festival and subsequently banned until 1973. Bylander, 'The Warsaw Autumn
International Festival of Contemporary Music ... ,' 193-194.
110
Ibid., 194.
111
Ibid., 542.
112
Wlodzimierz Kotoriski, interview by author (Warsaw, November I I, 2005).
113
Wojciech Kilar, interview by author (DzierZ.oni6w, October, 29, 2005).
39
Many writers had already noted that the festival acted in its first few years as a barometer
for the state of Polish music in comparison with Western achievements, and
demonstrated the continuous advancement of Polish composition. In the early 1960s the
Warsaw Autumn was often the first platform on which compositional trends were noticed.
Then the excitement with the 'new' appeared gradually to fade. In 1964 Tadeusz
Zielinski in his review of the Festival wrote:
We got used to the fact that every Warsaw Autumn is a terrain for a significant event. An event
that excites, even shocks and is commented upon, widely discussed and is in the centre of
attention for all listeners at the festival. Determining its rank there are two (naturally intersecting)
factors: the degree of novelty (shock) and the degree of artistic value (dazzlement). In 1960, even
for the public, this came from GOrecki's Scontri, a year after from Torso by Bussotti and Threnody
by Penderecki, in 1962 Canon and String Quartet by Penderecki and Pithoprakta by Xenakis, then
finally Lutoslawski's Trois poemes d'Henri Michaux and Berio's Circles, and to a degree
Donatoni's Per Orchestra. And this year? I have an impression that the festival lacked a work
which would shock and dazzle at the same time ..... There lacked a work which would shake the
audience and force us to revise our own previous aesthetic notions, as was the case in previous
years.IJ4
Towards the end of the 1960s the sonoristic technique started to Jose its impetus. This
coincided with a tendency towards vocal-instrumental composition and the use of
religious subjects as a source of inspiration. This is certainly evident with the leaders of
the avant-garde. In 1966 Penderecki 'was accused of betraying the avant-garde' with his
St Luke Passion, a turning point in his composing career. 115 Gorecki's break from the
sonoristic phase is marked by Refrain ( 1965), followed by Ad Matrem (197 I). This move
from secular to sacred in music was paralleled by an increasing conflict between church
and state, and may be seen as a new phase in Polish music. At the same time,
commentators were emphasising the individualism of members of the avant-garde. For
example, after the 1966 Warsaw Autumn Kaczynski reflected that Gorecki (whose
Refrain was performed) 'represented not the avant-garde but himself, and concluded
with a rhetorical question: 'perhaps the Polish avant-garde gave the impression of not
114
Tadeusz A. Zielinski, 'Odkrycia i wydarzenia' (Discoveries and events), Ruch Muzyczny 8, no. 22 (15 -
30 November 1964): 6.
115
Mieczyslaw Tomaszewski, 'Listening to Penderecki,' in Studies in Penderecki vol. 2, 25.
40
being there because though reaching a higher degree of individualism it has ceased to
exist as a group?' 116 Indeed the issue of the individual and stylistic characteristics,
'fingerprints,' versus general sonoristic traits, 'footprints' within Polish avant-garde
works of the early 1960s (explored further in chapter 7) has often been a point of
contention. In 1975 Detlef Gojowy wrote:
Composers such as Witold Lutoslawski, Tadeusz Baird, Kazimierz Serocki, and Krzysztof
Penderecki were perceived as a group right from the beginning. This perception was in part due to
historical and cultural-political preconditions, which remain to be investigated. In 1956 Poland,
which until then had been cut off from world recognition, came to the fore suddenly and
unexpectedly, with evidence of its rich intellectual life, of which one had no inkling before that
point of time. In the wake of this sudden appearance, even areas of diversity may have taken on
the appearance of belonging together. 117
Consideration of the historical background serves here to unfold the canvas on which
cultural life was inscribed. The catastrophic destruction of the war years, the repression
of the early 1950s, followed by periods of freedom of expression after 1956 form the
backdrop for the remarkable resurgence of innovation and creativity during the sonoristic
years. Emphasizing the dynamics between the political and cultural events (including the
vital role of the Warsaw Autumn festival in the rise of the Polish avant-garde) which
provide a background to the emergence of the Polish avant-garde does not justifY
regarding the sonorist style as a purely political phenomenon, but it helps to explain why
such a movement could happen in Poland at that particular time. The next chapter focuses
on the term itself and surveys the literature on sonorism.
116
Kaczyrlski, 'Jesierl '66. Pierwsze rozpoznanie,' II.
117
Detlef Gojowy, 'Avantgarde in Polen,' Music und Bildung 12 (1975): 618-621, quoted in Mirka, The
Sonoristic Structuralism of Krzysztof Penderecki, 4.
41
Chapter 2
The Concept of Sonorism and Sonoristics
Jozef Chomiiiski and the Notion of Sonorism
Chomiiiski's initial use of the term sonoristic in 1956 predated the sonoristic repertoire of
the Polish avant-garde. 1 Taking a purely historical standpoint, Chomiilski elaborated on
the transformation processes in musical language of the late 191h and early 201h centuries.
He emphasised 'the points of connection between music of our century and the past
epochs, in which new sound qualities for the later 201h century sound structures appeared.
The new element of sound structure was the 'sonoristic quality of sound. ' 2 The term was
mainly used to describe particular processes and tendencies in 20'h century western art
music in which colour gained a dominating role within the work. The article did not aim
to address broadly the problems of 201h century compositional techniques but to trace
'only this line of the development of music, which opens new perspectives for the
future.' 3 In fact, with this article Chomiftski foresaw the development of Polish music for
the next decade.
Referring to the impressionistic repertoire as well as the music of Bartok and Stravinsky,
his main focus was on the enrichment of sound and the search for new sound qualities,
which Chorniftski saw as the major preoccupation of the early 201h century music,
subsequently continued by the Second Viennese School through Schoenberg and later
Berg and Webem. Further discussion on the sonoristic means and their part in shaping
the musical form independent of 'earlier architectural foundations' are signs of sonoristic
theory in embryo. Chominski cites the beginning of Stravinsky's Petrushka as an
example of the elaboration and enrichment of sound by building up the essential two-
1
Chominski, 'Z zagadnien techniki kompozytorskiej XX wieku,' 23-48.
2
Ibid., 26
3
Ibid., 48
42
layered structures: 'So called polyharmonic, bitonal, and polytonal structures are formed
and function on the same principle.' 4 In relation to the structural role of dynamics in the
music of Stockhausen and Boulez, Chominski distinguishes three kinds of juxtaposition
of dynamic planes, which create the following sonoristic structures:
1) Series which are dynamically unified horizontally, but varied when juxtaposed vertically
(as in Boulez's Structures Ia)
2) Structures based on the dynamically varied sound groups extracted from series (as in Boulez's
Structures I b, bars 20 to 25)
3) Series in which single sounds constitute separate dynamic levels (as in Boulez's Structures lc,
5
bars 36 to 41).
Particular attention is given to the functions of dynamics and articulation, and their new
roles in the enrichment of sound qualities. In this context Chominski indicates the
limitations of the terms coloristics and pointillism and their application to new music:
The term co/oristics is not very adequate: firstly, it has been adopted from another branch of art,
which is perceived by different senses; secondly, today it can no longer stand for all the sonoristic
means ... 'Pointillism'- is a non-musical term which suggests the visual image of the score and not
the actual sonic/real shape of the work 6
The point of departure for Chominski's notion of sonoristics in the early 1950s was the
premise that the real shape of musical composition depends on the actual sound and, as
Dzi«bowska noted, a new 'non a priori methodological approach to the composition ... a
way "from music to theory" and not other way around, as it has a place in didactic
practice. The subject of the investigation is the aural shape of the work.' 7
4
Chomit\ski, 'Z zagadniet\ techniki kompozytorskiej XX wieku,' 32
'Ibid., 42
6
Ibid., 36.
Elzbieta Dzi~bowska, 'Koncepcja realnego ksztaltu dziela muzycznego' [The concept of the real shape of
7
the musical work], Muzyka 24, no. 4 (1979): 14.
43
Early responses to Chomiiiski's article
The historical aspect of this article along with its critical approach to the existing
analytical methods and terminology had enormous significance in terms of later writings
on the subject and impact on the musicological awareness in Poland. The sonoristic
aspect of 20th century music immediately sparked an interest from other Polish
musicologists. One of the immediate responses was Malinowski's article on
Szymanowski's Myths published in 1957 in which the author derives the noun form -
8
sonoristics [sonorystyka]. The problem of terminology and the use of the term
coloristics are addressed at the outset; the historical aspect of Chominski's writings and
the separation of the two dialectically bound terms are strongly manifested in
Malinowski's whole theoretical introduction to the study:
The term sonoristics is widely used to substitute 'sound coloristics.' Coloristics describes such
musical processes, which operate on the sound color. This is realised through the use of various
instrumental and vocal timbres and is a point of departure for a specific compositional discipline:
orchestration/instrumentation . . . . The term has also been used in relation to other elements,
especially harmony. Here we are talking about 'coloristic significance' of certain harmonic
progressions. This is stepping into a sphere of an element with terminology, which does not
belong to it. The problem lies in the investigation of new music using old terminology ...
If we agree that, according to the tradition that •coloristics • refers to the means of using the
instrumental timbres, the division between •coloristics• and •sonoristics• (which takes into account
overall sound phenomena) is necessary and imposed by the actual (realny) compositional
9
technique of the last ten years.
Malinowski argues that while in Szymanowski's Myths harmony is a factor regulating the
form, there are new vertical structures which operate on different principles from those of
functional harmony and are closer to the whole sphere of purely sound quality.
Sonoristics is defined by Malinowski as a compound element of a musical work which
8
Wladyslaw Malinowski, 'Problem sonorystyki w Milach Szymanowski ego' [The problem of sonoristics
in Myths by Szymanowski], Muzyka 2, no. 4 (1957): 31-44.
9
Ibid., 31-32.
44
operates on three elements: selection of sounds, instrumental timbre and aspects of the
realisation of sonorities by sound generators (including articulation).
Prosnak's response in 1958 to Chominski's writings develops a sonoristic analysis of

two-dimensional sound structure in Chopin's Studies. 10 In his theoretical introduction to
the analysis, Prosnak also adopted the noun form - sonoristics - being 'an aspect of a
musical structure freely developed horizontally as well as vertically, and formed by all
elements relating to timbre.' 11 According to Prosnak, timbre is conditioned by pitch,
volume (dynamics), density (relating to vertical structure and the mass of sounds), spatial
disposition (spatial aspects of vertical and horizontal structures), colour (instrumentation)
and saturation (number of sounds in vertical structures). 12 In his theoretical background
to the analysis of Chopin's Studies, Prosnak introduces new terminology related to
sonoristics. First, in his systematization of timbre according to their kinetic criteria
Prosnak discusses a number of categories of timbre in both horizontal and vertical planes.
These two planes form the two dimensional sound structure which can be qualified as
'constantly homogeneous (stale jednorodna), variably homogeneous (zmiennie
jednorodna), constantly combinatorial (stale kombinatorial) and variably combinatorial
13
(zmiennie kombinowana).' Secondly, the timbre already determined according to
kinetic criteria can be examined according to the dynamics as active, passive or
indifferent. Under the heading 'dynamics of sound timbre' Prosnak divides sonoristic
means which are dynamically strong, weak and indifferent. Finally the last part of the
article deals with the form which, according to Prosnak, falls into one of the three
categories: 'sonoristic stagnation, sonoristic periodical development and free sonoristic
formation.' 14
Prosnak' s attempt to apply and extend Chominski' s initial ideas to much earlier repertoire
did not develop into a theory, nor did it have much resonance in the musicological
10
Antoni Prosnak, 'Zagadnienie sonorystyki na przykladzie etiud Chopina' [The notion of sonoristics on
the example of Chopin's Studies!, Muzyka 3, no. 1·2 (1958): 14-32. Although Malinowski used
'sonoristics' earlier, in 1957, Chomiriski acknowledged Prosnak's use of the term.
11
Prosnak, 'Zagadnienie sonorystyki na przykladzie etiud Chopina,' 14.
12
Ibid.
13
Ibid., 15-20.
14
Ibid., 29-32.
45
literature, except for the fact that Chominski in his later writings acknowledged Prosnak
when he used the term 'sonoristics.'
Towards tbe Theory of sonoristics: Cbomiiiski's subsequent writings
Chominski' s notion of sonorism starts to crystallize in his subsequent writings. In an

article from 1961 Chominski draws attention to the distinction already drawn between
colorism and sonorism: 15
.. .the line of the development of 20th century music follows in the direction of pure sound
technique, even though this does not always mean enrichment of coloristic aspect of a piece.
It is essential that the point of departure for creative work is not in abstract structures
suggested by harmony, counterpoint even by authors of works on the 12-tone technique, but in the
16
actual sound [realne brzmienia], associated with specific sound sources.
There are six areas which Chominski considered crucial in the concept of sonoristics:
technology of sound, rationalization of time, horizontal structures, vertical structures,
sound transformation and continuum of form. Using sonoristic technique, which may be
defined as a technique based on the 'real' sound of the work, priority is given to the mode
of generation or origin of a sound source (overall technology of sound). 17 In later writings,
Chominski expanded on each of these areas. However, even by this point (1961) the
initial theoretical background together with its analytical implications had already been
laid out.
In relation to the rationalisation of time, which includes rhythmic/metric issues and

agogics, 18 Chominski divides the structures into monochronic (structures which maintain
the same time unit) and polychronic (structures characterised by changes in time unit).
Amongst the horizontal structures there are unified structures (for example melodies) and
15
J6zefChomh\ski, 'Technika sonorystycznajako przedmiot systematycznego szkolenia' [Sonoristics as a
subject of systematic schooling], Muzyka 6, no. 3 (1961): 3-10.
16
Chominski, 'Technika sonorystycznajako przedmiot systematycznego szkolenia,' 3-4.
17
Sound source [Zr6dlo brzmienia] in German k/angquel/e/klangkouroe and in French corps sonore does
not have a natural equivalent in English.
18
Agogics used in Polish musicology relates to all issues relating to time (tempo).
46
selective structures (for example pointillist structures); the former are governed by
melodic rules, while the latter are constructed using a selective process of single sounds
or sound complexes. In this context Chominski again criticizes the term 'pointillism,'
which 'apart from the purely superficial characteristics, does not reflect the essence of the
horizontal structures.' 19 Therefore horizontal structures should be viewed in terms of the
complexity of elements such as agogics, rhythm and widely diversified articulation, all of
which influence the formal development. 2° Chomii1ski divides vertical structures into
homogenic (forming one plane) and heterogenic (comprising two or more planes). Taking
an historical standpoint, the change in the role of harmony is emphasised. Harmony in
sonoristic music becomes only one of the elements influencing the structure. Finally the
form, 'being a manifestation of logic, based on economical disposition of expressive
means' is seen by Chominski, as the weakest side of 20th century music. In the context of
new music he discussed two kinds of form: one that has no justification in its historical
continuation (for example sonata form) and other forms that allow for new sound
techniques (for example rondo, variations). It is the latter that allows for sonoristic
shaping of the work (sonorystyczne uksztaltowanie dziela) and attempts to create
possibilities for 'logical disposition of sonoristic means.' 21 The spatial element of
performing forces also becomes an important element in sonoristic technique. The
multidirectional (stereo) use of performing forces in particular allows for 'a segmentation
of the work that opens the whole range of possibilities for sonoristic shaping of the
work.' 22 Apart from serial and rhythmic means to shape the form Chominski also
mentions experiments with aleatory techniques. Although the formal considerations here
are not fully explored, they point to new elements and new techniques that play a
structural role.
19
Chominski, 'Technika sonorystycznajako przedmiot systematycznego szkolenia,' 7.
20
'Quite often not only an average listener, but musicians, and more amazingly, theoreticians taking up
analysis of the 20~ century works, apart from superficial characteristics of series ( .... inversion, crab [rak))
cannot cope with its essential musical characteristics, with processes of tension, consequential form
development conditioned by agogics, rhythm and widely diversified articulation.' Chominski, 'Technika
sonorystycznajako przedmiot systematycznego szkolenia,' 7.
21
Chomitlski, 'Technika sonorystycznajako przedmiot systematycznego szkolenia,' 9.
22
Ibid., I 0
47
In this preliminary discussion on sonoristic technique Chominski referred to early 20th
century works by Varese, Stravinsky, Schonberg, Webem and Messiaen. These works
not only provided a departure point in the context of intensifying the search for new
sonorities and new treatment of timbre, but also provided significant and tangible points
of connection with the past.
In subsequent writings published in 1968, however, Chominski dealt with sonoristic

technique in tenns of works written in the late 1950s and early 1960s exclusively by
Polish composers.Z 3 He pointed to changes in Polish music between 1958 and 1960:
The essence of such changes lies in the fact that an interest in sonorous qualities as the main
means of expression came to predominate as an important structural device at the time.24
The previously introduced tenn 'sonoristic' used to describe the new trend is
interchangeable with the adopted derivative noun fonn, 'sonoristics,' to describe a sound
technique. At the outset Chominski justifies the use of this tenn:
... although the term has been accepted, its origin is not coincidentaL It comes from French (sonore)
and is justified by the fact that the French have already for some time been exceptionally sensitive
25
to sound qualities of a musical composition.
The focus on the structural function of sonorous means brought a major shift in the
approach to the structure of a musical work and became the key element in the definition
of a sonoristic work. The six areas related to sonoristic technique that Chominski
elaborated in his 1961 article are here expanded and further developed. The tenn
'structure' dominates Chominski's discussion on sonoristic technique. The horizontal and
vertical are further subdivided into cohesive (continuous - melodic) and non-cohesive
(isolated sounds as in pointillistic textures), and vertical structures are subdivided into
traditional (using 'principles of shaping melody') and modern (eg. static sounds). Some
23
See note 18 (Introduction).
24
Chominski, 'Udzial polskich kompozytor6w w ksztahowaniu nowoczesnego j~zyka muzycznego,' trans!.
Maria Paczynska [The Contribution of Polish Composers to the Shaping of a Modem Language in Music]
in Polish Musicological Studies I, ed. by Zofia Chechlinska and Jan St~szewski eds.,), 167.
25
Chominski, 'Udzial pol skich kompozytor6w w ksztahowaniu nowoczesnego j~zyka muzycznego,' 127.
48
of these categories were adopted by many writers who were subsequently to discuss the
post-war avant-garde repertoire. The fact that Chominski in the 1968 article based his
theoretical elaborations exclusively on the Polish repertoire of the 1960s resulted in
sonoristics being seen as a 'Polish phenomenon.'
Chominski' s writings on sonoristic technique gave rise to many interpretations. Only a

year after Chominski's extended writings on the sonoristic technique were published
(1968), Zofia Lissa summarised the mis/uses and misunderstandings of the term:
Sonoristics embrace such diverse kinds of music such as Varese, Pousseur, Berio, Nono, some
works ofBoulez, amongst Polish composers- G6recki, Penderecki, Kilar,- and from the youngest
T. Sikorski, Z Rudzinski and others. This term from its first use became a carry bag for everything
6
in contemporary trends that cannot be labeled otherwise?
The variety of music referred to by Chominski, especially in relation to the search for
new sound, may be the cause of 'sonoristic(s)' being often loosely used as a convenient
label for a variety of works. However, in this context it is important to note Chominski's
comment that 'many Polish compositions, therefore, are not distinguished by a pure
sonoristic technique.' 27 Chominski also clearly emphasised the distinction between the
purely sonoristic pieces and the ones which mixed sonoristic elements with traditional
structures, for example those that used harmonic and melodic foundation.
In such cases, it is not even advisable to make use of the latest terminology, which should apply
to a new type of musical form. This undoubtedly makes more difficult an analysis of the
composition, since its various passages are to differing degrees connected with traditional and
more modem technical means (for example, Gra.Zyna Bacewicz's 'Concerto No. 2 for Violoncello
and Orchestra)."
Parallel to the development of Polish music is the transformation in the terminology in

Chominski's writings related to sonoristics. Beginning with the introduction of the
26
Zofia Lissa, 'Analiza repertuaru "Warszawskich Jesieni"' [The analysis of the Warsaw Autumn
Repertoire!, Muzyka 14, no. 3 (1969): 52.
Chominski, 'Wklad kompozytor6w polskich do rozwojuj~zyka sonorystycznego,' 205.
27
28
Ibid.
49
adjectival form, 'sonoristic,' followed by the use of the noun form, 'sonoristics,'
Chominsk:i in 1983 eventually arrived at the new branch of knowledge, 'sonology,'
defined as 'a branch of experimental musicology in which sonoristic technique as its
essential part uses purely colouristic qualities of sound material as means of artistic
29
creation.' The terminology is bound up with the compositional processes: sonoristic
technique, sonoristic regulation of the creative process, sonologically regulated music.
This modification of terminology eventually excluded 'sonoristics' entirely from
Chominsk:i's vocabulary in his late writings. One of the possible reasons may be the fact
that Chominsk:i was responding to the changes in contemporary music. When sonoristic
technique began to lose its appeal, Chominski's focus needed to be redirected. In
replacing 'sonoristic technique' with 'sonoristic regulation' Chominsk:i shifts the
emphasis to the technological side of structural processes. The elements of 'sonoristic
regulation' are:
I. The use of new ways of creating sounds and articulation on traditional instruments
2. Generating sound material by using electroacoustic and electronic instruments
3. Transformation of already existing material by using electroacoustic and electronic instruments
4. Combining traditional with electroacoustic and electronic instruments
5. Combining material generated on traditional and other means with material from electroacoustic
and electronic instruments
The formation processes are conditioned by the choice of sound material. Thus there are
three basic kinds of composition regulated sonoristically:
1. works using the possibilities of traditional instrumentation

2. works formed by using electroacoustic and electronic instruments
3. traditional instruments combined with electronic instrumentation
In his chapter 'Basis of Music Sonology,' written in 1983, Chominsk:i concentrates on the
sound source with electronics as a major focus. The sonoristic repertoire from the 1960s
29
J6zef Chominski and Krystyna Wilkowska-Chominska, 'Podstawy sonologii muzycznej,' in Formy
Muzyczne, vol. I (Krakow: PWM, 1983), 126-153, quoted in Lindstedt, 'Teoria sonologii muzycznej J6zefa
Michala Chominskiego,' 37.
50
is not a major focus and is discussed in the wider context of pieces by other 20th century
composers such as Stockhausen and Varese. 30
Resonance: Writings from 1970s and 1980s
Chominski's concept of sonoristics was welcomed in musicological circles and

31
announced as 'one of the most radical music theories.' Bristiger summed up
Chominski's writings on sonoristics and its impact as follows:
Chomiflski's sonoristics came to dominate musicological literature and significantly influenced

the whole musical scene including theorists and music historians. It has not only become a tool
for argumentation and exorcisms of music criticism but also has made its impact in the field of
compositional invention. 32
Dzi«bowska, elaborating on Chominski's concept of sonoristics and the analytical

methods leading to it, pointed out an important aspect of Chominski' s methodological
approach that is an approach 'from music to theory.' Thus the basis for musicological
investigations is the 'real shape' of the work based on what is heard rather than what is
seen. By referring to Lutoslawski's comment that 'in [his] works a defined sound image
is always a primary intent' she stressed the role of notation being not more than 'a
projection of creative intent of a composer.' 33 This aspect of 'seen' versus 'heard,' is
often explored and commented upon in analyses of sonoristic pieces, as will be
demonstrated in the present study. Despite the fact that some terms Chominski introduced
are not precisely defined, Di«bowska regards Chominski' s notion of sonoristics as a
3
°For detailed summary of Chominski's later writings see Iwona Lindtsted, 'Teoria sonologii muzycznej
J6zefa Michala Chomir\skiego' [J6zefMichal Chomir\ski's Theory of Music Sonology], Muzyka 51, no.l-2
(2006): 33-84.
31
Michal Bristiger 'Reflections on the article by J. Vinton Change of opinions' [Zmiana poglad6w], Res
Facta. no. 8 (1977): 187. Quoted in Elzbieta Dzi~bowska, 'Koncepcja realnego ksztahu dziela
muzycznego' [The concept of the real shape of the musical work], Muzyka 24, no.4 (1979): 7.
32
Ibid., I 87, quoted in Dzi~bowska, 'Koncepcja realnego ksztaltu dziela muzycznego,' 15.
33
Lutoslawski said: 'In my works the sonic vision is of primary importance.' Wito1d Lutoslawski, '0
rytmice i organizacji wysokoS:ci dzwictk6w w technice komponowania z zastosowaniem ograniczonego
dzialania przypadku,' Spotkania muzyczne w Baranowie, zesz. 1: Muzyka w kontekScie ku/tury, ed. Leszek
Polony, (Krakow, 1978), quoted in Dzi~bowska, ibid., 'Koncepcja realnego ksztahu dziela
muzycznego,'l4.
51
theory which 'does not imply a closed system but inspires a search for new analytical
methods.' 34 Indeed various responses to Chomii1ski's sonoristics clearly demonstrate this.
Many of the subsequent significant contributions to the sonoristic period in Polish music
depend on Chomiiiski's theoretical and analytical investigations. The early writings of
Antoni Poszowski capture the main points. 35 Sonoristics for Poszowski is a tendency
which above all influences the structure of the work. According for Poszowski sonoristics
stands for 'sound characteristics and purely "sonoristic" technique.' Sonoristics 'includes
all aspects of timbre and its realisation, and constitutes a primary structural element in a
work in which timbral qualities are the source of technical rules.' 36
Poszowski' s understanding of sonoristics implies a new way of composers' thinking in

which timbral aspects govern the creative process. Although this article predates
Chomiiiski's extended work on sonoristic technique from 1968, Poszkowski's view is
firmly grounded in Chomiiiski's earlier writings.
In his monograph, Polish Composition 1945-1984 [Polska tw6rczosc kompozytorska

1945-1984], composer and writer, Krzysztof Baculewski, offers, for the first time since
Chomiiiski's analytical writings, a comprehensive view of the period in Polish music
37
between 1956 and 1976. The chapter, 'Towards sonoristics,' provides not only an
historical perspective, and a wider European context for Polish music, but also a
discussion on the role of serialism and pointillism as precursors of sonoristic technique.
Both of these aspects of the pre-sonoristic period are essential in terms of the borders of
the sonoristic period and understanding of the line of development that Polish music took
after 1956. In his examination of the period, Baculewski also offers an answer to an
Dzi~bowska, ibid., 15.

34
35
Antoni Poszowski, 'Zagadnienie sonorystycznej techniki hannonicznej,' Zeszyty Naukawe PWSM in
Sopot, Z. III, Sopot, 1967, quoted in Kostrzewska, Sonorystyka, (Poznan: Ars Nova, 1994), 14-15.
36
Ibid.
37
Krzysztof Baculewski, Polska tw6rczosc kompozytorska 1945-1984 [Polish Composition 1945-1984]
(Krakow: PWM, 1984), 159-279. The revised edition of this book appeared in 1996 as the first of the two
volumes devoted to contemporary music which constitutes a part of the larger series on the history of
Polish music published in Polish and English: Krzysztof Baculewski, Historia Muzyki Polskiej, tom VII:
Wsp6/czesnosc 1: 1939-1974 [History of Polish Music, vol. 7: Contemporary, part 1: 1939-1974] (Warsaw:
Sulkowski Edition, 1996).
52
often-posed question in relation to Polish music, namely why it was that Polish
composers retreated from dodecaphony and serialism:
First of all Polish composers Jacked the understanding of the essence of dodecaphony which
reduced it to only an episode in the post war history of Polish music. When they did achieve a
level of understanding reflected by the technical achievements, dodecaphony and serialism were
already out of date. Later, when aleatorism was being discovered in European music, Polish
composers had little time to adopt the language proposed by seria1ism, the more so as aleatorism
and sonoristic technique opened new and more striking directions than complicated pre-
compositional procedures used in constructing and elaborating serial material. Therefore instead of
being preoccupied with opening the doors for a dated serialism, Poles reached for compositional
means that were hitherto unexplored and creative. Only between 1955-57, were dodecaphony and
serial ism new and symptomatic of modem language in Poland. Later their roles were fulfilled by
search in sonorism and aleatorism. 38
Baculewski's main preoccupations in his analytical discussion are the sonoristic

technique and other experimental devices used in Polish music between 1956 and 1976,
hence the large number of works written in this period referred to. These include the core
sonoristic repertoire as well as works that are outside of sonorism but contain some
sonoristic means or effects and technical devices, for instance Penderecki' s St Luke
Passion (1966), Marek Stachowski's Neusis II (1968) and Serocki's Swinging Music
(1970). To deal with Polish repertoire written after 1956, Baculewski borrowed
substantially from Chominski's terminology and elaborated further on Chominski's
analytical categories, for example, polygeneous and homogeneous sounds, transformation
processes, and monochronic and polychronic time regulation. The experimental attitude
of Polish composers is discussed in an extended section on new types of articulation. The
roles of melody, polyphony, instrumental texture, the use and types of clusters, aleatoric
techniques and spatial aspects complete his discussion. According to Baculewski, the
term 'sonoristics' adequately reflects the essence of the trend. Straight away, taking
Chominski' s writings as a base, Baculewski captures and emphasises the main
characteristics of a typical sonoristic piece:
38
Baculewski, Historia Muzyki Polskiej, tom VII: Wsp6/czesnosc 1: 1939-1974,265.
53
[sonoristics] was adopted in the theory of music and refers to a compositional technique in which
sonorous means take the lead. Their hegemony is reflected in the aesthetic, expressive as well as
structural planes. In sonoristic technique the point of departure - in contrast to dodecaphony and
even pointillism - is fundamentally shifted and the musical elements are in a different relation to
each other.( ... ) Rules of Harmony and counterpoint cease to function and thus the role of melodic
(and harmonic) elements is weakened. 39
Sonorism revisited: after 1990
The early 1990s saw a major revival of interest in sonorism in Polish musicological
literature, ranging from short articles and book chapters to public debates and doctoral
dissertations. Sonorism as a period in Polish music and as an aesthetic category was taken
up by the younger generation of scholars, composers and senior scholars.40
Among English-language publications, sonorism, together with serialism and aleatorism,

is discussed by Lidia Rappoport-Gelfand in her book Musical life in Poland. The Postwar
Years 1945-1977, published in 1991. 41 Her analytical commentary always invokes a
cultural context which also reflects an understanding of the Polish culture:
At the beginning of the 1960s, Polish musical art was already developing under the banner of
sonorism. Dodecaphony was to some degree an alien phenomenon. Sonorism, on the other hand,
was much more compatible with certain deeply rooted features of Polish musical culture. The
stability of sonorism, its all·inclusive character, its omnipresence and various manifestations can
all be attributed to that fact. 42
Rappoport-Gelfand views sonorism as 'one of the wide-spread stable phenomena that

influenced the national school of Polish composers of the post-war period' and
encompasses a wide range of styles. 43 Following Malinowski's view, Rappoport-Gelfand
sees the roots of sonorism in the music of Szymanowski ('Polish colorism ') and points to
39
Ibid., 269.
40
Opcje [Options] devoted a number of articles in 1993 and 1994 to Witold Szalonek including an
interview with the composer 'Wok61 sonoryzmu' [Around Sonorism].
41
This book, as her previous article from 1983, is a translation from Russian: Lidia Rappoport-Gelfand,
Musical life in Poland The Postwar Years 1945-1977 (New York: Gordon and Breach, 1991).
42
1bid., 68
43
Lidia Rappoport-Gelfand, Musical life in Poland The Postwar Years 1945-1977, 68.
54
early influences such as Vari:se. Sonorism, according to Rappoport-Gelfand, 'is a special
system of musical expression in which the colour of sound acquires an all encompassing
meaning: it becomes the sum-total of timbre, coloristic, textural and rhythmic-harmonic
sides of musical language.' 44 She asserts that when not only confined to Polish
composers and a narrow time frame, sonorism, understood as a means to gain 'specific
imagery,' may also be found in the works of Messiaen, Denisov and Kancheli. Another
facet of sonorism includes the works of Penherski and Sikorski in which sonorism
'acquires neo-constructionist traits, when the phonic-acoustical system is invented and
arrived at through calculation.' 45 She also points out that many sonoristic traits were used
alongside equally with other expressive means. From an historical point of view,
sonorism, according to Rappoport-Gelfand, was not only a reaction against the strict rules
of serial ism, but also 'a specific form of protest against all manner of limitations. ' 46 This
observation certainly confirms Penderecki's statement in relation to form in sonoristic
works:
I was not interested in using mathematical formulas for my music because I didn't think it was the
way for music. In pieces like Threnody, Polymorphia, Fluorescences, the form became free, it was
an evolutional form. Maybe it was a reaction to another form of political dictatorship and
totalitarian domination, which my colleagues and I disagreed with in post-war Poland.47
After introducing the term and relating it to Chomil\ski's writings, most attention is given
to the works of Penderecki and Gorecki; however, Rappoport-Gelfand also mentions
Serocki, Kilar, Szalonek, Rudzinski, Bujarski, Penherski and Krauze. While early signs
of coloristic and expressionistic quality are found in Penderecki's Emanations for two
string orchestras {1958), her list of Penderecki's 'sonoristic expressionism' is by no
means comprehensive. Significant and widely discussed pieces such as Dimensions of
Time and Silence for chorus and orchestra {1960-61) and the String Quartet {1960) are
not listed alongside other works from the early 1960s such as Anaklasis for percussion
44
Lidia Rappoport-Gelfand, Musical life in Poland. The Postwar Years 1945-1977, 68.
45
Ibid., 69.
46
Ibid.
47
Richard Dufallo, Trackings. Composers Speak with Richard Dufal/o (New York: Oxford University
Press, 1989), 344.
55
ensemble and string orchestra (1960), To the Victims of Hiroshima - Threnody for 52
strings (1960), Polymorphia for 48 strings (1961), Fluorescences for large orchestra
(1961) and the Canon for two string orchestras and two tapes (1962). 48
An historical perspective is also observed in relation to Gorecki's music, but much less so
than in relation to Penderecki' s sonoristic output: ' [Gorecki's] sonoristic aesthetic grew
out of resistance to post-Webernism, an influence he did not escape in his early works.' 49
In underlining the particular features of Gorecki's sonorism as exemplified in the
Genesis cycle (1963), the author refers to the terminology introduced earlier by the critic
Krzysztof Droba, who defined this kind of sonorism as 'limited' or 'reduced'. She also
makes a valid point that is often made about Gorecki's association with minimal music:
Gorecki's method differs from that of minimal music for it is connected to the large scope of the
symphonic form, and is usually comprised of a row of sections. 50
The fact that sonorism as a concept and as a term did not cross the language barrier is
exemplified in Randolf Foy's study on Penderecki's works written between 1960 and
1973. Nowhere in his dissertation is sonorism used as a term alongside other terms, both
German and English, in relation to Penderecki's music:
A number of terms have been loosely employed to describe Penderecki's more experimental style:
'timbre music,' 'Farbenmusik,' 'cluster style,• 'sound-search approach,' and 'music of changing
color and density. ' 51
In his discussion ofPenderecki's works, Foy chose to use the term 'texture style.' Within
the indicated timeframe, he placed all sonoristic works beginning with Anaklasis
(regarded by some writers as an early sonoristic work) and ending on Fluorescences as
Period I. Period 2 begins with Stabat Mater (1963) and ends with Symphony no. I
(1973). The primary focus is on texture which Foy defines as follows:
48
Many erroneous dates of composition cited in her book have been corrected here.
49
Rappoport-Gelfand, Musical life in Poland The Postwar Years 1945-1977, 76.
50
Ibid., 77.
51
Randolf Foy, 'Textural Transformations: The Instrumental Music of Krzysztof Penderecki, 1960-1973,'
II.
56
A texture may be a distinctive combination of timbre, dynamics, articulation, and figuration in
which global characteristics take precedence over detail. Textures may be used motivically and
developmentally such that transformations of a texture may be heard as related to the original
presentation. 5 2
This broad definition encompasses five types of texture he discusses in Penderecki's

music: sustained sound, repetition, moving line, glissando and single short sounds, all of
which may undergo 'transformations such as augmentation or diminution, registral or
timbral variations or changes in dynamics.' 53 A number of general characteristics
observed in relation to Penderecki' s works written in the early 1960s are also present in
sonoristic pieces by other Polish composers. Foy's remark about the use of serial
principles supports the view that serial devices in sonoristic repertoire, particularly on the
structural level, are subordinate to sonoristic technique.
As an organizational principle, serial techniques applied to pitch are significant in Penderecki's

pieces only on the local level. 54
With regard to the characteristics of Penderecki's first period works (1960-1962), Foy
makes some important remarks in relation to texture. Firstly, in Penderecki's 'texture
style pieces' the emphasis is on the overall sound of the texture. What this means to the
listener is that 'the ear is directed to the perception of the overall shape and character of
the texture rather than individual sounds.' 55 Secondly, Foy points out that 'textures are
fashioned in ways that promote their clarity and individuality.' 56 This certainly helps to
distinguish one piece from another. Indeed, analysis of both the individuality and
distinctiveness of textures not only within Penderecki's works, but also across the
sonoristic repertoire in general, point to specific fingerprints of individual composers.
52
Foy, 'Textural Transformations: The Instrumental Music ofKrzysztofPenderecki, 1960-1973,' 22.
53
Ibid., 23.
54
Ibid., 27.
55
Ibid., 22-23.
56
Ibid.
57
Kostrzewska, in her PhD dissertation, tackles sonorism from a theoretical, historical and
compositional practice point of view. 57 The ultimate goal of her discourse is to consider
sonorism as an aesthetic category and 'evaluate the usefulness of sonoristic structures in
constituting the value of the work. ' 58 While sonorism as a contemporary compositional
practice is discussed in the context of Polish repertoire, sonorism as an aesthetic category
is also discussed on the basis of works by Debussy such as the Etude No. I 0 Pour les
sonorities opposees (1896-1901), Jeux (1912) and even the early work Printemps (1887).
In practical terms, Kostrzewska's analytical discussion revolves around compositional

methods typical of the sonoristic trend and focuses on structures 'intuitively regarded as
sonoristic' and defined as 'a fragment or more often as a system of relations within the
structures of the work. ' 59 The range of Polish repertoire that she regards as sonoristic
extends to works written up to 1980.60 Curiously, the list of music examples does not
include works widely regarded as typically sonoristic, such as Penderecki's
Fluorescences and Threnody, or Serocki's Symphonic frescoes, and no date of
composition is given for any of the works cited. Her analytical approach is based on the
previous theoretical elaborations of sonoristics, namely those of Chominski, Prosnak,
Malinowski and Baculewski. These include:
a) The appropriate choice of the musical material, articulation, harmony and dynamics (from
Chomii\ski).
b) Frequency, intensity and coloristics (from Prosnak).
c) Harmony, instrumental timbre, articulation and frequency (from Malinowski).
d) The contrast ofhomogenic and polygenic sounds, transformational processes (from
61
Baculewski).
57
Hanna Kostrzewska, Sonorystyka [Sonoristics], Poznan: Ars Nova, 1994. The first chapter on
terminology 'Poj~cie sonorystyki w polskiej mysli muzykologicznej' [The notion of sonoristics in Polish
Musicological Thought] appeared earlier in Muzyka 35, no. I (1990): 53-59.
58
Kostrzewska, Sonorystyka, 7.
59
Ibid., 20.
60
Amongst the later works Kostrzewska mentions pieces as diverse as, for example, Serocki's Fantasia
Elegiaca (1972), Ad libitum (1973-1977), Pianophonie (1976-78), Szalonek's Aarhus music (1970),
Schaeffer's Missa electronica (1976) and S'alto (1963). Curiously Schaeffer's 'sonorstic treatease'
Scultura is not featured in the list of examples accompanying the discussion on Sonorism in the Polish
compositional practice. Ibid.
61
58
The main question Kostrzewska attempts to answer is what compositional devices
constitute a 'sonoristic structure.' Priority is given to the coloristic aspects of the structure;
other elements such as 'rhythm, harmony, dynamics, articulation and coloristics though
to a different degree all contribute to the formation of various sonoristic structures; all
elements however are equal in forming sonoristic value.' 62 In tracing the use and various
interpretations of the term 'sonorism' in the Polish literature, Kostrzewska certainly
makes some valid observations and concludes that:
The notion of sonorism in Polish musicological thought is not unequivocal nor is it clearly
defined. Most composers and music critics use it almost casually and identify it with colorism or
timbre. The context in which 'sonoristics' appears allows for some interpretations. However,
these interpretations are usually free and diverse. A wider look at all the aspects of sonorism is
only touched upon by musicologists; so far there is no comprehensive theory of sonorism. 63
Kostrzewska regards sonorism as a trend symptomatic of 20'h century music rather than a
compositional technique tied down to a particular period in Polish music, hence the list of
sonoristic works includes compositions written not only well beyond 1970 but remains
open. 64 The range of repertoire referred to supports her own conclusion about a well-aired
problem surrounding the literature on sonorism:
... the exact point at which sonoristics begins to exist as an independent direction remains elusive.
The difficulty of clear definition is magnified by the fluid, often subjective boundaries between
65
works considered to be 'strictly' sonoristic and works merely containing sonoristic fragments.
Some of these issues, however, have indeed been addressed by the Polish musicologist
Krzysztof Droba in his paper 'Sonoristics: the Term, and the Range of the Notion. ' 66
Droba' s contribution is less technical. It emphasises the importance of Chominski' s
62
63
Ibid., 18.
64
Ibid., 29.
65
Ibid., 54.
66
Krzysztof Droba, Sonoristics. The term and range of the notion. IMS 16th International Congress.
(London, August 19, 1997).
59
notion of sonoristics and clearly delineates the time frame and phases of the sonoristic
period in Polish music:
The 1960s was a particular sonoristic phenomenon - a decade of sonoristic euphoria. The
beginning of the decade was violent and full of manifestos (the most famous being K.
Penderecki 's Threnody ~ For the Victims of Hiroshima 1960) whereas the end of the decade was
considerably more peaceful and restrained (H.M. Gorecki's Old Polish Music. 1969, sounded the
.
retreat stgna I) .67
Droba also lists works within the sonoristic repertoire which constitute a separate
category that he usefully labels as 'total sonorism' or 'sonoristic manifestos.' These terms
refer to works composed in the first half of the 1960s 'when sonorism was an innocent
and fresh occurrence full of the impetus to discover and conquer new unknown areas of
sound and colour. ' 68 The radical nature of these pieces, the lack of melodic and harmonic
elements and new textures are the salient features of a typical sonoristic piece from the
early 1960s. His list of 'sonoristic manifestos' includes the key works also considered in
the present study: Penderecki's Threnody- to the Victims of Hiroshima (1960), 1st String
Quartet (1960), Polymorphia (1961) and Fluorescences (1962); Schaeffer's Little
Symphony- Scultura (1960); Gorecki's Genesis I and II (1962-63) and Charas I (1964),
Kilar's Riff 62 (1962), Gem!rique (1963) and Diphtongos (1964), Serocki's Symphonic
Frescoes (1964) and Szalonek's Lessons (1965).
A number of articles published in the 1990s reflect, on the one hand, a renewed interest in
sonorism, and, on the other, perpetuate the same problematic issues and limitations
referred to above. In an inaugural issue of Dysonanse (Dissonances), a quarterly journal
devoted to 20th century music and other arts, sonorism is featured as a central subject. 69
The contributions include a debate between Iwona Szafranska (the journal's editor),
composers Pawel Szymanski and Stanislaw Krupowicz, and critic Andrzej Chlopecki, an
extended article by Maria Anna Harley on 'Sonorism and its European context,' and
67
Droba, Sonoristic. The term and range of the notion, 3.
68
Ibid., 4.
69
Dysonanse Pismo Muzyki Wsp6/czesnej [Dissonances, The Journal of Contemporary Music], based in
Katowice was first published in 1997 to celebrate the 40th Warsaw Autumn Festival. Regrettably the life of
Dysonanse was short and ended within a couple of years.
60
Chlopecki 's reflections on concepts and terms relevant to 20th century music (including
sonorism, eclecticism, epigonism, dodecaphony, atonality, avant-garde).
The main question of the debate is whether a Polish school really existed, and if so, who
were its leaders. All the participants in the debate use the term of the Polish school
interchangeably with 'sonorism.' For example, Chlopecki reduces the sonoristic
repertoire to just a few pieces:
...the alleged Polish school, that is sonorism, appears as a minority against the background of the
musical landscape of those times. Indeed these two or three works of the first Warsaw
70
Autumns ...
Indeed, determining who belongs to the 'Polish school' has always been a notorious point
of disagreement. Here Chlopecki excludes from the 'Polish syndrome' composers such as
Baird, Lutoslawski, Bacewicz and Szabelski and highlights some of the salient
characteristics of a sonoristic piece:
.. .this Polish syndrome is very specific. As a matter of fact, there are only a dozen or so works in
which the pitch and interval become of secondary importance; the priority is given to timbre as an
important element within texture and structure. Thus the unpitched and percussion textures
dominate ... Neither Baird, nor Lutostawski, nor Bacewicz, nor Szabelski did this. Therefore
they do not fit into what we call the Polish compositional school. 71
In his reflections on sonorism Chlopecki underlines the achievements of a limited range

of works and composers (Penderecki, Serocki and Szalonek). Two insightful comments
here relate to general form and electroacoustic music:
[Sonorisml - the notion introduced by J6zef Chomil\ski in relation to a few early scores by
Penderecki, Serocki and Szalonek became a cliche through which almost every manifestation of
70
'Czy istnieje polska szkola kompozytorska? Z Pawlem Szyma6skim, Stanislawem Krupowiczem,
Andrzejem Chlopeckim - rozmawia Iwona Szafra6ska' [Polish Compositional School - Does it exist?
Iwona Szafranska talks to Pawel Szymanski, Stanislaw Krupowicz and Andrzej Chlopecki], Dysonanse,
Special Issue, ( !997): 42.
71
Ibid.
61
sound colorism is meant to be explicable. It is symptomatic that in the popular understanding (if
there actually is popular discourse about sonorism ... ) it reaches back to Impressionists (read
Debussy), but it does not dare to encroach on the territory of klangfarbenmelodie of the Viennese
School. It is also symptomatic that the term was applied inherently to the idea of non-traditional
ways of articulation on traditiona1 instruments but it remained foreign to electroacoustic music,
which was the only one to substantially develop ideas of sonorism. The attempts to point out that
sonorism developed a particular form (segmental form, catalogue form) limits the notion in the
same way as does that of orthodox dodecaphony. Just as dodecaphony very quickly began to
serve various aesthetics (not excluding neoclassicism), so did sonorism serve a variety of forms
(without excluding a form of permanent variation, characteristic of dodecaphonists ). The existence
ofsonorism, which in practical terms can be identified with the Polish School of the early 1960s,
is perhaps as uncertain as that of the Polish School itself. Moreover, it is not very helpful that
Germans are not quite sure what to do with their equivalent of sonorism, that is,
Klangkomposition. 72
This view is supported by Szymanski who adds to the short list 'the emblematic works-
[Kilar's] Riff, [Gorecki's] Scontri, the first scores of G6recki.' 73
To those who were outside Poland, the Polish school was not a mylh nor was it an
artificial conslruct. This perspective on the issue is brought out by Roman Berger in the
second issue of Dysonanse:
For me, as a participant in the process of New Music living outside of Poland, the Polish School
phenomenon of the late 50s and 60s is not only a fact but a siguificant fact, which played an
important role in my life. Musicology describes the Polish school of sonorism [PCS] using terms
such as sonoristics, or limited aleatory. The question arises whether phenomena of this kind
resulted in the fact that, for example, Warsaw Autumn, inseparable from the Polish school,
became a ~Mecca' for musicians from all over the world, and that Poland grew in the Eastern-
block to the rank of 'Promised Land' -to the rank of myth? What was this power, forcing one to
overcome what were at times not trivial difficulties in getting to Poland?
The answer is freedom: the idea of freedom was emanating from Polish New Art, from the
compositions of that period, there was an idea of spirit ...
72
Andrzej Chlopecki, 'Zabobony gasn~tcego stulecia' [Superstitions of the fading century], Dissonances
[Dissonances] Special Issue (1997): 14.
73
Ibid.
62
PCS [Polish Compositional School] was not an isolated fact. In Poland one could not only obtain
scores and recordings which in 'the dead world' of neighbouring countries were tabu, there were
art galleries presenting 'forbidden fruit'. All these formed an integral part ofthe metasystem ofthe
4
Polish school. The source of this phenomenon was in the particular culture and tradition?
This debate was taken up in 2000 by Malgorzata GljSiorowska in her polemical

contribution entitled 'The Polish School- the End ofHistory'? 75 Although her discussion
gravitates towards the question of a direction for young composers in the new millennium,
her remarks about the 1960s provide yet another example of the broad understanding of
sonorism and its identification with the Polish School. Once again the idea of the
'School' implying a particular group of composers, and the sonorist trend implying a list
of their works seems to be the point at issue, and GljSiorowska feels the list is too
restricted. Her critical response to the discussion between Chlopecki, Szymanski and
Krupowicz once again raises key problematic points surrounding sonorism:
lndeed the reduction of the list of works of sonoristic origin to a dozen or so without naming them,
and a superficial characteristisation of the trend which, through lack of knowledge of the scores,
leads certain phenomena to be wrongly overlooked (for example excluding Bacewicz as a
participant in sonoristic experiments, even though it was quite apposite from the time of her IV
Symphony from 1953!), stands the main problem of discussion on its head. Belonging to the
school is not to be judged by the intensity of the use of clusters. Indeed, on this basis names such
as Lutoslawski, Baird, Bacewicz, and Szabe1ski disappear- and this is absurd. 76
The above statement once again confirms the continuing need for a clear definition of
sonoristic works together with a delineation of the borders of sonorism and sonoristic
techniques. Such clarity appears all too often to be absent from analytical writings
dealing with sonoristic repertoire and its terminology.
74
Roman Berger, 'Polska Szkola Kompozytorska: Fakt, Mit? Wi2ja? Projekt? [Polish Compositional
School: Fact? Myth? Vision? Project?), Dysonanse 2 (1998): 24.
75
The debate by Malgorzata G'lSiorowska took place during a symposium organised by the Academy of
Music in Krak6w held between 24 and 27 October 2000. The papers from the symposium were published
in 2004 as a book entitled Duchowosc Europy Srodkowej i Wschodniej w muzyce k01ka XX wieku
[Spirituality of the Middle and Eastern Europe in Music towards the end of the XX century] (Krak6w:
Akademia Muzyczna w Krakowie, 2004), 129-136.
76
Malgorzata G~siorowska, 'The Polish School- the End of History,' 132.
63
Maria Harley 77 looks at sonorism from a historical and political perspective with
particular focus on its European context, in order to show direct Western European
influences on Polish works. According to Harley, Stockhausen's influence on Polish
composers in Polish musicological literature was either not acknowledged or not
emphasised enough (except for Baculewski's monograph on Polish music). 78 Harley cites
Stockhausen's Klavierstiick XI (1956) and Gruppen for drei Orchester (1955-1957) as
models for Serocki's A piacere for solo piano (1963) and Episodes for three percussion
groups and strings (1959) respectively. Despite the differences in the aesthetic end result,
Harley makes connections between spatial layout in Dobrowolski's Music for strings and
four groups of wind instruments (1964) and Stockhausen's Carre (1959-1960), and notes
the influence of Xenakis and Varese on Lutoslawski as well as also mentioning John
Cage's influence (the last mentioned was openly acknowledged by Lutoslawski). The
stochastic music of Xenakis, according to Harley, seemed to exert an influence even on
the titles ofPenderecki's works. She remarks:
It is easy to notice that the early titles ofKrzysztofPenderecki's works mimic those ofXenakis:
the Polish composer's Anaklasis (1960) reflects the Greek's Achorripsis (1957), while
79
Polymorphia ( 1961) follows Pithoprakta (1956) not only by beginning with the same letter.
77
Anna Maria Harley (from 1987 to 2000 'Maria Anna Harley,' before 1987 and since 2000 Maja
Trochimczyk). 'Polski sonoryzm i jego europejski kontekst' [Polish sonorism and its European context],
Dissonances - Pismo muzyld wsp6lczesnej (Dysonances. Journal of Contemporary Music], Special Issue
(1997): 34-40. Reprinted in English as 'The Polish School of Sonorism and its European Context,' in
Crosscurrents and Counterpoints: Offerings in Honor of Bengt Hambraeus at 70, ed. Per Broman, Nora A.
Engebretsen, and Bo Alphonce (Gothenburg: University of Gothenburg, Sweden, 1998), 62-77.
78
According to Harley 'initially, neither Chomiiiski nor other scholars, such as Zofia Lissa, referred to any
Western precedents of Polish musical experiments' (Harley, 'The Polish School of Sonorism and its
European Context,' 62). In fact Harley overlooks numerous comments in which Chominski referred to
Western composers such as Stockhausen, Boulez, Xenakis and Cage. For instance in the chapter on
sonoristics in the monograph on Polish music Chominski writes: 'Significant here are the west European
examples, in which one can also observe the old as well as new means of performance, as in Stockhausen's
"Gruppen ·for three orchestras and 'Kontakte.' (Chominski, Muzyka Polski Ludawej, 167). On the aleatoric
technique and its influence on the form ChomiOski writes: 'Aleatoric compositions in Polish music
represent the latest experiments to move beyond the traditiona1 form. They came about not without the
influence of some American and Western European composers, particularly K. Stockhausen, P. Boulez and •
J. Cage' (Chominski, Muzyka Polski Ludowej, 170). Chominski also acknowledges Varese and
Stockhausen in providing the models for introducing percussion instruments of non·European descent
(Chomit\ski, Muzyka Polski Ludowej, 132 and 138).
79
Harley, 'Polski sonoryzm i jego europejski kontekst,' 34.
64
Harley emphasises the role of Witold Lutoslawski in introducing 'a Polish variant of
'chance music' to his compositional technique of 'controlled aleatoricism.' 80 In the
context of sonorism and its link to visual arts, Harley's brief description of Lutoslawski' s
sketches is valuable:
... the sketch material for Trois poemes d'Henri Michaux and Paroles tissees, both of 1963,
contains many drawings of geometric patterns, for example, lines points, squares, and triangles, as
well as irregular shapes, all representing different textures and various directions of sound motion
in time-and-pitch space. The composer drafted the overa11 sequence of musical events on graph
paper and worked out details, such as the exact spacing and beginning/ending points of pitches in
a sustained chord, the envelope of which would create a clearly marked "sound plane"
[powierzchnia dzwi~kowa]. 81
To this list of Western influences, Harley adds Bruno Bartolozzi's experiments with
multiphonics. Taking publication dates into account, Harley concludes that Szalonek's
research into multiphonics 'clearly postdate[s) and follow[s) those of Bruno
Bartolozzi. ' 82 However, in an interview published in Opcje (1993) with Iwona Szafranska,
Szalonek defends his position as an inventor of multiphonics. 83 Despite many Western
influences Harley stresses that 'the Polish school of sonorism may be seen as a creative
and original historical development primarily in that it brought texture, dissonance and
sonority to the forefront of compositional interest. ' 84
80
Harley, 'The Polish School ofSonorism and its European Context,' 66.
81
Ibid., 66. Harley also included a page for Trois poemes d'Henri Michaux as well as a page from a sketch
for Dobrowolski's Music for strings and four groups of wind instruments (1964) and a fragment of
Stockhausen's sketch for Cam!, part II (pp. 64 and 65 respectively).
82
Ibid., 63.
83
'Wok61 sonoryzmu. Z Witoldem Szalonkiem rozmawia Iwona Szafrru\ska' (Around sonorism. Witold
Szalonek talks to Iwon a Szafranska], Opcje [Options] no.2 (I 994): 76. Szalonek said: 'yes, I remember, I
worked on this problem for a few years. I had already written a few compositions when in 1968 during the
Warsaw Autumn I met Otto Tomek (chief of the music WD in Cologne) who said "notate this otherwise
somebody will knock it off from you," so I wrote this article. And then in 1969 Konstanty Ragamey in
Hamburg on the SIMC festival after the premiere of my Mutazioni, informed me that there is an Italian who
published a book on that subject. I received it later. Bartolozzi however, uses different notation. My
notation is a lot simpler. It operates with a smaller number of signs needed to notate unusual positions on
the given wind instrument. Besides, he made an error resulting from the notation obtained from
oscilloscope and oscillograph (all constituents of sounds) notated as sound phenomenon of the same
intensity. It is an obvious error, a non-tolerable fact. Without presumptuousness: my notation one day will
pass into history as Polish notation.' In my interview with Szalonek in 1998 Szalonek also recounted this
story.
84
Harley, 'The Polish School ofSonorism and its European Context,' 72.
65
In her brief summary of the main sonoristic traits, Harley proposes her own definition of
a son oris tic piece:
... we shall define sonoristic compositions as those that do not contain recognizable rhythmic
patterns and melodies, but instead, consist of a series of textures with varied durations, registers,
density, timbres, and dynamics . ... Works in this style often feature an unusual choice of
instruments and their unconventional combinations, as if the variety of timbres were to
compensate for the loss of precise pitch organization. Some sonoristic works are, in fact, nothing
but a series of unusual sound effects: Penderecki's Fluorescences (1962) is often cited as an
instance of this so-called 'catalogue sonmism.' 85
In her discussion of the sonoristic repertoire, Harley seems to support Droba's list of
sonoristic works, including the pieces of extreme nature labelled as 'total sonorism' but
speculates about Bacewicz's works from the early 1960s:
Bacewicz's Pensieri Notturni (1961) and Musica sinfonica in tre movimenti (1964) are absent
from this list, perhaps because these works are not as simple formally or as limited in their
sonoristic means as the typical 'sonoristic manifestos.' 86
For those who simply associate sonorism with sound colorism, the works of Bacewicz
and Baird from the 1950s and 1960s may also seem to be part of the sonoristic trend. 87
Apart from the well known names such as Lutoslawski, Penderecki and Gorecki,
Harley's list of composers 'who declared allegiance to the school of sonorism' comprises
the following: Serocki, Dobrowolski, Grazyna Bacewicz (1909-1969), Krystyna
Moszumailska-Nazar (b. 1924), Schaeffer, Kotonski, Szalonek, Bemadetta Matuszczak
(b. 1937), Kilar, Zygmunt Krauze (b. 1938) and Marta Ptaszynska (b. 1943). 88
Harley considers that 'since the sonoristic school had never been declared a fixed
"compositional group," the list of its members was fluid,' and concludes that 'an all-
85
Harley, 'The Polish School of Sonorism and its European Context,' 71.
86
Ibid., 69.
87
Variation without a Theme (1962) by Baird and Contradizione (1966) by Bacewicz are the closest pieces
to sonorism.
"Harley, 'The Polish School of Sonorism and its European Context,'68. The opinions about sonorism of
some composers listed above are discussed in the chapter 'Composers' and musicologists' retrospective
view of the sonoristic period.'
66
inclusive list of 'sonoristic' composers does not exist."89 But as indicated earlier, if one
considers sonorism as a trend rather than a school, this arguably becomes a non-issue. On
the notion of the Polish School, Harley is in support of Kaczynski's stance that 'the
Western perception of Polish composers forming a unified "school" arose mainly because
this music was presented as a package, in the context of one yearly event: the Warsaw
Autumn International Festival of Contemporary Music.' 90 As indicated in the Introduction,
the perception of the new Polish repertoire by foreigners as 'unified,' as opposed to the
stylistic differences expressed by most critics from within Poland, is not surprising.
Danuta Mirka, has noted that 'when foreign observers concentrated on the aesthetic unity
of Polish music as an integral phenomenon in musical life, Polish critics reacted by
turning their own attention to the variety and wealth of its stylistic resources.' 91 While
Mirka remains sceptical about indicating 'any definite set of properties constituting the
touchstone of the 'Polish school'- which in this context is a substitute for sonorism -the
approach taken in this study takes both views into consideration and both views are
treated as complementary and useful. While the perception of sonorism from the outside
brings to the surface the common procedures, that is the 'footprints' within sonoristic
repertoire, the view from the inside expressed mostly by the Polish writers points to the
stylistic differences between composers, or the 'fingerprints.' This is developed further in
Chapter 7.
Mirka's own contribution to the literature on sonorism lies in the areas of music theory
and analysis. Her PhD dissertation, The Sonoristic Structuralism of Krzysztof Penderecki
(1997), presents a systematic approach to the analysis of sonoristic works by Penderecki.
89
Ibid., 68.
90
Harley, 'The Polish School of Sonorism and its European Context,' 72. Harley footnotes this view with
Tadeusz Kaczynski (Warszawska Jesien [WarsawAutumn] Krakow: PWM, 1983). In her introduction to
The Sonoristic Structuralism of Krzysztof Penderecki Mirka also discusses the issue of perception of a
Polish School by foreigners and quotes Detlef Gojowy: 'Composers such as Witold Lutoslawski, Tadeusz
Baird, Kazimierz Serocki, and Krzysztof Penderecki were perceived as a group right from the beginning.
This perception was in part due to historical and cultural-political preconditions, which remain to be
investigated. In 1956 Poland, which until then had been cut off from world-recognition, carne to the fore
suddenly and unexpectedly, with evidence of its rich intellectual life, of which one had had no inkling
before that point in time. In the wake of this sudden appearance, even areas of diversity may have taken on
the appearance of belonging together.' Detlef Gojowy, 'Avantgarde in Polen,' Music und Bi/dung 12
(1975): 618-621, quoted in Mirka, The Sonoristic Structuralism of Krzysztof Penderecki, 4.
91
Ibid., 4-5.
67
Following earlier analysts' steps (mainly Zielinski, Bilica and Droba), Mirka outlines
what she perceives as a coherent and rigorous system which governs Penderecki's
sonoristic output. By analogy with systems in linguistics theory and fuzzy logic, she
developes an analytical method which she sees as appropriate exclusively to Penderecki's
works written between 1959 and 1962: Anaklasis (1959-60), Dimensions of Time and
Silence (1960-61 ), Threnody - to the Victims of Hiroshima (1960), String Quartet No. I
(1960), Polymorphia (1960), Fluorescences (1962) and Canon (1962). The sonoristic
system is composed of two subsystems: the basic system and the timbre system which,
according to Mirka, inform the inner structure of Penderecki' s above listed works. The
basic system involves 'three of the four parameters of auditory perception: pitch,
loudness, and time' .92 On the basis of those parameters the binary opposites are founded
'as elementary structures of the system.' 93 Thus in relation to pitch, the perceptual binary
opposites are: spatial continuity/discontinuity, spatial mobility/immobility, high/low
register and middle/extreme register. In relation to volume the opposition involves
loud/soft dynamics, and in relation to time, the three binary opposites are temporal
continuity/discontinuity, temporal mobility/immobility and maximal/minimal time-
span.94
A timbre segment, as a part of a timbre system, is defined as follows:
... a 'timbre segment' [is] defined as a set of sounds resulting from several sound-generating
processes.'.l 5
... [timbre segment] as an elementary syntactical unit of Penderecki's timbre system, requires both
the specification of all materials involved in the generation of its component sounds, and the
96
identification of those which function as main materials.
Furthermore the timbre system's main characteristic, as Mirka points out, is that 'its
categories are defined not on the acoustic level, but on the preceding, motor level of
92
Mirka, The Sonoristic Structuralism of Krzysztof Penderecki, 31.
93
Ibid.
94
Ibid.
95
Ibid., 67.
"Ibid., 70.
68
sound generation.' 97 The graphic representation of both subsystems on a summary chart
first separately and then together, is provided with every piece listed above. Those who
are expecting to 'see' a formal outline of a piece in a diagram will be disappointed. As
the main focus of Mirka's study is on each segment as a syntactical unit of both systems,
the graphic diagram of a 'system at work' does not reflect the structure of a piece, nor do
they explain their dramatic textural narration. The absence of the overall form in her
sonoristic system has already been noted by Zbigniew Skowron:
... it is to be regretted that the author left her 'summarizing' diagrams with no comments on the
overall structural peculiarities of the analysed works, especially as far as the nature of their
unfolding (or their internal dramaturgy) is concerned. The fact that each of these works displays a
different 'dramatic' trajectory (with its different ways of growing, culminating and fading away),
98
certainly gives an opportunity to pinpoint the expressive effects of a given structural scheme.
As the sound generation processes are at the heart of sonorism and are integral to the
timbre system, two works written in the early 1960s draw immediate attention. The
analysis of Canon (1962) for string orchestra and tape only involves the orchestral parts.
Psalmus (1961) for tape is excluded from the list of analysed works. The explanation,
according to Mirka, lies in the fact that her categories are defined for traditional
instruments and cannot be applied to electronically produced sounds.
However, in the case of Dimensions of Time and Silence (1960-61), which is also
considered in my study, what seems to be questionable is the absence of vocal parts as a
category in a full list of sound generation processes. As a result, the vocal layer, which
greatly influences the overall sonority of the piece and underlies the formal plan is not
represented in either the graphic diagram of the timbre system or the summary chart.
Mirka explains this oddity as follows:
Material categories chosen for the timbre system are exclusively solid bodies. Thus air does not
appear in the table, even though it functions as inciter and vibrator of the human vocal organ, and
97
Yl! Zbigniew Skowron, 'Danuta Mirka, The Sonoristic Structuralism of Krzysztof Penderecki (Katowice:
Akademia Muzyczna, 1997, pp.363), book review in Studies in Penderecki, vol. 2, eds. Ray Robinson and
Regina Chlopicka (Princeton NJ: Prestige Publications, 2003): 305-311.
69
in traditionally played winds. Consequently, from the point of view of the timbre system in
Penderecki's sonoristic style, both singing and blowing are considered as neutral, 'transparent'
sounds, without any impact on the timbre of individual segments. 99
The purpose of this study is to provide a different perspective. The main areas in which
the two analytical approaches diverge are firstly the consideration of formal outline
articulated by timbre and texture, and the perceptual aspect of 'sound as texture,' which
are typical sonoristic traits of the repertoire in question. 100 Both aspects are a crucial part
of my definition of a sonoristic piece provided in an introduction to the analytical part of
this study.
In a monograph Minima/ism in Polish Music by Joanna Miklaszewska, the influence of

the sonoristic trend is discussed in relation to music by Tomasz Sikorski. 101 The author
deals with the works written after 1970. Both trends, minimalism and sonorism,
according to Miklaszewska, are present in Sikorski's works since the 1960s. However,
the author does not regard Sikorski's pieces as typically sonoristic as they 'do not
102
constitute the main idea of the piece.' This view is also supported by Andrzej
Chlopecki:
Sikorski was not a sonorist and almost nothing connects him with the greatest sonorist Kazimierz
Serocki. His voice in the 1960s sounded - as we can say today - a polemical note. It sounded
amongst an orgy of clusters and shrill effects, sound cascades and eruptions of energy. Sikorski
then undertook a polemic with Polish sonorism on its side, as it seemed- the side of the sensitivity
to sound, timbre, nuance. However, listening to music from those days it is not difficult to come to
the conclusion that (except for Serocki) sonorism was not about sensitivity to sound but sound
discovery; not only this - paradoxically, the latter [sound discovery] simply contradicted the
former [sound sensitivity]. 103
99
Mirka, The Sonoristic Structuralism of Knysztof Penderecki, 83.
100
Thomas, Polish Music since Szymanowski, 190.
101
Alicja Miklaszewska, Minimalizm w muzyce polskiej [Minimalism in Polish Music] (Krakow: Musica
lagiellonica, 2003).
102
Ibid., 59.
103
Andrzej Chlopecki, 'Cztery dominanty' [The Four Dominants], Ruch Muzyczny 24 (1989): 6, quoted in
Miklaszewska, Minimalizm w muzyce polskiej, 59.
70
This statement may be true in relation to works written during the 1970s. However, it can
be argued that Sikorski's works from the 1960s are based on the main characteristics of
the sonoristic trend. It was inevitable that sonorism was assimilated inherently with the
search of new sonorities and articulations, and these aspects were most emphasised in the
early 1960s. However, perception of the avant-garde was already changing by the mid-
1960s. Of course this did not necessarily mean the end of sonorism; composers continued
to write sonoristic works, but the aspect of novelty was no longer the principal asset of a
good piece, as Leon Markiewicz wrote in 1965 about Serocki's Frescoes (1963-1964):
After all it is possible to write a good piece without the ambition of showing something new at
any cost, on the assumption that some compositional devices first used by somebody else must be
104
consolidated in a number of pieces ...
Although the issue of who is and who is not a sonorist is the source of much discussion,
Chlopecki's earlier comment indicates one important aspect of Sikorski's and Serocki's
works and that is the sensitivity to sound with a premium placed on the discovery of new
sounds. Indeed, if all the works widely regarded as 'sonoristic manifestos' were scaled
according to the degree of radicalism and ardent expression, Sikorski's and Serocki's
works stand on the softer end of the scale. By the time Serocki and Sikorski wrote their
'sonoristic manifestos' the initial sound discovery and fascination with the new had been
gradually transformed into sensitivity and refinement, as pointed out by numerous
analysts.
In examining Sikorski's connections with sonorism, Miklaszewska discusses sound

quality, the use of clusters, the variety of articulation and sound structures as the main
formal elements in Antyphony, Sonant and Holzwege. Miklaszewska generally
emphasises the influence of minimalism and aleatorism in Sikorski's works. However,
the study would benefit greatly by enlarging the context for Sikorski's minimalism by the
inclusion and analysis of the main sonoristic devices in his earlier works.
104
Leon Markiewicz, 'Serocki's Symphonic Frescoes,' Ruch Muzyczny, no. 21 (1964): 9.
71
Further instances of associating sonorism primarily with new sound effects appear in two
recent studies by Alicja Jarz~bska, 'Innovative sound effects and its notation: the term
"sonoristics" of J6zef Chominski' (2002) 105 and 'Innovative sound effects - sonorism'
(2004). 106 Her main focus is on non-traditional ways of playing and the new notation of
the avant-garde scores of the 1960s. Jarz~bska explains both 'sonoristics' and 'son oris tic
regulation' as follows:
The term sonoristics (sonorystyka] generally refers to the above-mentioned innovative, non-
conventional acoustic effects and the associated symbols used in avant-garde scores.
The term 'sonoristic regulation' [regulacja sonorystyczna] generally refers to such compositional
technique as seek - both from traditional, vocal-instrumental sound sources (Szalonek, 1973,
Dzi~bowska 1979, Kotoil.ski 1981) and from the new, electroacoustic media - to produce
innovative, non-conventional sound effects including those with percussive-whispering
characteristics. In particular, the idea of so-called electronic music, composed by assembling
various 'clean sounds' ['czyste brzmienie'] on tape, required from composers new skills also
107
referred to as 'sonoristic regulation.
For Jarz~bska, sonoristics is not necessarily tied merely down to the Polish school and
1960s. In her explanation of the above terms, Jarz~bska quotes Chominski's terminology
and definitions from 1983, when Chominski had already shifted his main focus away
from the works written in the 1960s. In her discussion of coloristic and temporal aspects
of twelve-tone chords Jarz~bska refers to Stravinsky (The Flood, 1962) and the works of
Penderecki written after 1970 such as Symphony no. I (1972-73), The Dream of Jacob
(1974), Te Deum (1979/80), and the Symphony no. 5 (1992). In relation to Lutoslawski,
Jarz~bska emphasises that the formal structure of the pieces is influenced by the specific
coloristic quality of the twelve-tone chords and their intervallic structures. The author
105
Alicja Jarz~bska, 'Nowe efekty dzwi~kowo-szmerowe i ich notacja: poJeCie 'sonorystyka' J6zefa
Chomiilskiego [Innovative sound effects and their Notation: J6zef Chomiilski's term 'sonoristics'], in Z
dziej6w mysli o muzyce [From History of Ideas about Music]. (Krakow: Musica Jagiellonica, 2002), 247-
251.
w6 Alicja Jarz~bska, 'Nowatorskie efekty brzmieniowe- sonorystyka' [Innovative sound effects] in Sp6r o
pi~kno muzyki. Wprowadzenie do kultury muzycmej XX wieku [Dispute about the Beauty of Music. An
Introduction to the Musical Culture of the 20~ Century], (Wroclaw: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu
Wroclawskiego, 2004), 233-242.
107
Jarz~bska, 'Nowe efekty dzwi~kowo-szmerowe i ich notacja: pojecie 'sonorystyka' J6zefa
Chominskiego, 249-250.
72
refers to diverse works such as Five Songs ( 1957) and Livre pour Orchestre ( 1968) to
discuss the coloristic aspect of 'carefully selected sound fields.' The range of works and
composers, the sonoristic characteristics of the pieces Jarz~ebska discusses, once again
supports the already voiced view by Kostrzewska about the vagueness of the term
sonorism and its close association with innovation and the coloristic aspect of works
belonging to the diverse trends of the 20th century.
More recently, Adrian Thomas's Polish Music since Szymanowski presents the most
complete picture of the period from both historical and theoretical points of view. The
chapter devoted to Sonorism and experimentalism deals extensively with the avant-garde
repertoire ofPenderecki and Gorecki, as well as Schaeffer and Szalonek. The problematic
issues of the terms 'sonorism' and 'Polish School' and their interchangeable use open
Thomas's discussion:
Among the terms and labels attached to Polish music after 1956, those of the 'Polish School'
and 'sonorism' are the most frequent and among the most elusive. 108
If one were to construct a definition of a typical sonoristic piece, Thomas' chapter on

sonoristics provides a wealth of analytical insight grounded in an extensive knowledge
of the Polish repertoire. While the focus is on the most representative figures such as
Penderecki and Gorecki, lesser known composers including Serocki, Szalonek, Kotonski
and Sikorski are also included although to a much lesser extent. In relation to Penderecki,
Thomas' five main areas of consideration include 'exploration of single pitch class,
clusters, heterogeneous sound shapes, homogeneous or canonic inventions and
percussion.' 109 Even though the extent to which the discussion on sonorism can be
undertaken is limited by the scope of the book, Thomas manages to include the first
reviews of the pieces, the intricate compositional details of selected works, and he points
to stylistic differences between composers that for a short period of time were grouped
together by the common traits and characteristics of the wider trend:
108
109
Ibid., 168.
73
As later consideration of other composers wiH show, there were different Polish takes on sound as
texture. The crucial difference between the Pendereckian brand and Gorecki's angle on the issue is
that for the latter, despite the vigour of Genesis, it was a short-term solution to serialism. His mid-
1960s 'crisis' was eventually resolved by incorporating and even adopting anew some of the
broader features of sonorism - textural blocks, repetition of motifs, homogeneous textures and
slow rates of change - into an environment conditioned by harmonic and modal considerations.
The catalyst was twofold: the seemingly modest and innocuous Three Pieces in Old Style for
strings (1963) and Refrain (Refren for orchestra, 1965), his first foreign commission and
premiere.'' 0
Finally, Iwona Lindstedt's article, 'J6zef Michal Chominski's Theory of Sonology,' is

111
paramount in the examination of Chominski's writings by Polish writers. For
researchers without primary access to Chominski's writings, published in Polish
musicological periodicals and books for over twenty years, this comprehensive survey
will be an invaluable resource and a starting point for further investigations. The article
surveys Chominski's theoretical writings in great detail and concludes with a brief
criticism and reception history. According to Lindstedt, Chominski's sonoristics
developed into a cohesive theory of sonology, which she describes as follows:
... a unique theoretical system, unprecedented in musical thought of the twentieth century. On the
one hand, the theory was a sensitive barometer of changes taking place in contemporary
compositional techniques; on the other hand, the theory itself directed composers towards new
perspectives for creating innovative sound systems, regulators of sound quality and new structural
systems. 112
Although there may be a consensus among most Polish writers over the treatment of
Chominski's notion ofsonoristics as a theory or a theoretical system, the degree to which
they have inspired and influenced Polish composers remains to be investigated. 113 It
needs to be emphasised that in 1961, at the hight of sonorism, when Chominski published
110
111
Lindstedt, 'Teoria sonologii muzycznej J6zefa Michala Chommskiego' (J6zefMichal Chominski's
Theory ofSonology],' Muzyka 51, no. 1-2 (2006): 33-84.
112
Ibid., 69. Trans!. Zofia Weaver.
113
For instance, Kotm\ski said 'back then I did not know Chomit\ski's theory' (Letter to author, October
27, 1999); in the 'Epilogue: Composers' Views ofSonorism' I include comments by various composers on
this subject. Most composers would acknowledge the importance of sonoristics as a trend in Polish music.
However, this does not mean that the 'theory' itself influenced them to compose in a certain way.
74
the article with first theoretical foundation for sonorism, most composers probably were
not familiar with it. What is often overlooked in the literature is that by 1968, when
Chomiilski's expanded article on sonoristics appeared, most of the Polish 'avant-garde'
had already moved away from sonoristic technique. It was the actual repertoire of the
Polish post-war avant-garde presented during the Warsaw Autumn festivals that provided
the most influential stimulus amongst composers of both the older and younger
generations. The extent to which composers knew Chomiilski's articles in the early 1960s
and were influenced by Chomiilski's writings need further research.
In her examination of Chomiilski's writings, Lindstedt emphasised what Dzifi:bowska

earlier had selected from Chomiilski's key ideas, namely that the analytical focus should
be on the actual and perceptible 'shape of sound' (ksztah brzemienia), whose notation is
to be treated as a projection of the composer's creative intent..I 14 By focusing on the
actual sound and following up from Chomiilski's observations about the increasing role
of electronic devices in both composition and musicological research, Lindstedt proposes
a path for further development and continuation of the 'theory of sonology' with the aid
of sonograms:
Analysis supported by spectromorphological image of 'sound objects' seems the most effective
option for further research into musical sonoristics. So far, the musical literature has not taken
into account the need for extending the analysis of timbral phenomena to issues of their acoustic
shape and psychologically conditioned perception. This would undoubtedly demand empirical
studies on the basis of actual perfonnances. 115
While the term 'sonoristics' is reaching wider recognition and use, and Chomiilski's
writings in tum are gaining the interest and attention of a wider community of scholars,
the sonoristic repertoire itself remains largely unexplored (with exception of certain well
known works by Penderecki and Gorecki). With en exception ofPenderecki's Threnody,
other key sonoristic works feature rarely in concert hall programs, if at all. For instance
Gorecki's early works from the early 1960s are now largely eclipsed by the success of the
114
Lindstedt, 'Teoria sonologii muzycznej J6zefa Michala Chomifiskiego,' 69.
liS Ibid., 65.
75
Symphony no 3. For a great number of pieces, including those studied in this thesis such
as Diphtongos by Kilar, Scultura by Schaeffer, and Sequenza I by Sikorski their
premieres, documented on the Warsaw Autumn LPs, are the only existing recordings. 116
Although this chapter has dealt with Chominski's writings on sonoristics and their
reception, the focus of the thesis is on the sonoristic repertoire itself.
I hope that my discussion of emblematic sonoristic pieces will provide a broader context
for the better-known sonoristic works, and will encourage other scholars to revisit the
sonoristic repertoire and examine both the scores and their existing sonic documentation.
This in tum may result in new performances and recordings of the repertoire from one of
the most exciting and important periods in Polish music. With all due respect,
Chominski's path 'from music to theory' now needs to be reversed. For musicological
investigation in this area to proceed further, there is an urgent need to return to immersion
in the repertoire itself: in its scores (far more than the few works examined here), and the
way they sound. After that, one can return to the 'sonorist' theories, and see what basis
there is for endorsing, relativising and, perhaps, expanding them.
116
However, in 1999 Szalonek's Les sons was one of the works featured on one of the Warsaw Autumn
'chronicle' CDs, and recent Warsaw Autumn Festival programmes are starting to 'revive' works from the
sonorist era.
76
PART2.
Introduction
Part II of this thesis is a critical/analytical study of the sonoristic repertoire. The central
focus of this is contained in the analytical discussion in Chapter 6. This is preceded by
preliminary chapters discussing texture in a wider context, the path to sonorism in
specifically musical terms, and specific aspects of notation in sonoristic pieces. Before
doing this, clarification of terminology used in this section is needed.
In his consideration of Sonorism, Droba delineated a category of works which he called

'total sonorism' or 'sonoristic manifestos.' 1 Droba pointed out that 'in total sonorism' as
the result of eliminating the pitch-related material, we deal with aharmony and
amelody.' 2 The other elements that are common to a large number of sonoristic works
are preference for large clear-cut textures, strong expression, sharp contrast, sensitivity to
timbre and the exploration of extended instrumental techniques. Indeed these were the
unifying features - amongst other individual stylistic differences - that led commentators
to perceive Polish composers as 'a school,' which had little in common with most
compositional schools, as Roman Berger explained:
The phenomenon described ad hoc as Polish compositional school, was not in a strict sense
anything comparable with, for example, the Second Viennese school, with Darmstadt, with !ream
etc. It was not a parallel to the Paris Six or The Mighty Five. It was a spontaneous movement, a
new wave in the context of a current ~megatrend. ' 3
The term 'sonoristic manifesto' as a label to describe sonoristic pieces had been used and
continues to be used to describe certain works within the sonoristic repertoire in which
1
Droba, 'Sonoristic. The term and range of the notion,' 4.
2
Ibid.
3
Berger, 'Polska Szkola Kompozytorska: Fakt, Mit? Wizja? Projekt?,' 29.
77
the use of sonoristic techniques was extreme. 4 The sonoristic trend passed through Polish
music spontaneously. Mirka has alluded to the fact that composers did not form any
group under the banner of sonorism nor was there any written manifesto setting out the
aesthetic goals or theories. 5 In fact, as outlined in Chapter 2, the only theoretical writings,
produced almost in parallel with the repertoire, were those by Chomil'lski. Szalonek's
unpublished article 'Sonority and its Form Shaping Powers' written in 1976 is the only
written document by a composer and contains a number of principles in relation to
sonorism. 6
Although many writers refer to Chominski's analytical investigations and his broad
definition of sonorism, not many scholars have attempted to define a sonoristic piece. 7
With clear pointers from Chominski's writings and repertoire composed between 1958
and 1966, I define a sonoristic piece as a primarily textural composition, in which timbre
whether of a single instrument or the overall sonority of an entire texture, plays a primary
role in formal design. There are minimal functional motivic traces (except when used to
create certain effects within a texture), and extended instrumental techniques and sharp
contrast play an important role, especially in the juxtaposition of textures. The more
extreme works are also characterised by particularly clear-cut textures and a fast rate of
change between textures.
The concept of timbre and texture lie at the roots of sonorism. Firstly, the timbre or tone
colour embraces the aural information needed to identify a sound source. The quality of
tone colour depends on the harmonics and the intensity of some harmonics over others, or,
as defined in the Harvard Dictionary of Music, 'more precisely the greater or lesser
prominence of one or another harmonic.' 8 Secondly, texture is understood here as a sum
of individual parts and the interaction of the aural events contained in these parts. While
4
See Tomaszewski, Krzysztof Penderecki and His Music (Krak6w: Akademia Muzyczna, 2003), 84, Droba,
'Sonoristic. The term and range of the notion,' 4, Harley, 'The Polish School ofSonorism and its European
Context,' 69, lwona Szafnu\ska, 'Czy istnieje polska szkola kompozytorska,' 41-42.
5
Mirka, The Sonoristic Structuralism of Krzysztof Penderecki,6.
6
The entire text is included in the last chapter, 'Epilogue: Composers' and Musicologists' Retrospective
View of Sonorism and the Sonoristic Period.'
7
For example Harley's definition of a sonoristic piece, quoted in Chapter 2.
8
Willi Ape!, 'Tone colour,' Harvard Dictionary of Music 2"' ed., (London: Heinemann Educational, 1971),
856.
78
various articulations, dynamics and pitch content may define the single part, the sum of
these parts, in turn creates a variety of textures. Other terms related to texture include
textural layer (textural unit) and textural block. A textural layer is applied to a
homogeneous textural constituent of a larger texture or textural block. The quality of a
textural block may be determined by individual textural layers and be perceived as either
homogeneous (if the individual layers are perceived as unified despite their differences)
or polygeneous (if the differences in articulation, pitch, rhythm, dynamics and/or timbre
between layers are perceived as pronounced).
As discussed in Chapter 2, Chomil1ski introduced a number of concepts and terms to deal

with the new repertoire. In relation to the sonoristic works considered in this study, only
Chominski' s writings up to 1968 are directly relevant, since they deal with the repertoire
from the same period. In relation to temporal regulation Chominski introduced two terms:
monochrony and polychrony.
The monochromic principle consists in the stabilization of the time unit, permitting the use of a
variety of rhythmic and metric norms. Therefore, starting with mensural rhythm and ending with
the most complicated polymetric simultaneous structures, everywhere the real foundation is
monochrony. However, acceptance of a constantly variable time unit is the very essence of the
principle of polychrony. ' 9
The latter category (polychrony) is, in Chominski's view, typical of sonoristic works in
which bars are usually replaced by sections measured in seconds. However, it is not a
matter of the presence or absence of a bar line and metre, but the stability of a metrical
unit that defines these two categories. While on the whole both terms seem to be clearly
defined, their application in the analysis can be problematic. The issue arises as to
whether to apply these terms on the basis of the score and a choice about instructions to
the performers or whether the distinction between the two categories is made purely on a
perceptual level. The effect of passages with a stable time unit (monochronic according to
Chominski) is, in many cases, similar if not identical to passages with polychromic time
regulation. For these reasons these terms have not been adopted here, despite their wide
usage by other writers in relation to this repertoire (primarily in the Polish musicological
9
Chomiiiski, 'The Contribution of Polish Composers to the Shaping of a Modem Language,' 187.
79
literature). 10 Instead, general terms such as temporal regulation or regulation of time are
applied in this study to encompass a variety of procedures related to meter and agogics.
In contrast, from Chominski's wide range of terminology, certain expressions related to

textures, such as the two broad categories of homogeneous and polygeneous sonorites are
relevant and useful to indicate how textures are constructed. Chominski also stressed that,
in relation to textures, the general tendency, as observed in the new Polish repertoire, is to
move towards building homogeneous textures. This is achieved by applying the same
articulation to instruments varying in timbre which share musical material. In this way
some instrumental groups assimilate characteristics of other instrumental groups. A
typical example is the use of percussive sounds played by strings, or rustling/whispering
sounds in vocal parts. 'Thus, assimilation becomes a source of rendering sound
11
homogeneous, despite diametrically different sound generators.' While these
procedures are implemented essentially to reduce contrast between parts, the aim here is
also to produce larger textures. This is one of the most important procedures in sonoristic
technique and the source of contrast between textures used as a structural device on both
the micro-level (within a movement or section) and the macro-level (between movements
or sections).
However, the same articulation applied to the same musical material may not always
result in the perception of texture as homogeneous in timbre, especially if such a texture
is composed of different instrumental groups such as strings and winds. This aspect of
sound perception was clearly emphasised by Chominski and placed the overall sonority
of texture shaped by articulation at the centre of analytical investigations. 12 Therefore, the
10
See for example Baculewski, 'Historia Muzyki Po/skiej. tom VII: Wsp61czesno.ic I: 1939-1974,' 297 or
Bo:tena Gawrorlska, 'Organizacja tworzywa muzycznego w tw6rczoSci Kazimierza Serockiego 1960~70'
[The organization of musical fabric in the oeuvre ofKazimierz Serocki], Muzyka no. 2 (1981): 33.
11
Chominski, 'The Contribution of Polish Composers to the Shaping of a Modem Language,' 206.
12
' ••• the division into groups (woodwind, brass, percussion, strings) even today frequently leads to
superficial descriptions in analysis of a musical work, descriptions which do not reflect the essential
properties of sound. During our technological considerations, we found that the enrichment of the means of
articulation frequently changes fundamentally the very nature of the sound of a given instrument, or, more
accurately makes it possible to emphasize various sound categories. This becomes a means of giving sound
polygeneous and homogeneous effects... .' Chominski, 'The Contribution of Polish Composers to the
Shaping of a Modem Language,' 201.
80
extent to which a homogeneous texture (a texture in which all the parts share the same
musical material and are unified by articulation and dynamics) will sound homogeneous
and be perceived as one mass of indiscernible individual parts will vary from texture to
texture. Thus the distinction of the overall sound effect of a texture whether
homogeneous or polygeneous to its visual representation in the score should always be
made.
'Sound impulses' is a general term which Chominski used in relation to the temporal
organization of short sound events in a section measured in seconds. 13 Gawronska
adopted the term in connection with her discussion of Serocki' s sonoristic works. She
describes several models for the succession of short sounds: for example, aperiodic
succession of short notes, gradual acceleration and slowing down, repetition of the same
note or group of notes, playing as fast as possible and rapidly, and aperiodic reiteration of
a note. 14 This study uses the term in the same sense as Gawronska and also, since the
term itself implies a succession of short events, it is used to describe discontinuity of
sounds and series of short sound attacks.
More specific words are used to describe textures in relation to specific works or
composers, in order to emphasize their 'fingerprints' and the individual characteristics.
For instance, in relation to Serocki's works, the term 'glittering texture' introduced by
Grzegorz Michalski well reflects the connection between 'seen and heard,' and
'segments' instead of sections or measures, the latter specifically applying to Segmenti. 15
In relation to Scultura by Schaeffer, the term 'marker texture' is applied to a
characteristic texture integrating the movements. These are specific 'sound ideas' which
are very distinctive in their aural effect and are typical of individual composers.
" Chominski, 'The Contribution of Polish Composers to the Shaping of a Modem Language,' 187.
14
Gawroilska, BoZ.na. 'Organizacja tworzywa muzycznego w tw6rczosci Kazimierza Serockiego 1960-70'
[The organization of musical fabric in the oeuvre ofKazimierz Serocki], Muzyka no. 2 (1981): 41.
1
' Grzegorz Michalski, 'The Glittering Music ofKazimierz Serocki,' Music in Poland, 1-2 (1983): 15.
81
Clusters are the core technical device of sonoristic technique. Thomas has already noted
the fundamental importance of clusters within the sonoristic trend. 16 Indeed clusters are
one of the most frequently discussed sonoristic devices. The range of clusters used in the
sonoristic repertoire also leads to the need to clarify the definition of this fairly loose and
imprecise term. Initially, in 1930, Henry Cowell defined clusters as 'chords built from
major and minor seconds, which in tum may be derived from the upper reaches of the
overtone series and have, therefore, a sound foundation.' 17 In the late fifties, Kagel in his
response to Cowell's writings defines clusters as 'only those sounds which are at least a
major third broad and filled out with major and/or minor seconds' and elaborates further
on the types of clusters. 18 In sonoristic works, clusters can also be formed from smaller
intervals, such as quarter-tones or microtones. Cluster-like sonorities are also achieved
with imprecisely specified instructions such as 'the highest note on the instrument' as in
the opening of Threnody by Penderecki. In this case the resulting sonority may be denser,
with intervals smaller than a quarter-tone between individual component pitches. Equally,
cluster-like sonorities may be built from intervals greater than a semitone, such as
sustained chords on open strings or textures built from sustained chords based on widely-
spaced intervals wider than semitone or a tone. ChomifJski discusses the density of
clusters and two particular types of clusters: 'steady pitch' and 'variable, changing
pitch' 19 . This categorization, based on the movement of pitch, corresponds to stationary
and non-stationary clusters. Within the variety of clusters, the individual pitches may be
either static, or constantly changing creating internal movement, with changes of
dynamics or articulation. The boundaries of a cluster may also change, either moving in
parallel through changing registers, or expanding and contracting. In this study stationary
clusters are referred to as static, and non-stationary clusters as mobile.
The notation of this emblematic device creates a distrinctive characteristic of the score
which can be seen as an important aspect of the sonoristic movement. Within the
16
Thomas, Polish Music since Szymanowski, 168-173.
17
Henry Cowell, New Musical Resources (New York: Something Else Press, 1969), 117. For detailed
critical investigation ofCoweJI's writings on the concept of a cluster, its origin and the development of the
terminology and definitions of a cluster see Michael Hicks, 'Cowell's Clusters,' The Musical Quarterly 77,
no. 3 (1993): 428-458.
18
Maurizio Kagel, 'Tone, Clusters, Attacks, Transitions,' Die Reihe 5 (1957): 43.
19
Chomb\ski, 'The Contribution of Polish Composers to the Shaping of a Modem Language,' 196.
82
sonoristic repertoire the visual representation of clusters as thick black lines is striking,
and carries some expressive weight as well as indicating a way of playing. It is also worth
noting that many emblematic sonoristic scores exist only as full scores. For example, for
Gorecki's Elementi, Kilar's Diphthongos and Sikorski's Sequenza I there are no
individual instrumental parts and instrumentalists play from the full score. The fact that
individual players see the full score means that the expressive elements of the graphic
notation are communicated to the individual players and therefore might exert an
influence on their interpretation in a way that individual parts would not.
83
Chapter3
'Sound as Texture': Sonorism within its European Contexe
From the very first pieces that signaled the new and distinctive path Polish composers
took around 1960, one could discern two aspects: one that allowed the listener to treat
them as a group of works with similar, or to a certain degree, shared characteristics and
another side of individual features that allowed one not only to delineate individual
composer's personalities through memorable sonorities and textures but also in some
cases to trace the development of these stylistic characteristics within a composer's
sonoristic path. The two complementary sides of the sonoristic repertoire can be
described metaphorically as its footprints and fingerprints. The 'footprints' refer to
general, widely shared sonoristic features and characteristics such as operating with large
textures, treating texture and timbre as primary structural elements, sharp textural
contrast, fast rate of change, and particular aspects of articulation and notation. The
concept of the main footprints of sonorism as defining a movement can be best seen by
discussing them in the broader European context and examining the features which
differentiate Polish sonorism from other European textural composition.
The key representative works of the sonoristic period are often associated in music
history books together with the works of Gyorgy Ligeti (1923-2005) from the early 1960s
and are often compared to those of Iannis Xenakis (1922-2001) of the 1950s.2 As Paul
Griffith writes, in the early 1960s "'texture music" was in vogue-as witness (sic) the
1
'Sound as texture' used by Thomas in Polish Music since Szymanowski, 190.
2
In his Introduction to Contemporary Music Mach lis contrasts 'pointillism' to a texture oriented approach,
mentioning Penderecki together with Xenakis and focusing on common aspects of both composers' music:
'later came the idea of 'clouds' of pitches- a great many notes in the same general pitch area played very
close together, so quickly that the individual sounds could not easily be distinguished. The effect could be
likened to a large blurry mass, quite different from the precise, distinct notes of yesteryear. The Greek-
French composer Iannis Xenakis and the Pole Krzysztof Penderecki, whose works made much use of this
and related devices, also revived the tone clusters of Henry Cowell, now produced by an entire orchestra
instead of by the arms of one pianist.' Joseph Mach lis, Introduction to Contemporary Music (New York:
Norton, 1979), 465.
84
works that suddenly established Penderecki, such as his Threnody-to the Victims of
Hiroshima for string orchestra (I 960), in which Xenakisian cluster glissandos are given a
searing affect.' 3 Indeed Polish sonorism may be seen as a distinctive facet of textural
composition inaugurated by Xenakis and Ligeti. Robert Morgan in Twentieth Century
Music introduces the chapter on 'textural music' as follows:
The trend of the later I 950s, toward shaping music through its larger sonic attributes rather than
as an accumulation of individual details, was evident in an especialJy emphatic fonn in the works
of two Eastern Europeans, the Pole Krzysztof Penderecki (b. 1933) and the Hungarian Gyorgy
Ligeti (b. 1923). 4
Less often, if at all, does one find a substantial discussion on similarities and differences
between Polish sonoristic works and those of Xenak:is and Ligeti from the 1950s and the
early 1960s. 5 Xenakis's two orchestral pieces, Metastaseis (1953-54) and Pithoprakta
(I 956) are the earliest textural works that made an impact on many composers.
Stockhausen's works such as Griippen (I 955-57) for three orchestras, Kontakte (Contacts,
1959-1960) for piano, percussion and electronic sounds and Punkte for orchestra (I 962
version) have some relevance to sonorism while Apparitions (I 959) for orchestra and
Atmospheres (I 961) for large orchestra by Ligeti can be seen as taking a comparable
3
Paul Griffith, Modern Music and After. Directions since 1945 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, I 995),
136.
4
Robert P. Morgan, Twentieth Century Music. A history of Musical Style in Modern Europe and America
(New York: Norton, 1991), 386-387.
5
Foy's chapter on the European context for Penderecki's 'texture-based' pieces and the works ofXenakis,
Ligeti and Lutoslawski from the I 960s is centered on the influences of these composers on each other
rather than on the issue of similarities and differences between them. The discussion is limited to listing
general traits that these works have in common ('large, homogeneous, often static blocks of sound; pitch
clusters; new instrumental techniques; prominent percussion writing; absence of rhythmic pulse; and an
overall emphasis on the exploration of sonic events) and Ligeti's and Xenakis's own comments on their
approach to composition ('micropolyphony' and 'stochastic music') which confirm the 'strongly
independent compositional voices. • However, in relation to Lutoslawski, Foy clearly emphasised one
important aspect of his approach to texture: 'the primary difference between the compositional approaches
of Lutoslawski and Penderecki during this period is that Lutoslawski retains the element of pitch in the
forefront of his compositional concerns' (Foy, Textural Transformations: The Instrumental Music of
Krzysztof Penderecki, 1960-1973, 13-19). Adrian Thomas also mentions Xenakis and Ligeti together with
Penderecki but emphasises the differences: 'There are some superficial similarities between them but the
working methods are quite different. There is no equivalent in Penderecki to Xenakis's stochastic theories
or Ligeti's micropolyphony. Penderecki's strength lies not in the preparatory or inner detail but in the
immediate drama of extreme contrasts, in an almost viscera) expressivity' (Thomas, Polish Music since
Szymanowski, 180).
85
approach to texture as seen in sonoristic works though with important differences. To a
certain degree works composed since 1959 such as Spiegel II (1961-63) for 55 string
soloists by Friedrich Cerha (b. 1926), though rarely mentioned in connection with
sonorism, add substance to the theory that texture and timbre were among the primary
concerns for many composers at this time. 6 The aim of this chapter is not to demonstrate
specific influences but to place sonorism within its European context and to address the
following questions: what are the common traits that allow us to group these works
together, to what extent are they part of the wider trend of dealing with textures and
timbres, and on what level do they differ?
Before dealing with the above questions, however, the common ground for Polish
composers, and Xenakis and Ligeti, is the attitude to serialism. In Poland, as indicated in
the previous chapters, the interest in dodecaphony and serialism was brief. Although both
compositional techniques were influential and embraced at least momentarily by most
Polish composers, the serial output in particular is rather modest. After a brief period of
trying the new techniques Poles seemed to be much more attracted to the music of
Xenakis and Ligeti, as Kotonski recalls:
It seems to me than that serialism and its possibilities have been exhausted and that over-
thickening of the serial structures blurred the main musical ideas. I was much more attracted
towards aleatoric structures, used to create the so-called 'sound masses' (clouds) used by Xenakis
and Ligeti. Those structures, instead of using sequences of numbers, employed sequences of
7
specific characteristics.
Neither Xenakis nor Ligeti were a part of the serialist movement that influenced most of
the Western European avant-garde despite the fact that Ligeti found both Boulez and
Stockhausen most influential at the time. 8
6
Friedrich Cerha, an Austrian composer and conductor, well known for completing the orchestration of the
third Act of Berg's Lulu. Marcus Grassl: 'Friedrich Cerha', Grove Music Online ed. Laura Macy, http:
//www.grovemusic.com (accessed September, 2, 2007).
7
Kototlski, letter to author (October, 27 I 999).
8
In an interview with Lobanova, Ligeti said that Boulez was 'so important that I've analyzed Structures Ia
before I met him. I don't think anyone apart from Stockhausen influenced me at that time as much as
Boulez. I would say that for me Le marteau sans maitre is the most important piece to come out of the 50s
epoch' (Lobanova, Gyorgy Ligeti: Style. Ideas. Poetics, 384). In an interview with Peter Vamai, Ligeti said:
86
I quickly realized that serial music entailed an indifference to harmony and a leveling of the
characters of different intervals, and instead of going back to composing with specific intervals I
attempted to take the more radical way: intervals and rhythm were to be completely eliminated,
not simply for the sake of destruction in which the form-creating function is transformed first and
foremost to the type of weaving used. This does not mean that intervals and rhythmic structures do
not exist at all in this type of music, just that they cannot be heard. It is not that they are decisive
for the form but a more complex category, which is the product of interweaving numerous
intervallic and rhythmic voices. In other words the musical events are no longer played out on the
level of harmony or rhythm, but on that of sound networks. In this way I ventured into a realm of
subtle sonorities which form a no-man's-land between sound and noise, where sounds were
blurred and concealed by the complex interweaving ofvoices. 9
In an article 'The Crisis in Serial Music' published in 1955, Xenakis stated in relation to
Boulez's Structures that 'the linear polyphony destroys itself by its very complexity;
what one hears is in reality nothing but a mass of notes in different registers.' 10 Xenakis's
objections to serialism however, did not mean he embraced Cage's indeterminacy. In fact
Xenakis was completely against it: 'this attitude is an abuse of language and is an
abrogation of a composer's function. Complete freedom of choice, as in the case of Cage,
says in effect "do what you like, at any moment, no matter how."' 11
Just as Xenakis commented on the disintegration of serialism, so arguments against

serialism were also advanced by Ligeti in his analysis of Boulez's Structures Ia (1951)
written in 1958 12 which was both a critique of the serial principles and a way of working
out his own ideas which materialized later in Apparitions (1959) and Atmospheres (1961),
both pieces often associated with the sonoristic works. Ligeti raised a number of
'Although I have never composed serial music, in 1957 I was greatly influenced by the prevailing mood
among musicians in Cologne and Dannstadt.' V3.mai, Ligeti in Conversation, 43.
9
Gyorgy Ligeti, 'Anla lich Lontano,' in Begegnung (Prograrnmheft fur Donaueschinger Musiktage fur
zeitgenossiche Tonkust, 1967), quoted in Lobanova, 53.
10
Iannis Xenakis, 'La Crise de Ia musique serielle,' Gravesaner Blatter I (1955), 2, quoted in Griffith,
Modern Music and After. Directions since 1945, 91.
11
Mario Bois, Iannis Xenakis. The Man and His Music (London: Boosey & Hawkes, 1967), 12.
12
Gyorgy Ligeti, 'Pierre Boulez. Entscheidung und Automatik in der Structure Ia, in Die Reihe, 4 (1958):
38-43. 'Wandlungen der musikalishen Form' in Die Reihe 7 (1960). See also Friedemann Sallis, An
Introduction to early works ofGyorgy Ligeti (Koln: Studio, 1996), 212-217 and Lobanova, Gyorgy Ligeti:
Style, Ideas, Poetics, 33-35.
87
arguments against integral serialism. 13 Firstly, while it was possible to realise exactly
notated pitch and duration for example, various levels of dynamics or timbre could only
be approximated. Moreover, within a serial paradigm pitch, duration, dynamics and
articulation are treated as equal structural parameters and the precision expected in the
realisation of these elements proved unachievable. Secondly, the more predetermined
elements were, the more indeterminate they seemed to sound in a piece. Ligeti's attention
was directed towards larger structures and the global effect of the serial procedures
evident in his responses to Structure Ia by Boulez:
On hearing this composition a complex network of thicker and finer fabric unfolds. This complex
structure, which is of varying discernibility, consists of a meaningfully ordered multitude of points
of sound which are strung together in thicker and thinner threads, some of which are plastically
delineated, while others are less distinct. These threads for their part are more of less densely
interwoven. On hearing the piece, knots, correlations and interrelations of many different kinds
emerge, and the result is an organism which is as ramified as it is elastic. 14
Unlike Ligeti and Xenakis, Stockhausen was the key figure of the early Darmstadt avant-
garde circle and in the early I 950s he composed important serial pieces such as
Kreuzspiel (I 95 I) and Kontra-Punkte (I 953). However, by the mid I 950s he too
gradually began to shift his attention towards the global characteristics of overall textures.
In the early 1950s Stockhausen's mind was preoccupied with 'point composition:' 'all
forms should evolve from the point, the individual tone' he wrote in I 952. By the mid-
I 950s, however, the notion of 'group composition' was well under way as exemplified in
certain sections of Griippen (Groups, I 955-1957) for three orchestras and most of
Zeitmasse (Time-measures, I 955- I 956) for wind quintet.
In this context, one should also mention Friedrich Cerha (b. I 926). He too attended the
Darmstadt summer courses (I 956, I 958, I 959) and although serial ism made an initial
impression on him - pieces such as Formation et solution (1956), Espressioni
fondamentali (1957), and Relazioni fragili (1957) utilise post-Webemian serial
13
See Lobanova, Gyorgy Ligeti: Style, Ideas, Poetics, 33-35.
14
Ligeti, 'Pierre Boulez. Entscheidung und Automatik in der Structure Ia,' in Die Reihe, 4 (1958): 38-43,
quoted in Lobanova, Gyorgy Ligeti: Style, Ideas, Poetics, 35.
88
procedures - by 1959 he became more interested in the 'planes of sound'
(Klangflachenkomposition) featured in Mouvement I-III (1959) and in Spiegel I-VII
15
(1960-1961). Although the focus in these works is on the evolution of a single
fundamental sonority, textural blocks play a primary role in musical development. 16
Most of the pieces that are regarded as relevant to sonorism operate with dense textures
(Ligeti's score for Apparitions reached 64 staves which in the view of the New York
Times critic 'set a record', subsequently broken in his next piece Atmospheres) 11 and
masses of sound which contribute to the formal structure. In all of them the elements of
melody, harmony and rhythm are radically transformed and result in the absence of pulse,
the neutralization of harmony and lack of motivic relationships. The use of clusters, of
enlarged percussion sections, of extended instrumental techniques and an emphasis on
timbre constitute the common traits. Although certain passages from, for instance,
Xenakis's and Ligeti's works may sound similar to the 'sonoristic manifestos,' the
differences between them are perhaps even more significant, both conceptually, and at a
perceptual level (for example, clear cut sections and sharp contrasts).
Xenakis and 'Stochastic music'
In searching for means to create new music incorporating the concept of global sonorities
and masses of sound, which he liked to describe as 'clouds' or 'galaxies,' Xenakis
resorted to mathematics and in particular to the 'law of large numbers' defined in 1713
by the Swiss mathematician, Jacques Bernoulli. Xenakis's 'stochastic music' was derived
from Bernoulli. As Xenakis recounted:
... he used the term 'stochastic' since the law oflarge numbers implies that the more numerous the
phenomena, the more they tend towards a determinate end: the first rule of determinism, the first
time that a straitjacket had been placed around tbe problems of chance. 18
15
Marcus Grassl: 'Friedrich Cerha', Grove Music Online ed. LauraMacy, http: //www.grovemusic.com
(accessed September, 2, 2007).
16
Ibid.
17
Richard Toop, Gyorgy Ligeti (London, Phaidon Press, 1999), 67.
18
Bois, lannis Xenakis. The Man and His Music, 12.
89
At that time Xenakis was working as an assistant to the French-Swiss architect Le
Corbusier and had begun to use mathematical procedures in architectural designs. 19 The
two major architectural projects Xenakis was involved in were the Monastery of La
Tourette (I 954-1960) and the Philips Pavillion (I 956-1958) built for the 1958 Brussels
Exposition Universelle. 20 The first of two early musical works in which Xenakis applied
mathematical concepts to shape the musical structures was Metastaseis (1954) which
Xenakis translated as 'transformations:' 'in 1954 I introduced the "mass" concept of
sounds, with many glissandi, in Metastaseis, long before other composers were taken by
it.' 21 In Xenakis's next piece, Pithoprakta, meaning 'actions through probability,' also
written for orchestra (consisting of forty-six strings, two trombones, xylophone and
woodblock), large-scale features were determined by probability theories and the kinetic
theory of gases. The mathematically based compositional procedures which are used to
generate large textures set Xenakis apart from Ligeti and composers involved in sonorism.
Although Ligeti was fascinated with mathematics, he did not use mathematical
procedures in composition. Lobanova writes:
Mathematicality is also reflected in the intellectualism of Ligeti's music, which places the
composer in the mainstream of twentieth century ana1ytic art. By constantly turning his attention
to the 'basic elements' of music- fabric, melody rhythm, and sound as such- Ligeti is performing
the same objective analysis of art and its resources as did the classic writers of the philosophical
avant-garde, who were searching after universal laws of line and plane, fonn and colour, rhythm
and movement, space and time, sound and meaning. 22
The extent to which mathematical procedures play a part in the compositional process
was also explored in the already mentioned study by Danuta Mirka, who deploys the
mathematical theory of 'fuzzy sets' to explain Penderecki's sonoristic output. However,
19
Xenakis worked in Le Corbusier's studio between 1948 and 1959.
20
James Harley, Xenakis. His Life in Music (New York: Routledge, 2004), 9.
21
Richard Duffalo, Trackings. Composers Speak with Richard Dufal/o (New York: Oxford University
Press, 1989), 178.
22
Lobanova, Gyorgy Ligeti: Style, Ideas, Poetics, 7.
90
in Penderecki' s case this does not reflect the composer's interest in mathematics as
language. 23
On the perceptual level, an element which places Xenakis closer to Ligeti is the
transformation of continuous textures. In contrast, most sonoristic works are
characterised by sharp textural changes. Peter Hoffmann emphasises the role of textural
'transformation' in Xenakis's works:
.. .in a strictly mathematical sense the interrelations between musical structures (where structure is
to be understood as a set of relationships between musical parameters)- is central to Xenakis's
thought. Its manifestations include transfonnations of geometrical figures (group theory), scales
(sieve theory). melodic outlines (random paths), polyphonic structures (arborescences), spectral
24
screens (granular synthesis) and wave fonns (stochastic synthesis).
23
Mirka, The Sonoristic Structuralism of Krzysztof Penderecki 32. Mirka's discovery and reconstruction of
Penderecki's compositional method asserts 'a rigorous system of interrelated rules that display high logical
precision and rigidity that govern thoroughly the entirety of the composer's sonoristic output', which
almost immediately implies the existence of sketch material which would further support the claim that a
sonoristic system was used as a compositional method 'by means of which Penderecki consciously shaped
his sonoristic pieces' (Mirka, ibid., 26). Although mathematical theory may be an appropriate model to
explain the underlying sonoristic system of Penderecki's works, the question that arises is whether the
existence of the system equals the procedures that were actually employed in the process of composition. In
this regard an analogy can be found in Schenkerian musical analysis which explains the organic structure of
music (mainly from Bach to Brahms) but does not necessarily represent the actually applied compositional
process. If Penderecki 's system is to be compared with serialism, as Mirka asserts 'one may say that K.
w
Penderecki's sonorism vies with serialism in bringing its own, competitively rigorous system'- then direct
evidence of the actual compositional process employed to create these works becomes even more
significant. But in the context of mathematical procedures used in composition Mirka remarks only that
'rather it seems that he [Penderecki] took for granted the natural logical properties of individual categories.'
(Mirka, ibid., 32 ). The study would greatly benefit from examination of compositional sketches to
demonstrate such processes in Penderecki's sonoristic output. Peggy Monastra has provided a brief
description of sketches for Polymorphia (thirty-three pages) and Fluorescences (eighty pages); two
examples of sketch pages are included. In the context of compositional process, some of her comments are
of particular interest, for instance: 'In the compositional method employed during this experimental period,
Penderecki begins a composition by translating his aural concepts into abstract graphic drawings. Through
the transfonnation and manipulation of the drawings, he fonnulates the pitch material and fonnal structure
of the composition.' Another comment refers to the visual aspect of the sketches: 'These sketches are quite
impressive visually, both for the aggressive use of colour and for the dominating presence ofPenderecki's
innovative graphic notation.' Peggy Monastra, 'Krzysztof Penderecki's Polymorphia and Fluorescences',
The Moldenhauer Archives - The Rosaleen Moldenhauer Memorial, http://hdl.loc.gov/Joc.music/
molden.2428143 (accessed February 7, 2007). However, there is no indication here of any mathematical
concept.
24
Peter Hoffmann, 'Xenakis, !armis,' Grove Music Online ed. L. Macy, http://www.grovemusic.com
(accessed July 2, 2007).
91
Ligeti's understanding of texture and structure has some similarities: 'a structure can be
analysed in terms of its components; a texture is better described in terms of its global,
statistical features.' 25
Xenakis's involvement in the designs of architectural projects had an impact on his

compositions and vice versa. The shape of Philips Pavilion, with its continuously flowing
lines, is mirrored by contracting and expanding glissandi in Metastaseis first worked out
through mathematical calculations presented on graph paper and then translated into
musical notation. In relation to a passage of glissandi (at bars 309 and 317), Robert
Morgan states 'typical of Xenakis, however, the process is not entirely "determined" in
that not every part contributes to this pattern, which is the result of the total motion but
not of any individual element. ( ... ) The passage thus only 'tends' toward its definite,
determinate goal.' 26 In this process which to a degree involves some indeterminacy, the
overall shape of these sonic events is highly predictable. Although individual pitches are
determined through complex mathematical procedures and are a part of an indivisible
sound mass they are, as James Harley comments in relation to Pithoprakta, 'important
only in the global sense of conveying registral boundaries (e.g., high versus low register,
wide versus narrow range, fixed versus evolving placement).' 27 Xenakis, for similar
reasons to Ligeti, that is to retain the control over the large scale sonic events such as
glissandi, did not use graphics but instead employed conventional notation in which each
instrumental part was precisely notated.
At precisely the time Xenakis was introducing 'stochastic music' (1954-56),

Stockhausen's compositional reorientation from 'points via groups to statistical sound
complexes' brought texture and timbre to the forefront of his compositional concerns. 28
In 1956 Stockhausen wrote: 'it is now a matter of degrees of density in the groups of
notes, of direction of the motion, of speed, of the speed of transformations, of the average
25
Gyorgy Ligeti, '1960. Metamorphoses of Musical Form,' Die Reihe No. 7 (English translation, 1965): 14,
quoted in Foy, Textural Transformations: The Instrumental Music of Kr:zysztof Penderecki, 1960-1973, 15.
26
Morgan, Twentieth Century Music. A history of Musical Style in Modern Europe and America, 394.
27
James Harley, Xenakis. His Life in Music, 9.
" Michael Kurtz, Stockhausen (London: Faber and Faber, 1994), 112.
92
dynamic level, of changes in dynamics, of timbre, and oftimbral mutation.' 29 In Griippen,
which involves I 09 instrumentalists grouped in three orchestras spatially arranged on the
stage (actually, the I" and 3'd orchestras are to the left and right of the audience, on
specially built stages) and led by three conductors, the sound layers of each orchestra can
move in space at different speeds and varying dynamics. At times the layers blend into
one complex texture and timbre, at times massively dense textures are projected into
space as three independent textural layers which proceed at their own tempo. This spatial
arrangement of the performing forces on the stage was to become one of the features of
some sonoristic works (for example Gorecki's Genesis and Serocki's Segmenti). The
opening of Griippen in particular (approximately the first two minutes of the piece) is
suggestive of sonoristic technique: a short, sequence of sharp, contrasting textures with
emphasis on timbre in each textural block.
As with the Poles, the experience of working in electronic studios opened a whole range
of new possibilities for Stockhausen to experiment with timbres. In Kontakte the
boundaries between percussion instruments (metal, wood and skin) and electronically
generated sounds are blurred: 'the nature of percussion sounds made it impossible to tell
whether they were coming from the loudspeakers or being played by a percussionist.' 30
Kontakte is also notable for more spectacular spatial projection of sound and the
introduction of so called 'moment form' which resulted from a rethinking of the passing
of time and experiments with the slow/fast rate of change which is particularly relevant to
sonorism.
Aurally, the 1962 re-composition of Stockhausen's Punkte's is as close as he would get

to the sound and textures of sonoristic pieces. 31 Whereas the first version of the piece -
written in 1952 but subsequently withheld - was very abstractly pointillistic, the second
version of the piece clearly reflects the general inclination towards texture at the time:
29
Karlhainz Stockhausen, Texte I (Cologne, 1963), 190, quoted in Morgan, Twentieth Century Music. A
history of Musical Style in Modern Europe and America, 382.
3
°Kurtz, Stockhausen,
31
I 02.
Punkte was revised three more times: in 1964, 1966 and 1993.
93
The fragmentary textures ofthe early fifties were a thing of the past: now the fascination was with
dense textures (such as had already formed a part- but only a part- of Gruppen). It's in the spirit
of these new times that Stockhausen reworked his old score: the isolated sounds of the original
piece become 'hinges' on which he now hangs whole new webs of sound. Sometimes these webs
move up or down from the original note, and sometimes they converge on them from above or
below. 32
The inspiration for Punkte came from studying the book Organismen, Strukturen,
Maschinen by the biologist and cyberneticist Wolfgang Wieser who demonstrated how
the shapes of some animals relate to others by changing certain parameters. 33 This idea of
shrinking and expanding shapes translated into musical language was bound together
with layers of sound and textures from the start:
In the new version 'points' are only seldom simple tone points: they become the centres of groups,
formations, swarms, vibrating masses, the nuclei of micrornusical organisms ... As I was
composing, sometimes so many sound layers piled up on top of one another that the result was
more sound volumes than empty space.34
Ligeti's 'micropolypbony'
For Ligeti's approach to composition a key concept is 'micropolyphony' which was

germinating in his mind from the early 1950s. As Lobanova points out, the essential idea
of 'micropolyphony' rests on two qualities: "'a prodigality" with compositional features
and the "imperceptibility" of individual components of the fabric which this engenders.
Micropolyphony is thus a kind of super-polyphony in which the separate inaudible voices
are dissolved.' 35 The result is a dense 'sound field', with a sense of inner movement. This
may seem similar to some of the sonoristic works. However, Ligeti himself spells out the
main difference:
I am not a 'tone-colour composer,' which means that for me tone colours provide just one of
manypossible ways of producing a musical form. When I think about what is typical of above
32
Richard Toop, liner note to Eotvos Conducts Stockhausen Gruppen, Punkte, BMC CD 117 (2006).
33
Kurtz, Stockhausen, 124.
34
Stockhausen, Texte III, 12n, quoted in Kurtz, ibid.
"Lobanova, Gyorgy Ligeti: Style, Ideas, Poetics, 49.
94
pieces, it is not only the stationary tone colours but also the way of thinking musically in terms of
branching tworks and in terms of the subtle changes, movements, dilations, compressions, currents,
and so forth which occur within these net structures. Of primary importance for the creation of a
form is the way in which the musical nets are woven- that is, 'micropolyphony' -and in addition
the various new types of tone colour, in particular 'motion colour' ("Bewegungsfarbe"), as
products of this weaving. 36
Whereas for Ligeti timbre was one of many possibilities to shape the structure of a piece,
for sonorists it seems to be the only option and this is where one of the major differences
lies. In sonoristic music the range of textures and their disposition within a piece are
governed by the contrast of either single timbres (as often is the case in Szalonek's pieces)
or timbres en masse. Another major difference is noticeable at the perceptual level of the
overall design. In sonoristic works the point at issue is the fast rate of change of
contrasting textures (in some works large textures last just a few seconds) and clear cut
textures are quite often separated by general pauses. The formal design arises from the
disposition of overlapping and/or juxtaposed contrasting textural blocks. For Ligeti the
transformation of the same musical elements such as melody, harmony and rhythm
produced music in which time is 'frozen.' 37 The music, as Ligeti explained, 'gives an
impression that it could stream on continuously, as if it had no beginning and no end;
what we hear is actually a section of something that has eternally begun and that will
continue for ever. It is typical for these pieces that there are hardly any caesuras and the
music really does flow on. The formal characteristic of this music is that it seems
static.' 38 However, within the seemingly static sound masses the timbre is constantly
changing. Whereas for sonoristic composers timbre is a primary form building element,
for Ligeti it functions in a vast time-frame, often transforming the entire texture over
considerable periods:
It is a rather superficial view to lay too much emphasis on timbre. The misunderstanding may have
arisen from a sentence in the programme notes I wrote for the first performance in
36
37
Ligeti said: ' ... Music as frozen time, as an object in the imaginary space evoked in our imagination, as an
object which in a real sense unfolds over time and yet in an imaginary way is simultaneously present in all
its moments. The exorcism of time, the abolition of its passing, and its inclusion in the present moment is
my main intention as a composer ... ' (Quoted in Lobanova, ibid, 55).
3
R Vamai, Ligeti in Conversation, 84.
95
It is a rather superficial view to lay too much emphasis on timbre. The misunderstanding may have
arisen from a sentence in the programme notes I wrote for the first performance in
Donaueschingen, 'Die Klangfarben haben formidable [?] Funktion' -timbre has a structural role
in giving form to music. Critics who do not know enough about music often comment on the
programme notes instead of on the music they hear. That is how Atmospheres came to be
considered 'timbre music' and I was put into the same pigeon~hole with Penderecki. ... 39
The formal structure of Ligeti's works - particularly Apparitions and Atmospheres -

operates on two levels 'internal structure and audible form' and these two levels also
define both common ground and also differences with sonoristic works.40 Ligeti, like the
Polish avant-garde composers, was greatly influenced by the Darmstadt school and this
influence is manifested in the precision he took when constructing his works. To generate
some textures Ligeti used strict canonic procedures which are very difficult to hear.
Similarly, in the sonoristic works of Penderecki, Gorecki and Schaeffer the constructional
detail of certain sections is almost impossible to discern. Thus Ligeti and the sonoristic
composers used similar techniques at the micro level. The main difference lies in the
approach to form and the overall structure. Lobanova noted that 'starting with
Apparitions and Atmospheres, Ligeti' s poetics is distinguished by the principles of
isomorphism: the structural similarity between the part and the whole is a central theme
in the composer's work, and has to a large extent even determined his sphere of interests,
from Ockeghem's polyphony to fractal geometry. ' 41
By the end of the 1950s, as clusters became a major technical device for Polish
composers, Ligeti too began to use clusters on a systematic basis but to achieve a
different effect. For Penderecki and other Polish composers clusters often provided the
means to create 'static' layers or blocks of sound notated as a thick, black line with an
indication of the density and the width. The new way of notating clusters whether they
were static (stationary), mobile or so called 'wedge clusters' corresponds to their sound.
Ligeti used clusters to create 'stationary' textures composed of individual parts which
undergo subtle, continuous changes. In notating them he rejected the new notation.
39
V<lmai, Ligeti in Conversation, 39.
40
Ibid., 43.
41
Lobanova, GyiJrgy Ligeti: Style, Ideas, Poetics, 50.
96
Ligeti's stance is that new music does not always need an invention of new notation; for
him notation was purely 'a means of communication. ' 42
On the whole I take a good look at innovations and if! do not find any need for them I leave them
well alone. In the case of Atmospheres the conductor had to have a score fully written out and the
members ofthe orchestra also needed precise notation. Graphic notation or some other new way of
writing down music, such as adopted by Penderecki for instance (thick black lines) does not
provide enough detail. 43
However, whereas for Apparitions and Atmospheres Ligeti needed to notate individual
parts exactly to achieve the gradual transformation of pitch, rhythmic shifts,
transformation of density and timbres, in Volumina (1961-62) for organ Ligeti did
employ graphic notation. In his approach to notation Ligeti shares some common ground
with composers involved in sonorism, which is: the sound determines the notational
language. This is confirmed in Volumina in which 'an exact indication of pitch is of no
importance as the texture consists of clusters, therefore all I needed to do was to define
the limits of clusters and indicate how the limits change both in space and in time. ' 44
The connection to visual art present in sonoristic pieces on many levels also exists in
Ligeti's works but on a much more subtle level. Interestingly Ligeti himself used a visual
analogy to explain the form of Apparitions. Arguably this image, as in Penderecki's
Threnody, played a part in the conception of the formal structure:
The general idea of its overall form was a dark block surface followed, through a sudden
explosion of light, by a high register block surface followed, through a sudden explosion of light,
by a high register block, with the dark block containing elements of the following light one and
vice versa. The underlying idea is very visual. 45
Synaesthesia appears to have played an important part in Ligeti's composition:
42
Lobanova, Gyorgy Ligeti: Style, Ideas, Poetics, 84. See also Ligeti's article 'Neue Notation -
Kommunikationsmittel oder Selbstzweck?' in Darmstadter Beitriige zur Neue Musik 9 (1965): 35-38.
43
Vilmai, Ligeti in Conversation, 40.
44
Ibid.
45
Ibid., 43.
97
... sounds and musical contexts have always evoked in me sensations of colour, consistency and
visible and tangible form. And also the other way round: I voluntarily associate colour, form,
46
material qualities and indeed even abstract concepts with tonal images . ...
However, the visual image of notation corresponding to the sound - an interesting

characteristic of most sonoristic scores - does not apply to Ligeti's Apparitions and
Atmospheres: as Lobanova noted, both scores 'did not sound as they were written.' 47
Lobanova has also found visual analogy helpful on another level. Taking Ligeti' s
concepts and music as an example, Lobanova draws parallels between the developments
in music of the 20th century and Kazimir 'Malevich's Suprematism which completed the
line of progression 'realism - Impressionism - Neo-impressionism - Cubism - abstract
48
art.' The idea of 'zero form' as represented in Malevich's Black Square (1915),
according to Lobanova, has its parallel with the neutralization and elimination of
harmony and rhythm which Schoenberg had began by his 'emancipation of the
dissonance' and 'liquidation of tonality.' 49 However, in the context of Ligeti's interest in
the concept of time-space, perhaps more interesting is Malevich's vision of 'the music of
the future:'
More and more frequently I see these masses, lumps and strata of music formed from some twenty
chords cast into space, and the coagulated mass of a musical cube .
... contemporary music must be able to express musical strata and must have the length and
thickness of a mass moving through time, with dynamism of the musical masses being replaced by
statism, i.e., by the lingering of the musical sound mass in time. 50
Friedrich Cerha's interest in textures and timbres runs almost in parallel with sonorism in
Poland. However, Warsaw Autumn audiences did not have a chance to hear his work
until 1961 when his Relazioni Fragili (1957) for harpsichord and chamber orchestra
46
Gyorgy Ligeti, 'Zustiinde, Ereignisse, Wandlungen,' Melos no. 5 (1975): 14-15, quoted in Lobanova,
Gyorgy Ligeti: Style, Ideas, Poetics, 8.
47
48
Ibid., 53.
49
Ibid., 54.
50
Quoted in Lobanova, Ibid., 56- 57.
98
received its Polish premiere. 51 This is a piece in which the post-Webem fragmentation
provides a close link to works like Serocki's Musica concertante. A piece that has more
affinity with Polish sonorism is Spiegel II (1961-1963) for 55 string soloists. It was
clearly impossible for it to have influenced Polish sonorism in a significant way: Spiegel
II was premiered by Ernest Bour only in the 1964 Donaueschingen Music festival.
However, the overall sound of certain sections and the use of large textures are close to
Polish sonorism. 52 For instance the homogeneous textural block (bars 175-195) of mobile
cluster glissandi are reminiscent of the string textural layers from Scultura by Schaeffer
and Sequenza I by Sikorski. 53 However, such textures are not typical of Spiegel!!. Unlike
the sonoristic works in which the textural contrast is of primary importance, in Spiegel II
the linearity of the formal processes and continuous textural transformation play a major
role. In this regard Cerha is closer to Xenakis's sound world. While in sonoristic works
the spatial positioning of the performing forces reinforces the timbral contrast of
instrumental groups, in Spiegel II the spatial arrangement of the instruments serves to
eliminate a possibility for any group or instrument to lead or stand out. 54 Cerha, attracted
to the homogeneity of the string ensemble, aims at smooth transition of sound as it travels
from one instrumental section to another. This 'equalisation' of tone and timbre is also
expected within the instrumental groups. The imperceptible entries, endings of sound and
bowing are part of the 'shaping' of the textures. The overlapping of expanding and
contracting layers seem to depict aurally almost three dimensional notation within which
the action of sound shaping takes place. Clusters are of course a primary device of
sonoristic works and are also frequent in Spiegel II. However, Cerha generally treats
them more like glissandi than static sound blocks. This is particularly noticeable at the
'edges' of the textures which bring to mind, as Morgan described it in relation to
51
By lander. The Warsaw Autumn International Festival of Contemporary Music, 1956-1961 ... ,' 564.
52
For most of the piece all 55 parts are involved.
53
Compare for instance bars 221-259 in Schaeffer's Scultura and Sikorski's Sequenza I, section Fin string
r,arts.
4
In the preface to the score Cerha instructs ' The seating order is so arranged that the listener is presented
with the entire tonal spectrum, from the first desk of the I" violins at the far left (corresponding to the
highest frequencies) to the fourth desk of the double basses at the far right (corresponding to the lowest
frequencies). Only this arrangement ensures a smooth transition from the 141h violin I to the ls1 violin II,
from the 13m violin II to the 1st viola, etc. (It is incorrect to object that the concertmaster cannot lead the 1st
violins if posted at the extreme left; this is a work for 55 soloistic strings and there is thus no string group to
lead. Technical instructions may also be given from the extreme left).' Cerha, Spiegel II (Vienna: Universal
Edition, 1964).
99
Metastaseis, 'the "flowing" straight lines of the building and the converging and the
diverging glissandos of the music.' Thus, beyond the superficial similarities of Cerha's
works from the same period the differences seem more significant. As Gertraud Cerha
noted:
With such works as Mouvements, Fasce and his Spiegel cycle (1960-61) he created his own
language of sound free from traditional schemata. Despite apparent similarities with works written
at the same time by Ligeti or Penderecki, it differs in so far as clearly recognizable processes of
development play a major role, and in combination with non-linear processes major forma1
55
relationships are created, providing the work with a coherent system, a sort of cosmos.
As indicated in this chapter, within the overall tendency to deal with texture and timbre,
there was a variety of highly individual approaches which often cannot be easily
categorised. To what extent these works influenced each other is debatable and not a
simple or even a possible question to resolve. However, it is worth considering some of
the composers' opinions. In an interview between Xenakis and Varga we find out how
Xenakis learnt about Penderecki and other Poles writing in a similar manner:
Then, in 1960, I was informed that the Poles were writing music like mine. People came from
Donaueschingen with the news that I had a Polish disciple, by the name of Penderecki, and that he
was writing music with many glissandos like mine. And there were other composers on a musical
path similar to mine.56
It is unlikely that Polish composers would have heard the premiere of Metastaseis at
Donaueschingen in 1955. But when, as Xenakis has recounted, Metastaseis was
performed in Sweden in 1958, it is certainly possible if not probable that the Poles 'heard
it on the radio.' 57 However, Penderecki denies that he was influenced by him. In the
interview with Richard Duffalo, Penderecki stated that he did not know Xenakis' s pieces
at the time of writing his sonoristic works. He also adds that 'there were many composers
discovering a very similar kind of music at the same time. Ligeti was one of them, with
"Gertraud Cerha, Friedrich Cerha, Universaledition, http://www.universaledition.com/bilder/176

cerha.pdf (accessed July 2, 2007)
56
Varga, Billint Andras, Lutos/awski Profile (London: Chester, 1974), 37.
"Ibid.
100
Atmospheres, or my Threnody, for example. It's a different music, but it has a similar
approach.' 58
Ligeti in an interview with Peter Vamai lists the works which potentially could have had
an impact on his compositions:
There was also 'Penderecki's Anaklasis, Kagel's Anagramma, Stockhausen's Carre; all of them
composed at about the same time. Atmospheres was still in rough draft, so Analclasis and Carre
may have left their mark on it. ' 59
Of course Xenakis's Metastaseis was already premiered, but Lobanova insists that Ligeti
developed the concept of micropolyphony without any knowledge of Xenakis's music:
'in 1958, when he was working on Apparitions, he was not familiar with the music of
Xenakis, who was considered a "non-person" by the Cologne circle.' 60 To a certain
degree the stylistic differences between Xenakis, Ligeti, Cerha and the Polish avant-garde
composers reflect individual paths along which they arrived at 'sound as texture.' In the
following chapter the focus narrows down to the Polish compositional scene and the path
from pointillism to sonoristic works.
58
59 Duffalo, Trackings. Composers Speak with Richard Dufal/o, 342-343.
60
Vcirnai, Ligeti in Conversation, 37.
Lobanova, Gyi!rgy Ligeti: Style, Ideas, Poetics, 54. Lobanova lists further references in relation to this
statement: 'Gyorgy Ligeti fiber eigene Werke,' and 'Gyorgy Ligeti. Personalstil -A vantgardismus-
Popularitiit.'
101
Chapter4
From Pointillism to Sonorism
As outlined in the historical overview, the political and cultural events of the 1950s had
strong resonances in the arts particularly in Poland. From the historical point of view this
decade was characterized by extremes and lack of stability which are reflected in the
styles in music. Almost within a decade Polish music was transformed from the dark
years of socialist realism in the early 1950s and the neoclassical style which dominated
post-war Poland to an apparent breaking down the 'iron curtain' on the stage of 'Warsaw
Autumn' at least artistically bringing a definite stylistic turn symbolized by sonorism and
experimentalism. The sudden political change in 1956 brought dodecaphony, serialism
and aleatory techniques into the vocabulary of Polish composers almost at once. As
Baculewski noted:
The wider interest in this technique [dodecaphony) appears after 1956, when a dozen or so
composers tried to experiment in this field. Historical development of compositional techniques
such as dodecaphony, serial ism - aleatory and sonoristic techniques in Poland is not reflected in
1
a linear sequential development. A11 of these techniques appeared almost simultaneously.
Even in the inter-war period not many composers explored dodecaphony. J6zef Koffler
(1896-1944) was the first composer in Poland to take up Schoenberg's ideas. 2 However,
at the end of 1940s Koffler left Poland and settled in Israel. 3 The Swiss composer
Constantine Regamey (1907-1982) who resided in Poland since 1944 and experimented
with twelve-note techniques in his Seven Persian Songs for baritone and piano (1940-
1
Baculewski, Historia Muzyki Polskiej, tom VII: Wsp61czesnosc 1: /939-1974, 87 and 240.
2
Ewa Kowalska-Zaj'l.c, Oblicza Avangardy. Roman Haubenstock-Rarnati [Faces of the Avant-Garde.
Roman Haubenstock-Rarnati) (L6dz: Akademia Muzyczna im. Gratyny i Kiejstuta Bacewicz6w, 2000), 14.
See also the Table 7.2 in Lindstedt, 'The Development of Twelve-Note and Serial Techniques in the Music
of Polish Twentieth-Century Composers,' in Musicology Today (Warsaw: Institute of Musicology,
University of Warsaw, 2005), 120.
3
Ibid., 14-15.
102
1942) and in the Quintet for clarinet, bassoon, violin, cello and piano (1942-1944). 4
Lindstedt also lists Tadeusz Majerski who together with J6zef Koffier was a part of
'Lvov school ofdodecaphony.' 5
In the first decade of post-war Poland dodecaphonic works appeared sporadically. Roman
Haubenstock-Ramati (1919-1994), while studying with Koffier in Lvov (between 1938
and 1941) became interested in 12-tone technique and in the music of Anton Webern. His
Ricercari for string trio (1948) is listed by Lindstedt as the first post-war dodecaphonic
piece composed in post-war Poland. 6 Other composers who contributed to the post-war
Polish dodecaphonic writing included Karol Rathaus (1895-1954), Roman Palester
(1907-1989), Boguslaw Schaeffer (b. 1929), Kazimierz Serocki and Tadeusz Baird. 7
While Polish composers during the 1950s were beginning to test the Western techniques
previously unacceptable in Poland, John Cage was already bringing indeterminacy to
Europe which moved the Darmstadt circle from the total control of serialism, towards its
opposite, indeterminacy. In 1954 Xenakis wrote Metastasis (1954) and three years later
Boulez in his Sonata no. 3 for piano (1957) embarked on his own particular type of
indeterminacy and aleatorism. 8 As mentioned earlier, after 1956 when the loosening of
the regime allowed for exchange of information with the Western avant-garde, interest in
twelve-note techniques and serialism embraced a much wider circle of Polish composers.
However, in many cases, Polish composers explored twelve-note writing and serialism
4
Lindstedt, 'The Development of Twelve-Note and Serial Techniques in the Music of Polish Twentieth-
Century Composers,' 120.
5
Ibid., 108. For more infonnation on the repertoire of twelve~note and serial music in Polish music see
Lindstedt, Dodekafonia i serializm w tworczosci kompozytorow polskich AX wieku [Dodecaphony and
Serialism in the Output of Polish Twentieth-Century Composers] (Lublin: Polihymnia, 2001).
6
Lindstedt, 'The Development of Twelve-Note and Serial Techniques in the Music of Polish Twentieth-
Century Composers,' 121.
7
Lindstedt lists sixteen twelve-note pieces in total by these composers (see Table 7.3, ibid.). Baculewski
regards Suita pre/udibw (1952) by Kazimierz Serocki, Muzyka na smyczki- Nokturn (1953) [Music for
Strings- Nocturne] by Boguslaw Schaeffer as the first dodecaphonic pieces composed in post-war Poland,
and Baird's Cassazione (1955) as 'the first orchestral piece in Polish music since Koftler. Ibid., 238. In
relation to Schaeffer's compositional output see also Stawowy and Zaj~tc, Boguslaw Schaeffer, 35).
8
The term aleatorism comes from Latin, a/ea meaning dice. The term itself was intmduced by Pierre
Boulez in his article from 1957 entitled 'Alea.' Pierre Boulez: 'Alea', Nouvelle revue franyaise (1957), no.
59; repr. in Relew!s d'apprenti (Paris, 1966): 41; Ger. trans. in Darmsttidter Beitrtige zur neuen Musik. i
(1958): 44; Eng. trans. in Stocktakingsfrom an Apprenticeship (Oxford, 1991), 26-38.
103
more out of the urge to taste 'the forbidden fruit' than out of an aesthetic conviction. 9 It
came as a surprise that Boleslaw Szabelski (1896-1979), then in his 60s, quite
unexpectedly joined the avant-garde and the generation of his pupils, such as G6recki.
For Szabelski the modernist tendencies were exemplified by a new attitude to formal
structure built on so called 'mottos' (has/a), the use of pointillist textures, increased role
ofcoloristics and the use of twelve-note procedures. 10 His Sonnets for orchestra (1958),
Improvisations for choir and orchestra (1959), Verses (Wiersze) for piano and orchestra
(1961) and Aphorisms for chamber ensemble (1962) testify to his fascination with the 12-
note technique. However, in the context of the post-war developments in Polish music
more significant are the signs of pointillist tendencies resulting from the way Szabelski
operated on 12-tone series. As Baculewski notes: 'the segmentation of the series and as a
consequence the segmentation of motifs lead the composer to pointillistic style... .'I I
Although the younger generation of Polish composers was much more taken by serialism
than the older composers, their interest in serial ism was only a brief episode: there are not
many serial compositions in the Polish repertoire of the late I 950s and early I 960s.
G6recki's Symphony No. '1959' is often cited as one of the a few examples of
9
Kotm\ski's comment about serialism supports this claim. See also the last chapter 'Epilogue- Composers'
and musicologists' retrospective view of sonorism and the sonoristic period.' Kilar describes his Darmstadt
experience as follows: 'I didn't really gain any experience in Darmstadt. It was a time of fictions, a time
when very simple things were described in very erudite words. ( ... ) There is an extraordinarily dramatic
book - memoirs of Pierre Boulez's secretary, who writes about this drama, this huge delusion about
serialism and dodecaphony. Of course certain works, because of their sound world, stood the test of time -
for example Boulez's Le marteau sans maitre.' Podobitiska and Polony, Cieszt: si~ darem zycia. Rozmowy z
Wojciechem Kilarem [I enjoy the gift of life. Conversations with Wojciech Kilar] (Krak6w: PWM, 1997),
28. Lutos!awski's attitude to Schoenber's dodecaphony and the use of 'system' is also relevant here.
Lutoslawski said 'What is alien to me in Schoenberg is the pre-eminence of the system over ear control.
The latter is of course a1so present in his music, after all Schoenberg was an outstanding musician.
However, the system is his art assumes universal significance, and detennines the composition of not just
work but a whole series of works. That never occurs in my case. I always work out new elements of a
system for every new work which serves my musical imagination.' Varga, Lutoslawski Profile (London:
Chester Music, 1976), 17. With the attitude that perception is always above the constructional detail
Lutoslawski shares the same ground with the younger generation of the Polish avant-garde: 'It seems to me
quite extraneous to discern in numbers and their arrangement some factor of equal importance to the actual
perception, and which might be supposed to have some value in itself even when it has no perceptible
influence on the sound progress of the work... .' Ove Nordwall, ed., The Composer and the Listener
(Stockholm: Edition Wilhelm Hansen, 1968), 121-122. Both statements are quoted in Stucky, Lutos/awski
and his Music, I 08.
Io Leon Markiewicz, 'Stare i nowe w muzyce B. Szabelskiego' [Old and New in the Music of B. Szabelski],
Ruch Muzyczny 6, no. 18 (15-31 September 1962): 9-10.
I I Baculewski, Historia Muzyki Polskiej, tom VII: Wsp6/czesnosc 1: 1939-1974, 243.
104
'constructivist' approach in which the 'magic square' provides the pitch content for the
work. Baculewski remarked: 'there is no other piece in Polish music that would match
this piece in terms of the element of pre-compositional process involved in preparation of
the serially organized musical material.' 12
One way of turning away from constructivist approach was to take on board only the
effect of serially derived music textures while ignoring their methods. Musica
Concertante for orchestra from 195 8 by Kazimierz Serocki - the most frequently
mentioned piece in this context - is regarded as the stepping stone into pointillism, and,
as Baculewski described, 'the apparent outward acceptance of modernity without its
technical and material consequences.' 13 Earlier, Chominski in his survey of Polish Music
emphasized the role of pointillism in the development of Polish music in the late 1950s:
Even composers were not always conscious of the fact that [pointi1lism] constitutes a transitional
phase, a preparatory ground for pure sonoristic technique. It is true that pointillism allowed one in
a sense to get familiar with the pure sonoristic function of harmony, but it could not contribute in
14
regulating harmonic structures.
All seven movements of Musica Concertante make use of twelve transpositions of a

series in four versions creating a symmetrical overall design centered around the fourth
movement with other movements paired by employing the series in reverse order (see Fig.
4.1). 15 Although Musica concertante is a dodecaphonic piece, its significance lies in the
use of instrumentation and the timbral effects of pointillistic textures. The instrumental
colour is even more emphasized across movements - Serocki changes the ensemble and
12
For detailed analysis which also includes the twelve-note matrix see Baculewski, Historia Muzyki
Polskiej, tom VII: Wsp6/czesnosc 1: 1939-1974, 256-260.
13
Ibid., 261.
14
Chomh\ski, Muzyka Polski Ludowej, 121.
15
Baculewski outlines the series used in Musica Concertante as fo11ows: 'Movement 1: 12 transpositions 0
from consecutive pitches of 0', followed by 12 transpositions R from consecutive pitches R'.
Movement 2: RP, RI 11-:-RP, P, I'~P. R12...;-R 1, () 12..;-() 1,
Movement 3: 12 transpositions RI from the consecutive pitches RI'.
Movement 4: 12 repetitions Jl and 12 repetitions Rl 1•
Movement 5: 12 transpositions I from consecutive pitches Jl.
Movement 6: o._~-0 11 , RL;.-R' 2 , P+Jl 1 , Jl, RP+Rl 11 , RI'.
Movement 7: 12 transpositions R from consecutive pitches R' followed by 12 transpositions 0 from
consecutive pitches 0'.' Baculewski, Historia Muzyki Polskiej, tom VII: Wsp6/czesnosc 1: 1939-1974, 262.
105
thus the overall colouristic effect from movement to movement (see Fig. 4.2 and Fig.
4.3).16
Scontri (1960), described by Thomas as 'the last Polish hurrah for the orchestral block-
buster,' is also the last of his large scale works in which Gorecki applied serial
procedures to pitch, dynamics and durations. 17 At last Polish composers caught up with
Western European avant-garde. But, as Schaeffer remarked, it was also time to move on:
The end of 1950s and early 1960 was the time to end the fascination with Webem, his aphorism
and pointillism. It was also the time to move away from the narrow-minded program of
constructivist approach to music based on series which control all parameters (Messiaen, Boulez,
Stockhausen, Nono) and finally look at composition through our own eyes.' 18
Although sonorism is commonly seen as a reaction against serialism, the two techniques
coexisted in many works written around 1960. 19 As already mentioned, Scontri by
Gorecki is one of the best examples to illustrate this point. While serialism provides the
constructional basis for the piece, sonoristic 'surface' seems to be not an outcome of the
serial procedures but an integral part of the compositional idea and an aesthetic goal in
itself. For this reason, it is worth examining the piece in some detail, even though it has,
regrettably, had only a few performances. As Thomas has noted 'the technical means are
directly related to the expressive ends, giving the composition a transparency absent in
some of its immediate predecessors. ' 20 The serial procedures that underpin the structure
16
Movement I (ca I' 45") includes saxophone, clarinet, marimba, bass cymbals, gong, tam-tam, triangle,
violin, viola, cello and double bass. Movement 2 (ca 1' 35") is scored bot flute piccolo, vibraphone, 5
drums and 2 harps. Movement 3 (ca 2' 30") is written entirely for strings: violin, viola, cello and double
bass. Movement 4 (ca I' 55") features the most expanded ensemble: flute piccolo, saxsophone, clarinet,
trumpet, marimba, bells, 3 trombones (pice, gr, rull.), bass cymbals, gong, 2 harps and string quartet: violin
viola, cello and double bass. Movement 5 (ca 3') includes vibraphone, triangle, 3 cymbals and strings:
violin, viola and cello. Movement 6 (ca I' 30 ") includes flute piccolo, saxophone, clarinet, marimba, 2
bongos, 2 tom-toms and 3 double basses. Movement 7 (ca 2 ')trumpet, bells, 2 harps and strings: violin,
viola, cello and double bass.
17
Thomas, Polish Music Since Szymanowski, 188. The main series and number matrix of Scontri is
included in Thomas's monograph: Gorecki, 29-38.
18
Boguslaw Schaffer, letter to author (November 16, 2001 ).
19
For example Monika Pasiecznik writes 'Sonorism was both a direct reaction for the cold and intellectual
side of serialism and a practical, consequential result of drawing from concrete sonic effects.' Monika
Pasiecznik, 'Szalonek z czysca historii' (Szalonek from the purgatory of History] Odra, 6, 2006: 83.
20
Thomas, GOrecki, 30.
106
of the piece naturally provide the point of departure for existing analyses of the piece. In
his monograph on Gorecki, Thomas presented the details of the large scale structure,
elaborated on the use of serial techniques and more importantly pointed to two possible
readings of the score: one as an intended design and another pointing intuitively towards
a sonoristic aural experience:
On a technical level far from being incoherent, the work is planned meticulously and realized
intuitively. Its pitch organization- one principal twelve-note series and three mirror ones- also
furnishes number series used to create dynamic and durational sequences. And these are integrated
with a structural template consisting of six sections, subdivided into twenty-eight 'sheets' more or
less corresponding to the double-page spread of the printed score. In turn, each sheet was
originally intended to unfold a rotationally variant order of the four orchestral families. In sum,
Gorecki designed a kaleidoscopic patchwork to operate at different levels; in reality, as the work
progresses, he frees himself from his original plan and proceeds by instinct. 21
In the context of sonorism and 'transitional' works, it is the sonoristic side of Scontri that
is of particular interest, and one could argue that a part of that instinct that was pulling
Gorecki from realizing a strict plan was an intensifying sonoristic aesthetic. The
experimental and new aspects of the piece begin with the disposition of instruments on
the stage (see Fig. 4.4, Scontri, layout of the orchestra). The spatial arrangement of the
instruments and the way the sound is directed to connect one point of the stage with
another is an important aspect of the piece. 22 Instead of grouping the instruments close
together to emphasize homogeneity of timbres within the instrumental families, Gorecki
spaces them far apart to maximize the spatial effect of sound. The strings are positioned
in a semicircle enclosing the woodwinds, trombones and a percussion player in the centre.
The other brass positioned outside of the string semicircle forms another semicircle; the
remaining percussion players are also scattered around in a circle. The two pianos and
two harps are separated and placed far apart on the opposite sides of the stage.
21
Thomas, Polish Music since Szymanowski, 187. For details of serial procedures see also Baculewski,
Historia Muzyki Po/skiej, tom VII: Wsp6/czesnosc 1: 1939-1974, 260.
22 Scontri was premiered during the 4'h Warsaw Autumn Festival on 20 September 1960 under Jan Krenz
and Polish Radio SO. Thomas also provided details on the recordings of the piece: PN W-680, Polish Radio
SO, Katowice, Jan Krenz, conductor; PN Muza XL 0391 =Olympia OCD 385, Polish Radio SO, Katowice,
Jan Krenz conductor. Thomas, GOrecki, 156.
107
Although there are many sonoristic notational devices such as durational lines, dotted
barlines, clusters notated as thick, black lines, and time-space notation for accellerandi
and ritardandi, and tempo line running at the top of the score, the flow of music is
entirely regulated by meter. The score itself is divided into twenty-eight 'sheets.' As
Thomas already described, the 'sheets' take up two pages of the score and are numbered
at the top left hand comer of the verso side of the page.Z 3
Scontri could reasonably be described as a 'cluster piece.' The variety of clusters and
their frequent occurrence in every section of the piece draws immediate attention to this
most fundamental sonoristic device. As in many sonoristic works, the clusters in Scontri
are used to emphasize the timbre of individual instruments or instrumental groups, to
build textures and may play a structural role in a piece. Already in the first of the six
sections of the piece there are clusters used as static bands of sounds with a variety of
articulation to vary the overall colour (sheet 7, bars 1-2, 7-8, 11-12, 13-14 and 20),
clusters as sound impulses (for instance sheet 2, bars 6-9 in strings, sheet 5, bars II and
19 and in piano part, sheet 8 bars 1-2 in harps), and mobile cluster glissandi. The strings,
harp and piano parts are particularly dominated by clusters. Clusters may be used as the
predominant textural layer (sheet 2 bar 9-1 0) or to create a background for the other
instrumental colours and superimposed textural layers. One of the most striking examples
can be found in the string section (sheets 6 to 8), where the strings feature over a three
octave mobile, semitone cluster notated as a thick black line (see Fig. 4.5). 24 Like a wide
brush stroke, this band of sound gradually migrates to a higher register (over an octave
higher) through up-and-down glissandi and vibrates -the players are instructed to play
sui ponticello and rapid tremolo - to end as a static pitch cluster. The dynamics, as in
many sonoristic works, are integrated with the textural layers. In this instance the
dynamic level is synchronized with the pitch movement of the cluster: the upwards
movement in pitch is matched by the dynamic rise; in tum downwards movement in pitch
23
Thomas, Gorecki, 31.
24
In the preface to Scontri G6recki indicates 'all the notes within the indicated range' which, according to a
common-sense interpretation of 'all the notes', would suggest a semitone cluster. In some cases, as with
Scontri, where parts are available, the individual instrumental parts indicate the exact realization of the
graphic notation.
108
is matched by a diminuendo. When pitch is constant the dynamic level also remains fixed.
In contrast to clusters of wide pitch range (represented by a black thick line), Gorecki
also uses very narrow clusters, as at the end of sheet I 0 where strings play sui ponticello
on the highest note on the instrument. As in the opening of Penderecki's Threnody, the
result is a dense microtonal cluster in the high register (see Fig. 4.6). An effect of a
cluster sonority (as a sonic band) is also achieved by sustained chords in strings built on
all the open strings (superimposing fourths in double basses and fifths in the other strings,
see Fig. 4.7). From 'sheet' 21, towards the end of the piece, clusters almost continuously
dominate the string parts, underpinning the other instrumental layers. However, it is not
just the variety and frequency of clusters that constitute the sonoristic side of Scontri but
also their relationship to other elements and their structural role in the piece. For instance,
on a smaller scale (i.e. within a section of the piece) clusters often function as dense
sound bands separating contrasting textures, as towards the end of 'sheet' two (see Fig.
4.8). The same example features clusters as an integral part of the entire textural block,
which comprises an ad libitum-like textural layer in the winds superimposed with
synchronized cluster impulses in the string parts. The wind texture is created by
superimposing orderings of twelve notes and their retrograde versions in each of the
individual twelve parts. Both the row and its retrograde are partitioned into groups of four,
three and five notes separated by quaver rests. The clusters as sound impulses are
intertwined with the wind texture by filling in the quaver rests. This is another instance in
which serial procedures are subordinated to the overall textural effect.
Although the search for new timbres and non-standard ways of playing on instruments
was well under way in earlier scores by Penderecki 25 such as Anaklasis, Gorecki's
instructions such as 'play near the soundboard, play on the strings between bridge and
tailpiece' and glissandi played with a hard wire brush or with the upper side of the finger-
nail' indicate the further expansion and enrichment of instrumental colour that Gorecki
will continue in the Genesis cycle.
"Anaklasis (1959-1960) already used, for instance, 'highest note of instrument (no definite pitch)', 'play
between bridge and tailpiece,' and notes raised or lowered by microtones.
109
In conjunction with other sonoristic features such as sharp textural/dynamic contrast and
a fast rate of change in timbre and texture, a general tendency throughout the piece is to
build larger textural blocks (defined by articulation) through the increase of parts in
superimposed, timbrally contrasted textural layers. For instance, 'sheet' twenty-two
Gorecki composes from three superimposed different ideas as three distinct textural
layers: percussion with rapid trills, harps playing mobile clusters and string texture
composed of individual parts sliding upwards and downwards in rapid tremolo sui
ponticello (see Fig. 4.9).
A similarly sonoristic feature of Scontri is the juxtaposition of extreme dynamic levels to

suddenly cut through and influence the overall color of a texture. This procedure is
applied both to textures with exact pitch, and textures for percussion instruments in which
register is indicated but pitch is approximate. In the first instance in Scontri (see Fig.
4.1 0), the sudden drop of dynamic level from .ff.ffto pppp in the string texture of twelve
sustained pitch classes is the only element that changes in the texture yet it creates an
abrupt impact. In the second instance (see Fig. 4.11) the dynamics change from iff to
pppp and back to iff is linked to articulation (fast tremolo to slow tremolo) and register
change (for instance a change involves soprano bongos to alto bongos) but the change is
comparable in impact.
As the piece proceeds, textures generated by serial procedures are less frequent. Instead
there is more emphasis on superimposing homogeneous textural layers in which the
importance of exact pitch, as generated by the serial system, is greatly undermined
through the use of clusters and unpitched percussion instruments. The concluding sheet
twenty-eight presents a high concentration of features typical of many sonoristic pieces:
juxtaposition of clear cut contrasting textural layers in wind, percussion and strings. The
final gesture once again epitomizes the role of clusters in this piece: a series of cluster
glissandi moving upwards in the manner of thick brush strokes to the highest register (see
Fig. 4.12). Typically the five dynamic levels descending from mp to pppp are integrated
with the five mobile cluster glissandi ascending to the 'highest' pitch. Thus within this
single piece one can trace a progression from a preoccupation with serial pointillism
II 0
towards sonoristic thinking. Ultimately, the serial side of Scontri will be entirely
overtaken by a sonorist aesthetic in the following Genesis cycle.
Lutoslawski: Jeux venitiens and Trois poemes d'Henri Michaux.
While pointillism is seen as a stepping stone on the path to sonorism, the chance elements
introduced by Witold Lutoslawski in Jeux venitiens (Venetian Games) for chamber
orchestra (29 soloists) composed in 1961left a permanent imprint on the repertoire of the
younger generation of the Polish avant-garde. 26 In this context it is worth noting that
there is no real post-Webem, pointillist phase in Lutoslawski's work; he arrives at
textural composition via Bartok rather than We bern. The influence of Lutoslawski' s
'limited aleatorism,' 'collective ad libitum' or 'controlled aleatorism' - all three terms
used by Lutoslawski referring to the same technique has been widely
acknowledged. 27 Danuta Gwizdalanka and Krzysztof Meyer in their monograph on
Lutoslawski write as follows:
The composers of the younger generation and even their contemporaries commonly began to use
such limited aleatorism. The characteristic 'snakes' (wavy lines) placed after the notes to indicate
their repetition appeared in hundreds of scores. Soon this would become a convention, just as the
motoric semiquaver rhythms in the neoclassical pieces did a few decades earlier. 28
Steven Stucky also highlights Lutoslawski's distinctive position amongst other

composers who were experimenting with chance elements in their compositions before or
around the same time:
26
Jeux vinitiens was premiered in 1961 at the Teatro Ia Fenice during the Venice Biennale, hence the name,
by the Crakow Chamber Orchestra under Andrzej Markowski. For the premiere Lutoslawski completed
only three movements: first, second and fourth (see Stucky, 84). A review of the first version of the piece
written by Bohdan Pociej appeared in Ruch Muzyczny: ·Gry Weneckie. Nowy Utw6r Witolda
Lutostawskiego,' no. 10 (15-31 May 1961 ): 4. After the performance Lutostawski revised the piece and
completed the third movement. The revised version of the piece was premiered on September 16, 1961 at
the Warsaw Autumn under Witold Rowicki.
27
Danuta Gwizdalanka and KrzysztofMeyer, Lutoslawski. Droga do mistrzostwa [The road to mastery)
vol. 2 (Krakow: PWM, 2004). 35
28
Ibid.
Ill
Gyorgy Ligeti credits Lutoslawski with originating the technique. To Ove Nordwall's suggestion
that it stems instead from the first version of Apparitions (1957), Ligeti replied that the appearance
of aleatorism in his score is crude and primitive by comparison with the already refined and
individual conception Lutoslawski presented in 1961 in Jeux Vtnitiens. Penderecki claims that in
some of his very early pieces (presumably before 1960) he experimented with controlled
aleatorism, and other composer - Stockhausen and Berio, for example - had introduced limited
degrees of alearorism before 1960. It hardly matters who first used the technique, however. It is
Lutoslawski who first produced distinguished artistic results with it and whose example in this
respect had exerted a powerful influence in Europe and especially in Poland. AH his works since
1961 have involved the technique to some extent, and Lutoslawski's name has become so closely
linked with it that he once complained about being labeled 'controlled aleatorist', as if singling out
this one aspect of his work could suffice to describe it. 29
Jeux venitiens, arguably Lutoslawski's most significant work of this period and the one
which inaugurates his mature period as a composer, 30 was followed by Trois poemes
d'Henri Michaux [Three Poems by Henri Michaux, 1961-63] for mixed chorus and
orchestra of winds and percussion. The overtly sonoristic aspect of these works largely
disappears in his subsequent String Quartet (1964), an important turning poine 1 in which
motivic relationships resurface pointing to post-Bartokian expressiveness and greater
exploration of clearly identifiable harmonic fields (as in the subsequent Paroles tisses,
1965). The mentality of the cluster pieces is also not a part of Livre pour Orchestra
(1968), despite its rich timbral and coloristic side, or of the Second Symphony (1965-67)
in which the sonoristic traits are part of the language but the emphasis is shifted towards
other elements. As Chlopecki put it: 'at this exact time the part played in his scores by
aleatory counterpoint definitely diminishes and that the role of melody increases
noticeably and binary form, revealed in such spectacular manner in the Second
Symphony.' 32
The significance of Jeux venitiens within Lutoslawski's oeuvre has already been
discussed by many writers. Stucky concluded his analytical chapter on the piece by
"Steven Stucky, Lutoslawski and His Music (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1981), 109-110.
30
lbid.,l33.
31
32
Witold Lutoslawski, Orchestral Works Vol. 2, Naxos, 8.553169 (1996). Sleeve notes by Andrzej
Chlopecki, p. 6.
112
calling it 'an imperfectly executed experiment.' 33 Thomas broadly agrees with Stucky's
assertion about this work's place within Lutoslawski's oeuvre:
Measured against surrounding works such as Musiquefunebre or the String Quartet (1964), this is
probably true. Yet its appeal continues to this day and lies in its raw vitality as a 'work-in
progress' composition, the wildness of its multifarious motivic ideas refreshingly apparent,
rightly giving Jeux venitiens its place in the pantheon of the post-war experimental canon. What
we have is a work small in time-span but huge in invention and in portents for Lutoslawski's
future. 34
The most significant innovation in this piece was the introduction of chance elements into
his music, for which Lutoslawski credits John Cage. Hearing a broadcast of his Concert
for Piano and Orchestra in 1960 suddenly opened a whole range of possibilities and
consequently provided a major breakthrough for Lutoslawski, who at the time was
experiencing something of a crisis. Lutoslawski later recalled this experience as follows:
While listening to it, I suddenly realized that I could compose music differently from that of my
past. That I could progress toward the whole not from the little detail but the other way round - I
could start out from the chaos and create order in it, gradually."
However, what is the place of this work within the sonoristic repertoire? The influence
of Lutoslawski's limited aleatorism, as already mentioned, is a significant part of the
sonoristic legacy. In tum, the piece also reflects the impact the sonoristic trend exerted on
the older generation of Polish composers (i.e. those born before 1914).36 The extent to
which the sonoristic trend infiltrated the thinking and compositional procedures of
Lutoslawski is evident in the sketches for the piece. 37 The sketch for the overall form of
33
'Despite its many strengths, chief among them the magical third movement, Jeux Venitiens retains the air
of a brilliantly conceived but imperfectly executed experiment.' Stucky, Lutos/awski and his Music, 141.
34
Adrian Thomas, 'Jeux venitiens: Working Methods at the Start of Lutoslawski's Mature Period' in
Lutos/awski Studies, (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001), 243.
35
Goodwin, 'Commentary: Zagreb', Music and Musicians II (July 1963): 17, quoted in Stucky, ibid., 84.
36
In Baculewski's generational divisions Lutoslawski (1913-1994) belongs to the fourth generation active
in post-war Poland, together with Gra:iyna Bacewicz (1909-1969), Stefan Kisielewski (1911 -199I), Witold
Rudzinski (1913-2004), and Andrzej Panufuik (1914-1991). Baculewski, Historia Muzyki Po/skiej, tom Vll:
Wsp6/czesnosc 1: 1939-1974, 63.
37
Sketches for Jeux venitiens are in possession of Paul Sacher Foundation in Basel. The final version of the
score and the first version of the first movement donated to John Cage are now in the possession of the
113
the first movement of Jeux wJnitiens supports the claim that sonoristic thinking underlies
the initial conceptual process. Comparing the sketches for the first movement with the
published score, Thomas writes:
Not for the last time, Lutoslawski appears to have started his compositional process with a
diagrammatic impression of the movement's structure (he seems to have used such visual
representations either as an initial stimulus or as a more detailed aide-memoire). 38
The contrasting sections of the movement are represented by textural blocks drawn as
rectangles with the indication of instrumentation, duration and expression markings (see
Fig. 4.13). In the context of sonoristic works, such a document is of great importance for
two reasons. Firstly, as already mentioned, it provides evidence of essential sonoristic
features right at the initial stages of the compositional process, suggesting that a
sonoristic aesthetic is not an outcome but an aesthetic goal. Secondly, such visual
representation of the form is in line with various visual aspects of the emblematic scores
in sonoristic repertoire. (This aspect of individual sonoristic works is discussed in more
detail in Chapter 5.) Even if Lutoslawski was in the habit of sketching the overall form
for his works in such a way, comparison of sketches for Jeux wJnitiens and works written
much later, such as Chain I (1983), further strengthens the argument that in Jeux
wJnitiens sonorism was an aesthetic basis and a part of the conception of the first
movement.
As evidenced in the sketch of the overall form for the first movement, the sharp contrast
between the sections conceived as textural blocks comes from the two sources. First of all,
from the instrumentation - a primary basis for timbral contrast notably emphasized by
Chomii1ski - and the texture. Thus the sections labeled A, C, E and G are written for
Northwestern University Library at Evanston, Illinois (Thomas, 'Jeux w!nitiens: Working Methods at the
Start of Lutoslawski's Mature Period' 234-235). Several pages of the sketches for Venetian Games and
other works are reproduced in the articles by Homma (Lutoslawski's Studies in Twelve-Tone Rows,' 194-
210), Thomas ('Jeux w!niliens: Working Methods at the Start of Lutoslawski's Mature Period,' 211-243)
and Irina Nikolska ('On the Types of Chain Connections in the Late Music ofLutoslawski: Some Remarks
on Chain 1 for Chamber Ensemble and Chain 3 for Orchestra', pp. 305-323) published in Lutoslawski
Studies.
38
Thomas, 'Jeux w!niliens: Working Methods at the Start ofLutoslawski's Mature Period,' 212.
114
woodwind, brass, timpani and piano duet; while the alternate sections B, D, F and H are
assigned to strings. The order of performance is fixed from A to H.
Table 4.1 Lutoslawski, Jeux wfnitiens: Formal scheme of the contrasting sections.
ad libitum a battuta
A: ! woodwinds, 12"
(7 parts)
B: ! strings, [ca 27"]
(8 parts +solo violin)
C: ! Woodwinds, Timpani, 18"
(8 parts)
D: ! strings [ca 21 "]
(9_parts +solo violin)
E: ! woodwinds, timpani, brass, 6"
(II parts)
F: ! strings [ca 2"],
(8 parts)
G: ! woodwinds, timpani, brass,
Piano (2 players), 24"
(I 3 parts)
H: ! strings [ca 39], (9 parts)
!!!!
(Using a symbol first introduced by Thomas, I also use the ! sign to indicate the percussion attack
coordinated with the entry of each section. Thomas, 'Jeux winitiens: Working Methods at the
Start ofLutoslawski's Mature Period,' 222.
The contrast arising from alternating two different types of texture involves additional
elements: fast moving material at mezzo forte juxtaposed with slow and static chords at
mostly piano pianissimo dynamic level. While ad libitum sections incorporate a variety
of articulation, the a battuta sections are unified to form a homogeneous kind of texture.
Both types of textures are also differentiated by the use of register. While ad libitum
sections are registrally static, a battuta sections ascend to the higher register (with
exception of the last section H, where static chords are moved down). The notation of the
two types of sections also differs. Although in the a battuta sections, as Lutoslawski
instructs in the score, 'the bar lines rhythmical values and metre are intended merely for
115
orientation; the music should be played with the greatest freedom,' the individual
instrumental parts are coordinated. The ad libitum type sections are completely devoid of
bar lines, thus each part proceeds in its own tempo (see Fig. 4.14). The textural contrast
also lies in the number of parts. As in many sonoristic pieces, the tendency is to gradually
build up larger textures as the piece progresses. In ad libitum type sections the number of
parts grow systematically from seven to thirteen parts. In contrast, in a battuta sections,
the main textural layer varies only slightly in the number of parts. While the length of
entire ad libitum type sections is given by the composer on the first page of the score, the
a battuta sections are measured in bars of circa 3 seconds. The contrast between both
types of sections also lies in their harmony. Steven Stucky draws attention to the
symmetrical twelve-note chords of the ad libitum sections and chromatic clusters of the a
battuta sections. 39 Thomas also emphasized the role of pitch in the first movement:
Where the foundation for the B D F H sections was a concertina pattern created from eight lines,
that for the ACE G sections is one ofLutoslawsk's favored twelve-note chords, with additions.
This pitch material was fundamental to the design of ACE G from the outset."
The contrast between the alternating sections of the first movement is also projected on to
the remaining movements. The exactly notated second movement in a form of a scherzo
is the least sonoristic. However, it features two of the most familiar sonoristic devices:
two piano clusters (b. 83-112) and sections in which a certain degree of freedom in
rhythmic realization is allowed (b. 93-1 03). In contrast, the slow third movement brings
back ad libitum type textures, also featuring an expressive solo flute part which gradually
moves from the lowest to the highest register. Written last, it is considered to be 'both the
simplest and the most successful of the entire work.' 41 The emphasis is not to build large
textures, although there are distinct layers in terms of material (winds, strings, piano and
harp, and flute) and occasional block like textures in strings (section P). In fact, the
strings' role throughout the movement is transformed from a gradual increase (then
decrease) in frequency and continuity, from punctuating the sections (letter D, G, J, L) to
39
Stucky, Lutoslawski and His Music, 134-135.
4
°For more detailed discussion on the sketches for this movement see Thomas, 'Jeux venitiens: Working
Methods at the Start ofLutos!awski's Mature Period,' 222.
41
Stucky, Lutoslawski and His Music, 137.
116
forming one of the main textural layers (letters M to, Q), and finally back to the vertical
chords of the beginning.
The final movement combines both types of writing: ad libitum and a battuta. There is a
much greater emphasis on building clear cut blocks of textures which are juxtaposed,
superimposed and overlapping. The contrast between alternating these two types of
textures also articulates the movement's structure. Thus as in the first movement, ad
libitum sections alternate with a battuta sections. 42 The opening of the movement
presents the two contrasting textural blocks contained within instrumental groups: one in
strings with sustained 12-note chord overlapping with another textural block featuring
polyrhythm in winds. With the introduction of the piano layer (b. 54) the collective ad
libitum begins. As the movement progresses towards the climax (letter G, see Fig. 4.15),
the rate of change increases, textures are shortened but the number of overlapping
contrasting textural layers grow resulting in so-called 'multilayeredness'
43
(wielowarstwowosc). The contrasting textural timbres are woodwinds, brass, piano and
strings. It is not so much the growing number of parts but the increasingly short
individual overlapping layers that intensify the effect of the changes and impression of
textural build up. In contrast to the beginning of the movement where the textural
contrast is clear, the middle of the movement - towards the climax - melts the individual
layers into one large texture. Once again the emblematic sonoristic device, the cluster, is
at the centre of the climax. A series of cluster attacks over the entire registral range of the
piano are juxtaposed with textures in stings, winds and percussion (see Fig. 4.16). Thus in
this influential but experimental work, Lutoslawski introduced chance into the repertoire
of techniques of sonoristic thinking.
If the Jeux venitiens was 'an imperfectly executed experiment', the next composition, the
Trois poemes d'Henri Michaux commissioned by the director of Radio Choir in Zagreb,
Slavko Zlatic for the Music Biennale in Zagreb in 1963, was, according to Stucky, an
42
For more detail see Stucky, Lutos/awski and His Music, 141.
43
Ibid., 140.
117
'unequivocal artistic success.' 44 The Trois poemes d 'Henri Michaux in Lutoslawski 's
mature phase, for the first time, incorporate choir of 20 soloists; the orchestra consists of
woodwinds, brass and percussion. 45 The two ensembles are independent, each requiring a
separate score, and its own conductor. This aspect of performance takes Lutoslawski 's
limited aleatorism to a new height not least because of the two independently directed
ensembles. Stucky remarked: 'indeed in this work and the next, the String Quartet, is to
be found the highest proportion of ad libitum playing in any of the composer's scores-
and it is done more subtly and with a surer hand than in Jeux venitiens. ' 46
The piece consists of three contrasting in mood movements: Pensees, Le grand combat
and Repos dans le Malheur. Although the poems were chosen (as Lutoslawski himself
noted) after he had made the outline of the piece, a lot of the textural detail is drawn from
the poetry, with which Lutoslawski was fascinated with from the moment he discovered
it:47
The verse, its sense and construction, and even particular words had to exert an influence on the
music of my composition. This was, moreover, as I had intended. If! had proceeded otherwise, if
the words of the text were to be merely one more sound-element of the music, this would be a
misuse of the poetry and artistically false, and at any rate it would be wrong approach."
While in the first movement, there is a mixture of both ad libitum and a battuta sections,
the second and third movements are dominated by an ad libitum style of playing. It is
clear that in parallel with the growing sonoristic repertoire of the younger generation of
Polish composers, Lutoslawski proceeded in his own direction and further developed his
own particular 12-note technique. However, there is a clear sonoristic side to Trois
poemes d'Henri Michaux. What then are the points of connection with sonorism? Charles
44
Ibid., 142. The Polish premiere took place during Warsaw Autumn Festival on 22 September the same
year (Rae, Muzyka Lutos/awskiego, lO I).
45
The size of the choir - depending on the performance space - can be doubled or even tripled to total of 60
singers. In such cases the composer instructs that 'in the ad libitum' sections, singers having the same part
should not sing strictly together (Lutoslawski, Trois poemes d"Henri Michaux Preface to the Vocal score,
Krak6w: PWM, 1969).
46
Stucky, Lutoslawski and His Music, 142-143.
47
Ove Nordwall, ed., Lutoslawski (Stockholm: Wilhelm Hanses, 1968), 75.
48
Ibid.
118
Bodman Rae in his monograph on the music of Lutoslawski already noted the emphasis
on textures:
Lutos/awski's methods of organizing pitch in this work are quite simple compared with some of
those he was later to evoJve. His continual use of twelve-note chords (as opposed to chord-
aggregates), particularly those with clustered semitones, leads to a kind of harmony that is heard in
terms of general textures, with little opportunity for the projection of melodic lines. The question
of melody does not seem to have been confronted in this work, so the problems and limitations of
texturalism remain. 49
Indeed in the central movement, Le grand combat, the notation of the vocal parts
indicates only a register: high, middle and low (see Fig. 4.17). Lutoslawski also uses
extended vocal techniques here, common to sonoristic scores such as shouting, speaking,
reciting, reciting in undertones and whispering. The sonoristic aspects however, are not
limited to the mode of vocal production. The overall textural effects of the second
movement are also much closer to sonoristic works. Within the vocal textures, the two
styles, a battuta and ad libitum form the foundation of a textural contrast between the
sections to create one glittering sound mass. The juxtaposition of a large textural vocal
block with a single part is common to many sonoristic pieces. For instance, at score no.
33 to 48 the sopranos and altos are superimposed in eight-syllable glissandi in a high
shout. This clear cut sound block in a high register is juxtaposed with one layer of male
voices in a low register a battuta (see Fig. 4.17). There are also textures in which ad
libitum and a batutta styles of performance are superimposed. Towards the end of the
movement (see Fig. 4.18) the sopranos and altos against tenors and basses create two
distinct textural layers: the former with a colorful sound mass with incomprehensible text,
and the latter with a single layer and clearly audible text. There are also larger textural
blocks of all voices performing ad libitum. In such case all the individual parts are
intertwined and melded into one sound mass in which the audibility of text is lost.
Lutoslawski was not satisfied with this aspect of the piece. However, it seems that at the
time, the sonoristic side of textures was more important and in effect prevailed over the
composer's approach to the text in general:
49
Charles Bodman Rae, The Music of Lutoslawski, (London, Omnibus Press, 1999), 87.
119
I always strive to make the text audible and intelligible. Unfortunately, here I have not always
succeeded and I deplore that ... I could even say that if I were to compose the Trois poemes by
Michaux again, I would profit from all the experience I have had as listener, and as conductor of
the chorus, and I would certainly do some retouching, aiming to render the text more completely
audible. 5°
Although the vocal parts explore the sonoristic effects to a greater degree, there is also an
emphasis on the overall sound in the orchestral parts en masse. The opening of the piece
provides such an example. The woodwind texture, composed of individual lines based on
12-note chords, is introduced by a symmetrical 12-note chord on two pianos. None of the
individual lines is more important than the other and all blend in to create one texture to
foreshadow the mood of the poem.
One of the typical sonoristic textures exploring the timbre contrast and dynamics being
integrated into the instrumental parts is in the second movement (bars 52-53). The series
of fast crescendi from p to if of sustained chords in winds are alternated with sustained
chords in the brass section. The fast rate of change is emphasized by the percussion
section (tom-toms and timpani) synchronized with the winds (see Fig. 4.19). Thus while,
in many ways, Trois poemes d'Henri Michaux continues some of the ideas discussed in
Jeux winitiens, it introduces some new elements which are relevant to the discussion here
about the development of sonorism. It introduces a choir and applies some of the
aleatoric instrumental techniques of Jeux venitiens to- vocal textures. Moreover, the
sonoristic element appears to have taken precedence over textual clarity, despite the
importance that Lutoslawski placed on audibility of the text.
***
In the development of sonorism, the opening of electronic music in Poland, as already

mentioned in the historical chapter, played a vital role. The first tape pieces were
composed even before the establishment of the Experimental Studio in Warsaw in
November 1957: Andrzej Markowski's (1924-1986) music for the Goldoni's play Sluga
° Charles B. Rae, The Music o[Lutos/awski, 86.

5
120
dw6ch pan6w and Kotonski's music for Richard Golec's documentary film Barwy
radosci i smutku. 51 Subsequent works, such as music for the films Zycie jest pi~kne, By/
sobie raz and Dom, Markowski used tape manipulations, montage, reverberation and
electronically generated sounds. 52 Zbigniew Wiszniewski's first autonomous tape piece
and the first electronic piece composed in 1962 (i.e. using sound electronically generated)
in Poland was dB, Hz, s. 53 As already mentioned, the first piece composed in the
electronic studio was Kotonski's Etiuda konkretna (na jedno uderzenie w talerz)
[Concrete Study (on one cymbal stroke)], which was also the first musique concrete piece
by a Polish composer:
The Concrete Study lasted only 2 minutes and 41 seconds. But it became an important point of
departure for the development of electronic music in Poland. Premiered in the 1960s Warsaw
Autumn, it was played in festivals and concerts of new music in many countries. Its score,
published by PWM in 1963 under the short title Study on One Cymbal Stroke, contributed to its
popularity. 54
From its inception, the Studio conducted courses and training sessions which attracted
great interest among composers. Franco Evangelisti and Roland Kayn (b. 1933) were
amongst the first foreign composers invited to the Studio in 1959 and 1961 respectively.
The main figures in the first years the Studio operated included Wlodzimierz Kotonski (b.
1929), Zbigniew Wiszniewski (1922-2000), Andrzej Dobrowolski (1921-1990) and
Boguslaw Schaeffer (b. 1929). 55 For some composers the Experimental Studio was a
brief albeit an important and very influential experience. Krzysztof Penderecki (b. 1933)
frequently visited the Studio to work on his film scores. In Penderecki's only electronic
piece realised there, 'coloristic element and search for new sonoristic values had become
the main interest.' 56 The vocal material is subjected to a variety of musique concrete
operations such as montage, transposition, filtering and reverberation. 57 In an interview
51
Wlodzimierz Kotm\ski, Muzyka elektroniczna [Electronic Music] (Krak6w: PWM, 2002), 34-35.
52
Ibid.
53
Tthe title stands for decibel, Herz and second. Ibid., 38.
54
Ibid., 37-38.
55
Kotonski, Muzyka elektroniczna, 37.
56
Ibid., 38.
"Ibid.
121
with Richard Duffalo, Penderecki emphasized the value of these experiences
particularly in relation to sonorism - at the experimental studio:
I was a student at that time and used to go every month for a couple of days at a time. Eventually,
I worked at the studio for two or three years, writing music for short films and theatre. I think I
learned a lot from that electronic studio. I think that what I mostly learned was discovering
something absolutely new and, I thought at the time, with unlimited possibilities in music. In the
late '50s and beginning '60s, I was the first to introduce a new way of playing the string
instrument. And I think my ideas, using the cluster, using 'noise,' discovering new ways of
playing an instrument, came from working in that studio, not from studying others. 58
Although Gorecki never composed an electronic piece, in 1962 he also acknowledged

influence from electronic music: 'I think that electronic music attracted the attention of all
composers and directed it towards the value of vertical sonorities, as well as horizontal
59
ones. ' In looking at the relationship between electronic music and musique concrete in
Poland at this time and sonorism, it is impossible to say which influenced the other.
However, it is clear that both were manifestations of a new interest in sound itself and its
musical potential.
Discussions of sonorism, particularly in Poland, have tended not to focus on the sonoristic
side of the works discussed in this chapter. However, they are clearly relevant to sonorism
and its development. There is a part of these works which can also be seen to be part of the
trend. Moreover the works themselves, particularly those by Lutoslawski, were strongly
influential on composers who wrote some of the emblematic sonoristic works to be
discussed in Chapter 6.
58
Richard Dufallo, Trackings. Composer Speak with Richard Dufallo (New York: Oxford University Press,
1989), 343.
59
Leon Markiewicz, 'Conversation with Henryk Gorecki: Leon Markiewicz, July 1962,' trans!. Anna
Maslowiec, Context no. 14 (Summer 1997): 39.
122
Chapter 5
Sonoristic Notation
... good notation is what works.

-Earle Brown, Notations 1
The connection between sounds and signs constitutes an important dimension in

sonoristic music. This chapter examines the explosion of new notational signs for new
sounds and techniques within Polish sonorism, within the context of the wider avant
garde preoccupation with notation and graphics. More detailed notational issues will also
be discussed in some of the analytical discussions in Chapter 6. The emphasis in
sonoristic pieces on timbre, its intensity and its expressive power was combined with the
search for new sound effects for which the conventional method of notation became
inadequate and limiting. Just as the overall sound of the sonoristic pieces often drew the
attention of critics, so too did the new notational devices and the overall look of the
scores; critics not only commented on the 'catalogue of effects' but also on their visual
image. Marian Wallek-Walewski and Penderecki embarked on a study of contemporary
notation in a proposed book, The Contemporary Score, and an excerpt of this dealing
with extended techniques on traditional instruments and their notation was published by
Wallek-Walewski in 1960 2 Tadeusz Zielinski often referred to the visual aspects of
notation in the new Polish works. In 1961 Zielinski remarked: 'with Penderecki's sound
innovation comes a new way of notation invented by him which, it seems, is the only
simple and logical way of writing this music. Its usefulness is proven by the fact that
other composers have since adopted it.' 3
1
John Cage. Notations (New York: Something Else Press, 1969). unpaginated.
2
The author based his article on the following works by Penderecki: Strophes. Anaklasis. Emanations.
Fluctuations, Psalms, 8'37" and Dimensions of Time and Silence. Marian Wallek-Walewski. 'W kr~gu
roszukiwan materiatowych- KrzysztofPenderecki,' Ruch Muzyczny 4, no. 17 (1-15 September 1960): 1-2.
Tadeusz A. Zielinski. 'Nowe utwory Krzysztofa Pendereckiego' [The New Works of Krzysztof
Penderecki], Ruch Muzyczny 5. no. 12 (15-30 June 1961): 17. In the discussion on Penderecki's
instrumental technique Zieliiiski wrote: 'The manifestation of such a ..plastic" conception of music is also
the notation used by the composer, in which a sound shape is reproduced not by means of conventional
123
Foreign critics, particularly in Germany, were equally fascinated by new notational
solutions and their realization. In relation to Penderecki's Anaklasis Josef Hausler
comments on the relationship of new signs and sounds:
It thus appears that this new score, with its peculiar graphics, with its flexures and wavy lines,
with signs of clusters of various widths, with arrows and a multitude of other symbols, builds up a
precise equivalent of the sound imagination of the composer, and explores the limits of the domain
of sound with relish and resource.4
If, as Karkoschka stated, 'the aural image of a musical piece in every epoch is
characteristically related to its visual configuration,' 5 the sonorists' tactic at the time
seems to have been not only to shock the ear but also to shock the eye. The initial mixture
of conventional notation with a few new articulation signs gradually became outweighed
by graphics, unusual symbols and verbal instructions. This tendency towards graphic
notation produced some scores in which the only familiar element of conventional
notation was a five-line stave. The notation acquired a new meaning and manifested a
whole new way of thinking. This mentality produced two outcomes. On the one hand, the
notation was greatly simplified, so the score not only enabled one to imagine
approximately how it would sound but, because the textural aspect was elevated to the
forefront, it also indicated the overall structure of the pieces. On the other hand the same
emphasis on timbre directed some composers to develop their own notational systems, as
in Szalonek's case.
symbols, but by a direct deflection accomplished through its transposition onto correlates of the two-
dimensional space of the score. There exists thus the similarity of a sound shape received auditively to an
analogous visual shape. A single short sound-e.g., pizzicato - has in our auditive imagination the meaning
of a point. Long-lasting sound takes the shape of a line. The simplest example of such a line is a straight
horizontal line, obtained by a longer duration of a sound that does not change its pitch, i.e., its place in the
vertical space .... Apart from sounds taking the shape of different lines, there occur also broad sound
phenomena, which form sound bands, i.e., clusters (Zielifiski, 'Technika operowania instrumentami
smyczkowymi w utworach Krzysztofa Pendereckiego,' Muzyka 48, no.l, 1968: 74-92), quoted in Mirka,
The Sonoristic Structuralism of Krzysztof Penderecki, 315.
4
Josef Hausler, Musik im 20.Jahrhundert. Von Schonberg zu Penderecki (Bremen: Carl Schunemann
Verlag, 1969). Quoted in Mirka, The Sonoristic Structuralism of Krzysztof Penderecki, 12.
5
Karkoschka, Notation in New Music. A Critical Guide to Interpretation and Realisation (London:
Universal Edition, 1972), I.
124
The new approach towards notation in Poland was in line with the wider trend brought
into play much earlier, at the beginning of the 1950s, by indeterminacy and the so-called
New York School which included not only John Cage (1912-1992) but also Morton
Feldman (1926-1987) Earle Brown (1926-2002), Christian Wolf(b. 1934) and the pianist
and composer David Tudor (1926-1996). 6 The visual aesthetic of the scores by these
composers was one of the distinguishing elements that also linked them to the visual
artists of New York. Some graphic scores were supplemented with detailed explanation
of the graphic symbols; others were improvisational and designed to stimulate
performer's imagination. The famous piece December 1952 from the Folio collection of
seven works (1952-53) by Earle Brown is one of the first musical graphics. 7 The
indeterminate aspect of the piece begins with the performing forces: the works are written
'for one or more instruments and/or sound-producing media.' 8 The score, an abstract
design, consists of thirty one black rectangles, varied in size. As there are no instructions
how these shapes could be realized, the performer can interpret the 'score' in any way he
or she wishes. The instruction states the work may be performed 'in any direction from
any point in the defined space for any length of time and may be performed from any of
the four rotational positions in any sequence' and this eliminates any degree of
predictability as to how the piece might sound. In his earlier piece, November 1952,
Brown alludes to traditional music notation by placing the notes with indicated dynamic
and duration on the stave. However the five-line staff is extended to fifty lines, there is no
clef, tempo marking, articulation and the order of playing the notes is left up to the
performer. In Music for Cello and Piano (1954-1955) Brown for the first time
implemented time-notation which was later widely adopted by other composers including
the Polish avant-garde composers. 9 While the pitch and dynamics are written exactly, the
duration is indicated by horizontal lines attached to the notes.
6
David Nicholls, 'Getting Rid of the Glue. The Music of the New York School,' in The New York Schools
of Music and Visual Arts, ed. Steven Johnson (New York: Routlege, 2002), 18.
7
Karkoschka, Notation in New Music. 90.
8
Morgan, Twentieth Century Music, 367.
9
David Nicholls, 'Brown, Earle,' Grove Music Online ed. Laura Macy, http://www.grovemusic.com
(accessed January 5, 2007),
125
Within the realm of graphic scores Cage's Concert for Piano and Orchestra (1957-58) is
particularly significant in the Polish context: the piece would prove to be very influential,
particularly on Lutoslawski. The score for the pianist demonstrates a new approach to
composition and also displays Cage's talent as a graphic artist. Its sixty-three distinct
types of notation combine graphics and distortions of conventional musical symbols
which demand a new approach to interpretation from the performer.
Other composers with graphic talents such as, Sylvano Bussotti (b. 1931) and Cornelius
Cardew (1936-1981) while exploring different degrees of indeterminacy produced scores
in which the visual image of the score is a part of the provocative nature of the work.
Bussotti's Due voci for soprano, martenot solo and orchestra (1958) combines standard
notation, time-notation and graphics. Bussotti'continued his notational experiments in the
collection of graphic scores Sette fogli (1959) in which, as the composer explained, 'in
this collection make-up and symbols present a great variety of highly developed
experiments; these begin with markings that have a definite musical meaning in terms of
more or less recent tradition, and end with freely invented marking whose musical
meaning is as yet unknown, that is, real and genuine drawings.' 10
By the mid-1950s Stockhausen, who was already aware of the Cage school, began to
introduce indeterminate elements in a number of works, notably in the wind quintet
Zeitmasse (1955-1956) and Klavierstiick XI (1956). 11 When the Polish composers visited
Darmstadt summer courses in 1957 these were the newly composed pieces that
Stockhausen presented in his seminars. 12 Stockhausen continued his exploration with
'open form' in Zyklus for one percussionist (1959). The unconventional spirally bound
score can be read either way up or down and the piece can begin at the start of any page
and follow through all remaining pages in the given order to the point of the start. Each
page of the score combines the elements of the traditional notation such as staves, clefs
" Sylvana Bussotti, Preface to the score Settefog/i (London: Universal Edition, 1963).
11
In Gesang der Jfmglinge (1955-{)) there are also indeterminate elements in the actual production process
but they are derived from Information Theory rather than inspired by the Cage school. Stockhausen would
do the same in relation to ZeitmajJe and Klavierstiick XI.
12
Stockhausen, Karlheinz. Kar/heinz Stockhausen bei den lnternationalen Ferienkursen FUr Neue Musik in
Darmstadt 1951-1996. Documente und Briefe (KUrten: Stockhausen Verlag, 200 I), 140-182.
126
and accidentals and graphics for which Stockhausen provides detailed explanation.
Although the score of Zyldus is dominated by graphics and it is designed to look beautiful,
the notation here follows Brown's motto quoted at the head of this chapter: it 'works,'
and is very practical and functional.
Most of these composers were published by Universal Edition in Vienna, as was Roman
Haubsnstock-Ramati (1919-1994), another early pioneer of open forms and graphic
notation in Europe. Towards the end of 1950s, he became interested in 'mobile forms'
which required a new approach to notation. 13 His attitude towards notation is often close
to that of the Polish composers involved in sonorism. Haubenstock-Ramati was, in fact,
Polish-born, though he only lived in Poland up until the end of the 1940s, and
subsequently moved to Israel. For Haubenstock-Ramati it was the idea for a piece, and
the changes towards formal structure that stimulated the search for new notational
solutions:
... at the beginning of composing a piece there is an idea which exists beyond time and initiaHy
doesn't have anything to do with familiar notation and its graphic representation ..... 14
For example the scores of Mobile for Shakespeare (1958) and, in part, Credentials (1960)
are in the form of diagrams which contain a large number of traditional music notation
elements to indicate pitch, duration and dynamics. In Mobile for Shakespeare, with its
indeterminate beginning and direction of reading the score, the individual sections can be
repeated and combined with other sections of the piece at will to create a complex texture.
Haubenstock-Ramati was attracted to the idea of many possible formal outcomes and
many versions of the piece:
If we write one version of a mobile piece, it will be a version which couJd never eventuate: the
fixed version is a completely different work. How good that such works- even ifperfonned, can
always await their premiere. 15
" Interpolation ( 1958) for one, two or three flutes was the first mobile piece by Haubestock-Ramati. Earlier
Stockhausen wrote Klavierstucke XI (1957) and Pierre Boulez wrote piano sonata no. 3 (1956-7).
14
Roman Haubenstock-Ramati, Musik-Grajik. Pre-texte (Vienna: Ariadne, 1980), 5.
15
Ibid., 6.
127
In 1959 in Donaueschingen, Haubenstock-Ramati organized the first exhibition of
musical graphics. 16 A few years later, in his discussion on the notion of notation in
variable form, Haubenstock-Ramati emphasized the role of graphics and its impact on
mUSJC:
Musical graphics in its most varied fonns, from complete graphic representations to brief graphic
structures which are interjected into a conventionaHy notated composition, has influenced the
whole of new music with respect to sonorous material, and has obviously enriched it. For that
reason one can even excuse much of the totally graphic music, if it is refined, sensitive, and
17
attractive.
By the end of the 1950s the graphic scores were in circulation in many Western European
countries. Universal Edition in Vienna also organized an exhibition of graphic scores in
1959. John Evarts noted: 18
[the exhibition] moved from festival to festival of contemporary music and was shown at a
Congress of the International Music Council, Unesco House, in Paris in 1960. Some observers
19
were outraged, some regarded the 'pretty pictures' as a passing mode; few were indifferent.'
The notational experiments in the Polish post-war repertoire began during the second
half of the 1950s. The first to make such experiments was the most prolific and versatile
of all Polish avant-garde composers, Boguslaw Schaeffer, who started his notational
explorations with the unconventional score for Study in Diagram for piano (Studium w
diagramie, 1956). The score, in the form of a diagram, indicates intervals, their direction,
articulation and dynamics. Schaeffer's direct response to the Cage school is his first score
without notes: Extreme for 10 instruments (1957), which follows the general model of
Feldman's graph notation as applied in pieces such as Projection 4 for violin and piano
(1951). Instead of notating exact pitches Schaeffer indicates a number of notes and
intervals for each instrument, register, articulation and dynamics, all in individual
16
Roman Haubenstock·Ramati, 'Forum: Notation. Notation -Material and Fonn,' Perspective ofNew
Music 4, no. I (Autumn-Winter, 1965): 41.
17
Ibid.
18
John Evarts, 'The New Musical Notation- a Graphic Art?,' Leonardo l, no. 4 (October, 1968): 410.
19
Ibid.
128
rectangles whose relative length is an indication of time. He carried out further notational
explorations in Tertium Datur (1958) subtitled 'A Composer's Treatise for Harpsichord
and Instruments' and written in three scores. The conductor uses the score in the form of
a diagram in eight sections which show only the entries of the instruments. The auxiliary
scores contain written out parts for instruments and harpsichord part which combines
traditional notation and graphics. There are striking parallels in the piano part to Cage's
Concert for piano and orchestra (1957-58), even though it is not clear if the piece had a
direct influence on Schaeffer. In Topofonica for 40 solo instruments (1959 - February
1960) Schaeffer introduced so called 'frame notation' which Karkoschka regarded as a
step away from exact notation towards musical graphics. 20 In sonoristic music it has
limited uses, mainly in relation to tempo and pitch (Schaeffer, Sikorski). The main
characteristic of this type of notation is the relative freedom of choice within exactly
fixed limits. Its most common use in the sonoristic repertoire is frame-like tempo
indications or the choice of pitch within the indicated range. Other aspects of 'frame
notation' include the choice of musical material literally notated within a normally
rectangular frame. 21
Although the notion of a sonoristic score first emerged in 1960 with works such as
Gorecki's Scontri and Penderecki's Anaklasis, Quartet for strings (Quartetto per archi)
(1960), Threnody, and Schaeffer's Scultura, in 1959 there were signs of change to come
and introduction of at least some new elements within conventionally notated pieces. One
of the first composers to introduce time-space or proportionate notation into Polish music
was Pendereck:i. 22 In his Minatures for violin and piano (1959) he combined traditional
notation with duration lines and proportionate notation applied to groups of short notes.
Similarly, in Strophes for soprano, speaker and I 0 instruments (1959) he replaced
2
° Karkoschka, Notation in New Music, 55.
21
Karkoschka devoted a whole chapter to frame notation in his book. Amongst other works cited there are
pieces by Berio, Kagel, Lachenmann, Evangelisti and Stockhausen (Karkoschka, Notation in New Music,
55-61).
22
Kurt Stone defines proportionate notation as follows: 'Proportionate notation (also called time notation)
is a system in which durations are "translated" into horizontal distances so that if the duration of a half note
is made equal to one inch of horizontal space, a quarter note equals half an inch, and so forth. If a different
spatial unit is chosen, for instance, 1 Y2 inches for a half note, the quarter will be half of that (i.e., % of an
inch). In short, all durations must be noted in spatial proportion to each other.' Kurt Stone, 'New Notation
for New Music, Part 2,' Music Educators Journa/63, no. 3 (November, 1976): 56.
129
traditional bar lines with dotted Jines and introduced a new way of indicating tempo
fluctuations. Below the staves at the bottom of the pages there are three continuous dotted
'tempo-lines' to indicate the three levels oftempi. 23 The thicker black line running along
and between the dotted lines indicates gradual or sudden tempo changes. Whether by
coincidence or not, Penderecki's tempo-line was actually anticipated by Haubenstock
Ramati in his earlier pieces such as Petite pour orchestre (1958), premiered in
Donaueschingen in 1959 and Sequences for violin and orchestra (1958). In Sequences the
line running below the time signature indicated in the middle of the score rises for
accellerando and descends for rallentando; in the Petite pour orchestre's last movement,
serenade, the accellerando-ritardando line runs mostly below the stave. Another
notational innovation is the time-space notation for a repeated note in cymbals, tam-tam
and flute parts. The shortening or widening distance between the notes corresponds to
accelerando and rallentando respectively. This type of notation can also be found in
slightly earlier scores by Haubenstock-Ramati already mentioned (Petite pour orchestre
and Sequences). In both works there are also instances of combining the tempo line with
proportionate notation (the opening of serenade, claves part)?4
In the pre-sonoristic piece Episodes (1959) for strings and three percussion groups,
Serocki also uses the tempo line, expands the list of abbreviation for the string section25
and uses graphic symbols for percussion section to indicate the kind of stick and the
mode of tone production. 26 It is possible this may have been influenced by the solo violin
part ofNono's Varianti (1957, published in the same year).
In the same year Gorecki wrote a post-Webem mobile piece Three Diagrams for solo
flute. The score of one folded page consists of five frames which comprise an
23
See Wolfram Schwinger, Krzysztof Penderecki. His Life and Work (London, Schott, 1989), 26 and 137.
Ludwik Erhardt also commented on the notational innovations in Minatures and Strophes in his book
Spotkania z Krzysztojem Pendereckim (Krakow: PWM, 1975), 18 and 21.
24
At the same time Pierre Boulez in Improvisation sur Mallarme (1958) for soprano and nine instruments
also used in a few places a rising Jine for accelerando and descending line for ritardando.
25
AN for arco normale, ANM for arco normale misto, AP for arco al ponticello, APM for arco al ponticello
misto, AT for arco sui taste, AL for arco col legno, AFL arco tlautando, PzN for pizzicato normale, PzP for
pizzicato al ponticello, PzB for pizzicato battuto, LB for collegno battuto, c. s. for con sordino and s. s. for
senza sordino; for tremolando regolare and irrego/are Serocki uses graphic symbols.
26
Serocki introduced some abbreviations in the string section and harps already in Musica concertante.
130
introduction, ending (fine) and three diagrams. The order of performance of the three
diagrams framed by introduction and ending is left to the performer. The same ideas and
notational advances are developed in Diagram IV (1961) for solo flute. Thomas has
noted that 'it develops new notational devices governing duration, types of repetition,
order of events, and rhythmic and performance indications.' 27
As mentioned earlier, the notion of a sonoristic score emerges around 1960. It needs to be
emphasised here that what amounts to a typical sonoristic score is both a visual notion -
that is, the overall look of the score - and a practical one providing instructions on what
has to be played. In Anaklasis for strings and percussion groups and Threnody for 52
strings Penderecki introduces a whole range of what rapidly become sonoristic notational
traits, above all cluster notation? 8 Amongst Threnody's variety of clusters, the opening
microtonal cluster and the concluding the piece thick band of sound proceeding from fff
to pppp are memorable fingerprints of his style, but also of his notation.
In Gorecki's Scontri for orchestra, the thick, black lines are also visually and aurally
striking (see Fig. 4.5). 29 Gorecki would continue to use them in Canti strumentali (1962).
However, the scale of sound volume and pitch span is reduced by the smaller performing
forces and the width of the notated 'thick lines' also reduces accordingly. Although there
are differences between Penderecki' s and Gorecki's use of clusters - for Penderecki
clusters are initially the preferred and fundamental sonoristic device, whereas for Gorecki
they are one among many sonoristic devices - both composers established them as the
sonoristic hallmark, even at times a cliche:\, of the Polish school. Kilar would use them as
a predominant sonoristic notational device in Riff 62 and Diphthongos ( 1964). Albeit to a
much lesser extent, Serocki also makes use of clusters in Segmenti (1960-61), Symphonic
Frescoes (1963-64) and would continue to use them in Continuum (1965-1966) and in
Forte e piano (1967). In Symphonic Frescoes Serocki introduces additional graphic
27
For more analytical details see Thomas, Gorecki, 26-27 and 39-42.
28
The notational aspects of Penderecki's works are discussed in detail by Mirka, The Sonoristic
Structuralism of Krzysztof Penderecki, 311-321.
29
The notation of clusters as black thick lines is also anticipated in the scores of Haubenstock-Rarnati. In
already mentioned Petite musique de nuit pour orchestre, the piano and harp parts features two cluster
glissandi indicated as black thick rising and descending lines.
131
symbols for two specific kinds of clusters on keyboard instruments such as strike the
white or black keys with the forearm which may have been influenced by Haubenstock-
Ramati, or by purely graphic scores such as Ligeti's Volumina (1962). Although for
Lutos!awski clusters are marginal, Jeux venitiens (in addition to smaller clusters) features
some spectacular clusters which can be executed by 'means of two strips or cylinders of
stiff cardboard.' 30 The width of clusters is indicated in the notation; the length of the
strips or cylinders is also precisely indicated (see Fig. 4.16)? 1
From the start, the temporal regulation of sonoristic works rarely involves conventional
time signatures. Instead, composers usually replace conventional bars with sections
measured in seconds. Penderecki, in his 1960 String Quartet used time-scale notation in
which one centimetre (indicated by lines in the score) equals one second - a practice that
goes back to Cage's Music of Changes (1951)? 2 In relation to tempi, there is sometimes a
tempo-line running either above the staves, as in G6recki's Scontri, or below the staves as
in Penderecki's Anaklasis, but before long this was abandoned. Lutos!awski's Trois
poemes d'Henri Michaux is archetypal in its use of a variety of means to control the flow
of ad libitum sections. He uses both time-space notation, and polymetre in the sections
divided into one-second 'bars.' 33 This score also reflects the fact that by 1963, time-space
notation and the use of duration lines has become a norm in this repertoire. The second
movement of Trois poemes d'Henri Michaux is also an archetypical example of
sonoristic, aleatoric textures which use repetitions of patterns in the superimposed
instrumental parts.
Of the early sonoristic scores, Threnody is a particularly striking instance of how the
notation can be directly linked to the compositional process. Penderecki has claimed: ' ...
Threnody is conceived in such a notation, that it simply cannot be written in another,
30
Lutoslawski, Jeux venitiens (Celie: Moeck, 1962), 13.
31
For example, for the white keys it must be 60cm and for the black keys 59.5cm.
32
The second String Quartet - written in 1968 and revised in 1970 - combines more precise notation with
some sonoristic traits, for example, the highest note on the instrument, playing between bridge and tailpiece
and quartertones glissandi.
33
For example in the first movement, Pensies, (bb. 109-112) within a one-second downbeat there are
superimposed parts in winds in 1/2, 9/16, 7/8, 5/8 and 3/4.
132
because it would be no longer the same piece.' 34 This piece exemplifies how notation in
some cases became not only a tool for instructing the performers but also a means of
conceptualising the music for the composer. Yet, however unconventional, it is also
pragmatic: from the first page of the score the notation of microtonal clusters and
articulation markings such as slow and fast vibrato is both simple and practical. Moreover,
the so-called 'wedge clusters' effectively reflect the sound image. An even more striking
example of the notation being an integral part of the sound idea is found in the passage
featuring overlapping, clusters, expanding in range (score no. 18, see Fig. 6.4). Although
they could be conventionally notated, Penderecki chose to use a graphic shorthand which
also effectively reflects the structure of this section. Yet when the material changes, as in
the section with the three-part canon (page II to 15 in the score), Penderecki returns to a
conventional score layout. Similarly, for Lutoslawski the type of textural material
dictated not only the notation but the unconventional score layout as in the first
movement of Jeux vtJnitiens. As already mentioned, the ad libitum textures for wind,
brass and percussion are notated in frames on one page while the precisely notated string
textures are on the other two pages.
Whereas, for Penderecki, clusters are amongst the main sonoristic devices whose notation
seems to be an integral part in the conception of the sound idea, for Schaeffer in Scultura,
cluster sonorities or mobile clusters, although used to construct large textures, are just
one of many aspects of the piece. Indeed the notation of clusters by both composers
reveals the differences in their approach to this common sonoristic device. Penderecki's
thick black line, featured in nearly all of his sonoristic works, is not to be found in
Schaeffer's Scultura. Instead where there are textures composed of clusters each of the
constituent parts, whether in conventional notation or graphics, is precisely written out. In
this respect Schaeffer is closer to Xenakis' Metastaseis and Pithoprakta, or Ligeti's
Apparitions and Atmospheres, in which the parts are all notated individually.
34
'Np. Tren wymyslony jest w takiej notacji, z.e po prostu nie moz.e by6 napisany w innej, bo przestalby
by6 tym samym utworem,"Dyskusja na Seminarium poswi~conym Krzysztofowi Pendereckiemu'
(Discussion devoted to the Music ofKrzysztofPenderecki), Muzyka 81, no. 2(1976): 37-38.
133
The sonoristic aspect of the Scultura score is revealed above all through large and clear
cut homogeneous textures which strikingly combine a substantial graphic element side by
side with conventional notation. The graphic element of the notation explores a range
from relatively precise symbols for articulation, and signs with prescribed limits of
realization (such as a variety of wavy lines for trills, glissandi, glissandi with tremolo,
striking the strings with the palm of the hand, glissando by withdrawing the finger from
the upper joint of the flute, striking the frame under the instrument, or the effect of
breaking a string) to signs and drawings which serve as a basis for improvisation. Both
types of graphics are featured (without explanation) in the piano and harp parts of the
fifth movement (third and fifth 'actions'). However innovative Schaeffer is in his graphic
symbols, they are placed on conventional staves which he retains throughout the score.
For Schaeffer it seems that the notation while being 'a means of communication' also has
an element of 'an end in itself.' 35 Schaeffer's graphic talent add to the aesthetic side of
the score. Furthermore rather than using short hand, wherever it would seem possible,
Schaeffer prefers to write all individual parts of large textures with its intricate details.
One of the best examples to illustrate this point is the one-bar texture of short sounds
('marker texture') in the first, third and fifth movements of Scultura. Since the instruction
in the score is to play any notes, the notation of such an effect could be the same for each
part, yet would be realized differently by each player, albeit with a similar aural effect.
However, Schaeffer chose to write out each of the fifty-five parts (for example in the
third movement), not only to show the maximum number of parts but to specifY a
different shape for each player.
By the mid-1960s the graphic scores were pursued by many avant-garde European and
American composers. In Poland in the 1960s the composers who were particularly
" In the context of 'an end in itself in Azione a due (1961) Schaeffer goes even further and creates his own
notation - what Cornelius Cardew would call 'aesthetic notation' - by redefining the function of the
existing musical symbols and introducing new ones. For a critique of the functionality and intent
underlining the notation Schaeffer developed for this piece see Richard Toop, 'Notations,' Collage 9
(Palermo, 1970): 93-98. The phrase 'New Notation: 'a means of communication or an end in itself/' comes
from Gyllrgy Ligeti, 'Neue Notation - Kommunikationsmittel oder Selbstzweck?' Darmsttidter Beitrtige
zur Neuen Music 9 (1965): 35-38. The Ligeti's title was exploed by Marina Lobanova in her book Gyiirgy
Ligeti: Style, Ideas, Poetics, 83.
134
attracted to graphic notational solutions were Kilar, Schaeffer and Szalonek. Within the
sonoristic repertoire the notation of a great number of pieces is dominated by graphic
elements, but retains the elements of traditional notation such as continuous staves, notes,
clefs, and tempo markings. Among the sonoristic works considered in this study the only
purely graphic score is Kilar' s Diphthongos (1964), which in terms of his own work is an
isolated experiment in the use of graphic notation with only traces of conventional
notation (such as the notation of clusters for strings, piano and vibraphone at the end of
the piece and the fermata sign). The score layout of Diphthongos also is a case in which
there is a relationship between a page and a formal structure of the piece: a page equals
one formal section (panel) of the piece. 36 Similar instance of graphic element pushed to
the extreme where the page has visual entity and a formal function is already mentioned
Threnody's expanding in range 'megaphone' or 'wedge' clusters.
Most of the works discussed above date from a brief but intense period when the
conception of works and their notation had an almost competitive aspect. By the time
Serocki's Symphonic Frescoes received its premiere (1964) the excitement about the new
sound effects and new articulation was nearly over. Although the sonoristic scores were
supplemented with long pages of explanations, with almost every composer having his
own idiosyncratic symbols, even within the vocabulary of highly individual sonoristic
effects there are some unified approaches to notation. What became 'common notational
practice' (or common notational devices) points to the sonoristic footprints (and shared
sonoristic vocabulary), and what was more specific defines sonoristic individual
fingerprints. Thus while cluster notation, temporal regulation, time-space notation and
graphic symbols dominating aleatory large textures form the common ground for
sonoristic pieces, and contribute to the overall look of a sonoristic score, characteristic
textures that required a specially developed notation, special effects and their symbols
remained an aspect of the fingerprints of individual pieces and composers. Thus
Serocki's scores of the 1960s are distinguished by his own sonoristic (and notational)
vocabulary: the use of simple graphic signs and practical notational solutions which he
began to develop from Episodes and Segmenti. Serocki is particularly inventive in
36
Although in Penderecki's String Quartet (1960) one page equals one minute this is not the case.
135
devising symbols for the percussion section; his sonoristic signature although created
from the common and widely used symbol for aperiodic repetition becomes his
individual sonic and notational trait.
For example, Sikorski, who joined the movement relatively late, also draws from the
vocabulary of articulation and notational symbols which by that stage had become a part
of the lingua franca of a contemporary sonoristic score. Within already established
notational devices such as clusters, duration lines, repetition of sounds, rising lines for
glissandi and the highest note on the instrument Sikorski's scores are distinguished by the
notational shorthand for the repetition patterns, clear cut textural layers and textures with
fluctuating dynamics (simultaneous use of crescendo and decrescendo) and the notation
of specific clusters by depressing silently the lower part of keyboard.
For Szalonek the development of new notational devices is bound to his experiments with
multiphonics. In terms of the time-space notation commonly used in sonoristic scores,
cluster notation, sections measured by seconds and the highest note on the instrument, his
score layout is not particularly unusual. In contrast to slightly later pieces for smaller
ensembles, such as Improvisations sonoristiques for clarinet, trombone, cello and piano
(1968), Mutanza for piano (1968) and 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 for I to 4 string instruments (1969)
which use graphic symbols to much greater extent, the notation of Les sons is purely
functional.
In summary, although there is a strong tendency towards graphics in the scores of

sonoristic pieces, their notation is relatively simple, functional and practical. The function
of graphics in these scores is usually not to inspire improvisation, but to simplifY the
image of the required sound idea, and in some cases this is a part of the aleatory
procedures. As Gorecki and Penderecki have remarked, Polish composers were attracted
to the sound quality produced by aleatoric procedures but were not generally interested in
other aspects of the Cageian aesthetic. In particular the traditional roles of composer and
interpreter were broadly preserved. The notational innovations clearly delineate the
boundaries of freedom, and the role of the performer rarely goes far beyond that of the
conventional interpreter. Another important dimension of a majority of sonoristic scores
136
is the relationship of notational symbols and graphics to its aural outcome. The use of
graphics and notational shorthand which contributes to the visual aspect of the sonoristic
score is, in some cases, just as important in helping to conceive and manipulate new types
of textures. Specific examples will be discussed further in relation to individual pieces. A
distinct part of the visual image of these scores also extends to the covers. Many scores
published by PWM from the late 1950s and the early 1960s use colourful abstract
37
graphics on their covers. Within the wider context of the notational innovations,
sonoristic scores left its own imprint: that of a time when Polish music was in close
synergy with visual arts.
37
The apocalyptic and striking cover for the score of Threnody is not so typical because of its
programmatic angle. Most of the score covers contain abstract designs. Striking examples are the covers for
Kilar's Diphthongos, Schaeffer's Musica ipsa and Tertium Datur, Gorecki's Scontri, Lutoslawski's Trois
poemes d'Henri Michaux and Sikorski's Prologues, which were designed by Andrzej Darowski. Those for
Gorecki's Choros I and Schaeffer's Scu/tura were designed by Witold Skulicz, who initiated the
International Biennale of Graphic Art in Krakow in 1966. The earlier score of Miniatures for violin and
piano (1959) by Penderecki in addition to the abstract design features poems from the 'Genealogy of
Instruments' [Z genealogii instrumentow] by Jerzy Harasymowicz.
137
Chapter6
'Total Sonorism' 1960-1966
KrzysztofPenderecki: Threnody- to the Victims ofHiroshima, 1960 and

Dimensions of Time and Silence, 1961.
When compared to other Polish composers who were part of the sonoristic movement in
the 1960s, Penderecki's sonoristic output is remarkable, not least because of the number
of works composed. Between 1960 and I 962 Penderecki wrote in total thirty nine works,
of which ten are for the concert hall, the rest being music for short films and for puppet
theatre. The ten concert hall pieces are written for a variety of performance media:
Anaklasis (I 959-60) for 42 strings and percussion, Dimensions of Time and Silence
(Wymiary czasu i ciszy, 1959-60) for 40-voice mixed choir, percussion and strings,
Threnody- to the Victims of Hiroshima (Tren - Ofiarom Hiroszimy, I 960) for 52 strings,
Quartet for strings (Quartetto per archi, 1960), Fonogrammi (1961) for flute and chamber
orchestra, the electronic piece Psalmus (I 96 I), Polymorphia (I 96 I) for 48 strings, Canon
(Kanon, 1962) for 52 strings and two tapes, Fluorescences (I 962) for orchestra and
Stabat Mater (I 962) for three 16-part a capella choruses.
There has been no general consensus amongst writers on the boundaries ofPenderecki's
sonorism from the late 1950 and early I 960s. 1 The most frequently mentioned works,
each of which opened a new phase, were Threnody and Anaklasis. However according to
some writers, such as Bohdan Pociej, sonoristic elements surfaced in works as early as
Emanations (Emanacje, 1958) and Strophes (Stroty 1959).2 Schiller similarly regarded
Strophes and the first version of Dimensions as the beginning of Penderecki's sonorism.
1
For detailed account about the borders ofPenderecki's sonorism see Mirka, The Sonoristic Structuralism
ofKrzysztofPenderecki. 17-19.
2
Bohdan Pociej, 'Penderecki, Krzysztof,' Grove Music Online ed. Laura Macy, http:
//www.grovemusic.com. (accessed January 10, 2008).
138
Zielinski regarded Anaklasis as the 'first piece in the new style.' 3 The ultimate end of
sonoristic period in 1973 is marked with The Awakening of Jakob (Przebudzenie Jakuba,
1973) and a complete turn away from sonoristic elements. This span of more than a
decade (1959-1973) is further subdivided by many writers, who delineate Penderecki's
sonoristic years more precisely. However, even within the narrower time frame (1960-
1966) there are disagreements. Tomaszewski, in his monograph on Penderecki, includes
most of Penderecki's works widely regarded as sonoristic within what he calls the 'phase
of Threnody' which starts in 1960 and extends to 1966. However, for Tomaszewski,
Dimensions of Time and Silence (1960) belongs to an earlier phase, 'the phase of Psalms
of David' (1958-1962). 4 Siegfried Borris described Fluorescences (1962) as 'the end-
5
point of his sound colour technique.' Similarly Schwinger and Zielinski regarded
Fluorescences as ending the sonoristic period. 6 For the majority of writers, however, the
two works that undoubtedly mark clear stylistic turns are Stabat mater (1962) for
unaccompanied choir and Passio et mors Domini nostri Iesu Christi secundum Lucam (St.
Luke Passion, 1963-66). It is clear that the basis for classification of Penderecki's works
differed for individual writers: from the mere presence of sonoristic elements to the range
of new effects and intensity of expression. The more recent study of Penderecki' s
sonoristic works by Mirka puts forward her own classification of Penderecki' s sonoristic
output. Her basis for periodization is a strict system underlying all Penderecki's
sonoristic works. Thus the pre-sonorism period between 1956 and 1959 embraces study
pieces, youthful compositions and the three works already mentioned, Strophes, Psalms
of David and Emanations, which she sees as influenced by Orff, Stravinsky, Nono and
3
Tadeusz Zielinski, Dramat Instrumentalny Pendereckiego (Krakow: PWM, 2003), 15.
4
Under 'the phase of Threnody' Tomaszewski also lists Anaklasis, String Quartet No. I. Polymorphia,
Fluorescences and De Natura Sonoris 1. The preceding 'phase of Psalms of David' comprises Emanations,
Strophes and Dimensions (Tomaszewski, Krzysztof Penderecki and His Music, 82-86).
' Siegfried Borris, 'Penderecki's Stellung im Synkretismus der 60er Jahre,' in Musik urui Bildung 12 (1975):
609·614. Quoted in Mirka, The Sonoristic Structuralism of Krzysztof Penderecki, 18.
6
Mirka notes that Zielinski's opinion regarding these works over time has also changed: 'Tadeusz A.
Zieliil.ski (1961) at first linked Emanations and Strophes together with Fonogrammi to "a
neoimpressionistic current" in Penderecki's music, as opposed to the "expressive" current of Anaklasis,
Threnody and Psalmus. Yet he subsequently called Anaklasis the 'first piece of the 'new' style in which
Penderecki 'carved out his own path and became independent of earlier compositional techniques.'
Thirteen years later, Zielinski indicated Threnody as the beginning of the mature period, in which the
composer 'had shaped his original sound-world and discovered in it hitherto unknown sound and
expressive values' (Mirka, The Sonoristic Structuralism of Krzysztof Penderecki, 18).
139
Boulez. 7 The sonoristic period proper, according to Mirka, starts in 1960. The extent to
which both of the sonoristic systems she identifies (the basic and the timbre system: see
Chapter 2) are present in works provides the basis for further subdivision into two phases:
the initial phase and the mature phase. The former includes Anaklasis, Threnody and the
String Quartet; the latter includes Polymorphia, Fluorescences and Canon. The clear
differences between the pieces of the initial and mature phase, according to Mirka, are
found in the realm of articulation, notation and textural narration:
.. .in the initial phase of Penderecki's sonorism, articulation is not yet stabilized, and individual
pieces bring several new inventions. As a consequence, the sonoristic notation too is sti11 in a state
of growth. The composer tries several experimental solutions, mainly concerning temporal
organization. Also characteristic of the pieces included in the first phase of the sonoristic period, is
the comparatively large scope and the complexity of subsegmental regulations. It is precisely in
Threnody, Anaklasis, Dimensions, and the String Quartet where one finds the most impressive
examples of compositional operations on the level of individual sounds - all of them to be
interpreted as relics of optimally pointillist texture constituting a term of the nuclear oppositions. ' 8
On the other hand, according to Mirka, the works of the mature phase demonstrate a 'a
fully developed system of elementary categories' - that is the four parameters such as
pitch, loudness and time on which eight binary oppositions are founded - and 'a clear-cut
formal layout. ' 9 On the basis of the system Mirka also explains why after Polymorphia
and Fluorescences in which Penderecki mastered the sonoristic system, he lost interest in
writing more sonoristic pieces: 'the subsystems of any subsequent pieces would be
identical..Jo Within a short period of time, for Penderecki, the sonoristic possibilities have
been exhausted: as the composer remarked a number of times: 'one cannot write the same
piece all one's life.' 11 The last sonoristic piece to be composed, Canon, adds two tape
recorders to the traditional performing forces - in this case a string orchestra - to
construct, as the composer noted in the Warsaw Autumn program notes, 'a three-layer,
7
Mirka. The Sonoristic Structuralism of Krzysztof Penderecki, 338.
8
Ibid., 339.
9
Ibid., 340.
10
Ibid., 341.
11
Regina Chlopicka, ed .• 'Konwersatorium na temat Przebudzenie Jakuba Krzysztofa Pendereckiego.'
(1978). 67-75. Quoted in Mirka, The Sonoristic Structuralism of Krzysztof Penderecki, 341.
140
stereophonically treated canonic formula, which is the fundamental novum in relation to,
12
for instance, Threnody.' The Netherlands polyphonic technique, mentioned by
Penderecki in relation to Canon, does not imply the traditionally understood polyphonic
texture but a kind of polyphony applied to layers rather than individual voices. The
different interpretations of the boundaries and scope of Penderecki's sonoristic phase
reveal a variety of approaches to the concept itself and to its further interpretation.
Although there is a common ground between the above listed opinions, the areas where
the classification diverges are the fringes of the trend, where the common sonoristic traits
gained or lost their structural significance. This is a significant fact often overlooked or
not emphasized enough, particularly by those for whom sonorism is reduced purely to
sound effects. This is also true in relation to other Polish composers who were involved
in the sonoristic movement.
Penderecki's popularity sets him apart from the other Polish composers in that ever since
his international successes, first with Anaklasis performed at the Donaueschinger
Musiktage in 1960 followed by Threnody, which was awarded fourth place at the
International Tribune of Composers run by UNESCO in Paris in 1961, he was one of the
very few Polish composers to establish and maintain a high level of international
attention from the early days of his career. Penderecki's contacts with Hermann Moeck
since 1959 no doubt played a major role in his popularity. Moeck published his scores
through the publishing house Moeck Verlag in Celie, which, as Ludwig Erhardt noted,
13
was 'an unprecedented move in the history of post-war Poland.' Analytical interest in
his works followed almost immediately after Penderecki won three prizes from the
composer's competition organized by the Polish Composers Union in 1959. 14 Among the
early studies were Bilica's systematic analysis of sound material with new analytical
terminology in relation to Threnody, Zielinski 1966 study which introduced the notion of
sound shape, Droba's concept of a hierarchy of formal factors and Chiarucci's analysis of
12
Quoted in Erhardt, Spotkania z Krzysztofem Pendereckim, 44.
13
Penderecki was the first Polish composer to have a non-Polish publisher. Later Serocki and Lutoslawski
followed and also published their scores through Moeck (Erhardt, Spotkania z Krzysztofem Pendereckim,
19). See also Przemyslaw Cwiklinski and Jacek Ziarno, Pasja (Warszawa: Polska Oficyna Wydawnicza,
1993), 15.
14
The three anonymously submitted works were Psalms of David, Emanations and Strophes.
141
oppositions in relation to Fluorescences. 15 These paved the way for later analytical works
such as Mirka' s comprehensive study which interpreted Penderecki' s sonoristic
16
technique as a system based on binary oppositions and fuzzy logic. Studies of
Pendereck:i's sonoristic music have rightly represented him as pace-setter, often in
hagiographic terms. In the context of the present study it is fruitful to reconsider
Pendereck:i' s works in terms of the broader sonoristic features of the time and place his
pieces within the context of sonorism and emblematic works by other Polish composers.
This analysis will, in particular, focus on the elements articulating the structure such as
sharp contrast in timbre and texture, articulation, notation, methods of generating textures
and rate of change.
For the purpose of the present study, two emblematic works from Pendereck:i's sonoristic
period are selected: Threnody and Dimensions of Time and Silence. Threnody's firm
place in the history of 20th century music is unquestionable. In music history books it
became 'the Polish piece of the early sixties' 17 and 'an avant-garde calling card.' 18 Within
Penderecki's compositional oeuvre Threnody remains his most well known composition,
and not only because of its title. 19 Threnody, with its emotional and expressive power
generated through unusual instrumental techniques and dramatic narration of textures,
exemplified basic sonoristic features: the principle of clashing contrasts, the use of
clusters as a main sonoristic device, and the juxtaposition of textures and extended
instrumental techniques. Dimensions of Time and Silence - the only one of Penderecki' s
sonoristic pieces to include choir - constitutes, together with Lutoslawsk:i's the Three
Poems by Henri Michaux, Kilar's Diphthongos and G6reck:i's Monodram, a small but
significant number of works that utilize the human voice to create sonoristic textures.
15
Tadeusz Zielinski, 'Neue Klangilsthetik,' Melos 7, no. 8 (1966): 210-212. Henri Chiarucci, 'Essai
d'analyse structurale d'oeuvres musicales.' Musique enjeu 12 (1973): 11-45.
Hi Mirka, The Sonoristic Structuralism of Krzysztof Penderecki.
17
Adrian Thomas, 'The Music of Henryk Mikolaj Gorecki: The First Decade,' Contact 27 (1983): 17.
" Bernard Jacobson, A Polish Renaissance (London: Phaidon Press, 1996), 152.
" In the latest edition of Norton Anthology of Western Music (5" edition) compiling the most
representative works and genres Threnody - previously not included - is accompanied with extended
analytical notes.
142
The issue of revisions in sonoristic pieces is also interesting in both works, since only a
small number of sonoristic works were revised after the first performance. 20 In the case of
Threnody, the change involved only a title from 8'37" to Threnody- To the Victims of
Hiroshima; in the case of Dimensions, the main change involved cutting out the choral
section with the 12-syllable Latin text. The significance of these revisions lies in the fact
that any changes made to these scores seem to proceed in one direction: to strengthen the
sonoristic aspects of the piece.
Dimensions is also one of those sonoristic pieces discussed earlier that owe their
inspiration to the visual arts, in this case to the paintings of Paul Klee and Ives Klein.
Together with other sonoristic works bearing such a connection, this raises an important
aspect of sonorism: an extra-musical element and the translating into music of some
principles from visual arts. The visual aspect of sonoristic scores and the notation which
plays a part in the conception of a piece, as in Threnody, is also an important facet of
sonoristic thinking.
A comment on the titles of sonoristic works is also merited. The titles, whether process
driven or purely inspirational, are important in sonoristic works. The use of a title
describing a specific compositional procedure was a general feature of new music and
particularly characteristic of Polish composers from the Katowice region such as
Szalonek, Kilar, Szabelski, Gorecki and Penderecki (for example Kilar's Diphthongos,
Gorecki's Canticum graduum, Scontri, Szabelski's Aforisms, Szalonek's Les sons).Z 1 In
relation to Penderecki' s works Regina Chlopicka distinguishes two categories of titles
among pieces written between 1958 and 1962. 22
The first is linked to music and concerns the composition technique employed (Canon), the
typical features of sound notation (Fonogrammi), the definition of the forces and the genre
20
Another piece that has been revised after the premiere and the publication of the score is Sikorski's
Sequenza I.
21
Leon Markiewicz 'GI6wne tendencje tw6rcze w katowickim srodowisku kompozytorskim,' Muzyka 2
(1974): 25.
22
Regina Chlopicka, 'Extra-Musical Inspirations in the Early Works ofKrzysztofPenderecki' in Studies in
Penderecki, ed. Ray Robinson and Regina Chlopicka (Princeton: Prestige Publications, 2003), 257-271.
143
attribution (String Quartet no. 1), or the type of expression (Threnody - To the Victims of
Hiroshima).
The second category of titles comprises the works where the title draws attention to a general
extra-musical idea, which significantly influences the shape of the piece and frequently forms
the basis of its internal coherence.Z3
Chlopicka notes that Threnody's title was given post factum. It could arguably belong to
the second category in spite of the fact that it was named after completion. Under the
second category, Chlopicka also lists Emanations, Anaklasis, Polymorphia,
Fluorescences, and Dimensions of Time and Silence. No doubt Penderecki passionate
interest in ancient literature and languages has its reflection in the choice of titles; the two
languages which the main sources for his titles are Latin and Greek. The title of
Emanations (from Latin emanatio- to flow out, to spread out), as Chlopicka noted, refers
to both the symmetrical stage arrangement of two orchestras tuned a semitone apart,
'which makes the two formations distinct which with regard to tone-color and allows the
audience to follow sound patterns more closely.' 24 Similarly the title of Fluorescences
comes from Latin (j/uor meaning flowing or current) and, as with Anaklasis, refers to
light:
Fluorescence in physics is the self-induced emission of visible light by certain bodies immediately
after the absorption of radiation. The light disappears as soon as the stimulating factor ceases to
operate. What we deal with here is then a certain kind of 'de-materializing,' a certain eeriness,
25
which also connotes richness of shades, flickering and glittering.
Harley pointed out the influence of Xenakis in Penderecki 's use of Greek titles: Anaklasis
26
resembling Achorripsis (1957) and Polymorphia following Pithoprakta (1957).
Certainly it is reasonable to assume that, by 1960, Xenakis' music was well known to
Penderecki and could have some influence. 27 Anaklasis, meaning reflection of light or
23
Ibid., 258.
24
Chlopicka, 'Extra-Musical Inspirations in the Early Works ofKrzysztofPenderecki,' 259.
2S Ibid., 260.
26
Harley, The Polish School ojSonorism and its European Context, 63.
27
In an interview with Richard Dufallo, Penderecki remarked that Anaklasis was the first piece in which he
developed a new style that was free of the influences of other composers. Penderecki also stated that
devices such as glissando clusters and new playing techniques for strings were developed by him without
144
sound is usually translated as transformation or refraction. Polymorphia in Greek means
'having multiple shapes' and can be 'compatible with the recognizable unity of sound
28
patterns'. Dimensions of Time and Silence, inspired by paintings of Paul Klee and Ives
Klein, is among the strongest manifestations of Penderecki 's links with visual arts.
Because Dimensions is considered here as one of the representative sonoristic works, this
aspect of the piece will be elaborated in more detail below, together with discussion of
sonoristic means.
being aware of similar experiments used at the same time by Xenakis, Ligeti and Stockhausen. Richard
340-52. Trackings. Composers Speak with Richard Dufa/lo (New York: Oxford University Press, 1989),
Dufallo,
28
Ibid., 259.
145
Threnody - to the Victims ofHiroshima, 1959-61
As in Cage's piece 4'33" (1952), the original title of Threnody refers to the duration of
the piece: 8 '37". 29 However, the expressive power of the work prompted Penderecki to
change its title: 30
I had written this piece and named it much as in Cage's manner, 8'37". But it existed only in my
imagination, in a somewhat abstract way. When Jan Krenz recorded it and I could listen to an
actual performance, I was struck with the emotional charge of the work. I thought it would be a
waste to condemn it to such anonymity, to those 'digits'. I searched for associations and, in the
end, I decided to dedicate it to the Hiroshima victims (1994). 31
Threnody was recorded in April 1961 under Jan Krenz with Polish Radio Orchestra from
Katowice. With this recording the director of the Polish Radio, Roman Jasinski,
submitted the score under the new title to UNESCO competition in Paris where it was
placed fourth. The premiere before an audience took place at the Warsaw Autumn the
same year. Before the first public performance of the piece, Tadeusz Zielinski pointed
out an emotional aspect and a few crucial sonoristic traits ofthe piece:
Looking through the score one can admire the inventiveness and coloristic imagination of the
composer. But it is only possible to assess the piece after hearing it. We are realizing one curious
fact: that all these effects turned out to be the pretext to create deep, dramatic and even startling
work ofart. 32
Wolfram Schwinger further emphasized the dramatic and expressive aspect of the piece:
29
The sum of all sections actually differs from the original title 8'3T' and comes to 8 minutes and 26
seconds.
30
Erhardt attributes the idea of dedicating the piece to the director of Polish Radio Roman Jasinski, who
before going to submit the work to the International Tribune of Composers- UNESCO- competition in
Paris suggested to Penderecki the change ofthe title: 'after a short consultation the piece was named Tren-
ofiarom Hiroszimy [Threnody- to the Victims of Hiroshima], Erhardt, Spotkania z Krzysztofem
Pendereckim, 32. Cwiklinski and Ziarno in the book Pasja also recount the history of the title and the first
receptions of the piece (Cwiklinski and Ziarno, Pasja, 9-13).
31
Quoted by Tomaszewski in CD notes to Penderecki 's Orchestral Works Vol. I, page 3 (Naxos,
8.554491).
32
Quoted in Erhardt, Spotkania z Krzysztofem Pendereckim, 38.
146
This music, with its sharp cutting edge, not excluding effects of enervation from its range of
expression, might easily be taken as a naturalistic representation of Chaos; but this densely woven
study in sound goes further to embody lament and accusation. That may have given Penderecki
the courage to dedicate it subsequently to the victims of the first atom bomb. 33
The rich timbre palette is created entirely from the string orchestra which includes 24
violins, l 0 violas, I 0 cellos and 8 double basses. Within the first minutes into the piece
the basic sonoristic characteristics are exposed: a fast rate of change, sharp contours,
clear-cut and overlapping textures, contrasting sonorities, and an absence of melody,
pulse and perceived meter. The durational units are indicated by a vertical dotted line,
comparable to barlines but of varying length and measured in seconds with the shortest
lasting four seconds and longest 30 seconds. The durational units in the central section
are themselves subdivided into traditional bars of defined length as measure by note
duration and meter. (The score contains numbers, primarily relating to the broader
durational units though sometimes counting individual bars as well.) Furthermore the
border between sound and noise has been blurred. The basic sound material, as Zielinski
noted in his early analysis of the piece, is composed of (I) the highest possible sounds, (2)
bands of sound- clusters, (3) mobile clusters and (4) new articulation. 34 It was the new
articulation that often drew attention of commentators. In 1963 Jan Kaluzny wrote as
follows:
This work is one of the most interesting and certainly the most revolutionary in contemporary
music as far as the utilization of the whole string quintet apparatus is concerned. In these
instruments, Penderecki is primarily concerned with their coloristic possibilities which he achieves
35
by means of articulation whose existence has so far not been suspected.
By limiting the performing resources to strings, Penderecki explored unconventional

ways of playing which include arpeggio on four strings behind the bridge, playing
33
Wolfram Schwinger, Krzysztof Penderecki. His Life and Work (London: Schott, 1989). 124.
34
Tadeusz A. Zielinski, 'Nowe utwory Krzysztofa Pendereckiego' (The New Works of Krzysztof
Penderecki), Ruch Muzyczny 5, no. 12 (15-30 June 1961): 17.
35
Jan KaluZny, 'Krzysztof Penderecki and his contribution to modem musical notation,' Polish Review 3,
no. 8 (1963): 93.
147
between bridge and tailpiece, playing on tailpiece and playing on bridge. However, the
articulation and sound generating processes used in Threnody are not entirely new, nor
are they exclusively used for the first time in this piece. An extensive list of new
articulation accompanies the score of an earlier Anaklasis. 36 In Threnody however,
Penderecki introduces percussive effects on string instruments such as striking the upper
sounding board of the violin with the nut or the finger tips.
The dramatic narration of two main types of textures makes the overall ternary structure
of Threnody coherent and easily perceptible. What primarily defines this ternary structure
is the textural contrast between the outer primarily cluster-based sections and the central
pointillistic section, a binary opposition reinforced by the dichotomy or continuity and
discontinuity. In pointillistic textures every sound event is assigned its articulation,
dynamics, frequency and duration, but these details are lost in the overall sonority which
achieves homogeneity as a characteristic of the overall texture. The cluster-based sections
present a wide variety of clusters which define individual textural blocks. Clusters as one
of Penderecki 's primary fingerprint is epitomized at the end of the piece to reinforce its
expressive effect: the combination of a single dynamic level, common articulation among
all parts, common registeral band and synchronized duration serves to unify the entire
ensemble.
36
According to Erhardt, Penderecki began to work in December 1959 on several pieces simultaneously
during his first stay abroad, in Italy (Erhardt, Spotkania z Krzysztofem Pendereckim, 22-23).
148
Table 6.1 Penderecki, Threnody: formal outline.
Section A Section B Section A'

Expository section: Middle section: Closing section:
Score numbers. 1-25; Score numbers. 26-56 Score numbers. 56-70
Material types: primarily Material type: pointilistic- like Material type: microtonal clusters
clusters, sustained sounds, texture. with slow and rapid vibrato and
(percussive effects bar 6-9). ending tutti cluster played sui
ponticello-ord- sui tasto for 52
strings atff.f-pppp.
Climax: score no. 19 Culminating point: score no. 62-65 Climax: score no. 70
The much talked about sense of urgency and unsettling effect is present right from the
outset. The piece opens with one of Threnody's fingerprints: successive entries of the
highest sustained note on every instrument of the string orchestra at.ffto produce a cluster
of microtonal density (see Fig. 6.1). As Niall O'Loughlin noted, 'the highest note on the
instrument,' with indefinite pitch, has a purpose:
In theory, there could be a unison within each group of the four, five or six instruments specified
by the composer for each entry, but in practice, however, the resulting sound consists of a group of
pitches very close together, producing a strongly discordant cluster. 37
The first variation of sound from the sustained cluster to superimposed slow and rapid
vibrato brings the overall dynamic level from .ff down to forte after I 5 seconds. What
defines the following texture (see Fig. 6.2, score no. 6) is the gradual textural
transformation from continuity in sound into discontinuity based on percussive effects.
This is achieved through canonic infiltration of percussive layers into the texture based
on clusters. The first layer of percussive effects on unspecified pitch enter in each
instrumental part (divisi a 4) by section (first cellos, followed by violas, violins and
double basses) and comprise the following ordered ways of playing: highest note
37
Niall O'Loughlin, 'Threnody and Performance,' in Studies in Penderecki, ed. by Ray Robinson and
Regina Ch!opicka (Princeton: Prestige Publications, 2003), 284.
149
pizzicato, arpeggio on 4 strings behind the bridge, bow the highest note with a quick
arrhythmic tremolo, strike the frame of the instrument with a finger or a frog of the bow,
play tremolando note between bridge and tailpiece, and a note between the bridge and
tailpiece (see Fig. 6.2). These layers are the only ones in the score without specific
dynamic level. The percussive sounds are arranged in patterns of four. The players
choose one pattern and repeat it as fast as possible. The arrangement of seven specific
percussive effects reveals a careful contrapuntal planning derived from serial thinking. If
we number the percussive effects from I to 7 in the cello parts, the second part (B) is a
retrograde of the first (A); the third part (C) is a reordering of A according to even and
odd numbers, and the fourth (D) is a retrograde of the third (C). The table below (See
Table 2) shows the ordering of parts in violas, violins and double basses and their
consecutive entries within texture. The resulting pointillistic-Iike texture every 15
seconds becomes increasingly discontinuous and dense in pulsating timbres and colors.
On the one hand within limits Penderecki introduces an element of random order, on the
other hand he applies a strict compositional procedures such as 'a quadruple four-part
canon.' 38 However this canon can only be discerned from the score: not only the players
are allowed to choose which version to play but in the increasingly dense texture of
percussive effects the entries of individual lines are lost. In effect this constructivist
quasi-serial approach is only to create a desired overall sound - the strict procedures
behind it are not meant to be perceptible even if there was no freedom of choice: 'the ear
cannot follow it because the canonic 'voices' are not perceived as quasi-melodic lines,
but are blended at once with the other voices into the general field of noise. ' 39
38
Wilfiied Gruhn, 'Structuren und Klangmodelle in Penderecki's Threnody,' Melos 10 (1971): 10, quoted
in Schwinger, Krzysztof Penderecki. His Life and Work, 126. Many writers elaborated on the subject:
among them are Lindstedt ('Between Dodecaphony and Sonoristics: Post-Serial Formulas in Penderecki's
Work, 1960-1962,' 227-243), Mirka, (The Sonoristic Structuralism of Krzysztof Penderecki, 304-310) and
Chlopicka (Extra-Musical Inspirations in the Early Works ofKrzysztofPenderecki, 257-271).
39
Wilfiied Gruhn, 'Structuren und Klangmodelle in Penderecki's Threnody,' Melos 10 (1971): 10. Quoted
in Schwinger, Krzysztof Penderecki. His Life and Work, 126.
!50
Table 6.2 Penderecki, Threnody, score no. 6-9. Ordering of percussive effects.
24vn:
C: 6427531
A: 1234567
D: 2461357
B: 7654321
10 vi:
D: 2461357
C: 6427531
B: 7654321
A: 1234567 i
10 vc: I
A: 1234567 I
B: 7654321
C: 6427531
D: 2461357
8Cb:
B: 7654321
D: 2461357
A: 1234567
C: 6427531
15" 115" 115" 15"
The texture ends suddenly in all parts except for cellos which introduce a wedge cluster -
a composite unit of the next texture (score no. I 0). The variety of clusters as one of the
main materials of Threnody is rarely matched by other composers at the same time. The
whole section from score no. I 0-14 lasting only I min and 35 seconds is composed
entirely by overlapping expanding and contracting wedge clusters (see Fig. 6.3, score no.
13-15). Their clear shape, time span and overlapping ends at various points within the
middle to high register are easily perceptible and make the overall texture spatially
fragmented. The attention is driven here to the timbral differences between instrumental
groups, dynamic variation between the units and overall shape of sound in each unit. The
graphic representation of these clusters reflects its aural image. The standard notation of
the exact pitches is provided below the graphic black line.
The shape of the next cluster based texture (score no. 19-20) is clearly defined by
articulation. The individual layers - sustained clusters - are assigned to the instrumental
groups, as in the previous section, but now they are superimposed and unified by one
dynamic level - ppp - and one type of articulation. For I 0 seconds a band of sound is
!51
composed by five quartertone clusters occupying the middle register. The contrast
between this static textural block and the next texture of overlapping clusters involves
dynamics and pitch range: from over two octaves at ppp a sudden change to
approximately a m!\ior third at if. Within this texture the transformation involves a
gradual overlapping of clusters and introduction of cluster glissandi. The dynamics are
integrated to each layer: for static layers it is ff; at the point of change to glissandi with
harmonics the dynamics drops to pp.
The last type of cluster based textures within Section A involves notational shorthand.
Once again the notation is economical and visually suggestive: a gradual build up of
individual sustained sounds in five groups systematically expand each 'megaphone' pitch
range (see Fig. 6.4) each with rising dynamic level:pp<f, p<ff, mf<ff, mf<ffandf<ff. The
five 'megaphone' clusters are spaced to cover pitch range over three octaves within 20
seconds time span. The spatial fragmentation of texture is more visual than aural. The
sustained cluster in cellos and double basses, introduced at the end of this section at iff,
narrows the range of pitch and through glissandi reduces the texture and dynamics to a
single sound in cellos at pppp.
The central part of Threnody (Section B), separated from the previous section by a
general pause, involves the most structurally complex pointillistic texture (see Fig. 6.5).
As described by Schwinger, in its overall sound, it 'is extremely fragmented, atomizing
the material into pointillism, mixing the new (and old) methods of playing and hitting,
dynamically contrasting and juggling them around in every conceivable combination of
sound and noise.' 40 Behind the overall sonority of this texture, which sounds chaotic as a
result of seemingly random procedures, there is in fact a very systematic approach. The
entire section is constructed as a three-part canon. To realize this Penderecki divided the
whole string orchestra into three ensembles of 12 players (4 violins, 3 violas, 3 cellos and
2 double basses). To control the three groups in this section (total number of bars from 47)
Penderecki used meter - 2/4 and dotted barlines. Wilfried Gruhn was one of the first to
elaborate on the canonic construction of this passage:
40
Schwinger, Krzysztof Penderecki. His Life and Work, 126.
152
Orchestra 2 answers orchestra I as a strict canon at a distance of 12 bars, but with the
instrumentation altered (quasi-inversion) whereby the parts of the 4 violins are answered by 2
basses and 2 cellos, etc. A symmetrical axis occurs between bars 42 and 43, when all the voices
are mirrored, though again with altered instrumentation Oike a retrograde version). Bars 16-19 are
not included in the mirror. Thus in Orchestra I bars 42 and 43 match, likewise 41 and 44 etc., up
to 30 and 55. Orchestra 3 follows Orchestra 2 canonically at a distance of two bars, without the
first four bars which are also left out of mirroring; the instrumentation here does not change. The
canon is sustained rhythmically and, with a few exceptions, dynamically as well, though the
pitches may be a fourth or fifth removed. Such structural relationships within the ordering of the
material, like the pointillistic refraction of this section clearly show the influence of the Second
Viennese School and in particular Webem's principles of symmetrical organization''
The entire texture is phased out into a layer which infiltrates into the next section (A' in
Table 6.1 above). This transitional passage is again an example of the infiltration process
described above producing a polygenous texture composed of contrasting layers,
juxtaposing the previous and the ensuing textures. (see Fig. 6.6, score no. 62-65). The
main texture of A' (score no. 62) is based on two components: a microtonal cluster in the
violins and two layers in the cellos and double basses. These two cello and double bass
layers are constructed as canons based on the same rhythmic pattern and its retrograde
version. While the first half of double basses successively enter with the original rhythm
played on the tailpiece, the other half (5-8) continues the canonic entry but with the
retrograde of the original rhythm played on the bridge. The layer in cellos reverses the
articulation and starts with the original pattern on the bridge. Thus the individual parts are
related through their canonic technique (however, the strictness is compromised slightly
because the number of parts in the two layers differ: eight double basses versus ten
cellos). Once again, the overall sonic effect of the two layers is the significant issue and
takes precedence over the constructional detail.
The final section of Threnody is unified in the type of material used. Dominated by
clusters it culminates in a 52 strings microtonal cluster with the widest dynamic range
from.ff.Jto pppp, another ofPenderecki's fingerprint (see Fig. 6.7).
41
Gruhn, 'Strukturen und Klangmodelle in Pendereckis Threnos,' in Melos vol. 10 (1971): 410, quoted in
Schwinger, Krzysztof Penderecki. His Life and Work, 273-274.
153
Threnody's new notation was no less surprising than its overall strange, even offensive
new sounds. In 2000 Pendereck:i said:
I had to invent a special kind of notation which allowed me to write a piece for 52 instruments
like Threnody on one small piece of paper. ' 42
The prosaic reasons for inventing graphic shorthand is well known from Erhard's book
telling of Pendereck:i's frequent visits to the cafe, lama Michalikowa in Krak6w, on
whose small tables most of the sonoristics scores including Fluorescences were written.' 3
However, the kind of sounds and expression much more than the lack of space dictated
the notation: 'When I wrote Threnody, I needed a harsh, brutal noise. Then I heard the
squeal of a tram and transposed the sound to the strings.' 44 This anecdote supports the
experience of many Polish composers that it is the definite sound, with its emotional
impact, rather than experiment for its own sake that drew composers to resort to extended
techniques which consequently resulted in a new way of notating them.
The final aspect to consider in relation to Threnody is the sound document of the piece.
For some sonoristic works, discussed later in this chapter, the premieres in comparison
with later performances proved to be the most extreme. Thus together with the reviews
from the early 1960s they are treated as the most authentic. However, Threnody
· represents a special case here. As the only sonoristic work with such status, Threnody
now has a number of recordings which could amount almost to a performing tradition. In
a study comparing three recordings of Threnody (Witold Rowick:i: 1963, Krzysztof
Pendereck:i: 1975, and Antoni Wit: 1998), O'Loughlin raises two issues: the question of
'"authentic' view of the work,' and the composer's later intentions about performance of
the piece. 45 O'Loughlin found that the area in which the three interpretations diverge is
mainly the duration. Threnody under Rowick:i and Wit lasts about nine minutes; under
composer's hand it takes almost ten minutes. It is the opening textures of the piece (score
42
Krzysztof Penderecki's comment in the documentary film by Andreas Missler-Morell 'Krzysztof
Penderecki' (DVD Arthaus 100 008), Chapter 4. Quoted in O'Loughlin, 'Threnody and Performance,' 283.
43
Erhardt, Spotkania z Krzysztofem Pendereckim, 24.
44
O'Loughlin, 'Threnody and Performance,' 283.
45
Ibid., 283-289.
154
no. I to 17) where the differences are most noticeable. While Wit's and Rowicki's
timings are closer to the score - under Wit the section lasts 4'07" and under Rowicki
4'38"- the composer takes more freedom and extends this section to 5'20":
Most of the difference is in the first page. Wit reads the score very literally and reduces the
volume to subitoJaf!er 14 seconds (the score fives II seconds). Rowicki takes much longer over
the initial entries, Jetting the sound make its full impact, without cutting it off prematurely and
reaches the sub ito f at 24 seconds. Penderecki is even more emphatic as he makes the presence of
the string sounds overwhelming by sustaining the fortissimo for 47 seconds (36 seconds longer
than he indicated in the score) before letting his dynamic level drop. The string players also add to
the tension by producing a wider range of "highest" notes to enhance the discordant nature of the
opening. 46
Another place where the interpretations differ is the textural transformation from
sustained into discontinuous sounds - a section without indicated dynamics (score no. 6-
10). Wit aims at blending the entry of individual contrasting layers within the texture.
Rowicki makes these entries very clear, not too quiet but not too invasive. It is under
Penderecki that 'the mixture of short attacks is violent in its immediacy, with the contrast
being really effective.' 47 Furthermore to ensure the impact of the pointillistic texture, the
central section of the piece, Penderecki allows for a longer general pause preceding it. In
the context of the sonoristic traits amongst which the sharp contrast and emotional impact
are at the forefront, what conclusions can be drawn from the different interpretations of
the work? These versions reveal not only the possible interpretations of the score but also
point to the original intensions of the composer. Although, as O'Loughlin states, all three
versions are effective, it is the composer's interpretation that makes the strongest impact.
The kind of changes under Penderecki' s hand in contrast to the other two interpretations
of the score precisely emphasize the sonoristic qualities of the piece even if the
prolongation of the opening textures seems contradictory to the general rule of fast rate of
change. Penderecki focused on increasing and intensifYing the contrast in every possible
way. It is one of the better examples where expression and emotional impact of the music
46
Ibid., 287.
47
Ibid., 288.
!55
resides above sound experimentation often mentioned in relation to sonorism. Thus it is
not surprising that Penderecki took up the idea of changing its title:
In his hands the opening section no longer sounds like a shock to the ears that should not be
prolonged for fear of offending the audience, but one in which the searing discords can be
savored. This must be the result of the altered emphasis by the composer indicated to us by his
changing the title from a prosaic duration, 8'26" or 8'37", to that of one of the most memorable
titles in all of the 20~ century string orchestral music, Threnody to the Victims of Hiroshima for 52
strings. 48
48
O'Loughlin, 'Threnody and Performance,' 289.
!56
Dimensions of Time and Silence 1960-61 49
Dimensions of Time and Silence dedicated to J6zef Patkowski 50 is scored for 40 voices
with percussion and strings. The choir consists of I 0 sopranos, I 0 altos, I 0 tenors and I 0
basses. In addition to the large percussion section divided into 4 groups (see Table 6.7)
and strings comprising 6 violins, 4 violas, 4 cellos and 2 double basses, Penderecki also
included celesta, harp and piano. Dimensions is not the Penderecki's only work from the
late 1950s and early 1960 to include an expanded percussion section. Anaklasis (1959)
uses even greater range of percussion instruments. The large orchestra in Fluorescences
(1962) goes still further in the search for sound colour including a large percussion
section, sirens, a typewriter and a wood saw. Dimensions, however, introduces the human
voice to Penderecki's sonoristic works for the first time. Between 1958 and 1962
Penderecki wrote two other non-sonoristic works that include voices: Psalms of David
(1958) and Stabat Mater (1963), the latter of which was ultimately incorporated in St
Luke Passion (1966). While Psalms and Stabat Mater are interconnected by setting of the
Latin text, Dimensions, in its final version, is devoid of text, using only single vowels and
consonants.
49
The chronology of works written between 1959 and 1962 is not always clear and there are discrepancies
in regards to the composition date of Dimensions. For example according to Schwinger it is 1959/60
(Schwinger, Krzysztof Penderecki. His Life and Work, 194), Tomaszewski cites 1960 (Tomaszewski,
Krzysztof Penderecki and His Music, 116) and Mirka relies on Ludwig Erhardt who states that in 1960
Penderecki was working simultaneously on three pieces: 'Dimensions of Time and Silence for the Warsaw
Autumn, 8 '37" (Threnody) - written at last within two days for the Grzegorz Fitelberg Composer's
Competition, receiving the third prize, and Anaklasis at Donaueschingen' (Erhardt, Spotkania z
Krzysztofem Pendereckim, 25).
50
J6zefPatkowski (1929-2005) was the initiator and the director of the Experimental Studio of the Polish
Radio in Warsaw.
157
Table 6.7 Penderecki, Dimensions of Time and Silence: instrumentation.
Chorus: 2 bongos (bgs)

10 sopranos (S) 6 tom-toms (tomts)
10 altos (A) 4 drums (tmp)
I 0 tenors (T)
10 basses (B)
triangle (trgl) celesta (eel)
4 suspended cymbals (ptti s, a, t, b) harp (ar)
gong (gng) piano (pfte)
tam-tam (tmt)
2 claves Strings:
3 wood drums (lgn) 6 violins (vn)
xilorimba (xilor) 4 violas (vn)
vibraphone (vbf) 4 cellos (vc)
2 double basses (vb)
4 glass lamellae (vtr)
2 metal lamellae (mtl)
3 cowbells (cwb)
glockenspiel (cmpli)
tubular bells (cmpne)
The first performance of the piece took place in Krakow in 1960 and the work was
subsequently performed in the fourth Warsaw Autumn under Andrzej Markowski with
the Choir and Krakow Philharmonic Chamber Ensemble. 51 For the latter performance
Penderecki provided a commentary about inspiration, technical details and performance
realization:
This composition is an attempt to transplant some of the technical assumptions of Paul Klee and
Yves Klein to the language of sound. These analogies become apparent in operation on diverse in
colour and structure segments, connected through infiltration (Klee), and through introduction of
static segments operating on pulsating <<sound space>> or operating on sound's resonance alone.
In Dimensions I relinquish the use of bar lines (I use them only in three places where metric pulse
was necessary) for specified time sections whose realization requires a stop-watch. The conductor
indicates the entry of individual sounds and sound complexes in a section from the graphic
positioning of the sounds and from a redline especially introduced for this purpose indicating the
" Chlopicka, 'Extra-Musical Inspirations in the Early Works of Krzysztof Penderecki,' 260. The premiere
of the first version took place during the Warsaw Autumn in 1960. Erhardt, Spotkania z Krzysztofem
Pendereckim, 25. A review entitled 'After the Premiere of Dimensions of Time and Silence' by Henryk
Schiller was published in Ruch Muzyczny 6, no. 21 (1960): 5-6.
!58
order of entries. The text which I used in this piece is the Latin 12-syllable pentastich, in the form
of a magic square:
S A T 0 R
A R E P 0
T E N E T
0 P E R A
R 0 T A S
Apart from this text I introduce rotational transformation of the consonants group - treating the
choir par excellence as percussion; I also use whispering effects achieved through appropriate
hissing consonants and a whist1e. 52
This commentary refers to the original version which Penderecki withdrew after the
Warsaw Autumn performance. It includes some details of the original score, also referred
53
to in Schiller's review of the Warsaw Autumn performance in Ruch Muzyczny. Ludwik
Erhardt also noted that the three places with bar lines mentioned by Penderecki do not
appear in the final version which was performed in June 1961 in Vienna during the 35th
SIMC Festival under Friedrich Cerha. 54
As in Threnody, Penderecki regulates time in Dimensions by means of durational units

measured in seconds. Some of these durational units are subdivided into bars measured
by meter (score numbers: 4-8, 12-15, 28-45, 70-70B, 75-79, 83-101, and 117-143), others
52
Quoted in Erhardt, Spotkania z Krzysztofem Pendereckim, 25-26.
53
Henryk Schiller, 'Po prawykonaniu Wymiar6w czasu i ciszy Krzysztofa Pendereckiego' [After the
Premiere of Krzysztof Penderecki's Dimentions of Time and Silence], Ruch Muzyczrry 4, no. 21 (1-15
November 1960): 5-6. 'The magic square' also referred to as Cirencester word square was found on the
Egyptian papyrus dated late fourth century AD. It translates as follows: 'The Sower Arepo holds the wheels
carefully' (quoted in Schwinger, Krzysztof Penderecki. His Life and Work, 275). The 'magic square'
structure and its connection with the principles of 12-note technique was referred to by Webem in his
lecture given on 2 March 1932 in Vienna and first published by Willi Reich in 1960. Schwinger reassures
that Penderecki at the time of writing Dimensions did not come across these lectures (Schwinger, Krzysztof
Penderecki. His Life and Work, 194). The first Polish translation of these lectures was published in 1972 in
Res Facta 6 (Mirka, The Sonoristic Structuralism of Krzysztof Penderecki, 176). Szwajger suggests that for
the final version of Dimensions what prompted Penderecki to remove the 'magic square' and its music was
to eliminate the possibility of any connection made to other composers. A similar case is argued in relation
to Threnody's change of the title. See Krzysztof Szwajger, 'Penderecki and the Avant-Garde' in Studies in
Penderecki vol. 2, Ray Robinson and Regina Chlopicka, ed. (Princeton: Prestige Publications, 2003), 195.
54
Erhardt, Spotkania z Krzysztofem Penderecki, 26.
!59
are subdivided into one-second bars (vocal textures: score number I 44- I 87). Clearly the
type of texture and sound material dictates the notation: in aleatory textures time is
regulated by units measured in seconds, while the pointillistic textures use the traditional
time signature. This is strictly applied, and, even when these two types of textures
overlap, the two ways of time regulation are preserved (score number I 1-13 and 70-71).
Only months separated the first performances of Threnody and Dimensions. The listener
already familiar with Threnody, would recall two characteristic sonorities of Threnody:
the static and mobile clusters, and a distinct sonority composed by superimposing a series
of sounds played on tail piece and on the bridge (score numbers: I 9-20, 64-65). These
two already familiar fingerprints, however, are in a new context in Dimensions. The
string clusters, as one of the three constituent layers of the large texture formed by much
more expanded performing forces, lack the tension which accompanies the whole of
Threnody. The texture created by playing on tail piece and on the bridge is reduced in
number of parts and appears twice as a small textural unit in cellos and double bases. The
ordering of sound events in the first instance (score number 19-20) is reversed when it
comes back (score number 64-65). To these two characteristic textural sonorities of
Threnody, the large vocal textures with variety of sound colour, created by extended
vocal techniques from whisper to whistle, add the vocal fingerprints specific to
Dimensions. Schiller commented on the vocal part and the role of text in Dimensions as
follows:
[the text] constitutes only a phonetic substance in the 'pure fonn,' which is constantly rotated and
transfonned backwards or selectively chosen; the 40-voice choir completely looses the 'vocal'
character and is turned into a quasi percussive instrument which unfolds before the listener a wide
range of sound effects of whispering consistency. 55
While the highly emotional Threnody evokes horrific images associated with its title and
boldly carries through one dramatic expression, Dimensions explores the subtleties of the
sound colour across the spectrum of pitched and unpitched sounds. Although, as
Chlopicka noted, the 'magic square' disappeared from the final version of the piece, its
55
Schiller, 'Po prawykonaniu Wymiar6w czasu i ciszy Krzysztofa Pendereckiego,' 5.
160
influence is extended to the overall structure as well as the ordering of phonics in some
sections of the piece. 56 First, I will consider the 'magic square' procedures applied to the
macro structural level. Subsequently I will discuss the 'magic square' procedures to
generate the textures and smaller sections of the piece. On both levels I argue that the
places where Penderecki deviated from the serial paradigm were the result of sonoristic
thinking taking precedence over structuralist approach. I then go on to consider in greater
depth Penderecki' s comments about the influence of visual artists on the inspiration of
the piece.
The overall structure of Dimensions falls into three large phases (see Table 6.3). 57 The
first phase is an exposition of the four sections from A to D. The second phase reorders
each section in retrograde form though with some modifications. A retrograde version of
section D uses only two initial textures of original section D: a retrograde of score
numbers 39-45 followed by a retrograde of score numbers 28-38. Furthermore the order
of sections in Phase 2 is not a complete retrograde of Phase I and starts with section C
instead of D. The significance of these deviations from a strict retrograde will be
discussed later.
The third phase, from score number I 03 (see Fig. 6.1 0), is a series of textural and
dynamic culminations, epitomized by a cluster in vocal parts, and combined with
percussion and strings to create a large texture reaching its final peak at score number
188 (see Fig. 6.11). This seemingly freely constructed phase, is highly organized and
reflects no less compositional planning than in the previous two phases. Its ternary
structure is manifested by a return at the end of the homogeneous texture of overlapping
static clusters in basses, tenors and altos with diverse vocal articulation: whistling vibrato
and senza vibrato, usingjalsetto voice and humming- bocca chiusa. The central section
first juxtaposes and superimposes clearly defined textural layers in vocal parts,
percussion and strings to create heretogenious texture and finally it combines them as
56
Chlopicka, 'Extra-Musical Inspirations in the Early Works ofKrzysztofPenderecki,' 260.
57
Compare Chlopicka, ibid., 264 and Schwinger, Krzysztof Penderecki. His Life and Work, 194-195.
Baculewski's fonnal plan for Dimensions is slightly different: A, B, C, R(A), R{B), and D. See Baculewski
Wsp6/czesnosc, cz~sc 1: 1939-1974, 264 and 267. In my scheme for the piece the internal division of
phases into four sections emphasizes the change of instrumental timbre (instrumental groups).
161
layers penetrating one another's sound fabric. This idea of 'infiltration,' mentioned by
Penderecki in his commentary in connection with Klee, is present throughout the piece
and it will be explored later in more detail (see Fig. 6.12).
Table 6.3 Penderecki, Dimensions of Time and Silence: formal outline.
Phases: PHASE I PHASE2

Score
numbers 1-53 54-102
P.G P.G
Sections: A B c D rc• rB rA rD - incomplete
Score 4" 5"
1-11 12-21 22-28 28-53 54-61 62-70 71-82 83-102
numbers:
*'rC' is a retrograde form of section C: similarly 'rA,' rB and 'rD.'
PHASE3
Score numbers: I 03-190
Introduction (I 03-1 07): Central section (I 08-188): Coda (188-190) features
dominated by overlapping Synthesis of existing and new overlapping clusters in voca1
i
clusters in vocal parts; cymbals, material; leads to the climax at parts. 1!!
gong and timpani are featured 188.
only once to mark the entry of
the duster in basses.
l
Although 'silence' is a part of the work's title, the general pauses, often used to separate
I
textures in sonoristic pieces, are scarce in Dimensions but their use is highly structural.
They are strategically placed between the phases in the first two instances. The third,
placed after the final textural and dynamic peak (score number 188) within the third
phase, provides a clear cut-off of all vocal clusters singing fortissimo. The sudden
reduction of texture to one cluster in double basses and the drop in dynamic level to ppp
is a clear introduction of a short coda. The less structural use of one more general pause,
within the retrograde section A (score number 73), is an addition (not featured in section
A), and allows for sound decay of the previous texture. Similarly an earlier cut off of
superimposed vocal clusters at.ffin phase 3 (score number 107), allows for sound decay
162
and greater contrast with the ensuing texture of percussion, introduced by a single layer
in vibraphone at pp.
On micro level a highly structured passage appears in section D which combines the
choir, percussion and strings (see Fig. 6.7, score number 46). 'Magic square' procedures
are applied here not only in relation to pitch but also in the regulation of the vocal
material (the order of vowels and consonants). As with Kilar's Diphtongos, the vocal
parts of Dimensions are used purely for coloristic reasons. After discarding the Latin text
in the final version of the piece, the vocal parts of Dimensions consist only of consonants
and vowels. The shades of sound and whisper are explored through a careful selection of
particular Polish consonants such as lingual r, z (as French 'j'), i (also as French 'j' but
very soft), sch, and combination of two consonants: Tsch, Th, Ds. No doubt the choice of
some consonants to explore subtle timbral variation comes also from the Polish
language. 5 8 The approach of dismantling text's linguistic and semantic integrity in favour
of exploration as pure sound was as much a part of sonoristic paradigm as it was a
general trend of the 1960s in European and American music. Serial procedures and
pointillistic technique had laid the foundation for the fragmentation of texts into syllables
and phonetic components. The first example of phonetically treated language comes from
the field of electronic music. Gesang der Junglinge (1955-56) by Stockhausen utilized
German biblical text sung by a boy soprano and recorded on tape. The fragments of the
text together with the electronic sounds organized according to their timbral
characteristics from 'white noise' to pure pitch were then subjected to serial procedures. 59
Luigi Nono's Choruses of Dido (Cori di Didone) from 1958 for chorus and non-pitched
percussion is not as extreme and the meaning of the text is at least partially preserved 60
The meaningless text of Aria for solo voice from the same year by Cage comprises single
words and short phrases - without context - in four languages. Numerous pieces in which
text is devoid of syntactical and semantic components which were written about the same
time as Dimensions of Time and Silence provide a more immediate context for Polish
58
There is a clear distinction in pronunciation of :i. and Z in Polish.
59
Michael Kurtz. Stockhausen. A Biography, trans. Richard Toop (London: Faber & Faber, 1994), 82-83.
60 Morgan, Twentieth Century Music. A history of Musical Style in Modern Europe and America Twentieth
Century Music, 441.
163
sonoristic works with vocal parts. Maurizio Kagel's Anagramma for four solo vocalists,
speaking chorus and chamber ensemble (1960) 'composes' a new text out of a Latin
palindrome and focuses on sonic properties of the words with wide range of vocal
techniques. 61 Pauline Oliveros' Sound Patterns for four-part unaccompanied chorus
(1960) explores percussive sound types. Milton Babbit's vocal part of Sounds and Words
( 1960) consists only of phonemes which together with pitches are serially controlled.
Berio's Circles (1960) for voice, harp and two percussionists set to three poems bye e
cummings gradually disintegrates the syntax and uses words as sounds. 62
In Dimensions the vocal layers featured in Phase I and 3 constitute the canvas on which
Penderecki explores further the boundaries between sound and noise. The clear-cut
instrumental-vocal percussive texture (score no. 46, Fig. 6.7) first introduces a series of
nine unpitched consonants - 'GTKBDGPKD' which in the next section (score number 47)
is reduced to 6 and presented in the following structural order: 63
2 3 4 5 6
Soprano D K B T p G
6 3 5 2 4
Alto G B p K T D
4 5 6 3 2
Tenor T p G B K D
4 2 5 3 6
Bass D T K p B G
61
Morgan, Twentieth Century Music, 443.
62
Ibid. Two other works, A ventures (1962), for three singers and seven instrumentalists by Ligeti, with
phonetic text, and Sequenza III for solo voice by Berio, expanding vocal sounds in a wide range of vocal
articulation, both postdate the Polish son oris tic works with text.
63
Music und Bildung, vol. 12 (December 1975): 625, quoted in Schwinger, Krzysztof Penderecki. His Life
and Work, 275n61.
164
These sequences are systematically organized within the texture (score number 47). The
canonical entries create another manifestation of the idea of 'magic square.' Lindstedt
presented the successive entries of the vocal parts as follows: 64
Table 6.4 Penderecki, Dimensions of Time and Silence, the successive entries of the
vocal parts, score no. 47.
s DKBTPG GBPKTD
315246 654123
GBPKTD GPTBKD
A
654123 642513
KTDPBG TPGBKD
T
123456 246513
BTKPDG DTKPBG
B
521436 321456
A similar approach is found in the percussive vocal texture of phase 3, (score numbers
17 5-187) often omitted from analytical investigations. Here the voices are paired by the
prime and retrograde version of the same consonant sequence: sopranos (prime form)
with tenors (retrograde form) and altos (prime form) with basses (retrograde form) enter
canonically (see Table 6.5 and Fig. 6.8, score no. 175-187):
64
For detailed discussion on the organization of vocal parts see Lindtstedt, 236.
165
Table 6.5 Penderecki, Dimensions of Time and Silence: consonance sequences, score
numbers 175 - 187.65
1-5 GDTHB I.
6-10 S G D Tsch I.
s
1-5 TDsK R Z
6-10 ZKThB I.
A
1-4 B H T D G (a retrograde of Soprano 1-5) Z
5-8 Tsch D Z S (a retrograde of Sopranos 6-1 0) I.
T
1-5 R K D T (a retrograde of Altos 1-5) Z
6-10 D Th K Z; B Th K Z (a retrograde of Altos 6-10) Z
B
The third phase of Dimensions is dominated by textures with vocal layers (score no. I 03,
see Fig. 6.10). Vocal parts are not only treated equally with other instrumental textural
layers but constitute a primary textural element which underlies the structure of the phase.
As the main textural layer of this phase they present a variety of Penderecki' s sonoristic
formation of textures: they can blend within percussion in one homogeneous texture
(score number 167-184), mirror strings texture for subtle timbre variation within a
textural block (score number 110-113), overlap or be juxtaposed with percussion for
greater (vertical) contrast. The wide palette of vocal articulation defines individual parts.
The vocal tone variation (fischio, bocca chiusa and falsetto )66 is combined with pitch
specifications which are typical of sonoristic instrumental pieces and articulation such as
the highest and the lowest note, glissandi, and molto vibrato on a sustained unpitched
note.
In relation to pitch, the twelve-tone series is employed to order the vocal material of
Dimensions at score number 48, in a pitched twelve vowel series- 'OY!AEUOIYAEU' -
joined in the score by a dotted line (see Fig. 6.9, score no. 48-50). The series, divided into
four trichord cells, reveals its own symmetry. Chlopicka noted that 'if the first three-tone
65
In this passage there are small inconsistencies. In the basses an exact retrograde of the Altos starts from
the first repetition. The Tenors 5-8 is a retrograde of Sopranos 6-10 but substitutes consonant 'G' with 'Z.'
66
Whistle (/ischia), closed mouth (bocca chiusa) and singing technique in which, usually tenors, sing notes
higher than their normal range (falsetto).
166
--
cell is taken to be the original sequence, the second is its inversion, transposed down a
third, the third, in tum, is its retrograde transposed by a tritone, and the fourths is the
retrograde inversion' (see Ex. 1). 67 The same twelve-tone series also provides a basis for
texture in section A, phase 1 (score number 10) and its retrograde (score no. 72). 68
Example!. Penderecki, Dimensions of Time and Silence, the twelve-tone series at

score no. 48:
~ a ~ • j t~· i a ~ ;:o: ~ ~ -a- qu
As one of the main sources of inspiration for the structure of Penderecki's sonoristic
works, the 'magic square' has received a lot of analytical attention. In Dimensions the
'magic square' procedures are manifest in the symmetry of the 12-tone series, serial
orderings of consonants (prime, retrograde and various permutations) and the generation
of the detailed components of individual textural blocks. As well they influence the
overall structure of the piece. Lindstedt stressed the importance of the 'magic square'
asserting that 'the most salient element of the composer's stylistics in the 1960s is the
close relationship between methods drawn from the serial tradition and sonoristic.' 69
67
One of the first to elaborate on this issue was MUller ('Traditionelles bei Penderecki' in Music und
Bildung, 1972, vol. 5) and Schwinger (Krzysztof Penderecki. His life and Work, 194-197). More recent
studies include Lindstedt, ('Between Dodecaphony and Sonoristics: Post-Serial Formulas in Penderecki's
Work, 1960-1962, 231), Chlopicka, (260-271) and Mirka's ('Penderecki's Sonorism against Serialism',
though the main focus in on Penderecki's sonoristic system, and in The Sonoristic Structuralism of
Krzysztof Penderecki, 199-209.
" Mirka, The Sonoristic Structuralism of Krzysztof Penderecki, 302-303. Lindstedt elaborated further on
the characteristics of this series in xylorimba, vibraphone, glockenspiel, celesta, piano, and harp: 'Series in
particular instrumental parts are made up of various interval successions and, in contrast to the rows from
paragraph 48, they do not make up palindromes. Only the retrograde of the harp part is situated in a model
that is close to being symmetrical. Other trichordal segments also appear alongside the whole tone·
semitone ones. The most frequently exhibited cells are 5-1 and 1-4, as well as 1-6; 1-4, 3-3, and 5-2, as well
as 3-2 and 2-3 interval arrangements also manifest themselves. If there is any way of explaining the
connection of these series with the symmetrical arrangement that is characteristic of Penderecki's work, or,
in general, with the composer's beloved 'chromatic series' built of cells, then it is only through the
procedure of permutation' (Lindstedt, 'Between Dodecaphony and Sonoristics: Post-Serial Formulas in
Penderecki's Work, 1960-1962,' 232).
69
Ibid., 228.
167
However, in the integration of both serial ism and sonoristics in Penderecki's works, she
also points out that:
... it is not the series to which the primary formal-structural importance attaches in this work. It
attaches rather to the geometrical-spatial thinking. The serial principle is only a starting point for
the process of constructing and disassembling the various arrangements of sound phenomena.
70
[These] are the most important issues.
Despite the use of rigorous serial procedures to generate the textures and influence the
formal design, it is the sonoristic criteria, such as sharp contrast between adjacent textural
blocks, often take precedence over serial procedures in terms of defining the essence of
the piece. In addition, as shall be argued below, the construction of a compelling overall
narrative towards a climax is also a determining factor and this also sometimes overrides
serial principles. The instinct for form and large scale structure, combined with strong
exploitation of contrast, can be seen as one of the key factors behind the appeal and
success of sonoristic pieces. The importance of contrast is clearly illustrated in the way
Penderecki departs from the strictness of serialism to shape the structure of Phase 2,
which can be interpreted as a retrograde of Phase I that is not fully realized (see Table
6.3). Had Penderecki followed a literal retrograde of Phase 1, Phase 2 would have begun
with a retrograde of section D which was the section just heard. This would be in conflict
with the sonoristic principle of strong contrast. Therefore to unfold already presented
material in retrograde, Penderecki took the next available option: a retrograde of section
C, followed by a retrograde of sections B and A, placing a shortened version of the
retrograde of D (about half its previous length) at the end. In this way the contrast at the
join between the phases is found in the colour of overall sonority of the textures as a
result of changes in the sound sources - SA TB choir, percussion and piano in section D,
Phase I, versus percussion only in the first texture (a retrograde C section) of the
following phase. Additionally the textural shift from the large block to overlapping layers
in percussion changes the texture from a continuous to a discontinuous one.
70
Lindstedt, 'Between Dodecaphony and Sonoristics: Post-Serial Formulas in Penderecki's Work, 1960-
1962,' 234.
168
Similarly, between the second and the third phase the sound generators change from
percussion to SA TB choir. At this junction, contrast is created by the change from
discontinuous pointillistic percussion textures at the end of the second phase, to
continuous cluster-based textures in the vocal parts which open the third phase. On the
micro structural level, contrast governs the order of individual sections and the textural
narration within these sections. For instance the sections from A to C alternate the
instrumental groups beginning with percussion in section A, strings in section B and
again percussion in section C. The following section D does not bring the expected
change in the instrumental group: rather the change is brought about by the addition of
choir on top of the existing percussion. Thus within Phase I, there is a sense of dramatic
narration of textures from section to section, building up to a climax. This dramatic
narration is more than a simple alternation of contrasting sound events and takes a
primary role in final shape of this phase.
Thus the serial procedures, although an important part of compositional process in

sonoristic works, often are overridden by other means. Jarzc<bska makes a similar
observation about the importance of goal oriented, large scale textural unfolding:
Even in his first avant-garde works, Penderecki revealed his skill, so characteristic of his craft as a
composer, at presenting a process of musical events moving towards a culmination and solution in
proportionally differentiated temporality and in a way that was clear, logical, and accessible to the
listener. That is why the fundamental question in the analysis of his music is not so much the
'catalogue of innovative tones• as the problem of the clear prominence of the drama of contrasting
sound events and the dismemberment of musical time.71
Following this remark, it can be seen that the inconsistencies in serial procedures on the
structural level result from the priority given to the dramatic narration, the predetermined
overall form and the principle of contrast. This can be seen in the different treatment
given to section D in Phase I and Phase 2. In Phase I, section D is the climactic point,
witnessed in the enlargement of performing forces in that section, notably the addition of
71
Alicja Jarz~bska, 'The Aesthetic Background ofPenderecki's Avant Garde Works. Quartetto per Archi
and Wordless Rhetoric,' in Studies in Penderecki vol. 2, ed. Ray Robinson (Princeton: Prestige
Publications, 2003), 222.
169
the vocal layer for the first time (score no. 46). The inconsistencies found within the
structure of Phase 2 and can also be explained by the dramatic narration of textures
leading to the climax of the whole piece which occurs in Phase 3. As the textural and
timbral contrast are at the base of ordering of sections in retrograde, the dramatic tension
and the transfer of climactic point of the piece into the phase 3 explains the shortening of
the retrograde D section which contains only two percussive textures and discards the
large texture which combines voices and percussion (see Table 6.6).
Table 6.6 Penderecki, Dimensions of Time and Silence: sound generators of

individual sections in Phase I.
PHASE!
1-53
A B c D
Score number: 1-12 Score number: 12-21 Score number: 22-28 Score number: 28-53
Percussion only: Strings: violin, viola, Harp, piano, cymbals, SATB Choir;
triangle, glass, metal, cello and double bass. gong, tam tam. Percussion in the last
glockenspiel, tubular texture: cymbals,
bells, celesta, piano, gong, tom-toms and
harp, xilorimba, piano
vibraphone and
cymbals.
As already mentioned, apart from 'magic square,' the other source of inspiration for
Dimensions comes from painting and this exemplifies another important general
characteristic of the sonoristic period. The compositions that bear such link contained in
the title are Scultura by Schaeffer and Symphonic frescoes by Serocki. In other pieces,
such as Diphtohongos by Kilar and the scores by Szalonek , it is the graphic notation and
visual aspects of the score that makes this connection to the visual arts. In Penderecki's
case the inspiration from paintings by Paul Klee and Ives Klein is particularly strong.
Klee's innovative approach to form and artistic assumptions in particular inspired many
composers after 1950. Whether just by the use of titles of individual paintings or use of
technical procedures found in Klee's work, composers, including Penderecki, openly
170
acknowledged Klee as an inspirational source. 72 After completing the original version of
Dimensions, in 1960 interview Penderecki explained the idea of transplanting some
principles ofKiee's work into music as follows:
I am looking for deeper interconnections between painting and music ... For me the most important
issue is the problem of solving colours, color concentration, as well as operating the texture and
time. There are, for instance, paintings in which - through multifariousness - we achieve an
impression of space and time. The task of music is to transplant all these elements of time and
space, colour, and texture onto music. I have attempted to manage it in Dimensions of Time and
Silence, taking as my point of departure the painting of Paul Klee. In his paintings there exist
mathematical constructions of the interrelations between some sections, closed cells, which fonn
in themselves separate wholes and are juxtaposed on the principle ofimposition. 73
Later the same year, in his commentary to the piece quoted earlier, Penderecki added
Yves Klein. Without wanting to imply a too literal comparison of technical means
applied to paintings by Klee and Penderecki's sonoristic technique, there are nevertheless
close parallels between the techniques of the two artists. There is no reference to a
particular painting by either Klee or Klein, but Klee's writings shed light on Penderecki's
technical means used in Dimensions and illuminate his comments in relation to the piece.
In 'Paul Klee on Modern Art,' first published in 1948, the painter presented some of his
formal assumptions in his work:
First, there are the more or less limited, fonnal factors, such as line, tone value and colour.
Of these, the line is the most limited, being solely a matter of simple Measure. Its properties are
length (long or short), angles (obtuse or acute), length of radius and focal distance. All are
quantities subject to measurement.
72
Chlopicka lists several works and cycles of works inspired by Klee's painting; all mention Klee in their
titles: G. Klebe, La machine gazouillante, metamorphose sur Ia peinture du meme nom de P. Klee; S.
Veress, Hommage d Klee, H. Heis, Configurations pour orchestre d'apres des titres de P. Klee; G. Schuller,
Seven Studies on Themes of P. K/ee. Chlopicka also noted that as much as Klee's work inspired composers,
music was often a source of inspiration for Klee. Having musical background Klee often resorted to music
for his titles: 'indeed the titles of many of his paintings referred to forms, technique, sound patterns or
musical instruments.' See Chlopicka, 'Extra-Musical Inspirations in the Early Works of Krzysztof
Penderecki,' 264 - 266.
73
Jerzy Hordy!\ski, 'Kompozytorzy wsp61czesni. Krzysztof Penderecki [Contemporary Composers.
KrzysztofPenderecki],' Zycie literackie 44 (1960): 4 and 8, quoted in Mirka, The Sonoristic Structuralism
of Krzysztof Penderecki. 329.
171
Of a quite different nature is tone value, or as it is also called, chiaroscuro - the many degrees of
shading between black and white. This second element can be characterized by Weight.
Thirdly, colour, which clearly has quite different characteristics. For it can be neither weighed nor
measured.( ... ) Colour is primarily Quality. Secondly, it is also Weight, for it has not only colour
value but also brilliance. Thirdly, it is Measure, for besides Quality and Weight, it has its limits, its
area and its extent, all of which may be measured. Tone value is primarily Weight, but in its extent
and its boundaries, it is also Measure. Line, however, is solely Measure. 74
In the structural hierarchy in Klee's paintings the line, the value (chiaroscuro) and the
color are of primary importance. Chlopicka aligns these elements with Penderecki's
sonoristic means: temporal dimension, density and tone quality respectively. 75 In both
Klee and Klein's work the primacy of 'color as quality' (Kiee) and a search for color in
itself (Klein) find direct translation into sonorism. Infiltration (Klee) mentioned by
Penderecki in his commentary to Dimensions can be found on two levels: within a texture,
and in the juxtaposition of textures. An example of the former can be found in the large
textural block leading to the climax of the piece (see Fig. 6.11, score no. 174-188). Here
the dominant texture of unpitched percussion is infiltrated by pitched, sustained sounds
on gong and voices one by one. The same procedure is used earlier in the piece (score
number 48 -52). Thus the two superimposed planes form two structures: one created by
single pitch classes of the mentioned earlier twelve-tone row and the other structure
composed of unpitched percussive sounds. The two superimposed planes undergo
transformation from unpitched mass of sound to increasingly pitched sounds and
conclude on a single pitch class C in basses.
Since overlapping textural layers are common in sonoristic pieces, infiltration in the
juxtaposition of textures is a common procedure in Penderecki sonoristic pieces. One of
the more effective instances is found in the overlapping textural layers, for instance in
phase 3 (see Fig. 6.12, score no. 114-116). Here the sonority of one layer of sparse
74
Paul Klee, Paul Klee on Modern Art, Translated by Paul Findlay with an Introduction by Herbert Read
(London: Faber, 1966), 21-23. These fragments come from a lecture given by Paul Klee at the opening of
an exhibition at the Museum in Jena in 1924.
75
Paul Klee, Paul Klee on Modern Art, 267.
172
texture for metal percussion (xylorimba, vibraphone and bells) and stringed instruments
(cello, harp and piano) blends in with the sound band in strings. This is not only visible in
the score but clearly perceptible. The individual textural layers are formed by using
simple means. In strings two layers are overlapping: a sustained chromatic cluster with a
microtonal cluster. In percussion and stringed instruments the entire layer is constructed
from superimposed repetition of single notes; sound decay is an important element on
which entire textural layer is constructed. This textural layer which enters at score
number I 08 begins with gradual increase in succession of notes. The process is reversed
(at score number 112) until the sound decay can take place, ultimately infiltrating into the
next layer. The important connection to visual arts is also manifest on the level of formal
design. Before the details can be worked out the visual perception of the overall form is
the starting point for Penderecki:
I want at first to imagine the whole, before I start to think about the details. I try to catch a shape
of the composition, the entirety of the form, setting aside even the sounds. Starting with the
composition, I search for the graphical shape, and often what proves correct as purely graphical
notation becomes the nucleus of the musical form. 76
Naturally the examination of sketches for Dimensions would be more conclusive and
would allow one to recreate more completely the compositional process in this piece. 77
However, from the above examination of formal structure of Dimensions it becomes clear
that the visually perceived structure underlined by sonoristic means such as change of
texture, timbral and dynamic contrast gain priority over serial procedures.
Finally consideration of Klee's writings brings a new perspective to an understanding of

Penderecki' s title. Dimensions of Time can be translated, on a more abstract level, as
multiple ways of measuring time represented by the line mentioned by Klee. The
'Dimensions of silence' could literally refer to the lengths of pauses in the piece and the
places where resonance is allowed to fill in the silences or blends in with the sonority of
76
Penderecki, 'Muzyki nie mo:Zna zaczynac od pocZlltku,' Ruch Muzyczny 22 (1987): 8-9, quoted in Mirka,
The Sonoristic Structuralism of Krzysztof Penderecki, 327.
77
According to Mirka the sketches for Dimensions are going to be published as a bibliographic edition by
Schott. Mirka, ibid., 330n.
173
the following texture. 78 Chlopicka in relation to the second part of the title 'Dimensions
of silence' also referred to the writings of Klein and linked his static and monochromatic
paintings with Penderecki's notion of 'on pulsating <<sound space>> or operating on
79
sound's resonance alone.' If Klee's writings on aesthetics played any role in
Penderecki' s compositional process, one passage in 'Klee on Modern art' is particularly
revealing. Klee uses the word 'dimensions' seven times: in relation to the dimensions of a
picture, a whole as a sum of parts of different dimensions, a number of dimensions of an
image and finally dimensions bound with the notion of time. We do not know whether
Penderecki had read Klee's writings but his acknowledgement of Klee's influence and
the similarities of concepts and language suggest this as a distinct possibility. It is
certainly possible that Penderecki's title has it its origins in the passage below.
It is not easy to arrive at a conception of a whole which is constructed from parts belonging to
different Dimensions . ...
This is due to the consecutive nature of the only methods available to us for conveying a clear
three-dimensional concept of an image in space, and results from deficiencies of a temporal nature
in the spoken word.
For, with such a medium of expression, we lack the means of discussing in its constituent parts, an
image which possesses simultaneously a number of dimensions .
... our courage may fail us when we find ourselves faced with a new part leading in a completely
different direction, into new dimensions perhaps into a remoteness where the recollection of
previously explored Dimensions may easily fade.
To each dimension, as, with the flight oftime, it disappears from view, we should say: now you
are becoming the Past. But possibly later at a critical -perhaps fortunate- moment we may meet
again on a new dimension, and once again you may become the Present.80
78
Chlopicka, 'Extra-Musical Inspirations in the Early Works ofKrzysztofPenderecki,' 267-268.
79
Ibid., 267.
80
Paul Klee, Paul Klee on Modern Art, 15-19.
174
Boguslaw Schaeffer: Scultura - Little Symphony, 1960
The title of Schaeffer's Scultura (sculpture), along with its graphic notation and
distinctive 'sculptural' score layout, places it, with Dimensions, as one of those works in
the sonoristic repertoire which have a strong association with the visual arts. From the
early 1950s Schaeffer was fascinated with abstract painting and sculpture in which the
aspect of multidimentionality was of particular interest. 1 Although the inspiration to write
Scultura may have come from visual arts, hence the title, its sonoristic expression, as
Schaeffer remarked, became the main focus: 'if in the other compositions I was
fascinated first of all by technical problems, in this one the new expression came to the
forefront, not collective expression but a distinct and individual one.' 2 1t also illustrates
the extreme nature of Schaeffer's approach to composition and his desire to exhaust
certain possibilities laid out at the beginning of the piece. The key features of such an
extreme approach in relation to a sonoristic piece include large clear cut and well defined
textures for up to 64-parts, fast rate of change, a wide variety of time regulation,
extensive use of graphic notation, and extreme textural and dynamic contrast. In addition
to sonoristic features the visual aspect of the score also seems to be a part of the original
concept of the piece. The juxtaposition of sections using exact notation with sections
using graphics becomes another means of contrast. As with other emblematic sonoristic
pieces, pitch, or at least exact pitch, becomes a secondary parameter in favour of texture.
Indications of pitch are often undermined not only by the use graphics and through
aleatoric textures, but through instructions such as 'wrong intonation' (the effect of
glissandi) and markings such as 'very slow and ugly.'
Scultura was premiered five years after it was written, in Warsaw on September 29, 1965
with the Poznan Philharmonic Orchestra under Andrzej Markowski. 3 A year earlier, in
1964, the work had gained second prize at the Fitelberg Competition for composers.'
1
Stawowy Ludomira, and Joanna Zaj'l.c, Boguslaw Schaeffer (Salzburg: Collsch, 2001), 85.
2
Quoted in Stawowy and Zaj'l.C, ibid.
3
Stawowy and Zaj'l.C, Boguslaw Schaeffer, 85.
4
Boguslaw Schaeffer. preface to the score of Scultura (Krak6w: PWM, 1967).
175
Scultura' s performing forces include a large orchestra with percussion section, piano,
mandolin harpsichord, celesta, harp, and string section. Schaeffer subdivides violins into
three groups: A, B, and C with six violins in each group (see Table 6.9).
Table 6.9. Scultura, Instrumentation.
Wind section: Percussion:
3 flutes (fl) cymbals (ptti, medium, large)

3 oboes (ob) triangle (trg, medium, large)
3 clarinets (cl) gong (gng)
3 bassoons (fg) tambourine (trb, witb strings, without strings)
6 horns (cor) bass drum ( )
3 trumpets (tr) xylophone ( )
3 trombones (tn) vibraphone ( )
String section: mandolin

harpsichord
6 violins A (vn) harp
6 violins B (vn) ceJesta
6 violins C (vn) piano
6 violas (vi)
6 cellos (vc)
6 double basses (cb)
Scultura belongs to those very few sonoristic works that are formally divided into
separate movements. Other examples include Gorecki's Genesis cycle and Serocki's
Symphonic frescoes. Scultura consists of five short movements contrasted in articulation,
texture, instrumental timbre and dynamics (see Table 6.8). Indeed dynamics, usually
integrated to textural layers and individual instrumental parts, are one of the prominent
means to emphasise the textural contrast and assist in the progression of movements as
well as textures within the movements. The most extreme change in timbre and dynamics
occurs between the inner movements. The contrast between the second and third
movements involves texture and dynamics: a large homogeneous texture in the entire
orchestra at ff.fff at the end of the second movement juxtaposed with a third movement
which starts with a single part in violins at ppp. Similarly the sharp changes between the
third and fourth movement involve a textural block in strings with continuity of sound at
pppppp (decrescendo 'till extinction of the sound') concluding the third movement,
176
followed by the texture of short impulses in brass and percussion at jJff in the fourth
movement (see Fig. 6.21)
Table 6.8 Schaeffer, Scultura: formal outline, duration of each movement and the
sources of contrast such as dynamics, timbre and performing forces at the beginning and
end of each movement.
Movement I Movement II Movement III Movement IV MovementV

1'35" 3'20" 1'40" 2. 55" 3'20"
horn tutti Violins brass 18 strings tutti
tutti trumpets (68 parts) (1-36) 12 parts (36 parts)
trn strings ! (mandolin,
(56 parts) cymbals (36 parts) harp, harpsichord
(1-3 parts) celesta tutti
piano) (60 parts)
pianissimo ppp jJfff PPP- PPPPPP extreme .flfJ - pp!jff
mf PPPP (variable) -
cresc
Amongst the sonoristic works Scultura is one of the longer pieces: the total duration is
approximately 12' 50." Scultura combines a great variety of time regulation, possibly
more than any other sonoristic piece. As well as underlining the difficulty that time
regulation presented for sonoristic composers, this is another example of Schaeffer's
tendency to take an extreme approach to each element. Each movement presents different
possibilities. In the first movement, traditional bars are replaced by sections measured by
seconds, sections which proceed by the number of beats at a given tempo: crotchet = 54;
and single bars which last as long as it takes to play as fast as possible a given number of
notes (see Fig. 6.13, movement I, score no. 1-5). The second movement uses
conventional metres throughout: bars 4/16 and 2/4 (see Fig. 6.14, movement II, score no.
II b-45). The third movement uses a mixture of metre and sections measured by seconds.
There is no sense of pulse throughout the movement and the use of meter seems to assist
in coordination of parts during repeated accelerando and ritardando. The tempo
stabilizes in the aleatoric section which are dominated by graphics. The fourth movement
offers the greatest variety of time regulation (see Fig. 6.15, score no. 14-53). In this
movement Schaeffer uses polymetric subdivisions: the simultaneous use of 5/16, 6/16
and 7116 (mm. 1-18), one minute bars ('bars to the minute', see mm. 20-45), bars of
177
approximate duration with indications such as 'at least 8 seconds' and conventionally
notated metres such as 2/8, 3/8, 5/8, and 6/8 (Fig. 6.16, score no. 46-62).
The fifth movement combines sections dominated by graphics and measured in seconds
(six 'actions,' see Fig. 6.17, movement 5, score no. 1-9), and measures with conventional
notation and metre: 3/8, 2/8 and 8/8 (mm. 10-25). The movement opens with six 'actions'
(18", 12", 24", 10", 28", 22") with controlled use of chance element which includes the
pitch, point of entry, duration, improvisation on natural harmonics and realisation of
graphics particularly in the piano and harp parts. The overall polygeneous texture of each
action is composed by superimposing diverse, not synchronised parts. Except for the time
span of each 'action,' Schaeffer's instruction is that the 'points of entry and durations are
free.' 5 The series of six actions are followed by three individual 'sounds' which constitute
three 'bars' measured by the decay of sounds ('wait until the extinction of each sound'). 6
The movement concludes with a 24- bar textural block conventionally notated in brass
superimposed with a texture composed of glissandi as wavy lines in string section. The
entire texture alternates between 2/8, 8/8 and 3/8. On perceptual level the six actions form
one 'ad libitum' section of the movement contrasted with a large textural block
(woodwind, brass and strings) controlled by metre.
The general tendency is to use bars measured by seconds with graphic notation and to use
metre for bars with conventional notation. However, this is only a general rule and there
are exceptions. In the second movement, for example, the large texture built up by
canonic entries of parts in the string section (score no. 19-45) is notated graphically on
the stave and written in 4116 (see Fig. 6.14, movement 2). Similarly, in the third
movement, the texture dominated by graphic signs (the conventional notation is limited
here to rests and starting pitches) is written in 2/4 (see Fig. 6.18, movement 3, score no.
37-57. The presence or absence of metre in the score is purely a practical performance
matter: the music almost never sounds metric (except perhaps for the brief 'quasi chi tara'
section in the second movement: see Fig. 6.14). In sections regulated by meter, the
' Schaeffer, Scultura, 22.

6
Ibid., 24.
178
control over realisation of individual parts naturally aims for greater precision: a
superimposition of such parts creates a large block of an inseparable sound mass.
However, one distinctive feature of Schaeffer's textures is the detailed contrapuntal
writing, placing him closer to Ligeti's concept of micropolyphony in which individual
parts are written out. Conversely, Schaeffer is very sparing in his use of clusters.
As indicated earlier, the graphic element in Scu/tura is very prominent. The whole
appearance of the score with an original cover design and laid out as tall and very narrow
not only reveals Schaeffer's background as a graphic artist but is also a characteristic of
the 1960s and reminds one, for instance, of Ligeti' s Requiem (I 965). 7 Only a few
sections within each movement are conventionally notated and juxtaposition of graphics
against conventional notation underlies or emphasises the contrast between the textures.
As with other sonoristic pieces with extensive use of graphic symbols, the notation used
in Scultura is very suggestive of the sonic image of the sounds, entire textures, and even
the sense of the overall structure. After PWM published the score in 1967, Zygmunt
Mycielski wrote that 'now we can get familiar with the graphic system and the structure
of the score much better than it is possible from the listening alone, though it is also
possible to imagine its graphic notation from the sound itself.' 8 For instance, the wavy
line represents the continuity and smooth transition (eg. glissandi} in pitch. An angular
line represents an angular contour in a series of pitches, for instance, in the piano,
harpsichord and strings parts of the first movement (see Fig. 6.13). From this articulation
marking Schaeffer creates an entire texture in which the only traditional elements of the
notation are the five-line staves and the initial pitch (see movement I, score no. 6-20).
The graphic symbols include the wide variety of glissandi particularly for strings. These
include quarter to three-quarter glissandi, indication of the speed and direction of
glissandi, a combination of glissando and tremolo, a variety of trills from minor second
to major third, glissando pizzicato by turning the peg on the lowest string of the
7
Ligeti's Requiem score is only 4cm taller. The cover of Scu/tura (the score is 50cm x22.5cm)- an image
of crushed paper with superimposed five circles - was designed by Witold Skulicz.
8
Zygmunt Mycielski, 'Scu/tura Boguslawa Schaeffera' (Boguslaw Schaeffer's Scultura], Ruch muzyczny
II, no. 19 (October I, 1967): 17.
179
instrument, striking the body of the instrument or the strings with the palm of the hand,
and the effect of breaking the string. In relation to flutes, a characteristic sound idea and
one of Schaeffer's timbral fingerprints is produced by withdrawing the finger from the
upper joint of the instrument to play glissando only in the upper part of the instrument.
This is represented by an irregular wavy line on the stave that indicates only
approximately the range of pitches (see Fig. 6.13).
Another distinct sound idea which is one of Schaeffer's fingerprints is created by a short
series of any pitches played as fast as possible and represented by beamed
demisemiquavers without note heads (see Fig. 6.13 and Fig. 6.19). By superimposition of
this sound idea in the whole instrumental section or/and entire orchestra Schaeffer creates
a one-bar texture, which I call a 'marker' texture. Within Scultura the 'marker' texture
plays a specific role on two levels: firstly, it cuts through larger textural blocks within a
movement (see Fig. 6.13 and Fig. 6.19). Secondly, its recurrence acts as a unifying
element between movements. Introduced in the first movement, it reappears in the third
and the last movement. In the first movement the 'marker' texture suddenly cuts through
entire textural blocks several times, changing colour from brass to strings, and it reaches
the maximum number of parts towards end the movement. In the third movement its
function does not change and it clearly separates the contrasting textures and timbres
dividing the movement into two halves, while in the final movement its rigidity is
disintegrated: it is displaced horizontally within the 'six musical actions.' While in some
parts the 'marker texture' is extended by a number of notes played as fast as possible (see
piano, harpsichord, violin A for instance), in other parts it is reduced and fragmented, as
in the cello parts of sixth 'action' (see Fig. 6.1 7) Thus, in the progression of movements
its role is transformed from the structural device assisting in the juxtaposition of textures
in the first movement to more elastic role as one of the formative textural layers of a
larger block in the fifth movement. Thus both fingerprints -the flute glissandi produced
by withdrawing the finger from the flute's upper joint, and the 'marker' textures - are
introduced in the first movement, repeated later and (in case of marker texture)
transformed and gain a structural role and articulate the form of Scultura.
180
In the context of sonoristic works written around 1960, Scultura is unique in its use of
large textural blocks and dense textures. This is largely contributed to the use of large
performing forces and divisi strings. The following discussion will focus on the variety of
ways Schaeffer creates large textures.
One of the common procedures to build large textures in Scultura is to superimpose parts
with the same articulation assigned to all individual parts. In the opening of the piece the
string section is unified by the same articulation - a minor third trill without bowing
indicated by wavy line to create one homogeneous textural block. Individual parts start a
semitone apart in a cluster over three octaves, which is immediately 'smudged' as the
pitches are varied by the trill. A controlled chance element is the entry of individual parts:
'points of entry and durations are free.' The resulting static texture based on a cluster has
an effect of pulsation (see Fig. 6.13). Similarly, later in the first movement, an angular
line, applied to all parts, representing the contours of a succession of pitches to be played
with plectra, creates a homogeneous texture composed from superimposing the same
textural layer in each instrument of the string section, piano and harpsichord (see Fig.
6.19, score no. 6-17). The same principle of textural homogeneity in articulation
characterizes textures and textural layers of the second movement. The second textural
block of the movement in 4/16 (see Fig. 6.14, score no. 12-16) involves two
homogeneous layers one in brass featuring sustained sounds and one in strings with
repetition of synchronized semiquavers, in total 48 parts. The sense of contractions and
movement are created purely by dynamic levels integrated into each of the layers. Thus
in brass each repetition of the texture gradates the dynamic level from ff top and from p
to f At the same time each repetition in strings proceeds in decrescendo over 8 repetitions
from ffff to ppp. In each case, homogeneous textures are defined by a distinctive
articulation marking.
Scultura also features large textures built up through a gradual process of canonic entries
of the same part in the whole of the string section (see Fig. 6.20). The metre 4/16 is
purely to control the realization of individual parts which enter every four semiquavers.
Thus the texture grows by one part every bar until it reaches 36 parts in total. The
181
colourful timbral effects notated graphically involve a wide palette of articulation:
interrupted semitone glissandi, with internal transformation to :Y. and V. glissandi, a
variety of percussive effects such as striking the strings with the palm of the hand, the
effect of breaking the string, striking the body of the instrument with the palm of the hand,
striking the frame of the instrument, and striking the strings with the palm of the hand.
The wide range of articulation also refers to glissandi: glissandi tremolo, glissandi with
semitone trill, downward glissando and loud crescendo, rapid up-and -down glissando,
glissando pizzicato by turning the peg on the lowest string of the instrument.
Visually the addition of parts represents a 'crescendo' that begins from 'the middle' of
the textural block (that is, in the violin and viola parts) and expands by adding parts one
by one in both directions, upwards and downwards. The striking symmetrical graphic
element of the score - a large 'cone' extending from the middle voices to the outer -
suggests that in this case the visual aspect of the notated score may have contributed as
much to the initial conception of the idea as the aural aspect.
A textural block composed by superimposing parts with various metres (which can also
be read as irregular subdivision of a beat) dominates the fourth movement. Thus not only
the sense of pulse in a section conventionally notated is lost but also the characteristics of
individual parts are merged into an inseparable sound mass. The opening of the fourth
movement in the brass section uses 5/16, 6/16 and 7/16 simultaneously. The same type of
texture this time in 2/8 and 3/8 returns in the 36-part string section. With tempo marking
'rather quickly' (score no. 45) the irregular subdivision involves superimposition of 4 : 5 :
6 : 7 semiquavers in a 2/8 and 3/8 bar.
Among the clear-cut textures mainly defined through articulation, there are also some
textures in which a process of gradual transformation takes place. In the 4th movement the
large textural block in strings makes use of the glissando, tremolo sui ponticello, finger
trill and playing over the fingerboard. The above listed modes of articulation are
gradually introduced in each part to achieve the effect of blurred edges of changing
182
colour. However the beginning and end of the entire block is clear-cut (see Fig. 6.15,
movement 4, score no. 15-45).
Although the individual movements may have their points of culmination, the end of the
fourth movement is the climactic point of the whole piece: a dense polimetric texture
reaches a dynamic level ofJJJf and releases its accumulated energy in six synchronized
chords sjjJ. While the preceding 3'd movement is the quietest, its textures are fragmented
and subtle in timbral splashes, the 5th movement is a very short and briefly recapitulates
the familiar sound ideas or 'fingerprints' of the previous movements to conclude the
piece. Thus there is a clear sense of textural progression both within each movement and
across the entire work, each movement contributing to the lucid large scale structure.
Following Schaeffer's Tertium Datur, a treatise for harpsichord and instruments, from
1958, Scultura can also be regarded as yet another treatise 9 which represents the essence
of sonorism. Unlike some composers 'arriving' at an extreme sonoristic piece, Schaeffer
did not 'try out' the sonoristic devices used in Scultura in his earlier works. Scultura,
among the works written in the late 1950s and early 1960s simply stands out, as a
'sonoristic manifesto' at first go.
9
In my conversation (a telephone interview, 2001) Schaeffer readily agreed to the proposition to regard
Scultura as a sonoristic treatise.
183
Henryk Mikolaj Gorecki: Genesis cycle, 1962-63
As one of the leaders of the Polish avant-garde, Gorecki's sonoristic phase was brief but
intense. Outside of Scontri, which was discussed in Chapter 4, Gorecki's sonorism (1962
to 1963) is restricted to the three-part Genesis cycle (1962-1963) which comprises three
pieces for different performing forces: Elementi for three string players (1962), Canti
strumentali (Instrumental Song) for fifteen players (1962) and Monodramma (Monodram)
for soprano, metal percussion, and six double basses (1963). At the time of writing
Genesis, Gorecki was already well known to the Warsaw Autumn audiences. Leon
Markiewicz, after the premiere of his spectacular orchestral piece, Scontri, in 1960,
pointed to the specific qualities of the young composer wanting to question everything
and push the existing barriers, qualities which are shared by the leaders of any avant-
garde:
In G6recki's music not only the artistic stance is worthy of admiration revealed in the will and
passion to examine the technical, organizational, energetic and sound possibilities of all sonic
material that is at the composers' disposal but also uncompromising attitude and remarkable
1
courage with which he realizes his ideas.
As already mentioned, Scontri was found to be interesting to listen to and to watch. The
Warsaw Autumn audience was astonished by the new vocabulary of sounds and playing
techniques to which Gorecki added the unusual disposition of Scontri's large performing
forces on stage. The expressive side of Scontri, which Adrian Thomas called 'Gorecki's
Rite of Spring,' 2 became the priority over the technical procedures employed in the piece.
After Scontri, Gorecki wrote Diagram N for flute solo (1961) which closed the phase in
his oeuvre identified by Droba as 'serial constructivism.' 3 During 1961 Gorecki also
completed two other small chamber works: Chorale in the form of a Canon (Choral w
formie kanonu) for a string quartet, and Quasi- Waltz (Quasi wale) for piano. A prize he
1
Leon Markiewicz, '0 zderzeniach, radoSci I ... katastrofizmie' [About collisions, Joy and ... catastrophes],
Ruch Muzvczny 4, no. 21 (1-15 November 1960): 10.
2
Thomas: Polish Music since Szymanowski, 188.
3
Krzysztof Droba, 'G6recki, Henryk Mikolaj,' Encyklopedia Muzyczna, vol. 3, ed. Elzbieta Dzi~bowska
vol. 3 (Krak6w: PWM, 1987), 424.
184
had won for Monologhi in 1960 from the Composers Union allowed him to a three-month
stay in Paris. A short period of compositional inactivity in Paris proved to be fruitful. On
his return at the end of 1961, Gorecki was ready to explore new grounds as he revealed to
Markiewicz after completing Canti strumentali, the second piece of the cycle:
First of all, I consider my previous compositions up to Scontri [1960] and Diagram IV [1961] as the
past, in which I emphasized only the individual stages of getting to know the musical material I had
come across. However, I knew that this would not last long. Currently, after a long period of reflection,
during which I didn't write a single new note, I have given myself the task of trying out the
possibilities of sound for myself, possibilities which are still hidden in the performance furces. 4
In Gorecki's earlier and later pieces such as Scontri, Refrain or Choros I, the title holds a
key to the sonic concept or compositional procedure of the piece. In contrast, Genesis
refers not to a device or technical procedure but to the initial idea, the conception of the
piece. For Gorecki 'genesis' was 'a symbol of individual stages of beginning, realization
and development of the three basic elements of music, which I consider to be agogics,
dynamics and colour.' 5 In Elementi, as Gorecki explains further, these basic elements are
in an embryonic form, hence the title: 'what happens there should be treated as the initial
movement of some nucleae, individual atoms.' 6 According to Markiewicz, the original
manuscript contained a motto 'In the beginning was Movement.' In Elementi this idea of
movement was a spatial phenomenon and refers to composite groups of sounds or bands
of sounds moving (rather than individual sounds) among the performing forces. Such
process had appeared earlier in the First Symphony and Scontri. In Elementi the
movement of sound complexes- the major preoccupation in the whole Genesis cycle- is
restricted by the use of only three string instruments spaced on the stage as a triangle. The
idea of spatial instrumental arrangement, as mentioned earlier, was not new for Gorecki
nor was it a specifically Polish device. Most European scores were accompanied with the
diagrams and instructions relating to the spatial arrangements of instruments. The first
piece that really drew attention to it was Grflppen for three orchestras (I 957) by
Stockhausen. Even his earlier electronic composition Gesang der Junglinge (1956) had
4
Leon Markiewicz, 'Rozmowa z Henrykiem G6reckim,' 7.
'Ibid.
6
Ibid.
185
specified the spatial arrangement of five independent loudspeakers surrounding the
audience. Stockhausen's later works such as Zyklus (1959), Refrain (1959) and Carre
(1960) indicate the specific arrangement of the instruments on the stage. The scores of
Boulez and Berio also frequently specified spatial layout. 7 The fact that Western music
(both recording and scores) started to filter through to Poland since the Warsaw Autumn
is significant and it is highly likely that the Polish composers were influenced by the
wider European trend. Gorecki's scores are among the first in Polish music to experiment
with sound and space. 8 He used the spatial disposition of instruments in his Epitafium
(1958), then in the First Symphony 1959, Monologhi (1960) and Scontri (1960). In most
of these works however the spatial arrangement emphasizes the instrumental groups.
What is different and special about Elementi is that Gorecki took the conventional trio
(violin, viola and cello) and spaced it as far as possible: viola and cello in front spaced
I0-12m apart, violin 6-Sm to the back, so that the trio no longer exist as a trio but as a
group of three solo instruments working together. This is perhaps partly the reason for the
aggression of the piece and at the same time adds to the provocative nature of Elementi as
a sonoristic manifesto.
Canti strumentali, (the second part of the cycle) offers much greater timbral contrast
resulting from much more varied performing forces: flutes, trumpet, clavichord,
mandolin, guitar, strings (violins and violas) and two percussion groups (see Table 6.10).
The performers are arranged in three symmetrical geometric shapes (see Fig. 6.22). The
ensemble of Monodram with voice (sopran) in the centre surrounded by percussion and
double basses (see Fig. 6.23) fits very much with avant-garde ensembles of the period,
using voice and percussion. The combination of voice and percussion had been used by
several other composers such as Haubenstock-Ramati (Mobile for Shakespeare, 1960,
and Credentials, 1960 for voice and percussion), Ligeti (Aventures, 1962-63 for three
singers and seven instrumentalists), and Berio (Circles, 1960, for voice, harp and two
7
Boulez's Improvisation sur Mallarme II (1958) and Berio's Tempi concertati (1958-59) and Circles (1960)
This provides a broader context for the account on symmetries and spatial aspect of GOrecki's works from
late 1950s and 1960s absent from Mirka's extensive article 'G6reckiego muzyka geometrica'
[Gorecki's Geometric Music], Dysonanse I (1998): 20-30.
8
Ibid., 20.
186
il
iil
\1
percussionists). It is most likely that Gorecki was also familiar with Berio's Circles
(1960) for female voice, harp and percussion much celebrated at the time.9
~.
The growth of the performing forces from three instruments in Elementi to 56 in
Monodram is at odds with the length of the individual pieces. Elementi with its modest
ensemble is the longest of the three and lasts approximately 12 minutes and 42 seconds;
Canti strumentali is the shortest, eight minutes and four seconds and Monodram lasts
about I 0 minutes. The score of Genesis is striking in its simplified notation, such as the
simple wavy line to indicate repetition of segments. Throughout the score Gorecki uses
time-space notation, durational lines for notes, upwards and downwards lines for
glissandi. The longer sections of the score are numbered and subdivided into one or two
second bars with meter. In Elementi there are also longer sections of a repeated pattern
given the time span in seconds (for example at score no. 5 and II).
The first two pieces of the cycle were premiered soon after completion of the score.
Gorecki himself conducted the premiere of Elementi in Krakow on 29 May 1962; Canti
strumentali was premiered by the Silesian Philharmonic Orchestra under Karol Stryja on
September 16, during the 6th Warsaw Autumn in 1962. Curiously Monodram still awaits
its premiere.
Before proceeding to the analysis of Genesis, a comment about the sonic documentation
of sonoristic works is merited. Gorecki's works from 1950s and 1960s remained
neglected in concert halls and in the analytical literature for a long time. The commercial
success of his Third Symphony in the early 1990 was followed by a great number of
recordings of the symphony and also sparked an interest in his early works. In 1993
Olympia released a recording of Gorecki's early works which included, from the Genesis
cycle, only Canti strumentali. There is no greater choice of recordings of Elementi. In
1997 the Warsaw Autumn performance of Elementi was recorded live and issued with
9
During 1958 Warsaw Autumn Stockhausen and None were guests. Stockhausen organized a concert of
electronic music in which he presented compositions by Eimert, Berio, Maderna, Ligeti, Pousseur and his
own. Berio's Circles received its Polish premiere in 1963. However, Polish composers most likely knew
the piece through contacts with the West since 1958.
187
other works performed during the festival. However, there are several reasons to believe
that the earlier recording of the premiere by the Polish record company Muza is a closer
representation of Gorecki's original conception of the piece. First, in comparisons with
later performances, the premieres of sonoristic manifestos of the same piece are rough
and aggressive (as with Szalonek's Lessons). What is also important is the fact that the
recording stems from the exact historical moment when the pieces were written. It is
almost an expectation rather than surprise that the extreme nature of these pieces was
matched with engaged and confrontational performances. What one hears in the first
performances is not only the music of the time but the sound of the time. Secondly, it is
the premieres that were reviewed and the accounts of these pieces often also record the
immediate public responses. The Warsaw Autumn audiences confronted with the 'new'
were both shocked and excited which adds to the general excitement of the period and
climate of the time and place. This has implications for the performance practice applied
to these pieces today.
The most comprehensive analysis of the Genesis cycle including Polish sources appears
in the monograph on Gorecki by Adrian Thomas. His long-term engagement with
Gorecki's music was signaled much earlier, in 1983 and 1984, by two analytical articles
which were also a reflection of renewed interest in Gorecki's music outside Poland. 10
While Thomas' eloquent analytical accounts of the pieces include technical devices,
structural considerations and aesthetic goals within composer's oeuvre, my analytical
consideration of the piece focuses on sonoristic elements of Elementi and Canti
strumentali in the context of sonoristic works by other Polish composers. In the absence
of the sound document, so important with sonorism, the score of Monodram is considered
only when it adds to the overall picture of Gorecki's sonorism.
Although Genesis opens a new phase, Gorecki found dodecaphony useful as a point of
departure in respect to formal aspects of the piece:
10
Adrian Thomas, 'The Music ofHenryk Mikolaj G6recki: The First Decade,' Contact27 (1983): 10-20,
and 'A Pole Apart: The Music of G6recki since 1965,' Contact 28 (! 984): 20-31.
188
Dodecaphony interests me not so much as a way of organizing individual sounds, but more in terms
of organizing sound groups. It helps in creating the form. In Elementi - since we are talking about this
piece - the 0 and R sets of an all-interval series provide the basis for the formal design of the whole
piece. These intervals are characterized by the different number of semitones in each. I treat semitones
not only as the basic sound complexes but also as the smallest formal cells. 11
Thomas's analysis reveals the series and the relationships between the series and the
events or 'substructures' which underpin the overall formal plan of Elementi. The series
itself is not easily detected. The first instance of what looks like a series of 12 pitches is
in the violin part where notes are linked by glissandi (score no. 17, m. 7, see Fig. 6.24). A
series with greater structural significance appears later, towards the end of the piece, at
score no. 25, and is partitioned between the three instruments, first in the violin part (5-4-
3-2-1) then in the viola (6-7) and cello (8-9-10-11-12), with all the top notes played area
and doubled at the fifth below (see Fig. 6. 25). 12
What Gorecki drew from the series for the overall structure was the sequence of eleven
intervals which determine the number of events within individual groups - so called
'fragment groups' .13 These in tum are grouped into six sequences. 14 The intervals of the
series, measured in semi tones, also determine the number of events within the 'fragment
groups', creating a large scale palindrome. Thus the first interval of the series has II
semi tones and the corresponding fragment group has 1I events. The symmetry of the
design comes from stating the sequence and its retrograde version: II-5-1I-2-9-6-II-3-
I3-5-Il/I1-5-I3-3-11-6-9-2-11-5-11.15 The eleven fragment groups proceed towards the
mid-point dividing the piece into two phases or two halves. The fact that the series was
only a starting point to draw a formal outline is seen in the loose application of it and of
the consequences drawn from the series, as the composer noted:
11
'Conversation with Henryk G6recki: Leon Markiewicz, July 1962,' Translated by Anna Maslowiec,
Context 14 (1997): 37.
12
Thomas, G6recki, 43 and Polish Music since Szymanowski, 188.
13
Ibid.
14
Ibid.
15
Ibid.
189
Once formal consequences are realized, I'm not following the series of notes that is presented at the
16
beginning. I chose what seems best to me at any moment.
An event can be defined by changes in pitch, texture, a specific rhythmic group or a

number of vertical sound impulses. The events of some 'fragment groups' are easier to
detect than others. For instance, the five events of the second fragment groups are the five
different sound ideas repeated in different order in each part (see Fig. 6.26). Similarly, the
13 1h 'fragment group' makes use of five sound ideas (one bar each) with integrated
dynamics and articulation. The rotation firstly involves two parts simultaneously and then
extends to all three parts (see Fig. 6.27 page I 8). 17
As Thomas noted in his analysis, the number of' fragment groups' of both halves, is not
the same: 'it is the expressive and not technical aspect of the work which takes aural
precedence .. .' .18 To the listener, what generates much of the work's immense energy is
the fast rate of change of clearly defined contrasting textural blocks at mostly fl1f in the
first phase of the piece. The sudden drop in the dynamic level to quasi piano, the change
of register from the highest pitch to the middle register and trills in all parts unifying the
texture begins the second phase (score no. I 5). In contrast to other sonoristic works, it is
difficult to select one culminating point of the piece. Indeed one perceives the piece,
more as 'a rugged sequence of combative modes of attack, dynamic and timbres.' 19 In
addition to the series, which serves as a starting point for much of the structure, what also
governs textural narration is the contrast between continuous and discontinuous sounds
forming unified and clearly defined textures.
The use of series in Elementi as a way of controlling and organizing a structure is an

interesting aspect in relation to the perception by some that sonorism was in opposition to
serialism in of both Gorecki's and Penderecki's sonoristic works. 20 Gorecki in 1962
mentioned to Markiewicz that Elementi opens a new phase of 'strict self-control.' 21 The
16
Markiewicz, 'Conversation with Henryk Gorecki, July 1962,' 38.
17
For more detail refer to Thomas, Gorecki, 42-45.
18
Thomas, GOrecki, 43.
19
Ibid.
2
°For example Humphries, 'Witold Szalonek- Choreograf Dtwi~ku,' 89.
21
Markiewicz, 'Conversation with Henryk GOrecki,' 38.
190
series is important as a conceptual framework and has significant relationship to the final
structure of the piece but not to what one hears. Obviously in such textures, the individual
notes of the series are not perceived. The use of the series in this particular way is also
only one instance of undermining the importance of exact pitch in Elementi. What is
important in relation to pitch is the border between unpitched and pitched sounds and
sound versus noise rather than the position of a note on the stave. This is an important
point not only in relation to Elementi but in sonoristic works in general. The use of the
highest sounds on open strings, a common articulation in many sonoristic works, is
frequent in Elementi and also gains a structural significance. It often ends or begins a new
subsection of the piece. An even more striking way of undermining the importance of
exact pitch (and the series) is heard at score no. 20 where strongly detuned down
instruments play sustained notes on open strings (see Fig. 6.28).
Within what seems to be the limited sound source, Gorecki found vast possibilities of
generating a variety of sounds and textures. The piece seemed to be conceived with string
instruments in mind well before writing a note of the cycle:
I regard strings as instruments one can still do a lot with. Before working on Genesis/, I analyzed their
articulation techniques. You will not believe it, but there are about 300 of them. And this is without
tapping music stands or using the body of the instrument: only bow, strings and fingers. Obviously,
this number also includes the common kinds of articulation. This does not mean that I use all of them
in one piece. In Elementi there are about ten; however, the predominant sound is rough, and achieved
through stronger bow-pressure. 22
To the basic binary opposition of continuous versus discontinuous sound in the piece, the
contrast between entire blocks involves the number of parts, an extreme dynamic level
(see Fig, 6.29,) and above all articulation. The range of articulation in Elementi does not
serve just to extend the timbre variation and search for new sound effects but more
importantly it articulates the structure. Each new section and subsection of the piece
varies articulation and texture, To the commonly used arco (A) pizzicato (PZ) sui
ponticello (SP) and ordinario (OR) Gorecki's list of articulation also includes fast and
22
Markiewicz, 'Conversation with Henryk G6recki,' 38.
191
slow tremolandi, and a variety of trills (slow, fast, from fast to gradually slow and vice
versa). A number of markings relate to the ad libitum realization of tone impulses within
a texture: playing as fast as possible, durationally irregular succession of notes, freely
slowing down and speeding up, and pitch specification such as the highest/lowest note.
The ad libitum or aleatoric aspect of Gorecki's sonorism has clearly defined borders.
According to the composer, all the possible ways of realizing the score were foreseen by
him and this was his credo from the outset:
In my opinion aleatorism only makes sense when the composer's data about musical events rules out any
unpredictable realizations. Then it is a sort of directed movement, a particular variant of the old 'ad
libitum,' 'ossia' etc. Chance understood in this way is applied in Elementi. I'm sure that perfonners will not
find any realizations other than the ones I have predicted."
To further differentiate the timbre within a given articulation Gorecki precisely specified
the part of the bow with which to press the strings: press with the whole bow, the
upper/lower part of the bow, with an end of the bow and part close to the nut. The
scratchy, jarring sound undetermined in pitch and so characteristic of Elementi is
produced by hard and slow bowing (premere). As Gorecki mentioned, without using the
body of an instrument he created a large vocabulary of sonorities used to build the clear-
cut textural blocks. General pauses, which are frequently used in sonoristic works to
separate the sections and much more common in Gorecki's later pieces such as Refrain,
are only sporadically used in Genesis. Monodram does not use them at all, and in
Elementi they are sparingly used only on a few occasions: to separate a section in a piece
(score no. I 0-11 and just before score no. 5), and within section (score no. I 0, bar 3, 15
and score no. 19, bar 8). Similarly in Canti strumentali the structural role of general
pauses on the large scale is greatly reduced; the two instances are found within the
middle section of the piece (score no. 18 and 19).
Limiting his resources to three string instruments in Elementi Gorecki opted for
exploration of contrast primarily between the textures rather than within textures. For
most part of the piece the textures are clear-cut and homogeneous (see Fig. 6.26). An
23
Markiewicz, 'Conversation with Henryk G6recki,' 38.
192
example of a homogeneous texture distinct in its overall sonority is at score no. 12-15: a
texture composed of crossing over glissandi and sustained notes with a combination of
fast and slow tremolandi. Gorecki precisely specified bowing techniques in which he
indicated which part of the bow to use while pressing hard the strings and playing slow to
achieve the desired timbral effect.
The polygeneous types of textures are rare in Elementi. The two instances of
superimposing two contrasting textures are found at score no. 7 (bar 4) and score no. 17
(bar 7). In the first instance downwards glissando in violin part is juxtaposed with
synchronized chord like impulses in viola and cello parts. Similarly at score no. 17 (bar 7)
the violin's series of notes linked by extended glissandi are set against the background of
two other texturally unified parts. (see Fig. 6.27). In both cases the dynamic levelilffis
integrated to the overall texture rather than individual layers.
The common sonoristic device such as clusters are used in Elementi, but the preference is
for sustained bands of sound and chord impulses built on the interval of a fifth.
Clusters in Elementi do not appear is its 'classic' form as established in Penderecki's
Threnody. They are part of the process of operating on static and mobile bands of sound.
The opening of the piece features such a process of building a semitone cluster by
gradual superimposition of parts beginning with one pitch D in the middle register (see
Fig. 6.30). As the width of the cluster increases, this layer of sustained band of sound
through smooth glissando moves up a fifth (score no. 1). The tension it creates is only
interrupted for a brief moment before it migrates to the high register and reaches 'the
highest notes on all strings' (score no. 4). Rather than dense clusters as static blocks of
sound, Gorecki's preference in Elementi is for sustained sonic bands created by
superimposing the interval of a fifth in each of the three strings.
Gorecki's deliberate choice of limiting the sound source to three instruments in Elementi
to gain maximum effect and generate such an endless energy and tension may have
prompted Leon Markiewicz to say in 1965 that 'Elementi portrays 'Gorecki' in the purest
193
form.' 24 Gorecki's working process and setting such limits in this work brings to mind his
later phrase: 'the utmost economy of musical material.' Although Gorecki used it a few
years later to describe the principle of Muzyczka cycle, it has some relevance already in
Elementi.
Canti strumentali
Turning to the second part ofthe Genesis cycle, Canti strumentali was no less striking in
its aural effect on audiences than Elementi. The four instrumental groups include strings
(3 violins and 3 violas), winds (flute piccolo, flute and trumpet) and two percussion
groups (see Table 6.1 0). The enlarged performing forces not only enrich the timbral
contrast within textures but also extend them. After the premiere in 1962 Jozef Patkowski
commented on the piece as follows:
The rich range of colour ... has a strong, immediate, as it were physiological effect. This sonic
hedonism of GOrecki, characteristic of the nascent Polish school, confers on Canti strumentali a
special rank. 25
The concentration on strings only in the opening helps to articulate the formal outline of
the piece and its arch-like structure: the sustained band of sounds in strings open the
piece and are also featured as a textural layer in the coda to end the piece. The same
process of building up the sustained bands of sound familiar from Elementi also opens
Canti Strumentali. The greater performing forces in Canti strumentali (6 strings versus 3
in Elementi) increase the width of the resulting cluster (major seventh) which through
glissandi migrates to the higher register to reach 'the highest notes on all strings.' The
contrasting type of texture also featured in Canti strumentali 's opening is composed of
the repetition of segments based on percussive sounds; both types of textures occupy the
high register.
24
Markiewicz, 'Elementy Henryka G6reckiego,' 9.
25
J6zefPatkowski, 'Premiere at the 1962 "Warsaw Autumn,'" Polish Radio, October 4, 1962, reprinted in
Horyzonty muzyki 26 (Krakow: PWM, 1970):3, quoted in Thomas, Polish Music since Szymanowski, 188.
194
Table 6.11 Gorecki, Canti strumentali: formal outline.
Introduction Middle section Coda

Score no. 22
(score no. I to 7) Phase I (8-13) Phase 2 (score no. 14-21)
14 15 16 17
violin 1----------------------- flute pice.--------------------------------- fl, c-lg, violin, viola, flute, trumpet, tam-
violin 2---------------------- flute-------------------------------------- gng, bg tams; From score no. 25 violin
violin 3----------------- trumpet --------------------------------------- mandolin---- and viola only.
cc----------------------------------------------
violin 1--------------------- gong-------------------------------------------- mandolin-------
violin 2------------------------ violin--------------------------------------- cassa di legno--
violin 3------------------------ violin---------------------------------------- bongos-------
p (flute, trumpet, tam-tam)------
violin 1-3------------------------ I mp (violin, viola)-----------------
viola 1-3 -------------------------
fJJf sempre(tutti)--------- I.IJJfsempre (tutti)---------------------------------------------- mp(vn, vi, score no, 21) mplp--------------
-"'
\0
The middle section of Canti strumentali can be divided into two phases. The first phase
(score no. 8-13) creates variation in timbral colour by gradually unfolding superimposed
homogeneous layers in clavichord, mandolin, percussion, trumpet and flutes (including
flute piccolo). Each of tbe instrumental textural layers of this polygeneous texture is
clearly defined: the clavichord part is dominated by clusters, the mandolin part features
fast tremolandi on the highest notes on all strings, trumpets and flutes play sustained
notes with a variety of articulation (jrullato, tremolando) and the symmetrical series of
attacks in the gong parts (score no. 10-11). The percussive texture in strings already
familiar from Elementi and the opening of Canti strumentali underlies the other
instrumental layers.
The second phase (score no. 14-21) begins with a sudden reduction in dynamics and in
texture (score no. 14). The clavichord is excluded and the string texture becomes one of
the main textural layers. There is more emphasis on individual timbres and a tendency
towards homogeneity of textures. Unlike many extreme sonoristic pieces where the
climax is often characterized by dynamics or the use of the full ensemble, it is difficult to
identify one culminating point in this piece. The entire phase I of the middle section,
where the textural narration takes place at one dynamic level - ffff- utilizing most of the
instrumental forces, could be regarded as the top of the arch like structure.
The coda (score no. 22), introduced by a static cluster in strings completes the arch and
introduces mp for the first time (see Fig. 6.32). The limited material of the coda - a
sustained C sharp in strings and C in the trumpet part as a background to an ostinato in
flute, and gentle attacks in tam-tams - creates a textural sparseness and austerity
foreshadowing a later phase, inaugurated by Three Pieces in Old Style (Trzy utwory w
Dawnym stylu, 1963) and Refrain (Refren, 1965).
Much has been said about the 'geometry of space' and the notation of Gorecki's works.
Looking at the disposition of instruments on the stage and various kinds of symmetries
formed by notation of certain parts, Mirka proposed a 'geometrical period' in Gorecki's
196
music for works from 1962 to 1970. 26 Indeed geometrical figures and symmetries that
begin with spatial arrangement of instruments are also found elsewhere in Canti
strumentali, on different levels, and involve various elements, ranging from the symmetry
in the choice of strings to play sustained sounds (score no. 7), the symmetrical
arrangement of repeated segments within the texture (as in the first two units, score no. 5),
and the graphic symmetry in the two gong parts (written as prime and inverted
retrograde), to the less easily detected combinatorial arrangement of two ways of bowing
in string texture.
Certainly the visual aspect of some of these notational symmetries and mirror images is
striking. Similar types of symmetries are also found in the third piece Monodram. The
process of constructing textural units is presented at the beginning of the piece, with
cymbals presenting four patterns and their possible combinations: prime, inversion,
retrograde and retrograde inversion. Later in the piece (score no. 4), entire textural blocks
in cymbals and gong are built using these combinations of rhythmic figures (see Fig.
6.33). For both layers the symmetrical axis falls between bar 4 and 5.
The ways Gorecki employs symmetries in his music to generate textures and to design
performing space is an interesting aspect in itself. Mirka suggests that the audibility of
various geometrical operations will depend on the individual listener: not all graphical
symmetries translate into musical symmetries and the geometrically visual operations do
not need to be audible. ' 27 Certainly, the great majority of symmetries of Canti strumentali
and Monodram are not meant to be heard.
In the first place, the textures where more elaborate symmetries are easily seen and found
through analysis employ instruments with undetermined pitch. Secondly, it is very
unlikely that one type of notational symmetry, designed to generate textures and unify
one instrumental group, will be audible when superimposed with other layers, as in
26
Mirka 'G6reckiego muzyka geometrica,' 20-30.
27
Ibid., 23.
197
Monodram's percussion texture at score no. 22 (see Fig. 6.32). 28 Similarly the extended
symmetries and their retrograde inversions found in gongs parts (Fig. 6.33, score no. 4) of
Canti strumentali will not be fully perceived. Here the spatial arrangement of instruments
on stage is worth reconsideration. As Mirka also noted, some of the symmetries in the
score correspond to the symmetrical arrangement of the instrumentalists on the stage
which clearly suggest an attempt to map the geometry of the notation onto the performing
space. For instance, in Canti strumentali the choice of which strings on each instrument
are played (two higher, middle and lower), forming a horizontal axis in the score, has its
reflection in the symmetrical arrangement of violin and viola players spaced in one line
(from violin three to violin one and mirrored by violin one to violin three, see layout Fig.
6.22.). In the same piece the configuration in the bowing in strings detected by Mirka
(score no. I 0-13) is connected to the disposition of instruments on stage. 29 Unlike
Elementi, where the stage layout is also symmetrical, the spatial layout of instruments on
the stage in Monodram - gongs and tam-tams in one line facing the cymbals -does not
help one in seeing or hearing the symmetries of the notation.
The issue here, however, is not about how much of the symmetrical structure and the
compositional process which went into making these textures is perceptible but rather the
relationship between such constructivist devices and the sonoristic technique. One aspect
of employing such rigorous procedures is that they sometimes impart a sense of intensity
and toughness of structure to a sound. It is also worth noting that in the post-sonoristic
works such as Refrain, for instance, while the spatial geometry disappears, the tendency
to hear such structural symmetries intensifies.
Mirka's assertion that 'for Gorecki the performance of the work is secondary and
subsidiary to the existence of a work,' and that the composer's greatest concern was the
structure of a piece is surely debatable. 30 Such privileging of the score is contrary to the
sonoristic aesthetic. In this context, Cornelius Cardew's comment seems particularly
28
In this texture there are three textural layers (blocks comprising 12 parts, cymbals 8 parts and gong four
parts) with their own symmetrical rhythmic patterns. The symmetrical axis falls on bar 5 (score no. 22).
29
It is important to note that the structure of the section is also taken into consideration: various ways of
bowing forming graphic symmetry are unified at the end of the section (score no. 13) comprising an entty
of flute piccolo and trumpet lfrul/ato) and changes in articulation from attacks to trills in gongs.
30
Mirka, 'G6reckiego muzyka geometrica,' 24 and 30.
198
relevant: 'a musical notation is a language which determines what you can say, what you
want to say determines your language.' 31
Without undermining the importance of notation (its visual aspects and its connection to
visual arts) and the fact that in some cases it plays a role in conception of a piece,
ultimately the sound was the composer's first concern. For G6reck:i the sound itself was
so important that during his conversation with Leon Markiewicz in 1962 about Elementi,
he stopped and demonstrated the range of new sounds. No matter how important the
architectural background of the piece may be for a composer, in G6reck:i's case the
highly organized structure of Elementi and geometrical patterns of the entire textures
found in the other two part of Genesis provided the realm within which, at a sonic level,
he could be sonically provocative.
Much of the textural material of Canti strumentali is not new. All the rhythmic-melodic
units from Elementi reappear in a new context here to create homogeneous textures
(compare fig. 6 in Elementi and fig. 4 in Canti strumentali). Similarly the sustained notes
in strings, played with identical articulation in all parts, constitute the primary material of
homogeneous textures and layers. While the rate of change does not match the fierce
energy and tension of Elementi, the piece nevertheless made an impression even on the
older generation of composers. In a lecture at the Dartington summer courses in 1963,
Witold Lutoslawsk:i presented Canti strumentali along with Penderecki's Dimensions of
Time and Silence, Stockhausen's Zeitmasse and Cage's Concert for Piano and Orchestra.
Richard Toop, who attended that Darlington summer school, recollects that Lutoslawski
found G6recki' s piece a little perverse in that the instruments were used in the piece for
everything except what they were designed for; he nevertheless regarded it highly, even
32
though himself was not prepared to go that far.
31
Cornelius Cardew, 'Notation- Interpretation, Etc.,' Tempo (1961): 21.
32
Richard Toop, interview with author (Sydney April 24, 2006).
199
Monodram
What Monodram brings to the cycle is not only another variation of ensemble with a
focus on percussion to explore texture and timbre but it also introduces a vocal part,
which places the work within a small number of sonoristic pieces that use voice and text;
(the two others being Kilar's Diphthongos and Penderecki's Dimentiones of Time and
Silence). Gorecki's use of a vocal part is not only limited to the exploration of the phonic
properties of the language to provide another textural layer to the instrumental texture:
the vocal part also helps to articulate the structure (See Table 6.12). After the introduction
focused on strings and percussion (score no. I to 12), the main section of the piece
features the vocal part based on the vowels A-0-U, followed by Gorecki's entire text- a
single composite word which combines three words -litome, talefonity and granity.
'LI-TO-ME-TA-LE-FO-NI-TY-GRA-NI-TY-GRA-A-NI-TY.'
Gorecki combined the Polish words for solid (litome), metalophone (talefonity) and
granite (granity), and, as Thomas suggested, the extended 'gra-a' alludes to the Polish
word for 'play' which is vocalized at the climax ofthe piece (see Fig. 6.34). Thomas also
mentions the influence of the futurist poet Stanislaw Mlodo:i:eniec on Gorecki's texts
including the earlier text of Monolog 11. 33
33
Thomas, Gorecki, 46.
200
Table 6.12 Gorecki, Monodram: formal outline.
Introduction Middle part Coda

Score no. I - 4 Score no. 5-29. Score no. 30- 40.
No vocal part 'U-A etc. 'LI-TO-ME-TA-LE-FO-NI-TY- 'A-0-U-M-U-A'
GRA-NI-TY-GRA-A-NI-TY.'
Climax (score no. 22): 'gra-a'
Low register : Low - high (fig. 20-22)-low (from fig. 23) Low register
the lowest note on detuned register.
strings.
ranges from pppp
mp mp-iff{fig. 20)-mp/mf a/fine (fig. 24). to jjJf
From the syllables -ni-ty (score number 24) which separates the percussion texture in
cymbals, blocks and gongs, the instrumental parts gradually thin out to a highly ritualistic
crescendo in gongs with a series of attacks against the background in strings in
preparation for an extended coda (score number 30). After an instrumental section in
percussion and strings, the vocal part reappears in the coda with glissandi on vowels 'A-
0-U' and one consonant 'M 'against the two unified layers: unison attacks on twelve
triangles, eight suspended cymbals and four tam-tams, and a sustained band of sound in
double basses.
The 'sonic hedonism' noted by Markiewicz in relation to Canti strumentali is also

evident in Monodram in the vocal part and in the setting of single vowels and syllables of
Gorecki's composite word against metal instruments. With a limited text Gorecki
explored the vocal range from precise pitches including the 'highest note' and glissandi
to accented and sustained notes, all within a wide dynamics range from pppp to jjjJ.
The detuned double bases are unified in texture throughout the entire piece and provide a
pedal-point above which instrumental groups are the main source of contrast within the
texture. In contrast to the other parts ofthe cycle, Elementi and Canti strumentali, the use
of register strongly underlies the structure of the Monodram. The strings' sonic band of
201
the outer sections of the piece and most of the middle section remains within the low
register: for the first time Gorecki makes use of the 'the lowest note on the strings.' Only
for the climactic rise (at score no. 20), the register changes to its other extreme - 'the
highest note' on the strings with the dynamics rise to ffff. The return to the low register
coincides with the vocal part brought down to mp on the last two syllables of the text:
'NI-TY.'
In summing up Gorecki's sonoristic profile which already starts to emerge in Scantri, in

addition to specific textures and characteristic sonic events such as sustained bands of
sound and percussive textures on the highest notes in strings used in both Elementi and
Canti strumentali, there is another side which is more of a gesture and which also
includes the effect of the music on the listener. In Elementi, the provocative and
confrontational side of Gorecki's personality begins with the spatial arrangement of the
string trio to emphasize the individual players as soloists rather than to unify the
ensemble. The exploitation of dynamic contrast, the use of the highest notes on all strings
to produce harsh and screeching sonorities and using the minimum of means (three
instruments in Elementi) to produce the maximum effect are all part of his gestural
fingerprints. This also includes the detuning of the instruments in Elementi and
Manadram which adds an aleatoric element and deliberately takes away the control over
the performances of these works. The exploration of sonoristic means takes place within
a formal structure in which it is not a matter of building up to a climactic point but seeing
the form from the other side, that is, from the point when the relentless energy is finally
released. The following pieces such as Charas I and Refrain point to the new aesthetic
path leading to the Symphony No. 3 for which Gorecki's uncompromising attitude will
be both praised and fiercely criticized.
202
Table 6.10 Gorecki: Genesis cycle, instrumentation.
Elementi for violin, viola and cello. Duration ca. 12' 42"
Violin
Viola
Cello
Canti strumentali for 15 plavers.'' Duration ca. 8'4"

Wind section: String section:
piccolo flute (flp) violin I (vn)

flute (fl). violins 2
trumpet inC (tr) violins 3
mandolin (mn)
guitar (cht) viola I (vi)
clavichord for 4 hands (cc) viola2
viola 3
Percussion section - 2 percussion groups
! II
5 casse di legno 4 bongos (bg)
2 gongs giacenti: sopran, alto (gng) 2 gongs giacenti: tenor, bass (gng)
gran cassa chiaro in horiwntal position (gc-ch) gran cassa molto profondo in horizontal position
bass tam-tam suspended (tmt-pr) (gc-ch)
tam-tam chiaro (tmt-ch)
Monodram for soprano, metal percussion, and six double basses Duration c. 8'4"
(56 instruments and 20 players)
Sopran (s)
'
12 blocks (bl) 12 triangles (trg)
8 cymbals suspended (pti) 8 cymbals (pti)
4 gongs (gng) 4 tam-tam (tmt)
tubular bells (cmp)
6 double basses (vb)"
34
In total the piece requires 56 instruments and 20 players.
35
The number of double basses can be enlarged to 12. This is incorporated in the spatial arrangement of
instruments indicated in the score of Monodram.
203
Kazimierz Serocki: Segmenti, 1960-1961 and Symphonic Frescoes, 1963-64
The works of Serocki's first decade of composing, roughly beginning with the founding
with Baird and Krenz of Grupa 49 (1949), mixed the aesthetics of social realism with a
neoclassical style and dodecaphony. His Suite of Preludes (Suita preludiow) from 1952
was among the first twelve-tone pieces composed in post-war Poland. 1 Serocki continued
to use dodecaphonic technique in his neo-classical Piano Sonata (1955) and Sinfonietta
(1956). For further experiments with dodecaphony, Serocki turned to the romantic genre
of solo song with accompaniment, in the song cycles Heart of Night (Serce nocy, 1957)
and Eyes ofAir (Oczy powietrza, 1957).2 The more radical tendencies in Serocki's output
came after 1958. Musica concertante (1958) introduced pointillistic dodecaphony into
Polish music and became one ofthe most important transitional pieces that paved tbe way
for sonoristic technique. 3 Serocki' s last dodecaphonic piece, in which he enriched tbe 12-
tone technique with the use of spatial effects, was Episodes (Epizody, 1959).4 His next
orchestral piece Segmenti (1960-61 ), premiered under Markowski during the 6th Warsaw
Autumn festival in 1962, begins a new sonoristic phase among his works; a solo piano
piece A piacere (1963), modeled on Stockhausen's Klavierstuck XI, was an isolated
experiment with an open form. 5 His sonoristic line of development reaches new heights
in Symphonic Frescoes (Freski symfoniczne) written for a large orchestra in 1963-64.
Segmenti, although lacking the overall emotional impact which was to be achieved in
Symphonic Frescoes, draws attention to the timbre of individual instruments. Zielinski, in
his monograph on Serocki' s music, opens the discussion on Segmenti with the often
1
Ludwik Erhardt, 'Kazimierz Serocki laureat Nagrody Ministra Kultury i Sztuki za rok 1963,' Ruch
Muzyczny 7, no 19 ( 1-15 October 1963): 4. Baculewski also lists Muzyka na smyczki- Nokturn, (1953) by
Schaeffer (Historia Muzyki Polskiej, tom VII: Wsp6lczesnosc 1: 1939-1974, 240). According to Lindstedt
Haubenstock-Ramati's Ricercari for String Trio (1948) was the first twelve-note composition in the post-
war Poland. Lindstedt, 'The Development of twelve-Note Techniques ... ,' 121.
2
There is also a version of these cycles for solo voice and orchestra from 1960. Ibid.
3
Chomit\ski, Muzyka Polski Ludowej, 120.
4
Tadeusz A. Zielinski, 0 tw6rczosci Kazimierza Serockiego (Krak6w: PMW, 1985), 61 and 64-65.
5
During the same festival Gorecki's Canti strumentali and Kilar's Riff62 also received their premieres.
204
repeated expression, 'the shape of sound,' (ksztalt brzmieniowy) to emphasize the
composer's new path into sonorism: 6
Serocki finally relinquished the rules of dodecaphony and operating on any series. This technique
is not about scales (sometimes the composer operates on 12-tone material or other series) but the
importance of the shape or sound in a given sound structure. Thus the timbre, dynamics, types of
movement and the overall shape of sound arabesque are involved. Because of the increased use of
percussion instruments the role of the intervallic relationships is greatly reduced. 7
In Segmenti, contrary to the previous piece, Episodes (1959), Serocki excludes the whole
string section and uses wind instruments, electric guitar and mandolin, celesta,
harpsichord, piano, harp, and expanded percussion section subdivided into 4 groups (see
Table 6.17). The exploration of timbres takes place within 'segments' initially alternating
between percussion and wind sections (see Fig. 6.35, opening). The particular
arrangement of the instruments on the stage with wind instruments and percussion groups
forming triangles surrounding the stringed instruments (see Fig. 6.36) enriches the
sonoristic effects and draws attention not only to the sounds and timbres themselves but
also to the direction of the sound.
Segmenti mark a definite stylistic tum in both notation and the presence of core sonoristic
features. In contrast to conventionally notated Episodes, the piece uses time-space
notation; there is no tempo line and the time is regulated by sections measured in seconds:
there are 17 segments labeled from A to T. In order to coordinate the parts and clearly
delineate the textures, Serocki subdivides them into shorter time units of varied length
numbered within each section.
The work can be divided into two distinct phases, each culminating in a distinct textural
block. The first phase gradually unfolds 'segment by segment' (A to 0) gradually
expanding the texture to culminate in the first homogeneous large texture (see Fig. 6.37,
6
Many writers in the discussion of Serocki's music or sonoristics in general bring up Zieliftski's idea of
'the shape of sound.' See for instance Harley, 'The Polish School of Sonorism and its European Context,'
62 and Dzi~bowska, 'Koncepcja realnego ksztaltu dziela muzycznego,' 5-16.
7
Zielirlski, 0 tw6rczo.Sci Kazimierza Serockiego, 69.
205
Segment 0). The second phase, much shorter than the first one, comprises three segments
(P, R and T) and concludes with the second textural block created by gradual
superimposition of parts united in Serocki's sonoristic signature: aperiodic tonal
repetition (see Fig. 6.38, segment S-T). The large texture created from this fingerprint,
perceived as a fluctuating sound mass in which individual instruments loose their
identities, intensifies through a series of dynamic rises and expansion in a number of
parts. The accumulated energy is released in a single accented.ff.f chord-cluster. The final
gesture of the piece is the upward and downward glissandi in celesta, piano, harp and
percussion (xylophone, vibraphone and marimbaphone) with the decay of the sound
marked by tam-tam to end the piece.
Table 6.13. Serocki, Segmenti: formal outline.

Phase I Phase 2
( Segment A - 0) (Segment P - T) + final gesture I
Opening: Opening: Final gesture:
single part (triangle) single part (timbales)
ppp jJJ
Closing texture: Upwards and downwards
Closing texture: 20 parts glissandifjf
17 parts ppp-jJJ
jJJ rapid aperiodic
tremolo repetition ( ..... )
As with other sonoristic works written in the early 1960s, the search for new textures and
timbres in Segmenti, expands the range of articulations, often accompanied by notational
innovations. Zielinski pointed out that the score well reflects what one can hear. 8
Serocki's notational signs are simple and functional. To the commonly used signs (for
example, duration line for held notes, accellerando and ritardando, repetition of the same
note) Serocki adds his own symbols and starts to build a vocabulary which he will
continue to expand in later works such as Symphonic Frescos and Forte e piano (1967).
The range of graphic symbols for the percussion section had already appeared in
Episodes and included the signs for the kind of sticks to use (such as soft, hard, wooden
feltsticks, metallic rod, wire brush) and specified which part of the instrument to strike
8
Zieliflski, 0 tw6rczoSci Kazimierza Serockiego, 69.
206
(such as strike the side/middle part). Segmenti required new symbols for the two types of
glissandi used in the mallet percussion: glissando over the bars (the same symbol is used
for glissando over the black/white keys of the piano) and glissando gettato which is the
'glissando effect of sweeping motion of the hand over the consecutive bars within the
notated range.' 9 As the movement of sound is so characteristic of Serocki, glissandi are
part of Serocki' s fingerprints. They are frequently used to connect the individual timbral
colours, mark off the textures and above all to create a texture defined by glissandi
movement through pitch registers, as in the segment 'R' (score no. 1-5) where cluster
glissandi in harp, piano, xylophone and marimbaphone are the principal layers. 10 As
already mentioned, they are also featured in the final gesture of the piece (see Fig. 6.38
and 6.39, segment R). Another sonic idea which can be seen as one of Serocki's
individual fingerprints is the tone oscilation produced by 'WA WA' muting on a single
pitch in the hom part (segment D, score no. 5-6). Typically the dynamics are coordinated
with the use of the mute, alternating between piano and forte.
In contrast to Penderecki's Threnody and Gorecki's Scontri, clusters are used in Segmenti
but on much smaller scale. In addition to moving cluster glissandi already mentioned, the
static sustained sound bands, indicated by a black line, appear only in piano (segment E,
score no. 1-2 and segment 0, score no. 32-33), and harpsichord part (segment P, score no.
11-12 and 16-19). Serocki's preference lies in the use of clusters as separate attacks in
individual parts.
In Segmenti the elements of the sonoristic technique are still being worked out: the
exploration of timbral colour focuses on the timbre of individual instruments and discrete
flashes of colour, rather than operating on large textural blocks. It is nevertheless a very
significant piece in both Serocki's compositional output and within the body of sonoristic
works written at the same time. With a high concentration of sonoristic features,
9
Preface to the score. Serocki, Segmenti (Celie: Moeck, 1962).
10
Although the notation specifies clusters, the realization on instruments like the harp, xylophone and
marimba may be more like a single glissando because of the difficulty of damping the strings as the cluster
moves through the range.
207
Segmenti also provide a glimpse into Serocki's sonoristic profile which was to emerge
more clearly in his next piece, Symphonic frescoes.
In the context of the 'sonoristic manifestos,' Symphonic Frescoes came relatively late and
did not offer anything radically new in terms of sonoristic devices. However, the
inclusion of this work within 'total sonorism' is not based exclusively on its radicalism or
novelty. Symphonic Frescoes is his first large scale sonoristic piece and a culminating
point for Serocki's sonorism. Josef Hausler saw Symphonic Frescoes 'as an enriched
offshoot of Segmenti' and described it as 'a synthesis of Episodes and Segmenti.' 11
Bearing in mind the connection to the earlier radical pieces from this period such as
Penderecki's Threnody, or Gorecki's Elementi, Symphonic Frescoes showed that
'novelty' was no longer the most important issue. As Markiewicz remarked after the
Polish premiere of the work:
... as regards the style, the work represents one of the fashionable types of orchestral pieces that
belong to the new convention, works which remain close to G6recki's Scontri, Kilar's Riff and
Gtntrique, Castiglioni's Sinchromie, Kayn's Schwingungen etc. Personally, I associate certain
fragments of Frescoes with Scontri (... ), Canti Strumentali and Riff. In my opinion, Serocki was
conscious of this while composing. After all it is possible to write a good piece without the
ambition of showing something new at any cost, on the assumption that some compositional
devices first used by somebody else must be consolidated in a number of pieces. If this was
Serocki' s goal - without any doubt he achieved it and at the same time he enriched Polish
symphonic literature by a new, lofty and imaginative orchestral firework. 12
Symphonic Frescoes was dedicated to Ernest Bour, who conducted its premiere on July
24, I 964 in Darmstadt, with the Sudwestfunk Orchestra, Baden-Baden, and was
subsequently performed at the Warsaw Autumn Festival of Contemporary Music in
September I 964 with Polish Radio Symphony Orchestra under Jan Krenz. Symphonic
Frescoes lasting I I minutes 40 seconds is a relatively long in comparison to other
11
Josef Hiiuss]er, 'Kazimierz Serocki. Musica concertante- Segments for Chamber Orchestra, Episodes-
Symphonic Frescoes, Sleeve notes. Heliodor Wergo 2549 015.
11
Leon Markiewicz, 'Serocki's Symphonic Frescoes,' Ruch Muzyczny, no. 21(1964): 9.
208
sonoristic works.ll Symphonic Frescoes is divided into three movements: however, the
third movement can be divided into two distinct sections, the second beginning at bar 150
with a pronounced change of tempo and texture beginning with a rapid aperiodic
repetition of a note in the celesta part. This formal plan is also outlined in the first review
of the work in 1964 by Markiewicz, who also points to the aural perception of such a
four-part structure for the piece:
The form of Symphonic Frescoes, its design and musical content are clear and perceptible on first
listening, part I emerging from the dark timbres of double basses contrasted with crescendi in the
percussion section and pianissimo harmonic bands in the strings, disappearing into silence in the
low registers, Part II - incredibly compact, buoyant, radiating energy through sparkling scalar
movement, Part III drawing out in its beginning maximal nuances from massive percussion and
finally joint with it part IV- as a natural release of musical material presented earlier, full of vigor
and impetus, forming the culmination of the whole piece. 14
Zielinski also perceived a four-part structure, which is clearly delineated by the general
principle (common to most sonoristic works) of exploring contrasts in dynamics, registers,
' of Part I, and in the
textures and timbres. 15 The instruction attacca is found at the end
available recordings the transition from the second to third is also performed attacca
which appear to have created the perception of a four-part work for listeners without a
16
score. However, Serocki's score and discussion of it in his introductory notes clearly
indicate that he treated the form of Symphonic Frescoes as a three part structure. 17 In this
analytical discussion I will treat Symphonic Frescoes as a three-movement work with the
third internally divided into two sections, of which the first is a relatively short
introduction and the second begins with Serocki' s primary fingerprint: the rapid aperiodic
tonal repetition of a note, the sonic idea that had emerged earlier in Segmenti.
13
For comparison Scultura by Schaeffer lasts about 12' 50", Sequenza I by Sikorski lasts about 10' to 12,'
Dimensiones of Time ond Silence by Penderecki lasts about 14' 30".
14
Markiewicz. 'Freski symfoniczne Serockiego,' 9.
15
Zielinski, 0 tw6rczo.Sci Kazimierza Serockiego, 76
16
This seems to be the performance practice of Symphonic Frescoes. Recording details: (Sound Chronicle
of the Warsaw Autumn 1964 no. 4 (W-971/972, archival no. 217, LP) Muza XL 0267; Polish Radio
S,Ymphony, cond. Jan Krenz).
1
For example in the preface to the score, Serocki writes "Notation in a free rhf"m, eg. The rapid,
aperiodic reiteration of a note,( ... ), non-rhythmicised glissandi - e.g. trombones, 3' movt., bar 326; or
strings, 3rd movt., bar 395, etc . ... "
209
Symphonic Frescoes uses three kinds of notation, conventional notation, time-space
notation and graphic notation and Serocki outlines his approach in the preface to the
score. 18 The three kinds of notation have different implications for the performer. The
standard and rhythmically determined conventional notation requires exact realization.
The time-space notation, particularly in relation to rhythm, allows for an element of
chance in realization of individual parts playing together but at different tempi. 19 Graphic
notation includes graphic articulation symbols such as quasi glissando over the metal
tubes (in vibraphone and marimba parts), and simplified proportionate notation for
succession of chords in the piano part which introduces an aleatory element to the
realisation of pitch (for example first movement, b. 62-64, 114, fourth movement, b. 220)
and a special notation of clusters on white and black keys (see Fig. 6.49). Again, however,
the graphic notation does not indicate any creative improvisatory element. In contrast to
many other sonoristic works Serocki retains the dotted barline and the time flow is
regulated by meter throughout the piece and Serocki also specifies exact tempi for each
movement. In this regard Segmenti rather than Symphonic Frescoes seems closer to the
general practice of using sections measured in seconds. However, the practicality of
conducting the large forces used in Symphonic Frescos probably played a role in the
method of time regulation.
An extended analysis of this piece has already been made by Ireneusz Kaczorek. 20 As
with Schaeffer's Scultura, the work's title suggests an association with the visual arts,
and in his study of the work, Kaczorek takes this as a starting point for investigations into
the work's aesthetic and artistic value. Kaczorek maps the stages found in the process of
painting a fresco and compares it to the order of presentation of musical material of the
piece. He draws analogies between other elements of frescoes, such as contrast,
perspective, chiaroscuro, symmetry and proportion and their musical equivalent. Thus
contrast equates to the 'disposition of primary and background sound layers contrasting
in dynamics, rhythm, agogics and register' within a texture; chiaroscuro (light-and-shade)
18
In Forte e piano (1967) for two pianos and orchestra Serocki also uses the same three kinds of notation.
19
Serocki
20
Kacwrek, 'Wartosc estetyczna i artystyczna Freskow Symfonicznych Kazimierza Serockiego' [The
Aesthetic and Artistic Value of Kazimierz Serocki's Symphonic Frescoes], in Dzie/o Muzyczne. Studia i
Rozprawy (Poznan: Wydawnictwo Akademii Muzycznej, 1999), 123-215.
210
is linked to reverberation (a natural decay of sound), graphic symmetries equate to
reflection and symmetrical disposition of sound structures, and proportion is related to
intervallic and temporal relationships.Z 1 The first movement, according to Kaczorek, is
the 'cartoon' which, in creating a fresco, is 'the full scale detailed compositional
rendering' 22 and lays out the overall shape of the work, the length of each movement, the
compositional technique, and the projection of sound structures. The other stages such as
mixing colours, contour and superimposing of subsequent layers of colour correspond to
the remaining movements.Z 3
Drawing close analogies between the creative processes applied in a musical work and an
art work, whether painting, fresco or sculpture is generically interesting, but has
limitations if not substantiated by sketches which show that this was indeed Serocki' s
creative intention. Firstly, while the order of stages in creating a fresco has to be strictly
observed, the order in which movements of a musical work are composed may not
always be from the first to the last. The way in which musical material is presented in
Symphonic Frescoes does in fact suggest some similarities between the two processes,
but only to a certain degree. The parallels between the cartoon and the first movement are
indeed partly convincing, since some parallels can be found between the idea of a
'cartoon' in a fresco and the first movement of Symphonic Frescoes, namely the
presentation of the musical material and the exposition of timbres. Even here, though,
one can express reservations; for example, the large performing forces - an orchestra with
a notably large percussion section for four players, as well as celesta, two pianos, two
harps, mandolin and guitar (see Table 6.17), and a large wind section - are not fully
revealed in the first movement, but only emerge in the course of the two following ones.
However, the analogy starts to break down if, as Kaczorek seems to suggest, we are
meant to draw assumptions about the overall structure of the piece and the length of each
movement merely from study or hearing of the first one, as if the piece had no points of
reference outside itself. Here, a comparison with earlier works by Serocki such as
21
Kaczorek, 'Wartosc estetyczna i artystyczna Fresk6w Sy"'fonicznych Kazimierza Serockiego,' 128.
22
Ilia Anossov, Modem Fresco Gallery, http://www.truefresco.com/technique/technique_bottom.html
(accessed November 28, 2007).
23
Kaczorek, 'Wartosc estetyczna i artystyczna Fresk6w Symfonicznych Kazimierza Serockiego,' 132.
211
Episodes seems at least equally relevant (see Table 6.14). In terms of the overall shape,
both works are divided into four sections linked attacca. 24 The relative length of each
movement is also analogous in the two works, the second movement being the shortest
and the fourth the longest. There are also some parallels between the titles of Episodes'
individual movements and the musical material in both pieces: the titles in question are
Proiezioni (Projections), Movimenti (Movements), Migrazioni (Migrations) and Jncontri
(Meetings). For example, in Episodes, and some aspects of musical material in
Symphonic Frescoes, 'projections' can be understood as the initial exposition of sonic
ideas, 'movements' and 'migrations' may relate to the mobile textures moving through
registers and 'meetings' to bringing together instrumental groups such as percussion and
strings. As mentioned earlier, titles in sonoristic works and works by Polish composers
from the 1960s are suggestive and in some cases may hold the key to the compositional
procedures used in a piece. However, in case of Symphonic Frescoes the title is fairly
conventional and perhaps shouldn't be treated too literally. 25 As with the pieces discussed
earlier in this chapter, the following discussion will outline the individual movements
with focus on sonoristic means and Serocki's stylistic features or fingerprints.
24
Although I regard Symphonic frescoes as a three movement work, the third movement, as indicated
earlier, is divided into two distinct sections.
25
The word frescoes in the title brings to mind another composition from a few years earlier: Bohuslav
Martinu's: Frescoes of Piero della Francesca, composed in 1956.
212
Table 6.14 Serock.i, Episodes and Symphonic Frescoes: formal outline.
Episodes
Movement I Movement II Movement III Movement IV
Proiezioni Movimenti Migrazioni lncontri

Strings and percussion Percussion only Strings only Strings and percussion
60<Crotchet> 88 60<crotchet> 160 160 (tempo fisso) 88<crotchet >160; 160 tempo fisso
Bars 1-92 Bars 93- 117 Bars 118-277 Bars 278-394; Bars 395-442
Symphonic Frescoes
Movement I Movement II Movement III Movement III
(First section) (Second section)
Projection of sonic ideas 'Movement of 'Percussive Mixture of textures from previous
textures' textures' movements; expansion of
Serocki's signature.
Bars 1-126 Bars 1-124 Bars 1-150 Bars 151-504

Minim=35 Minim=78 Crotchet =120 Crotchet = 180
Duration 3'35" Duration 1' 35" Duration 2' 30" Duration 3' 55"
. ---- ---··
In both Segmenti and Symphonic Frescos the exposition of timbres is primarily achieved
through gradual introduction and accumulation of instrumental parts, as well as
instrumental groups providing subtle splashes of color. Gawror\ska describes this as
follows:
... the single instrumental parts appear gradually and as in polyphonic treatment of voices they are
successively superimposed. ( ... ) As a result the layering of individual lines generates a number of
'culminating points' which in a most natural way divide a work into developmental phases which
at the same time lead to a final climax. 26
26
Bozena Gawrm\ska, 'Organizacja tworzywa muzycznego w tw6rczosci Kazimierza Serockiego 1960-70,'
Muzyka, no. 2 (1981): 35.
213
According to Gawronska, this 'linear technique' (or layering process), is present in many
of Serocki's works? 7 However, the idea of presenting a basic sonic material in the initial
part of the work is not unique to Serocki. It brings to mind Droba's remark in relation to
Gorecki's works from the second half of the 1960s, about the 'predetermined model of
the composition based on "givens" presented in the initial section.' 28 The opening of the
piece (see Fig. 6.40, opening) contrasts the low register in double basses with high
register in the piano. The contrast is also in the texture: held note (arco sui tasto) in
double basses followed by a series of short impulses on the piano (wavy melodic line).
The layering process continues after the general pause (bars I 0-20); the texture builds up
and gravitates toward the middle register. This reduces the contrast of high and low
sonorities, and the main contrast now becomes one based on continuity and discontinuity:
the continuous sounds in piano and double basses versus splashes of single sounds by
timpani, guitar and harp.
The overall structure of this movement can be divided into the introduction (bb. 1-19),
mirrored at the end by the coda (bb. 111-126,) with the main section between articulated
dynamic rises and textural expansion which culminate in a large textural block (bb. 77,
see Fig. 6.41) of superimposed instrumental groups unified in texture and articulation.
Some of the sonic ideas presented in this movement are not new. Serocki recycles them
from earlier works and from the piece he was writing at approximately the same time.
The 'wavy melodic line' of short impulses in the piano part, featured in the opening of
the piece (bars 6-9), comes from A piacere (I 963) for piano solo (see Fig. 6.40 and Fig.
6.42 A piacere ). As already mentioned, Serocki' s fingerprint, a texture built up of a rapid,
aperiodic reiteration of a note had appeared earlier in Segmenti. Similarly, the sonic idea
created by WA WA muting in the hom part introduced in Segmenti (see Fig. 6.43
Segmenti, section D) appears also in Symphonic frescoes but slightly modified: rather
than a single part Serocki uses six horns to create a cluster based textural layer; dynamics,
from ppp top, is coordinated with the mutes (see Fig. 6.40).
27
BoZena Gawror\ska, 'Organizacja tworzywa muzycznego w tw6rczoSci Kazimierza Serockiego 1960-
70,' Muzyka, no. 2 (1981): 42.
28
Droba, 'Droga do sensu tragicznego', Ruch Muzyczny no. 15 (1978): 3.
214
The second movement is defined by fast moving textures and a fast rate of change.
Serocki gives prominence to strings unified in mobile textural blocks created by a
succession of chromatic pitches (see Fig. 6.44, 2"d movement, opening). The impression
is of a fast sweep through the pitch registers. If one was to draw an analogy to the visual
arts and most particularly to abstract painting, one might say the movement emphasizes
the action of painting and the direction and movement of the entire texture sweeping
through registers rather than the result of that action - the wide brush strokes, usually
representing static bands of sound.
Although fast moving textures dominate, there are also static types of textures in this
movement. A large clear cut textural block (bb. 24-36, see Fig. 6.45) in brass begins by
superimposing horns parts playing groups of short notes with trumpet and trombone parts
unified in already familiar texture - held notes with WA WA muting. The internal
transformation of parts from short into held notes is accompanied by the dynamic rise
from ppp to jjJ. The static quality of this texture provides a contrast to the fast pitch
movement in the strings. Another static texture features the largest textural expansion in
this movement: 48 string parts in a cluster of artificial harmonics (see Fig. 6.46, bb. 56-
75). The clear cut edge of this texture is marked by cluster chords in harps and bells. The
idea ofthe shape of sound, introduced by Zielinski in relation to Segmenti, is particularly
relevant here and relates to the overall shape of the texture. After the clear cut opening of
the texture, the ending is delineated by successive phasing out of parts, each ending in a
short glissando, eventually reduced to three parts in the lover register of double basses.
What defines the first section of the third movement is the discontinuity of sound in the
percussion section, strings and winds. The gradual layering of parts reaches its peak (bar
I 09) in a texture using the maximum number of strings playing tremolo on the highest
note, superimposed with unpitched percussion (bongos, tambourine and tom-tom)
playing groups of short notes, mandoline, harps and bells parts featuring chord-clusters,
and vibraphone moving from the lowest note to the highest.
215
The second section of this movement leads to the culminating point of the entire piece.
The most effective display of timbres takes place at the fastest speed: crotchet equals 180.
Serocki brings back the familiar sonic ideas from the previous movements: the mobile
string textures characteristic of the second movement and above all his signature texture
of aperiodic tonal repetition which is developed throughout the movement from a single
part to longer lasting textural layers, to create finally one homogeneous glittering sound
mass leading to the climax of the piece (see Fig. 6.47): the six accented chords like
clusters at.fff(score no. 481) in all parts except for strings. The coda of the piece (bar 486,
see Fig. 6.48) exemplifies typical sonoristic devices: textural contrast in a number of
parts, timbral contrast in the instruments used and clear cut homogeneous textural blocks.
Apart from Serocki's principal fingerprint, based on periodic tonal repetition, another of
his stylistic traits is a predilection for movement rather than stasis. This is reflected not
only in the use of mobile textures but in the way he creates static textures which often are
animated in some ways by various articulation markings, for instance tremolo,frullato or
open and muted sound. Chominski, in his writings on the Polish repertoire, discussed the
process of 'transcending the limits of sound selectivity' in which individual sounds lose
their characteristics or 'selectivity, being turned into a hardly resolvable sound mass.' 29
Serocki achieves this in a number of ways. One instance is to superimpose irregular
subdivision of a beat as in Movement I (bar 52-56). The second movement is dominated
by such textures, in which, in addition to superimposition of complex beat subdivisions,
there is constantly changing pitch as textures sweep through the registers. The large
texture - Serocki's sonoristic signature - towards the end of Symphonic Frescos,
however, takes this idea further through simplified notation and dynamically balancing
the naturally loud and soft instruments. This idea of 'transcending the limits of sound
selectivity,' although used by other composers, is particularly relevant to Serocki's
sonoristic works. As the first composer to introduce pointillism into Polish music in the
dodecaphonic Musica Concertante (1958)/ 0 Serocki consequently followed this path,
29
Chominski, 'Udzial pol skich kompozytor6w w ksztaltowaniu nowoczesnego j~zyka muzycznego,' 185
and I 88.
30
Chomiliski, Muzyka Polski Ludowej, 120
216
from operating on isolated timbres in pointillist-like textures to creating sound masses in
Symphonic frescoes.
Table 6.15 Serocki, Symphonic frescoes: instrumentation.
4 flutes (tl), celesta (eel) also keyboard glockenspiel (campanelli

4 piccolo flutes- ottavini (ott) con Ia tastiera, cpl)
4 oboes (ob) 2 pianos (pt)
4 English horns (cri) 2 harps (ar)
4 clarinets (cl) in B flat mandolin (mn)
4 bass clarinets in B flat (clb) guitar (cht)
4 bassoons ( fg)
6 horns in F (cr)
4 trumpets in B Flat (tr)
4 trombones (tn)
tuba
Percussion section- 4 percussio~_~_ps

I II
xylophone (xt) ossia xilorimba vibraphone (vt)
5 temple blocks (tpbl) bells (cpl)
4 tom-tom (tt): soprano (tt s) 5 Chinese blocks (chbl)
alto (tt a) claves (clv)
tenor (tt t) rattle (rgn)
bass (tt b) 3 triangles (trg): soprano (s)
bass drum: gran cas sa (gc) alto (a)
2 maracas (me) tenor (t)
2 pezzi di ferro (fro) sospesi hi-hat (hh)
hi-hat (hh)
m IV.
marimba (mbt) 4 bongos (bgs):
3 tambourine: senza chorda (tmb): soprano (s)
soprano (s) also (a)
alto (a) tenor (t)
tenor (t) bass (b)
4 suspended cymbals (pt): tambourine tamburo rullante (tmb)
soprano (s) 2 maracas (me)
alto (a) 2 cowbells
tenor (t) 4 suspended bottles (btl)
bass (b)
2 gong (gng): alto (a)

bass (b)
tam-tam profondo (tmt)
4 timpani (tp)
24 violins (vn)
!Oviolas (vi)
8 cellos (vc)
6 double basses (vb)- 4'h, 5'" and 6'" with C string (5
strings).
217
Table 6.16 Serocki, Segmenti: instrumentation.
Wind section:
flute ( fl),
piccolo flute- ottavini (ott) electric mandolin (mn)
oboes (ob) electric guitar (chi)
clarinet (cl) in E flat harpsichord (cmb)
saxophone all in E flat (sxf) celesta (eel)
bass clarinet ( cl b) piano (pf)
bassoon (fg) harp (ar)
horn piccolo (ern)
trumpet inC (tr)
horn in F (cr)
trombore (tm)
flicorno tenor in B flat (fer)
tuba (tb)
Percussion section - 4 percussion groups
!
xylophone (xf) ossia xilorimba II
5 temple blocks (tpbl) vibraphone (vf)
4 tom-tom (It): soprano (s) bells - Campanelli (cpl)
alto (a) 5 Chinese blocks (chbl)
tenor (I) claves ( clv)
bass (b) rattle (rgn)
bass drum: gran cas sa (gc) 3 triangles (trg): soprano (s)
2 maracas (me) alto (a)
2 pezzi di ferro (fro) sospesi tenor (t)
hi-hat (hh) hi-hat (hh)
m IV.
marimba (mbf) 4 bongos (bgs):

3 tambourine: senza chorda (trnb): soprano (s)
soprano (s) also (a)
alto (a) tenor (I)
tenor (t) bass (b)
4 suspended cymbals (pt): tambourine tamburo rullante (tmb)
soprano (s) 2 maracas (me)
alto (a) 2 campanacci (cpn) (Kuhglocken)- almglocken/??
tenor (t) 4 bottles bottiglie sospese (btl)
bass (b)
2 gong (gng): alto (a)

bass (b)
tam-tam profondo (tmt)

4 timpani (tp)
218
Wojciech Kilar: Diphthongos, 1964
Wojciech Kilar, born in 1932 in Lw6w (formerly Poland, now in Ukraine), is today well
known as a prominent film composer. His involvement with film music and Poland's
prominent directors such as Kazimierz Kutz, Wojciech Jerzy Has, Konwicki, Andrzej
Wajda, Krzysztof Kieslowski and Krzysztof Zanussi goes back as far as the 1960 1 but
this did not prevent him producing a sustained output of concert works. Maintaining these
two strands of his activity, however they may influence or permeate each other, is very
important for the composer: 'I think things have worked well for me in that I've been
able to write all my symphonic works while also, for my old age, having gained that sort
of popularity from the film work and with it some bigger money, so I feel in a sense very
fortunate. ' 2
Sonorism formed a small part of his concert output and, like Gorecki and Penderecki,
with whom he was linked during 1960s, he came to sonorism after a brief
experimentation with serialism. As noted in Chapter I, he was one of the first to attend
the Darmstadt summer school in 1957 followed later by studies with Nadia Boulanger in
Paris (1959-60):
I returned home from Paris in the early 1960s, at the time of a great explosion in Polish avant-
garde music. Here primarily you had my friends who were more or less my age, meaning
Penderecki and Gorecki; we tended to be regarded as a trio. Poles seem to like going by such a
3
system of threes, with gold, silver, and bronze placements like in the Olympics ...
Following a brief experiments with serial ism in Herbsttag (1960) for soprano and string
quartet, came the sonoristic phase reflected in three works: Riff 62 (1962) for orchestra,
1
His widespread popularity beyond Poland and Europe, however, came after scoring his first American
film in 1992 directed by Francis Ford Coppola· Bram Stoker's Dracula. The popularity of this film score
opened the Hollywood's door and was followed by more commissions from highly acclaimed directors:
Roman Polanski's Death and the Maiden, The Ninth Gate, The Pianist, and Jane Campion's The Portrait of
a Lady.
2
Mark G. So. 'Wojciech Kilar Interview Part One,' The Online Magazine of Motion Picture and Television
Music Appreciation Lost Issue (July 2001), http://www.filmscoremonthly.com/articles/2001/04_Jul···
Lost_lssue_Wojciech_Kilar_part_One.asp (accessed May 13, 2007).
3
Ibid.
219
Gemirique for orchestra (1963) and Diphthongos (1964) for choir, percussion and the
strings. The first work to signal the change and make lasting impression on the Warsaw
Autumn audience after its premiere was Riff 62, as Elliott Carter reported in a Letter from
Europe:
This year, more than ever, the festival favored the advanced school of Polish composers:
Penderecki, G6recki, Kotm\ski, Serocki, Schaeffer, and the conductor Jan Krenz. Of these the
first three seemed to be the most effective. The young Polish student of Nadia Boulanger,
Wojciech Kilar, provided one of the "wows' of the festival, Riff "62" for orchestra, which
combined the tone-cluster technique of Penderecki with remote suggestions of very rowdy
4
jazz. The packed hall gave the work such an ovation that it had to be repeated.
A year later Riff 62 received more performances in United States under Lucas Foss with
the New York Philharmonic, the Cleveland Orchestra, and with his own orchestra - the
Buffalo Symphony. After its American premiere in New York, Harold Schonberg pointed
out to the visual image of Riff 62, saying that 'one "sees" it on hearing it; that it's like
musical "op-art."' 5 This remark is also true of Kilar's other pieces from the period and
other sonoristic works in general. Kilar's response to it also reveals the early influences
on his music:
This I think in part is because I've been greatly influenced by the Impressionists -- Debussy
and Ravel -- whose music is also of that type that is really seen. It's because my music seems
to correlate with pictures and images, and of the sort conducive to the development of mental
images ·· and not simply a dry construction, or a mere structure -- that I suppose film makers
took an interest to me. 6
The score that strongly bears such a close connection between the heard and the seen is
Diphthongos dedicated to Michal Baranski. Premiered in Venice on 13 of September
1964 by the Krakow Philharmonic Choir and Orchestra under Andrzej Markowski, it is
the shortest of all the sonoristic works, lasting at least four minutes and at the most five
4
Elliott Carter, 'Letter from Europe,' in Elliott Carter, Collected Essays and Lectures. 1937-1995, ed.
Jonathan Bernard (Rochester: University of Rochester Press, 1997), 38.
'Mark G. So. 'Wojciech Kilar Interview Part One.'
6
Ibid.
220
minutes, and it is the one in which Kilar's sonoristic technique reaches its peak. For the
title Kilar used the English version - Diphthongos (in Polish sing. dyftong; pl. dyftongf),
meaning a combination of two vowels.
Written for SA TB choir, extended percussion section, piano and strings, Diphtongos
explore both sonorous qualities of sound generated by the instruments and phonic
properties of language: vowels, consonants (voiced and voiceless) and unusual
combination of letters (as indicated in the title). For the rest of the text Kilar resorted to a
popular and widely read book at the time, The Sexual Life of Savages in North Western
7
Melanesia by Bronislaw Malinowski. Kilar takes single words and shouts from bawdy
songs called lo'uwa songs of the Trobiand Islands: lwpulwpugula (young woman),
agudeydesi (hollay!), sayam (a man celebrated for beauty), wo, bamasisi (I'll sleep),
bamamata (I'll wake), balage (I'll hear), kupira (drum his [of]). 8 The scoring specifies a
choir of 120 singers (30 in each voice) which might suggest dominance of the vocal parts
if not at least equal to the instrumental parts. Although this is certainly the case towards
the end of section B (see Fig. 6.51), the opening of the piece is the opposite (see Fig. 6.50,
panel A). The vocal parts blend in with the instrumental layers to such extend, that at
times they become indistinguishable from the instrumental parts.
7
Stockhausen also drew on this book for Momente {1962).
8
The entire text ofLo'uwa Song (I) and (II) in original language and English translation is in Malinowski's
book (London: Routlege & Kegan Paul, 1982), 224-225.
221
Table 6.17. Kilar, Diphthongos: instrumentation.
SATB choir: Percussion section (6 esecutori):
30 sopranos 12 bells (cmp)

30 altos 4 cymbals (pti)
30 tenors 2 gong (gong)
30 basses vibraphone (vhf)
12 bongos (bg)
4 congas (cg)
2 drums (tmp)
bass drum (grc)
maracas (mrc)
guiro (guiro)
wood-block (wbl)
sand-block (sbl)
String Section: piano I (pfl)

piano II (pfll)
8 violins (vn)
8 violas (vi)
8 cellos (vc)
4 double basses (cb)
On the large scale the piece consists of three phases labeled A, B and C by the composer
(see Table 6.18). What emphasizes the three part division is the use of sound sources and
textural development. The opening of the piece - phase A- comprises two panels (A and
A I) and explores various shades of unpitched sounds in the percussion section and choir
(see Fig. 6.50). The focus is on continuity of sound. By contrast phase B (see Fig. 6.51)
opens with percussive effects on strings and proceeds towards a large texture composed
entirely of human voices. The piece concludes with phase C, constructed solely of
superimposed static clusters (see Fig. 6.53). Each phase is further subdivided into smaller
sections- like panels- marked A, A', B, B', B2, B', and C. Each of these panels lasts 30
seconds and is laid out on a single page. The only exception to this rule is the closing
section C which comprises two of those 30-second panels, balancing the length of the
opening phase A which comprises two 30-second panels. Thus it is the sound material
that articulates in aural terms the subdivision into sections in the score. Each 30-second
panel presents a different timbral palette and has its individual sonoristic scope. As in
Elementi, there is no single point of culmination over the whole piece and the piece is
heard as a number of phases, as represented by the panels in the score.
222
Table 6.18 Kilar, Diphthongos: formal outline. Total duration ca 4'.
Phase A PhaseD PhaseC
A AI B Bl B2 B3 c
30" 30" 30" 30" 30" 30" + 30"
30"
8"4"4"4"10" 9"6"5"4"3.'2"1" 18"2"2"2"2"2"2" 10"5"5"10" 30"
7"5" 3"1"2" 2"4"6"
If ---cresc-- JJJJ a nientare
pp-m/<> PPPP mf--<fffJ f- cont.------- mf
--
SATB, pti, wbl, SATB, bg, vn, SATB, cg, tmp, SATB, gong, SATB pti, gong, cmp, vbf, pf l and 2,
SATB, pti, sbl,
guiro vi, vc, cb. vn, vl, vc, cb grc, pf l and 2, strings.
mrc
vc,cb
Material: percussive effects, discontinuity of sound Material: static clusters, !
Material: unpitched sounds, continuity

continuity of sound
of sound
N
N
w
While Riff 62 and Gem!rique use the mixture of conventional notation and some graphics,
Diphthongos is a purely graphic score except for the indicative pitches given beneath the
clusters, which are notated using the notorious, post-Threnody thick black lines (see Fig.
6.53). As in Scultura by Schaeffer, the use of graphics is both suggestive and functional.
The direction of pitch and contour of melodic lines is indicated by rising, falling and
angular lines or wavy lines, while the sychronised attack points of the 12 bongo parts in
section B I are represented by vertical lines which are progressively closer together.
Regarding the temporal organization of the piece the bar lines are entirely replaced by
time division marked in seconds. Each 30-second page of the score is further divided into
smaller time sectors, measured in seconds, usually coinciding with the entry of a textural
layer in the instrumental sections and voices. This neat temporal structure reflects
conscious planning in relation to various time subdivisions of the number thirty.
Coincidently in a 1959 Darmstadt course, Stockhausen was analyzing Zyklus in which
each page is also divided into 30 units which are further subdivided. Although Kilar is
not listed amongst the Polish participants at the courses (the group included Kotonski,
Markowski, Schaeffer, Serocki and Patkowski) it is quite possible that the formal
structure of Zyklus influenced Kilar in some way. Certainly by the early 1960s
Stockhausen's works were known in Poland; Zyklus received the Polish premiere in
Warsaw Autumn Festival in 1961. In Diphthongos, the opening section A is subdivided
by series of odd and even numbers: 7, 5, 3, I, 2, 2, 4, 6. In section B, the number of
attacks in the bongo parts increases from I to 6, at the same time as the time between the
units decreases from 6" to I" (see Fig. 6.51 ).
Kilar treats the vocal part here as yet another textural layer that adds to the colour of the
entire texture, and the variety of voice articulation as well as the choice of letters is
carefully thought out to achieve the desired effect. This can be seen in the opening of the
piece in which voices are blended with percussion instruments to create a gradually
intensifying block of continuous whispering and whirling sound which is inseparable into
individual timbres (see Fig. 6.50, panel A). The layering ofunpitched parts in cymbals is
coordinated with the entrance of each vocal part and the choice of consonants matches
224
the sound of the percussion: altos hissing a letter 's', gradually superimposed with tenor
part hissing 'sz', soprano part with a letter 'f' and bases with a letter 'h'. Indeed, the
choice of single letters in this score exploits the distinctive characteristics of the Polish
language. For instance soundless 'sz', 'cz', 'dz' so characteristic of Polish language is
used in textures with unpitched sounds. The other soundless consonances are 'f, s, h and
'i.'. For percussive effects Kilar selects a combination of two consonances 'tk', present in
many Polish words (tkanie, tkanina, tkanka, tkliwie, tknqc) and 'dg.' The letters used are
chosen for their sonorous qualities, reinforced by articulation: the consonant 'r' for a kind
of frullato, 's' for 'tremolo produced by a trembling of the lower jaw,' 'KH' in which K
is 'a kind of a sharply attacked acciaccatura' and 't', 'tk', 'd', 'dg' for 'staccato with the
vocal cords tight.' 9
Panels B and B I are the only ones to use an actual text, and this is limited to single words.
This also serves purely sonorous purpose as the individual words cannot be heard in the
mass of vocal layer composed by superimposing eight parts, each part repeating different
words (see Fig. 6.51, panel B). The whole section proceeds towards a higher dynamic
level and the increased number of synchronized attacks in bongos at shorter intervals
mentioned earlier. The articulation of vocal parts is integrated as a background color to
the dominating instrumental parts. As the number of attacks increase the vocal part shifts
from sussurando (whispering), through par/are (speaking) to grido (shout).
As a graphic score, the realization of the parts in Diphthongos is left largely to the
performer. However, even with the minimum instructions for the vocalists the results are
fairly predictable and limited by the instruction: 'the point of departure for a sound is
always the middle of the voice range; deviations from the horizontal denote changes in
pitch, the vertical proportions indicating the pitch of a sound in relation to the middle
range.' 10
The entry of individual parts is synchronized with other instrumental parts and regulated
precisely by the division into time sectors. The only section that allows for greater
9
Preface to the score, Wojciech Kilar, Diphthongos (Krakow: PWM, 1965).
10
Ibid.
225
flexibility is B3 which features the maximum expansion of voice parts: each of the voices
is further subdivided into four and five parts, creating in total a texture of 18 different
vocal parts (see Fig. 6.52). There is no formal vertical time division within the 30-second
section: instead each part has its own pattern of repetition. The realization of these
patterns 'must be strictly observed' according to the relation in which the smallest time
value for one centimetre equals one second. This formation of texture bears some
similarities to Scultura by Schaeffer, in which the visual aspect of the score seems to
govern or influence the layering of parts. The horizontal line of axis on the page runs
between the altos and tenors with a series of held vowels. Thus sopranos mirror basses
and altos mirror tenors with some parts being shifted as in canonic entries. In B3 there are
also three kinds of subdivision of number 30, into six, five and four subsections,
superimposed on one another. Such graphic symmetries, however, are more noticeable in
the score rather than perceptible in a listening except for the direction of pitch.
Diphthongos is the shortest piece among the sonoristic works yet requires the largest
performing forces: SA TB choir of 120 voices, six percussion players, two pianists and 28
string players. As much as such extremes were a part of the sonoristic era, they may
provide an explanation for the lack of performances beyond its premiere. 11 Using the
shortest time span and the largest performing forces in the sonoristic repertoire, Kilar
achieved the highest concentration of sonoristic means in his output and this, together
with its graphic score, firmly established Diphthongos, despite its achieving only single
performance to date, as one of the emblematic sonoristic works of the 1960s.
11
In relation to Diphthongos Polony lists only a premiere in Venice in 1964. Polony, Kilar. Zywiol
i modlitwa. 202.
226
Witold Szalonek: Les sons, 1965
Witold Szalonek occupies a special place in Polish sonorism: for him it was not just a
phase in his compositional output but a belief that became almost a life-longjoumey. For
Szalonek sonorism began with Chopin and was later developed by Debussy and Varese.
His credo was that 'sonorism [is] the soul of the instrument, ascending through music, .I
and the sound generators are at the heart of Szalonek's sonoristic thinking. Treating
timbre as the identity of an instrument, Szalonek spent almost his entire life researching
multiphonics (primarily on wind instruments), which he called 'combined sounds'. As
late as 1994, Szalonek, in an interview with Iwona Szafranska, repeated that he did not
consider the research into multiphonics that he begun in the early 1960s as completed. 2
He recounted the journey began during his school years:
I was intrigued by the timbre of strange 'accidental cock sounds' produced- to the joy of listeners-
by new earners of wind instruments. While composing Concerti no in 1960 for flute and orchestra I
was going to use them to construct certain sound planes in the second part but not knowing in depth
their nature I gave up my intention and in their place I used the reed and mouthpiece sounds of
woodwind and brass.3
His collaboration with Severino Gazzelloni, in preparation for Concertina's premiere at

the Warsaw Autumn in 1963, prompted him to examine multiphonics, initially on
woodwind and brass instruments, and develop the appropriate notation. Within Polish
sonorism, Szalonek has contributed some of the strongest manifestations of treating
timbre -whether of a single sound or texture - as a primary structural element. Les sons
is one of these works. As a sonoristic manifesto, it came relatively late, and it is one of
the pieces that mark the end of the 'pure' sonoristic trend in Polish music. From the start,
Les sons gained a firm position amongst the 'sonoristic manifestos,' and not only on
account of the controversies it caused during its premiere at the 1965 'Warsaw Autumn,'
though reviews from the concerts were as colorful as the music. After the premiere, in
Szalonek's home town Katowice, the piece was summed up as follows:
1
'Wok61 sonoryzmu. Z Witoldem Szalonkiem rozmawia Iwona Szafranska' [Around sonorism. Witold
Szalonek talks to Iwona Szafranska], Opcje, no. 2 (1994): 76.
2
Ibid., Parts ofSzalonek's text was already published in 1973 in Res Facta 7 (1973): 110-119.
3
Ibid.
227
The third composition by Silesian innovator Witold Szalonek was interrupted by loud bursts of
laughter. (This is the first composition this year to be ridiculed). The senselessly organized noises
reminded one in many cases of cocks crowing, geese cackling, ducks quacking and cattle mooing.
This nonsense seemed even greater when one reads in the program that W. Szalonek dedicated this
piece in memory of a distinguished composer Spisak, who died in January this year. Was the
author of this piece completely unaware of how the ideas put spontaneously on paper would sound?
And in any case he caused a scandal by dedicating a hideously ugly piece in a way that is more
like an insult than remembrance.4
Tadeusz Zielinski, though noting the risk associated with the new sound effects, was
more serious and generous in his evaluation of Lessons:
Les sons by Witold Szalonek as an example of a new and interesting combination of orchestral
whispering sonorities, is at the same time a composition loaded with the highest level of startling
and tragic expression, and splendidly planned points of tension (albeit some effects on wind
instruments, being on the verge of comicality, are risky). 5
Szalonek's primary fingerprint: multiphonics on wind instruments is reflected in the

instrumentation of Les sons. Its performing forces include three sections: wind, strings,
percussion and piano for two players. The number of players and instruments in the wind
section clearly outweighs strings (8 violas and double basses) giving the lead role and
preference to wind timbres (see Table 6.21 ).
4
'Ostatni dzien IX Warszawskiej Jesieni. Filharmonia Sl>tSka na estradzie festiwalowej' [The Last Day of
Warsaw Autumn. The Silesian Philharmonia on the Festival Stage], Dziennik Zachodni, (October 2, 1965).
5
Tadeusz A. Zielinski, 'Jesien i kryteria' [Autumn and Criteria],' Ruch Muzyczny 9, no. 21 (1965): 18.
228
Table 6.21 Szalonek, LesSons: instrumentation.
Wind section: Percnsslon section for 4 playen:
flute piccolo (flp) 4 suspended cymbals (s.a.t.b. pt)

3 flutes inC (fl) 2 gongs (gng)
flutes in G (fl) 3 kettledrums (Imp)
English hom tom-tom bass,
2 clarinets in B flat (cl2 and 3)
bass clarinet in B flat (cl4)
3 bassoons ( fg)
contrabassoon
(and bottles)
4 trombones (tn)
4 trumpets in B flat (tr)
6 horns in F (cr)
tuba
bottles (btl)
Piano- 2 players Strings:

8 violas (vi)
8 double basses (vb)
First, I will consider notation, time regulation, texture and timbre as a primary structural
element within the overall structure of the piece. Secondly, I will discuss processes of
building up textures and the basis of textural contrast that governs the structure of smaller
sections of the piece along with the role of the common sonoristic device such as clusters.
Remarks on reception from more recent performances of Les sons will conclude the
discussion.
On the large scale Les sons can be divided into introduction, two larger developmental
phases delineated by two climactic rises and a coda dominated by strings. As Markiewicz
noted in his preview of 1965 Warsaw Autumn, the goal of the unfolding sound planes in
Lessons, is not to arrive at multiphonics but to proceed towards the 'real' sounds of wind
instruments:
Thus the 'real,' 'classical' sounds are preceded by three phases- from whispering (double
consonances sz.f, multiphonics on flute, blowing into the bottle), through to reed sounds and
rhythmic canons in piano and violin parts ...6
6
Leon Markiewicz, •Lessons Witolda Szalonka,' Ruch Muzyczny 9, no. 17 (1-15 September 1965): 13.
229
The score itself is divided into eleven sections, usually separated by general pauses, and
labeled with capital letters from 'A' to 'L,' as with Serocki's Segmenti. Most of these
larger sections are further subdivided into bars of equal duration (circa one second)
numbered within each section. However, ad libitum sections (H and I), in which textures
proceed at their own speed, are measured in seconds without the need of further
subdivision. The introduction of meter in section G where one second equates to 6/16
(3+ 3) is for purely practical reason to help to coordinate the parts of larger textures. As
discussed in Chapter 5, Szalonek uses time-space notation and also uses a range of
graphic symbols, primarily for multiphonics. Other symbols such as signs for playing on
the tail piece, playing with the plectrum, and for notating clusters are part of the widely
used notational conventions of the time. Some of the new timbres and new ways of
playing required new symbols: for example, blowing across the opening of a bottle, and
putting the instrument on the table and playing. In general the notation of Les sons is
functional and practical.
Turning to the overall structure of Lessons, the piece can be divided into an introduction,
two phases and a coda (see Table 6.19). The timbre of individual instruments and textural
contrast provide the foundation for the structure of the piece. Szalonek also makes use of
general pauses to separate the larger sections of the piece, a characteristic of many
sonorisic works. In addition to these elements, sound decay plays a significant role, not
only as a background colour, but as means of measuring the length of sections, as in the
opening of the piece and the first bar of section L. As a general tendency, the sections and
textures expand as the piece progresses towards the climaxes. The first climactic point is
reached in section H (m. 98) and features a large, ad libitum texture employing the winds,
piano and percussion (cymbals and kettle drums, see Fig. 6.57, section H.). The second
build up in texture and dynamics culminates in a chord-like cluster in winds reinforced by
percussion and over a three octave (B- F) cluster in the piano part at.flff(see Fig. 6.58,
section K, m. 51-52). The brief coda, separated by general pause, filled with the
reverberation of the piano cluster ending the previous section, is limited to the string
section and explores the subtleties of harmonics and timbres created by playing behind
230
the bridge. Beginning in double basses in the low register, through textural build up and
gradual rise in register, the piece ends on the 'highest note' in violin at pppp.
The formal outline is presented in the Table below (Table 6.19), with instrumental forces
and dynamic levels indicated at the beginning and end of each larger section. The most
contrasting juxtaposition occurs at the climactic points at the end of phase one and two.
In both cases the contrast involves change of articulation, change of texture from large
textural block to a single part and change of dynamics levels from.fff.ftoflff(the dynamic
contrast is intensified by the reduction oflarge texture to a single part).
Table 6.19 Szalonek, Les sons: formal outline with dynamic and textural contrast
between the phases.
Introduction Phase I Phasell Coda
Sections A-B Sections C-H Sections I-K Section L
fff p<f>p pp ffff f ffff jJ PPPP
gong 1-4 flutes I part (oboe) tutti oboe tutti I part
piano (double bass)
I part
(viola)
The wide range of articulation particularly in the winds often reduces his works to a
catalogue of effects and sound experiments. This aspect is a topic of comment in the
limited literature on Szalonek's works and perhaps causes commentators to see only one
side of his output. However, a closer look at carefully designed structure in Les sons
reveals Szalonek's sensitivity to the overall balance between larger sections of the piece
and a well planned disposition of instrumental colours within these sections. The
introduction features flute, the beginning of the first phase is marked by the change from
flute to oboe and the coda features strings. The progression of sections is dictated by
specific timbres with focus on the timbral possibilities of the oboe (at in the first phase):
Szalonek's special interest in these possibilities was pursued further in Quattro
monologhi for solo oboe from 1966. Thomas also emphasizes Szalonek's intuitive feel
for formal structure in relation to later pieces such as Proporzioni for chamber orchestra
231
(1967), Mutazioni for chamber orchestra (1966) and Quattro monologhi for oboe solo
(1966):
Szalonek's structural mastery is due not only to his understanding of large-scale contrasts and
progression (his music is never about sound for sound's sake), but to his mastery in combining
instruments, whether or not they utilize the 'combined sounds' of woodwind multiphonics. 7
The brief introduction comprises two sections, A and B. As the sections unfold, Szalonek
proceeds from whispering and unpitched sound towards pitched sound. After the
spectacular initial attack in gongs, followed by a cluster of over four octaves on the piano
at jjJ, part A then explores subtleties of single notes of the piano from middle to lower
register. However, the pitch of the piano notes is obliterated by placing a triangle rod
against the vibrating string after striking the key. This layer lasts as long as the decay of
the initial attack in gong and piano - ca 28 seconds with the dynamic descent to pppp.
The following four part textural layer in the flute group is defined by overlapping held
harmonics (see Fig. 6.54, section A and B, mm. 1-13). Only at the end of section B in the
flute parts (jrullato) is the pitch definite and close to a conventional flute sonority,
progressing from 'blow to the opposite end of the mouthpiece to 'not a full sound', and
then 'something like the normal flute sound', and finally 'definite pitch, pp.' 8 An
additional layer of unpitched sounds is provided by blowing bottles with crescendo-
decrescendo dynamics.
The first developmental phase (Phase I of Table 6.19) comprises six sections (Section C-
H) clearly defined by timbres. The concentration on oboe with its wide range of
multiphonics (at times joined by cor anglais) in the initial sections (Section C to F) has
another purpose here other than the structural one, and that is to expose the variety of
multiphonics, a provocative and unique characteristic of the piece. In the process of
building up large sound planes, Szalonek exposes unusual timbres which articulate
individual sections. Thus section C opens with a single note in the middle register on the
oboe with instruction to 'enclose the mouthpiece and the mouth tightly with clenched
7
8
Szalonek, preface to the score of Lessons (Krak6w: PWM, I 967).
232
fists, and then gradually unclench them.' 9 The texture grows from a single part by the
gradual layering of wind, piano and string parts (see Fig. 6.55, section C, mm. 1-19).
In the following D section tbe oboe arrives at a definite pitch (D) at ppp by diminishing
the blowing pressure with aim 'to produce a rough sound close to flutter tonguing.' 10 The
clear symmetrical structure of this section comes from the textural contrast in timbre and
size of alternating two types of textures- a 'solo' and a 'chorus' (See Table 6.20). The
'chorus' consists of winds playing overlapping sustained sounds; the entry of each sound
is marked by the piano part. A static to mobile cluster in double basses acts as a
background to the overall sonority. The end of this texture is marked by a distinct sonic
idea in violas playing upwards moving passage of short impulses (See Fig. 6.56, section
D, mm. 1-26).
Table 6.20 Szalonek, Lessons: formal outline of section D.
Section D
Chorus: Solo: Chorus: Solo: Chorus:
larinet I oboe clarinet 1-2 oboes clarinet

bassoon bassoon lei (vb- one bar) bassoon
contrabassoon contrabassoon contrabassoon
horn horn horn
viola viola viola
double bass double bass
mm: 1-9 mm: 10-12 mm: 15-23 mm: 24-27 mm: 29-35.
The sonority of oboe changes once again with the next section E, featuring multiphonics
on B flat and E at.fff. This time with increased blowing pressure, the sound is sharp and
close to frullato. The fast textural build up in each instrumental group results in a large
textural block of 24 parts (Section E, m. 36). The individual parts and instrumental
groups are unified by articulation: oboe and cor anglais playing harsh flullato-Iike
multiphonics, trumpet hom and trombones playing frullato, flute synchronized with
9
Szalonek, preface to the score of Lessons (Krak6w: PWM, 1967).
10
Ibid.
233
clarinet and piano in short vertical impulses. As the piece progresses, the textures enlarge
in parts with a tendency towards vertical synchronization until all parts are synchronized
in four clusters at the end of section F (see Fig. 6.59, section F, mm. 54-58). At this point
(section G) Szalonek introduces meter - 6/16. The entire section G is based on textural
contrast between ad libitum textures and sections in which there is vertical coordination
in parts of wind section and piano. As the section progresses the tendency is to extend the
ad libitum texture with vertically synchronized chords-like impulses. This gradual
transformation of the entire textural block from synchronized parts into ad libitum is
achieved in overlapping layers, first in flutes, oboes and clarinets with each layer making
a sudden change from vertical impulses to ad libitum (see Fig. 6.60, section G, mm 72-
84).
The following section H lasting for 13 seconds and the first climax of the piece is one
large block composed of four textural layers, defined by articulation. The largest is a 31-
part homogeneous ad libitum texture in winds created by superimposing a series of 12
notes - a remote remainder of dodecaphonic technique (see Fig. 6.57, section H). The
percussion layer in 6/16 continues from section G; the piano texture entirely composed of
clusters and viola synchronized with double bass in bouncing on open strings to reach the
highest note. The sharp cut off of this colorful explosion is juxtaposed with a single layer
of multi phonics in oboe beginning the second phase (Section I and J) without a break -
the first exception to the rule of placing general pauses to formally separate contrasting
sections. Here, however, the continuity is desirable and lasts until the second culminating
point at the end of section K. The texture quickly gravitates towards the vertical
synchronization of parts. Between sections I and J a general pause is replaced by chords-
like clusters glissandi in strings towards the highest note accompanied by kettle-drums
glissando (crescendo from sjjJ to flj), overlapping with a one-bar reminder of the ad
libitum texture. However, the ad libitum aspect ofthis texture disappears here: all parts in
flute, oboe and clarinet are brought to vertical synchronization by the same subdivision in
a bar (8:1).
234
The lead up to the second climax of the piece features increased rate of vertical chordal
impulses at ffff; here the glissandi in horns provide minor disturbances to this unified
textural block, finally culminating in a vertical chord in all parts reinforced by another
cluster of over three-octaves atffff(see Fig. 6.58). The general pause to formally separate
the coda allows for the decay of the cluster in the piano part. 11
The coda of Lessons- an overall decrescendo fromffto pppp- is limited to strings and
matches the opening in its subtleties of sound featuring, at first, overlapping held notes
played behind the bridge to produce 'a jarring sound resembling a harmonic,' followed
by a wedge cluster of harmonics ending in a single part glissando moving towards the
highest note at pppp.
While it is the use of multiphonics, resulting in colorful and unusual sonorities, that
define the provocative and unique side of Les sons, clusters are frequently used as a
structural device, particularly to demarcate the beginning of textural blocks and entire
sections. For example, the piano part of Les sons almost entirely consists of clusters
which are often superimposed with clusters in the wind section to act as 'sound impulses'
marking the beginning and end of sections (See Fig. 6.59 section G, mm.l-6). 12
Mobile clusters are typical of string parts, particularly in double basses, which act as a
background to superimposed wind parts (Section C, mm. 23-35). The least used type of
cluster in Les sons is the static cluster. An example is at the end of section C, where the
double bass part features a semitone cluster which provides a sound band set against
percussion layers: a continuous layer of glissandi played by kettledrums contrasted with
single impulses played by cymbals and gongs.
11
In the recording from the premiere the reverberations from the piano are overlapping with the entry of the
coda- the single part in double basses. The more recent recording from Warsaw Autumn in 1999 leaves
reverberations longer before the entry of double bass.
12
An exception is found in section C where piano part involves a series upwards and downwards glissandi
played with the plectrum, and section E where piano part contains 3:1 subdivision of a beat.
235
Even almost fifty years later, the radical side of Les sons still caused polarization of
opinions. David Wordsworth summed up the 1999 Warsaw Autumn performance of Les
sons as follows:
Over Witold Szalonek's LesSons (1965) it is best to draw a veil - a catalogue of what were
perhaps 'right on' musical experiments then, but now sound dated and frankly ridiculous. 13
Others, however, note the work's artistic value and position within Szalonek's oeuvre.
Andrzej Chlopecki in his short account of the piece noticed its freshness:
The assortment of sound effects also includes striking the keys of instruments, speaking through
the instrument, using only mouthpieces, and blowing bottles. Even today, a long time since it was
considered surprising and amazing, this organised 'chaos' of sound still sounds exciting. 14
Szalonek's contribution to the sonoristic repertoire is highly individual. Through his

unique approach to sound and composition Szalonek, throughout his life, wanted to
bridge the gap between Western and non-Western music, between concert hall music and
the ordinary sounds that surround us, and between the primordial times through raw,
natural sounds and learned 'musical' sounds. Most importantly, Szalonek more than any
other composer sought to emphasize the listening experience (sonoristic music as heard,
not as seen) and drew attention not only to the individual timbres but to the sound itself.
13
David Wordsworth: http://www.musicweb-intemational.com/SandH/Dec99/warsaw.htm
14
Andrzej Chlopecki, Szalonek, Witold, ttp://www.culture.pl/en/culture/artykuly/es_muzyka_wsp61czesna
(accessed November 8, 2007).
236
Tomasz Sikorski: Sequenza I, 1966
As one of the youngest of the avant-garde Polish composers, Tomasz Sikorski (1939 -
1988) began his compositional career in the midst of the sonoristic period. Between 1956
and 1962 he studied composition at the Higher School of Music in Warsaw under his
father, Kazimierz Sikorski and piano under Zbigniew Drzewiecki. His involvement with
the Experimental studio in Warsaw (1961-1963) resulted in two pieces that use magnetic
tape: Echoes II (Echa II, 1961-63) for 1-4 pianos, chimes, 2 gongs, 2 tam-tams and tape
and Antiphones (Antyfony, 1963) for soprano, hom, piano, chimes, 2 gongs, 2 tam-tams
and tape. Sikorski's interest in sonorism is concentrated between 1964 and 1966, the time
in which many older composers, especially the leaders of the Polish avant-garde, had
already moved away from the sonoristic technique.
Prologues (Prologi, 1964) for a chorus of female voices, two pianos, four flutes, four
horns and three percussion groups, is the first piece in which Sikorski used the elements
of sonoristic technique. Although in this piece pitch (and its exact notation) remains
important, and melodic/motivic elements are still present in vocal and instrumental parts,
Sikorski experiments extensively with textural layers, expands the range of articulation
and works out the process of building up textural blocks. Sikorski continued further to
explore sonoristic texture-timbre in Concerto Breve (1965) for piano, twenty four wind
instruments and four percussion groups. In this piece Sikorski's notational advances
include the possibility of the optional shortening of the time values and irregular
fluctuation of rhythm, allowing for more flexibility in realization of the score. Melodic
figures are present but much greater emphasis is placed on clusters and characteristic
intervals. Sikorski's sonoristic technique culminates in Sequenza I from 1966, premiered
at the Warsaw Autumn Festival on the 22 September 1966 by the Orchestra Sinfonica
RAJ di Torino under Andrzej Markowski. The original version of the piece (played at the
premiere) was subsequently revised and published by PWM in 1970. 1 This analytical
discussion is based on the score which is the revised version of the piece; the issue of
revision is addressed at the end of the discussion.
1
The score published by PWM is a facsimile of the autograph.
237
Sequenza I is the longest of Sikorski's three pieces influenced by sonorism from that
period: it lasts for about ten to twelve minutes and employs the largest performing forces
of the three pieces: the orchestra has expanded strings and winds, and four percussion
groups (see Table 6.27). 2
Table 6.27. Instrumentation: Sequenza I
Wind section: String section:

4 flutes (fl) 12 violins I (vn)
4 oboes (ob) 12 violins II (vn)
4clarinets ( cl) 10 violas (vi)
4 bassoons (fg) 10 cellos (vc)
4 trumpets in C (tr) 8 double bass ( cb)
4 horns in F (cr)
4 tenor trombones (In)
Percussion section:
1. 4 tom-tom s. a. t. b. (tmt) 2. 4 bongos s. a. t. b.

soprano drum (tp) alto drum (tp)
2 gongs s.b. (gng) 2 temple blocks s. a. (tpbl)
bass cymbals (ptti) 2 tam-tams. b. (tmt)
3. 2 tom-tom a.b. 4. 2 bongos a.t. (bgs)

tenor drum (timpano tenore) bass drum (tp basso)
guiro bass cymbals (pt basso)
tubular bells (cmp) 4 temple blocks s. a. t. b. (tpbl)
2 pianos
--·· ---·
Among the Polish avant-garde works written around mid-1960s Sequenza I is striking for
its expressive force. The variety of articulation, particularly the upwards glissandi in
strings and sustained sounds in the brass section, create the sense of urgency and recalls
the climate similar to that ofPenderecki's Threnody. The fact that many composers in the
2
Prologues lasts 6'30"; Concerto Breve's prescribed duration is 9 to II minutes. The duration of Sequenza
I is based on the recording of the premiere. The revised version of the piece (as in the score) shortens the
piece by about 2'20".
238
second half of the 1960s distanced themselves from searching for new sound effects did
not discourage Sikorski from continuing to use instruments in a non-conventional way:
the verbal instructions include 'touch the edge of the vibrating instrument with metal
stick' in the bass cymbals part, 'fregando' (rubbing) for temple blocks, 'slide the bow
very slowly to produce a jarring sound' in double basses parts and, the most extreme
instruction in this score, 'strike with the cover of the keyboard,' 3 Like most sonoristic
works, Sequenza I uses time-space notation. To regulate the time flow, Sikorski typically
uses sections measured in seconds.
Formally the piece is divided into seven sections marked by capital letters A toG which
are grouped into three phases involving three dynamic rises. Each section is composed of
smaller segments, measured in seconds. General pauses subdivide some of the smaller
segments, the practice Sikorski implemented in the earlier works such as Prologhi and
Concerto Breve which frequently make use of general pauses to separate contrasting
textures or to cut through textural blocks. This is equally typical of Gorecki and Szalonek.
Other elements also help to articulate formal structure and delineate the three phases:
extreme dynamic and textural contrast. The table below (see Table 6.22) shows the
dynamic level and the performing forces at the beginning and end of each phase,
reinforcing the contrast at the major structural points of the piece:
Table 6.22 Overall structure of Sequenza I and the dynamic contrast between the phases.
Phase 1 Phase2 Phase 3 (Coda)

Sections A - C Sections D - F Section G
ppp Iff ppp Iff pp Iff
hom bassoon hom tutti all strings
trumpet hom trumpet trumpet
trombone trombone t. trombone hom
piano cello bass drum trombone
double bass tam-tam all strings
3
Tomasz Sikorski, Sequenza I (Krakow: PWM, 1970), II.
239
The first 'developing' phase from section A to C systematically introduces the main
material and two of the dominating instrumental timbres: brass and piano (See Fig. 6.61).
It also presents the strategy for building up larger textural blocks: the process of layering
smaller homogenic textural units within a single instrumental timbre. The piece opens
with three such units contained within brass: horns, trumpets and trombones respectively.
The entry of each textural unit is marked by a single pitch (F sharp) on the piano. Each
unit operates on minimal melodic material: microtonal glissandi between F sharp and G
flat (trumpets), C sharp and D flat (horns), and oscillating within Y. tone on F sharp
(trombones). From the outset the dynamics are integrated to both individual parts on one
level, to the textural layers on another level, and to the entire texture built from these
layers. Thus the individual textural units reflect the overall shape of the entire section A
which proceeds over three dynamic rises (see Table 6.23). In tum, section A is a
microcosm of the overall form of the piece also shaped by three dynamic and textural
rises.
Table 6.23 Sequenza I, section A (the revised version: the score):
Section A: 55"ca :
score no. 1-3 score no. 5 score no. 7-10

trumpet-------- -------------------------- trumpet------------1
ppp<f ppp<f pp<fff, <. <
hom------------ P.G. -------------------------- P.G. hom---------
ppp<f ppp<f ppp---------
trombone- -------------------------- trombone------ I
ppp<f ppp<f p<fff
piano I sf piano II sff piano I sff

piano II sf piano II sff
Although from the opening of the piece the prominent pitch F# in piano part would
suggest greater emphasis on exact pitch in general, just over a minute into the piece
(second page in the score) hom parts paired to play a perfect fifth (Ab- Db and C # - G #)
are instructed to play 'out of tune,' thereby undermining the role of exact pitch. Other
instructions to distort the exact pitch are frequent throughout the piece and also include
'the highest tuning,' and 'raise or lower by Y. tone.' The following two sections 8 and C
240
are much more varied in colour and articulation: section B introduces a percussion
texture composed of a series of attacks malta accelerando/ritardando in tom-toms and
bongos with the two superimposed piano parts forming a textural layer of repeated
perfect fifths accelerando/ritardando; section C introduces, for the first time, a string
texture in cellos and double basses playing arpeggio on all strings behind the bridge.
The second phase, from section D to F, leads to the first climactic rise of the piece
through systematic enlargement of texture, particularly in the string section. The entire
section D reflects the clarity of formal structure which rests on three timbrally contrasting
large textures separated by general pauses (see Table 6.24). The opening of section D
(see Fig.6.62 section D) features one of Sikorski's typical textures: a homogeneous block
of superimposed brass parts exploring the narrow pitch range through microtonal
glissandi. The fluctuating 'hair-pin' dynamics in the form of 'throbs' are integrated with
pitch changes in each part and keeps the otherwise static texture in flux. This particular
use of dynamic contractions integrated to individual parts is one of Sikorski's fingerprints
which he had already tried out in Concerto Breve (see Fig. 6.63 section F).
Another of Sikorski's fingerprints frequently used in Sequenza I, is the use of fluctuations

in pitch and dynamics as seen in the second textural block of section D. Another
distinctive texture is created by layering parts of fluctuating and vibrating pitch
particularly in winds (see Fig. 6.64, section D). The internal motion is created by
fluctuations on two levels: the dynamic level (simultaneous crescendo with decrescendo)
and the frequency of pitch fluctuation (simultaneous ritardando with accelerando). These
kinds of textures were also introduced in earlier pieces, first in Prologhi (see Fig. 6.65,
Prologhi, section A) and followed through in Concerto Breve (see Fig. 6.66 section J).
241
Table 6.24 Sikorski, Sequenz a I: formal outline of section D.
Dl D2 D3 D4 DS D6
1'-1 '30" 7'-10' 15"-25" 5"-7" 5" -7" 30"-45"
•
trumpet flute trumpet l ------------------------------------------

hom P.G. oboe P.G. hom repeating D 1 texture-----------------------------
trombone clarinet trombone.! ------------------------------------------
bassoon ppsempre
trumpet
hom strings: violin I, II------------
trombone
ppp <fJJ fJJ ppp<ff
The third of the textures in section D involves overlapping the two larger homogeneous
blocks: winds and strings (violin I and violin II). Sikorski repeats here the Dl texture in
winds and after 5-7 seconds introduces a block in the strings, unified in a mobile cluster
of upwards glissandi from the middle to high register. Thus the entire section D is
constructed according to the key characteristics of sonoristic technique: clearly defined
large textural blocks, clear-cut sections separated by general pauses, clusters and textural
and dynamic contrast.
The process of expansion in strings begins in the following section (E). Beginning with
one part in double bases 'sliding the bow very slowly to produce a 'jarring sound' from
piano to forte the maximum textural expansion of the piece reaches its maximum of sixty
three parts at the end of section F (see Fig. 6.67 section F). The systematic increase in
texture matched by an expanding dynamic range and pitch range to the 'highest note'
proceeds again as a series of crescendi separated by general pauses. The textural blocks
are vertically synchronized at the entry and the cut off point (see Table 6.25):
242
Table 6.25 Sikorski, Sequenza I, sections E and F: textural expansion in the string
section over four dynamic rises.
Section E Section F
p<f p<f p <if p <Jjf
8 double P.G 10 cellos P.G. 12 violins I P.G. 12 violins I P.G.
basses 8 double 12 violins II 12 violins II
basses 10 violas 10 violas
10 cellos 10 cellos
8 double basses 8 double basses
The three to five seconds of silence does not leave enough time for the reverberation
sounded after the climactic end of section F at.ff.f. The following texture (section G, m.l)
in the strings featuring glissandi to and from the highest note begins the closing phase
and seems to prolong the echo of the climax. In contrast to the earlier sections, here the
contrasting textural blocks of Sequenza's two principal instrumental timbres, strings and
winds, overlap continuously, which creates a polygeneous texture with clear contrast
between the superimposed layers and clear cut entries and endings of textures. To keep
the fast rate of change within the same instrumental group and the same homogeneous
textural block, Sikorski cuts through the texture by using a single element such as
dynamics. Thus between segments G4, G5 and G6: (see Fig. 6.68, section G) a sudden
drop to subito ppp followed by subitofffcolours the overall timbre of the same texture.
The final crescendo to flf combines the two already familiar textures: strings, and textural
block G I overlapping with preferred brass timbres reminiscent of the opening of the
piece - horns, trumpets and trombones. A similar textural block, although with different
pitch material superimposing a microtonal tremolo, opens Concerto Breve (compare Fig.
6.69 and Fig. 6. 70). The process of assembling the smaller segments and larger textures
by repetition, juxtaposition and overlapping creates a clear structure which even from
listening alone, could easily be visualized as blocks of a variety of sizes, shapes and
shades arranged along the time line.
If Serocki's or Schaeffer's sonoristic fingerprints were defined by the use of distinctive

textures and sonorities, Sikorski's fingerprint is defined by the specific use of piano and
243
exploration of the attack and decay of sound in general. Regarding the former, the piano
is featured in all Sikorski's works from the 1960s. 4 However, the role of the piano part in
Sequenza I changes considerably from the previous two works with sonoristic influence,
Prologhi and Concerto breve. While the piano part in these earlier works constitutes a
substantial textural layer, in Sequenza I, it does not seem to provide an equal part to the
other textural layers in winds and strings. Instead, its role is closely linked to the
progression of textures by marking off the entry of textural units in section A and B (first
phase). As a short textural layer it is used in section B. Only in the second phase (section
E and F) when the vertical space is enlarged to the maximum is the piano part equal to
other instrumental layers. Despite its limited role, it embodies one feature of Sikorski's
pieces - the attack and decay of sound, which will become central to the following piece,
Sonant for piano from 1967. Sikorski explained in the programme note:
This work is based on the contrast between the attack and decay of sound. The work's
construction, above all its temporal organization (augmentation of rhythmic values, approximate
values, whose duration depends each time on the timbral characteristics of the piano), as well as its
'form'( ... ) are the consequences of the distribution of Sonant's sound material in two strata:
those of attack and decay'
In Sequenza I the decay of sound is also explored via percussion instruments, particularly
gongs and bells that have a similar function to the piano part, i.e. marking off the new
sections (see section C and D) and the entry of individual textural blocks as within
section D (see Fig. 6.64)
An aleatoric element is an integral part of time-space notation and plays an important part
in formation of textures in Sequenza I. Indeed the freedom of realization applies to
internal organization of musical elements such as pitch ('highest, out of tune), pace and
rhythmic flow. The flexibility also applies to the length of each segment as in the opening
where the segments are marked from five to seven seconds. However, the cut off point,
whether for larger or smaller textures, should be strictly observed. Sikorski specified in
4
These include Echoes II, 1963; Antiphnones, 1963; Prologues, 1964; Concerto breve, 1966; Sequenza I.
1966; Monodia e sequenza, 1966; Sonant, 1967; Diaphony, 1969; and Homophony 1970.
5
Quoted in Thomas, Polish Music since Szymanowski, p. 192.
244
the score that 'the principle of the vertical synchronization applies only to the entry or to
the end - in other cases the performers play independently.' 6 As with most sonoristic
scores, the limits of the performer's independence is carefully prescribed and has
predictable results. For instance, instead of specifying the pitch range and density of a
cluster Sikorski makes extensive use of layering parts with 'the highest note.' This
procedure aims at similar results to those the opening texture of Threnody: to achieve
sonority of narrow in range by very dense microtonal clusters. An example of such
textural layer can be found in section B (score no. 9) featuring oboes and clarinets
playing slow vibrato on the 'highest note' at forte dynamic level.
Sikorski also uses 'the highest notes' to create textures of mobile clusters, as in section D
(score no. 6). An entire textural block in violins (I and II) is based on repetition of mobile
cluster which begins as a two octave semitone cluster moving towards 'the highest pitch'
through glissandi in each part. The procedure, giving an impression of pitch 'smudging,'
effectively narrows the cluster range to a narrow, microtonal group of pitches in the
highest register of the instrument. The 'highest note' is also a feature of a texture in the
entire string section built by superimposing upwards and downwards glissandi (pizz.) in
which only the lowest note is specified as in section G (see Fig. 6.68).
Sikorski uses similar procedures in relation to a repetition of groups of notes within a

textural block. Thus superimposed parts combine motto accelerando and molto
ritardando simultaneously (see Fig. 6.64, section D, score no. 3). In these procedures,
which deliberately undermine pitch and exclude any sense of pulse, the emphasis is on
the overall textural sound effect en masse which only specifies pitch range and direction,
rather than on individual detail.
***
6
Tomasz Sikorski, Sequenza I (Krak6w: PWM, 1970), score cover.
245
As indicated earlier the original version of the piece that the Warsaw Autumn audience
had heard in 1966, preserved in a recording, was revised and published by PWM in 1970.
Sequenza I, together with Dimensions of Time and Silence by Penderecki discussed
earlier, are the only two 'emblematic' works for which two versions exist. 7 In relation to
the revision of Sequenza I, there are two issues that are worth considering: firstly how the
revision affects one's peception of the form, and secondly how it affects ones perception
of the piece as sonoristic?
To answer these questions I will briefly outline the changes. The revision applies only to
phase I, segment A. In the original recording (of the premiere) Sikorski uses in section A
string textures that are later featured in sections F and G. Additionally, the general pauses
that separate the blocks of textures in section A are filled with temple block attacks. The
table below is a simplified outline of the progression of textures in both versions (see
Table 6.26).
The revision cuts out the string textures and the temple block part, and shortens the entire
section from 3' 16" to about 55 seconds. Thus the revised section A makes use of only the
brass section (trumpets, horns and trombones) and piano, as described earlier (see Table
6.23).
7
Only these two versions were available to the author.
246
Table 6.11 Gorecki, Canti strumenta/i: formal outline.
Introduction Middle section Coda

Score no. 22
(score no. I to 7) Phase I (8-13) Phase 2 (score no. 14-21)
14 15 16 17
violin 1-------------------------- flute pice. ------------------------------------- fl, c-lg, violin, viola, flute, trumpet, tam-
violin 2------------------------- flute--------------------------------------- gng, bg tams; From score no. 25 violin
violin 3----------------------- trumpet -------------------------------------------- mandolin----- and viola only.
cc--------------------------------------------------
violin 1-------------------------- gong------------------------------------------- mando lin--------
violin 2-------------------------- violin-------------------------------------------- cassa di legno--
vio lin 3------------------------ violin------------------------------------------- bongos---------
p (flute, trumpet, tam-tam)-------
violin 1-3-------------------------- I mp (violin, viola)-----------------
viola 1-3 ---------------------------
jJjJ sempre(tutti)----------------- I jJjJsempre (tutti)------------------------------------------------------- mp{vn, vi, score no, 21) mp/p------------------
~
_,
As far as the perception of the form is concerned, introducing the strings textures during
the opening phase provides a sense of recapitulation when the same textures, although in
a different context, reappear towards the climactic point and the closing sections of the
piece. The series of rising crescendi in the strings also make the opening of the piece
much richer in contrast in instrumental timbres in the original version. However, cutting
the string textures from section A heightens the climactic point of the piece which
follows after the systematic introduction of instrumental colours and textural build up.
Although the revised, shorter version of the piece makes the opening much less
extravagant, the piece does not loose its character as a sonoristic work. By the time the
revised version of Sequenza !was published, Sikorski had already written Sonant (1967)
and was well into his minimalistic phase.
•••
This chapter has focused on sonoristic 'manifestos' which are not only extreme pieces
within the sonoristic movement but which also mark a high point of sonorism for each of
the composers involved. This aspect often has a direct bearing on how the compositional
phases of individual composers are delineated, a notorious point of disagreement in the
literature on sonorism. Frequently once a composer arrives at the extreme use of
sonoristic technique found in the 'manifesto' pieces, a new compositional phase ensues.
The critical discussion has highlighted the role of the sonoristic elements such as sharp
contrast, the use of extended techniques, dynamics and notation in articulating the formal
outline. Clarity of form, which often evokes a visual image and is easily aurally
perceptible, is one of the main characteristics of this repertoire. The common sonoristic
traits not only highlight the differences between sonoristic works and other European
textural pieces, already discussed in Chapter 3, but also reveal another side of sonorism,
that of individual 'fingerprints.' The following chapter presents sonoristic profiles of
composers, and discusses their similarities and differences.
248
Chapter 7
From footprints to fingerprints
The concept of 'footprints' in Polish sonorism and how they relate to the broader context
of European textural music at the time, considered in Chapter 3, is complemented in this
chapter by the discussion of 'fingerprints.' Through comparison of composers' stylistic
features and the treatment of the main sonoristic devices, a distinctive profile can be
formed for each of the composers discussed. Mirka has noted that while foreign critics
initially emphasized the common and unifying features of Polish music, Polish
commentators pointed to individual stylistic differences. Tadeusz Kaczynski had already
remarked on this in 1968: 1
... the individuality of single members of the 'group' (the word 'group' can only be used here in
quotation marks) asserted itself from the very beginning. From the beginning, each composer
followed his own special path (to speak here, of course, only of those who stood at the peak of
their profession), without being hindered by others, and without hindering those who took other
paths.'
Even when the common sonoristic features already noted are considered - the use of
clusters, timbre and texture treated as the primary form building element, new
articulations bound up with the use of extended techniques, methods of building large
textures and fast rates of textural and parametric change - there are striking differences
between the composers, and also differences in the way their styles develop, even over
short periods of time. Mirka asserts that Penderecki's music 'was perceived not only as
the earliest manifestation of sonorism but also as its measure, to which any other pieces
and composers classified thereafter as "sonoristic" had to be compared.' 3 While this view
1
Mirka, The Sonoristic Structuralism of Krzysztof Penderecki. 4-5.
'Tadeusz Kaczynski, 'Polnishe Avantgarde am Scheideweg,' Melos 1(1968): 6-13, quoted in Mirka,
ibid .• 4.
3
249
can be questioned, it may be useful to take Penderecki's 'sonorist profile' as a touchstone,
to see what individual stylistic characteristics emerge in comparison with other
composers' works written at the same time or slightly later. 4
Above all, the Penderecki of these early years appears to be a cluster-based composer.
Although the extent to which clusters are used from piece to piece varies, they are almost
always essential in building contrasting textures and in articulating the structure.
Furthermore, through the sheer variety of his cluster usages, Penderecki creates specific
sonorities, his own memorable fingerprints, such as the opening and closing textures of
Threnody or the vocal cluster-based textures of Dimensions. In comparison, Schaeffer's
use of clusters in Scultura is quite distinct from Penderecki's. For Schaeffer, it is more
appropriate to talk about clusters as a special case of sonorities. Clusters are not featured
in their 'classic' Pendereckian form as thick, black bands of sound. They arise from a
process of building large textural blocks.
For G6recki, on the other hand, clusters are one important factor among other sonoristic
devices, but their use and treatment varies considerably from piece to piece. While in
Scontri they are one of the constituent textural layers and sonorities within larger,
diversified textures, in Genesis the emphasis is on cluster sonority as the main substance
of sustained bands of sound. On the other hand, cluster attacks in the piano, treated as
percussion rather than sustained bands of sounds, create the archetypical basis of one of
Sikorski's most characteristic sonorities. For Szalonek, particularly in Les sons, clusters
are marginal and their use is very specific: as attacks and as markers within larger
textures. Serocki, like Schaeffer, creates specific types of cluster-sonorities or textures;
for example, in Symphonic Frescoes, the piano textures are built entirely from cluster
attacks (for which he invented a special graphic sign).
4
While Mirka's opinion may seem to hold good for 1960 (Scultura was also written in 1960 but not
published or performed), even at this time there was scope for other views. Significantly, Xenakis (an
undeniable influence on Polish sonorism), in an interview with Mario Bois, said that he was familiar with
the music of Penderecki in 1960, but was more impressed by Gorecki's work: 'I was a member of the jury
of the Museum of Modem Art in 1960. The score submitted by Pendrecki was still in the vein of the
Darmstadt serialists. I preferred a score for orchestra by GOrecki, with its sustained sounds, its masses,
much more advanced.' Mario Bois, Jannis Xenakis. The Man and His Music (London: Boosey & Hawkes,
1967), 17.
250
Returning to Penderecki' s sonoristic profile although clusters are central to it, there are
also other specific sonorities that contribute to it. For instance, the textural layering based
on percussive effects on strings used in Threnody (score no. 6-9) is also featured, albeit in
a modified version, in Polymorphia and the String Quartet. Other distinct in sonority
textural layers and notational fingerprints of Polymorphia (1961-62) are created from
upwards and downwards glissandi between the indicated notes (score no. 8), and textures
created by superimposing encephalographic-like melodic lines (score no. 11-24). Another
distinctive texture, familiar from Threnody and used in the String Quartet, is the sonority
created by playing on the tailpiece. In Fluorescences (1961-62) Penderecki added to this
list special effects such as rubbing the strings and sawing a piece of wood (iron) with a
hand-saw, for which he naturally had to invent new symbols.
There are many more points of comparison between Penderecki's sonoristic works which
on the one hand share textures and on the other introduce a distinct sonority, a fingerprint
typical of individual works. In this context, however, Penderecki's String Quartet, rather
than Threnody or Dimensions provides a good point of comparison between Penderecki
and Gorecki. As mentioned before, in Elementi the provocative and confrontational side
of Gorecki's personality begins with the spatial arrangement of the string trio to
emphasize the individual players as soloists rather than to unify the ensemble. The
exploitation of dynamic contrast, the use of the highest notes on all strings to produce
harsh and screeching sonorities and using the minimum of means (three instruments in
Elementi) to produce the maximum effect are all part of his gestural fingerprints. By
comparison, what Penderecki does in the String Quartet is to emphasize the homogeneity
of the string quartet, rather than individuality of the players. Another gestural fingerprint
of Gorecki's is the detuning of instruments, used in Elementi and Monodram, a device
which adds an aleatoric element and deliberately takes away the control over the
performances of these works. As opposed to detuning, Penderecki uses different tunings
among different groups. In Emanations for two full size string orchestras, the second
orchestra is tuned a minor second higher. Penderecki also explores microtonal sonorities
by tone fluctuations in both orchestras. However, these sonorities are produced with a
much more controlled approach to pitch than in Gorecki's pieces.
25I
Since Schaeffer only wrote one sonoristic piece, perhaps it is not appropriate to talk about
a sonoristic profile. Schaeffer's describes his compositional credo as to 'compose from
the point zero and not to use what one already knows but to learn from oneself by
advancing into new directions. For me composition has always been a terrain of
experiment in technique, craftsmanship, expression and even the psychology of
composition.' 5 Thus it is not surprising that there was no sonoristic period as such in
Schaeffer's music and after writing Scultura there was also no need to revisit the
sonoristic technique that he had already mastered. What is significant about Scultura is
that despite the large number of works Schaeffer wrote around that time, not only does
Scultura demonstrates Schaeffer's immediate grasp with the trend, but in comparison
with many other sonoristic works, it is a remarkable piece, with a firm place among the
foremost sonoristic manifestos. 6 In Scultura, Schaeffer could be seen as a composition
teacher, demonstrating not only how to compose a sonoristic piece but how to achieve the
most striking results. Accordingly Scultura deserves to be thought of as a treatise on
colour and texture en masse.
Serocki, like Penderecki, presents a case in which one can trace the stylistic development
of the fingerprints. His preference for mobile rather than static textures is evident in a
pre-sonoristic work, Episodes, which is dominated by string mobile textures used later in
the second movement of Symphonic frescoes. As already noted, Serocki's principal
fingerprint is created from a specific articulation marking: aperiodic tonal repetition.
Starting with Segmenti, it became Serocki' s sonoristic signature and is one of the
dominant textures in Symphonic frescoes. The signature first appears as a single layer in
the first movement. Absent from the second movement, it then reappears in the third
movement several times as a single part (for example in celesta, bar 151 ), as a textural
block of various timbres (for example in harps, guitar and mandoline, bar 184) and as a
sound mass of all parts. As a single line it separates other textures and timbres; as a
textural layer it may be superimposed with other contrasting textural layers (as in the
5
Joanna Zaj'I.C, Muzyka, teatr ifi/ozofia Bogus/awa Scheffera [Music, Theatre and philosophy ofBoguslaw
Schaeffer] (Salzburg: Collsh, 1992), 40.
6
By 1960 Schaeffer had written 66 works. Stawowy and Zaj!\.C, Bogus/aw Schaeffer, 69.
252
third movement). The maximum build up of this texture towards the end of the piece
reaches forty-eight parts and provides the climax of the whole piece.
In Kilar's case the fingerprints are not so much a matter of stylistic features. A part of
Kilar's sonoristic profile, however, is his provocative attitude. This can even apply to his
titles, especially when they refer to popular culture: Riff 62 with an allusion to jazz and
Gemirique in French meaning a commercial jingle. With Diphthongos, which may have
been Kilar's response to two slightly earlier works - Penderecki's Dimensions and
Lutoslawski's Poems by Henri Michaux- both using choir, the provocation lies not least
in the discrepancy between length and performance resources After all, it seems (at least
now) a little perverse to employ over 150 performers for about four minutes of music.
Turning to Szalonek's and Sikorski's fingerprints, what needs to be emphasized, in

contrast to Gorecki, Penderecki and Serocki or Kilar, is that in their case the specific
characteristics do not necessarily arise from the sonoristic pieces, though they work well
within the context of sonorism. In case of Szalonek, his interest in multiphonics, not so
integral to sonorism, is already present in an earlier work (Concertina, 1963) and is
pursued in later ones, in fact almost to the end of his life. Sikorski represents a similar
case. Although within Sikorski's sonoristic output one can trace the development of
fingerprints and certain procedures which are introduced in Prologhi and followed
through to Sequenza I, other stylistic features such as the use of sound decay, and certain
specific timbral combination become a lasting preoccupation beyond his sonoristic period.
More typical of sonorism are characteristic textures with internal fluctuations of pitch and
integrated dynamics. The frequent use of piano flourishes to demarcate brass textures and
other specific timbres gives Sikorski's textures a distinctive coloristic identity within the
sonoristic repertoire.
Looking at the individual stylistic profiles of composers involved with sonorism, it might
sometimes appear that the differences are greater than similarities. However, it is only
through considering the relationship between the general sonoristic devices and
individual stylistic fingerprints that one gains an integrated perspective on Polish
253
sonorism, which in tum was a unique and original part of European fascination with
timbre and texture.
***
There is always a certain tension between looking at the achievements and characteristics
of a national school, and those of the individual artists who comprise the school. Over
time the group element and the national element lose significance and individual features
come to the fore. Almost fifty years after the event, it is time to rebalance the collective
and the individual view of sonorism. This issue was in fact referred to as early as 1967.
Upon the publication of Scultura by PWM Zygmunt Mycielski wrote about the sound
world of Scultura and how it reflected the time it was composed in. He said:
In this way I also look at the first and later cubists, the first and later futurists. Schaeffer was, is
and will be ours ... now and later, but I don't know yet how it will be called in 50 years time.'
Almost 50 year on the notion of sonorism, despite its problematic issues and
contradictions, not only is firmly imprinted as a term and concept in Polish musicology
but finally is crossing the language barrier. In spite of everything, the term sonorism has
come to represent well both the footprints and the fingerprints of the movement.
7
Zygmunt Mycielski, 'Scultura Boguslawa Schaeffera' [Boguslaw Schaeffer's Scultura], Ruch muzyczny
ll,no.l9(1967): 17.
254
Chapter 8
The Legacy of Sonorism
In the context of Polish music from the end of the 1960s onwards, sonorism left a large
body of repertoire that forms an important and fascinating part of a collective musical
testimony to both time and place. This chapter only outlines the post sonoristic phase for
composers considered in this study. However, the full impact of sonorism on music
written after 1966 awaits a thorough assessment. At one level, the legacy of sonorism, for
those composers who were a part of it, can be measured by looking at the use of
sonoristic devices in the works written by these senior composers well beyond the initial
sonoristic phase. At another level, the influence of sonorism can be traced within a
younger generation of Polish composers (including students of, for instance, Penderecki
and Gorecki) for whom sonorism was already a part of their recent cultural heritage and
academic training. 1
As indicated earlier, for most avant-garde composers around 1960, arriving at a 'pure'
sonoristic piece was followed by a subsequent sudden change of direction and a new
aesthetic. Naturally the point in time at which this change was made varied from
composer to composer. However, as a collective movement, sonorism began to fade from
around the mid-1960s. The leaders of the avant-garde such as Penderecki and Gorecki
were among the first to leave the sonoristic paradigm and pursue their own individual
paths. For Penderecki, the extent to which sonoristic features function within a changing
aesthetic after 1962 varies from piece to piece. As discussed earlier, the piece marking
1
One composer omitted from this study is Zygmunt Krauze (b. 1938) who by the end of 1960s played a
significant part in the contemporary music scene: as an improviser and interpreter of graphic scores and as
a director of a group 'The Music Workshop' (Warsztat muzyczny). From the late 1950s Krauze's
compositions were directly influenced by the abstract painter Wladyslaw Strzemit\ski (1893-1952) and his
concept of 'unism.' The main characteristics of the theory ofunism are 'rejection of dynamism and contrast,
avoidance of mutual play of colour and shape .. .' (Krystyna Tamawska-Kaczorowska, 'Unism D:twi~kowy
w tw6rczosci Zygmunta Krauzego') which seem to be on the opposite end to the main features ofsonoristic
music. Krauze does not see himself as a part of the sonoristic trend: 'I was too young, besides I was always
in opposition to so called 'Polish school' and I tried to write music which was different to what my
colleagues were writing' (Zygmunt Krauze, letter to author, October, 2, 1999).
255
the end of Penderecki's 'high sonorism' is Canon (1962); a subsequent phase is
inaugurated by the Stabat Mater for unaccompanied chorus (1962), later incorporated
into the St Luke Passion (1966). The return to the vocal element and the use of a
conventional text, was, as later with Gorecki, symptomatic of the aesthetic change.
However, signs of Penderecki' s son oris tic thinking would still be present until the First
Symphony (1973). Whereas in the sonoristic period Penderecki's focus was on the
instrumental ensembles, in the post-sonoristic period, large scale vocal works are at the
centre of his preoccupations; these include the opera The Devils of Loudun (1968-1970),
the oratorios Dies irae ( 1967), Utrenia - which comprises The entombment of Christ
(1969-1970) and The Resurrection (1970-1971) - and another smaller oratorio
Cosmogony ( 1970) which Penderecki composed almost in parallel with Utrenia. Mirka
classified the period beginning with Stabat Mater as 'late sonorism,' a period in which
the instrumental pieces 'came about as "spin-offs" from the large vocal works.' 2 Among
the instrumental pieces composed in this phase the two pieces that immediately draw
attention, not least because of their suggestive title which draws on Lucretius's work De
rerum natura (On the nature of things), are De natura sonoris I (1966) and De natura
sonoris 2 ( 1970). There are many parallels between these two works and other sonoristic
pieces: both works are short (of seven and about nine minutes duration), Penderecki's
fingerprints such as clusters are one of the main textural devices. The exploration of
timbre includes (as in earlier, 'classic' sonorist works) the use of the highest and lowest
note on the instrument, quarter tones, bowing with heavy pressure, playing between the
bridge and tailpiece, and rubbing the strings. Timbral and textural contrasts play an
important role in the textural narrative; the time-space notation and dotted barlines within
the larger sections also fall within the general sonoristic approach to the issues of time
regulation and notation. These sonoristic characteristics, however, occur in a different
context, and form only one side of the work's aesthetic. The 'other' side of the piece is
formed by textures influenced by twelve-note thinking and greater emphasis on exact
2
Penderecki's comment, quoted by Mirka, is, in this context, revealing: 'Usually, when writing a large
work, I also write a little piece. I compose it of elements which I have cast off, and which do not enter the
large piece .... When writing Passion, I wrote De natura sonoris no. 1, and [while composing] Utrenia [I
also composed] De natura sonoris no. 2 ... When writing The Devils, I wrote Capriccio for violin and
orchestra, which is easily recognizable in the buffo scenes' (Mirka, The Sonoristic Structuralism of
Krzysztof Penderecki, 343).
256
pitch. The sonoristic elements within Penderecki's post-sonoristic works are an integral
part of the transforming language progressing towards the tradition and traditional means
of expression reaffirmed in the Awakening of Jacob (1974).
For Gorecki, the piece that most clearly anticipated the 'white note' modal idiom of his
works written after 1971 was the Three Pieces in the Old Style ( 1963 ). However, the first
work to clearly move towards the style that came to be known as 'new simplicity' was
Refrain (Refren) for orchestra, written in 1965. Ad matrem (1971) for soprano, mixed
choir and orchestra, which closed Gorecki's immediately post-sonoristic period, also
opened a new phase in which, for the majority of works, the text provides an aesthetic
basis and has a decisive impact on the character of the music. Even within this period,
however, some sonoristic traits are still present: homogeneity of textural layers (confined
to the instrumental groups and instruments), the use of extreme dynamics, clear-cut
alternations of textures, and a dramatic structural use of general pauses.
Turning to the other members of the avant-garde, Scultura remained Schaeffer's only
excursion into sonorism (although some textural aspects such the 'marker texture' from
Scultura are also used and developed further in the String Quartet from 1964). In the
course of 1960 Schaeffer composed over ten works and some of them were much more
experimental than Scultura. 3 The graphic mobile Nonstop ( 1960), which can last from six
minutes to eight hours, is often cited as the first happening in Poland. 4 The same year, as
already mentioned, Schaeffer experimented extensively with notation. For instance
Topofonica for forty solo instruments (1959-60) introduced frame notation. Following
Tertium datur (1958) and Equivalenze sonore (1959), Montaggio (1960) is Schaeffer's
third compositional treatise. 5 Scored for four pianists and two percussionists, it explores
each piano in a distinctive way, as 'virtuoso, strict piano, aleatory and a percussion
3
By 1960 Schaeffer had sixty-six compositions to his name. Stawowy and Zaj~tc. Boguslaw Schaeffer, 69.
4
Nonstop was dedicated to Zygmunt Krauze. The premiere took place in Gallery 'Krzysztofora' in Krakow,
in 1964 and lasted for seven hours and thirty-eight seconds. The piece ended with a gunshot. Stawowy and
Zaj~tc. Boguslaw Schaeffer, 78-79.
5
Schaeffer, preface to the score Montaggio (Krakow: PWM, 1962).
257
piano.' 6 During the 1970s Schaeffer remained a radical, but his later work focuses
increasingly on stage and music theatre.
Although Kilar's sonoristic peak is marked by Diphthongos, the next piece Springfield
Sonnet ( 1965) for orchestra features a high concentration of sonoristic features including
large clear cut homogeneous textural blocks, dynamic contrasts, clearly defined textural
layers, sustained cluster sonorities, the use of the highest note on the instrument to create
dense microtonal clusters, and even the concluding sustained major-minor seventh chord
(perhaps an ironic gesture) which alludes to Penderecki's C major chord at the end of
Polymorphia. As in sonoristic pieces the formal sections of the piece (Introduzione,
Soggetto, Variante I, II and III, and Punta) are defined by textural and timbral contrast.
The score also has many attributes of a typical sonoristic score: time-space notation,
sections measured by seconds and spatial score layout. As with many of the sonoristic
works it lasts about eight and a half minutes. The next piece, Solenne for 67 performers
(including a soprano, 1967) with its static textures composed from sustained
superimposed seconds, is far removed from the fast changing and contrasting textural
blocks of the sonoristic pieces and is much closer to Gorecki's sound world of Refrain,
Canticum graduum (1969) and Old Polish Music (1969). Upstairs-Downstairs (1971) for
two children's choirs and orchestra, a much more consonant work (a minor third, A C,
sounds throughout the piece), based on sustained sonorities, is a definite and rather
beautiful turn away from the sonoristic sound world. The subsequent Prelude and
Christmas Carol (Przygrywka i Kol~da, 1972) coincides significantly with Penderecki's
and Gorecki's return to tradition and their own cultural roots.
Contrary to several other composers considered here, Serocki' s reaching of a sonoristic

peak in Symphonic frescoes did not lead to a sudden aesthetic shift; Serocki continued to
be fascinated with timbre and texture to the end of his life. In Continuum ( 1965-66) for
six percussionists and over 120 instruments Serocki experiments with spatial layout and
6
The virtuoso piano part is in traditional notation, the strict piano part has the time ratio of 1:3, the aleatory
piano 'is conceived as partly delimited (the number of sounds within the given intervals is fixed, but there
are no restrictions as to their use),' and the percussion piano 'has two sound categories at its disposal. There
are single sounds of outer or medium registers and groups of a few or a number of chromatic sounds of a
specified register. Ibid.
258
places the audience in the centre ofthe stage, anticipating Xenakis's Persephassa (!969).
The score specifies the three types of spatial arrangement: the stereophonic version,
simplified version and stage version. 7 The piece comprises thirty-six segments which, as
in Segmenti, can be subdivided into smaller time units and lasts about ten to thirteen
minutes. Serocki's characteristic fast, aperiodic repetition of a tone and fast glissandi
developed in the previous pieces is also a part of the Continuum textures. The next piece,
Forte e piano (1967) for two pianos and orchestra dedicated to and premiered by Alfons
and Aloys Kontarsky, also makes use of familiar Serocki features: not only aperiodic
tonal repetition, but also cluster attacks, textures sweeping across registers in the strings,
and, once again, a fast rate of change and textural contrast. In Serocki' s music from this
period, instrumental colour and movement are at the top of the hierarchy of musical
elements. Serocki' s large-scale work Dramatic Story (1970), inspired by a story by
Iwaszkiewicz8 and originally planned as a ballet, brought a noticeable change in language
(twelve-tone chords and cantilena passages. 9 Nevertheless, in his later works, in contrast
to Penderecki' s and Gorecki's turn to their cultural roots and tradition, Serocki revisited
some of the features tried out during the sonoristic period: Ad libitum for orchestra ( 1977)
is a mobile piece composed of five 'pieces', and Pianophonie for piano, electronics and
orchestra (1978) uses spatial arrangement ofthe performing forces.
Among the composers involved in the sonoristic movement, the case of Szalonek is a
special one. His commitment to sonorism stems from his own independent research and
philosophical approach to composition. Of course in the mid-1960s Szalonek too was
under the influence of textural composition and this is reflected in Les sons and his next
piece Mutazioni ( 1966), for chamber orchestra; the latter uses the same kind of ad libitum
textures as Lessons (3'd movement), focuses on the oboe to introduce larger sections of
the piece, and creates homogenic textural layers within instrumental sections which are
superimposed and juxtaposed. In the late 1960s Szalonek's focus was on exploring the
timbral characteristics of a single instrument (Quatro monologi for solo oboe 1966 and
Mutanza for piano, 1968) rather than creating large textures typical of the early 1960s.
7
Preface to the score, Serocki, Continuum (Krakow: PWM, 1968).
8
Gawrm\ska, 'Organizacja tworzywa muzycznego w tw6rczosci Kazimierza Serockiego,' 37.
9
Thomas, Polish Music Since Szymanowski, 153.
259
However, there are also ensemble pieces which retain many significant sonoristic features.
While Improvisations sonoristiques (1968), a graphic score for clarinet, trombone, cello
and piano, enriches the timbral palette by various unconventional ways of playing, in
Aarhus music (1970) for wind quintet Szalonek focuses entirely on multiphonics.
Another of Szalonek's graphic scores is 1+1+1+1 (1969) for one to four players
exploring timbral possibilities on strings. The freely chosen instruments are unified in
textures composed of a wide range of articulations (also typical of the sonoristic period)
including striking and rubbing the body of the instruments, a variety of glissandi (also on
harmonics), playing behind bridge, striking the music stand or chair and a variety of
pizzicati. Szalonek's uncompromising attitude during the 1960s would change in the
following decades, though sonoristic thinking would always be an integral part of his
sound world, a world that would eventually make connections with tradition, modality
and his own cultural roots (albeit in a rather different way to Penderecki and G6recki).
As noted earlier, Sikorski's high point of sonoristic thinking is represented by Sequenza I

which, like Szalonek's Lessons, came at the time when G6recki's Refrain (1965) and
Penderecki's St Luke Passion (1966) already symbolize stylistic turning points. Like the
latter composers, Sikorski also made a gradual shift towards a more diatonic language.
Sonant for piano (1967), while exploring Sikorski's 'fingerprint' attack and decay of
sound, clearly moves towards a personal form of minimalism in its repetition of
structures. Diaphony 's (1969) specification of duration - ad libitum - is symptomatic of
this trend. In Homophony for 2 pianos, 12 brass instruments and 3 percussions (1970)
Sikorski retains the preferred timbral combinations from his sonoristic phase (brass:
trumpet, hom trombone and piano) as well as dynamic and textural contrasts typical of
the sonoristic works. In Sikorski's description: 'it is a proposal for static, one-
dimensional music. In this work, both sound material and structuring are reduced to a
minimum.' 10
10
Tomasz Sikorski, note in programme book of 14~ 'Warsaw Autumn' (Warsaw: ZKP, 1970), 19, quoted
in Thomas, Polish Music since Szymanowski, 220.
260
Alongside the highly individual contributions of the composers discussed above, one also
needs at least to make reference to the compositional output of two composers,
Wlodzimierz Kotonski and Andrzej Dobrowolski, whose work may not be an obvious
part of sonorism, but is certainly affected by it. For Kotonski the sonoristic period begins
- in terms of his own work - with Canto per complesso da camera for a mixed ensemble
of eighteen instruments (1961) and ends with Aeolian Harp for soprano and four
instrumentalists (1973). 11 Although Kotonski is not regarded as a central figure within
sonorism and a significant part of his interest involved the music for tape and working in
the electronic studios, some ensemble pieces show clear sonorist influence. A battere
(1966) for, guitar, harpsichord, viola and cello surrounded by three percussion groups
explores the spatial aspect of sound, it draws attention to the individual timbres and
concentrates on percussive effects. As is typical with sonoristic works, the score uses
time-space notation and general pauses to separate textures, though most of the piece is
regulated by meter. The textural aspects of the sonoristic works is explored to a greater
extent in Musica per fiati e timpani (1963) and in Concerto per Quattro (1965). However,
operating with large textures and the use of clusters was never Kotonski' s preference.
Both scores retain typical sonoristic features: time-space notation and sections measured
by seconds; both also have a typical sonoristic piece's duration: about six and about
seven to eight minutes respectively.
Dobrowolski's predominantly textural orchestral output is closer to Cerha and Ligeti than
that of Polish contemporaries. In contrast to Kotonski, Dobrowolski's works from the
1960s mainly use large performing forces. Although Music for Strings, Four Groups of
Wind (1964) and Music for Orchestra (1968) operate with dense textures, the rate of
textural change is notably slower and the emphasis on exact pitch is much greater than in
typical sonoristic pieces. Both pieces, however, have durations typical of sonoristic works:
six and eight minutes.
11
During this span of twelve years Kotonski lists the following works which are written for a variety of
performing forces and also include piece for tape: Mikrostruktury for tape (1963), Musica per fiati e
timpani (1963), A battere for violin, viola, guitar, harpsichord and three percussionists (1966), Klangspiele
for tape (1967), Pour Quatre for clarinet, bassoon, cello and piano (1968), Music for Sixteen Cymbals and
Strings (1969), AELA for tape solo (1970) and the Concert for oboe and orchestra (1972). Kotonski, letter
to author (October 27, 1999).
261
The influence of sonorism on the younger generation of composers, which opens the next
chapter in the history of Polish music, will only be touched on here, in relation to two
gifted composers who studied with Penderecki and Gorecki respectively. Marek
Stachowski (1936-2004), a student of Penderecki during the 1960s, remained under the
strong influence of sonorism until the mid-1970s. 12 In a recent study, Malinowski points
to two works, Musica per quartetto d'archi (1965) and Musica can una battuta del tam-
tam (1966), which reflect both Pendereckian sonoristic imprints such as the use of
articulations typical of his sonoristic works (legno battuto and col legno ) as well as
Stachowski's on stylistic fingerprints such as creating large textures composed of divisi
parts, each containing precise figurations. 13 In Neusis II (1968) Stachowski makes use of
the choir in a typical sonoristic manner by exploring the phonetic properties of the
language (vocal parts use only letters) and by blending the vocal textures with
instrumental ensemble. Other sonoristic elements include, once again, fast rate of change,
juxtaposition of large homogeneous textural blocks and a sonoristic score with time-
space notation and sections measured by seconds.
The influence of sonoristic elements can also be observed in the works of Gorecki's
student, Andrzej Krzanowski (1951-1990). Thomas has described Krzanowski's Canti di
14
Wratislavia for orchestra (1976) as an 'equivalent of Gorecki's Scontri.' His many
accordion pieces such as Studium 4 also have a pronounced textural basis, with textural
blocks defined mainly by articulation. However, in general his approach seems closer to
the works of Gorecki such as Refren and Canticum Graduum.
The degree to which younger generation of composers embraced or rejected sonorism

would require a detailed exploration of their output which is beyond the scope of this
study. However, the following enlightening comment by Baculewski, who also belongs
12
Stachowski studied with Penderecki between 1963 and 1966. Wladyslaw Malinowski, 'Od nowej muzyki
ku przeszlosci. Sonoryzm Marka Stachowskiego,' De Musica 12 (2006).
http://free.art.pl/demusicalde_mu_l2112_02.html, (accessed November 15, 2007).
13
Malinowski, 'Od nowej muzyki ku przeszlosci. Sonoryzm Marka Stachowskiego,' De Musica 12 (2006).
http://free.art.pl/demusica/de_mu_l2/12_02.html, (accessed November 15, 2007).
14
262
to the post-war generation of composers who were fascinated by Gorecki, Penderecki,
Kilar and Kotm'lski, suggests what such an exploration might reveal:
During our studies and later, everyone went though a sui generis crisis: we had to re-think and
revaluate our academic experiences. And in one way or another, every one of us rejected these
experiences. Some twenty five years ago sonorism lost its appeal, though its elements are present
in our creative output to this day. 15
15
Baculewski, letter to author (June, 21, 2003).
263
Chapter 9
Epilogue: Retrospective Views on Sonorism and the Sonoristic Period.
The closing part of this study gives voice to the composers who were a part of the
movement in the early 1960s. This chapter presents their retrospective opinions,
reflections and statements on sonorism as a concept and as a period or trend. No matter
how diverse the opinions are about sonoristic works in individual composers' oeuvres,
most agree that the late 1950s and the 1960s was an important time in Polish music.
Needless to say, in the case of Penderecki, a sonoristic work such as Threnody was not
only a catalyst to his international fame but also remained the best known Polish piece of
the early 1960s. Collectively, Polish composers reclaimed a significant position on the
international contemporary music stage. Nearly half a century on, the responses to
sonorism, both as a term and as a period concerned with novelty and the search for the
'new,' vary from composer to composer are often conditioned by further stylistic
development of their music.
It may seem like a paradox that the composers who maintain successful international
careers to this day are the most dismissive of the term 'sonorism.' No doubt for
Penderecki, Gorecki and Kilar the return to tradition and tonal language, which made
their subsequent music much more accessible, coloured their view of the past. Perhaps
the fact that, almost from the beginning, sonorism was commonly associated with not
much more than sound experiments and new articulations prompted Penderecki to say 'I
always hear that I'm interested in sound for its own sake. Really, the whole notion of
sonorism was invented by Polish musicology.' 1 However, in an interview with Robinson,
Penderecki' s attitude to those times is more revealing and emphasises an important aspect
of the trend, which is that its particular historical moment was conditioned by a complex
political situation:
1
Krzysztof Penderecki, 'Dyskusja na Seminarium poswieconym Krzysztofowi Pendereckiemu'
[Discussion devoted to the Music ofKrzysztofPenderecki], Muzyka no. 2 (1976): 3 I.
264
of the trend, which is that its particular historical moment was conditioned by a complex
political situation:
The kind of style in which we composed in the 1950s and 1960s has almost disappeared. First, it's
not needed, and, of course, it's impossible to repeat. We live in another time now. Everything was
done in the 1960s to create an avant-garde style, to develop a new musical language, to come up
with new techniques for instruments, and to introduce new instruments in the orchestra. Of course,
electronic music, which was a very important factor at that time, was also an influence on the style.
But now at the end of our century we do not need to do this anymore. The 1960s represent a very
important historic movement, but we cannot repeat that style today. 2
For Wlodzimierz Kotoilski, the late 1950s and early 1960s marked a very important
period in his creative output. Kotoilski recounts that it was a time when serialism was
replaced with aleatorism and a tendency to create aleatoric structures that would produce
a similar effect to complex serial structures: 'why should one calculate exactly all this if
the effect will be the same? And indeed the effect was the same and in some cases even
much more interesting.' 3 The use of aleatoric procedures, particularly in the orchestra,
produced a new en masse sonority of the entire ensemble. The direct influence of
sonorism on Kotoilski is closely related to the extended use of percussion instruments in
which he had a particular interest at the time. His book 'Percussion Instruments in the
Contemporary Orchestra,' published in Germany, was one of the first important
textbooks on the subject. 4 Percussion instruments had an enormous impact on the
development of the sonoristic trend:
Percussion instruments that appeared in works of American, Cuban and Mexican composers
during the 1920s and 1930s, gained enormous significance after the war in both chamber and
symphonic music. Indeed percussion instruments suggested a use of sound materials that are not
defined tonally, do not operate through interval relationships or which, in terms of pitch, are only
defined within middle or low register. Thus percussion instruments played a vital role in pursuing
2
KrzysztofPenderecki, Labyrinth ofTime. Five Addresses for the End ofthe Millennium (Chapel Hill:
Hinshaw, 1998), 74.
3
Kotonski, interview with author (Warsaw, November II, 2005).
4
Jnstrumenty perkusyjne we wspOlczesnej orkiestrze (Krak6w: PWM, 1963); published in Germany by
Schott.
265
the idea of composing a piece not based on precise pitch but utilizing sounds that are not definable
within the 12 semitone scale, sounds that are on the border of unpitched and pitched sounds-'
For Kilar, looking back, the most defining moment in his career seems to have been the
return to tonality and folk heritage after his sonoristic period, as the composer recollects:
'by the mid-1960s or so I was tired of it, I felt it wasn't fresh anymore.' After a short
break, in 1971-72 Kilar wrote two pieces that were on the verge of minimalism: Upstairs
Downstairs and Prelude and Christmas Carol (Przygrywka i Kolf(da). Then in 1974 he
composed K.rzesany, which closed his experimental period for good: 'I really had enough
and I wrote this Krzesany. And I've been writing like that even since.' 6 For Kilar,
sonorism was only a brief transition to the style that he identifies with today:
Then, it seemed that the world was changing but in the end it turned out to be another transitional
phase. As far as avant-garde is concerned, I like the analogy to the military: what is an avant-garde?
Well, an avant-garde is the front of an army that is lost. Then comes the substantial part of it. In
music, it is Gregorian chant, Bach, troubadours -that's what matters. The compositional means
such as clusters, aleatorism and new instrumental techniques that were invented in the 1960s only
enriched the music, but the music will always be the same. It is impossible to cross the past. Then
it was a resignation from melody, tonal harmony and regular rhythms. But very quickly it was
realised that rejecting the best elements and old values that were developed over the centuries was
not the way to go forward. 7
Other Polish avant-garde composers of the 1950s and 1960s, such as Serocki, Szalonek
and Schaeffer, remained more faithful to experimentalism and avant-garde ideals all their
lives. Schaeffer has always been a relentless advocate of the avant-garde. An Austrian
critic described Schaeffer as 'an avant-gardist of an avant-garde' and a 'boundary
breaker.' 8 In contrast to most other Polish avant-garde composers, a part of Schaeffer's
motivation is to 'break boundaries' with nearly every piece. Asked about his
compositional credo, Schaeffer says: 'both back then and now, one principle that is
constant for me is to begin at level zero and not to use what is mastered but learn new
'Kotonski, interview with author (Warsaw, November II, 2005).

6
Kilar, interview with author (Dzierioni6w, November 29, 2005).
7
Ibid.
8
Zaj'tc, Muzyka. Teatr i Fi/ozofia Boguslawa Schaeffera, 36.
266
methods from oneself. Composition was always for me a terrain of experiment in the
technical sense, craftsmanship, expression, and even in the field of psychology of
creation.' 9 Schaeffer always absorbed new techniques and trends easily, and with great
fascination; writing plays and composing are, for him, second nature. 10 Schaeffer's
oeuvre, consisting of some 450 works, is difficult to systematise into periods. From one
piece to the next, he seeks to surprise both the listener and himself. This is not to reject
completely existing compositional means, but to use them as a basis for the creation of
new forms and find new techniques. For example, Schaeffer has remarked that one
should not orchestrate; one should 'compose orchestration' moving away from traditional
conventions. 11 As a teacher of composition, his advice to students was to move from the
area that has been already mastered to the unknown and the new: 'if you know this you
should never compose like this again -unless for yourself.' 12 This was also Schaeffer's
approach to his own compositions.
Schaeffer describes the word sonorism as 'unfortunate' and reckons that for Chominski,
sonoristics was very convenient 'because it covered everything from clusters and
connections to Xenakis, to distinctiveness in sound of individual composers.' 13 Schaeffer
asserts that he never used sonorism as a term in his writings. 14 His opinion about it is that
sonorism as a term is too all-embracing and makes connections which are a little spurious:
'[sonorism] sounds well but smells badly of a kind of '"everythingness.".J 5 While
Schaeffer has always been a relentless advocate of avant-garde and a breaker of
boundaries, his resentment towards sonorism as a term and concept does not originate in
any particular negative attitude towards this period or towards experimentalism at that
time. It was, in fact, passed on to Schaeffer from his teacher, Jachimecki (Schoenberg's
pupil and one of his enthusiastic supporters in Vienna) who, as Schaeffer recollects, was
indignant at the mention of 'sonorism' and once concluded: 'although it is a new term ...
it is unreasonable because what does it mean that music is sonoristic? All music sounds
9
Zaj'l.c, Muzyka. Teatr i Fi/ozofia Boguslawa Schaeffera. 40.
10
Stawowy and Zaj'I.C, Boguslaw Schaeffer. 606.
11
Ibid., 452.
12
Ibid., 600.
13
Schaeffer, letter to author (November 16, 2001).
14
Ibid.
15
Ibid.
267
and there is nothing to talk about..J 6 However, from the perspective of time, Schaeffer
finds in this, at least, something positive and worth mentioning. As he recounted:
Musicology, in contrast to, for instance, mathematics or history of art operates on a very limited
number of tenns; terminologically is very modest and after so many years one can presume that
sonorism as a term is not so bad because if such an idiotic term as 'postmodemism' is accepted,
then sonorism can exist too. After all, how are we supposed to name everything that goes beyond
the schematicism of dodecaphony, serialism and pointillism. How to name the intentions to create
music directly; to create music without taking into consideration hitherto laws of form, harmony
and the orchestral sound. 17
Schaeffer also proposes that if we are going to use this term 'it should mean something
more concrete' and it should allow one to distinguish new music on the basis of sonority,
texture and sound materials used. Going back to the 1950s and 1960s Schaeffer explains:
Ideally, sonoristic music in those days would be music which vertically would be complete (that is
it would use all chromatic notes within a given interval- it wouldn't have to be an octave and it
wouldn't have to use all 12 notes), it would operate on strict counterpoint, which would not
respect any old rules (such as parallel octave and fifth, avoiding dissonances etc., etc.), and in the
orchestra it would avoid traditional doubJings, so called thick lines, and first of all it should
demonstrate that microtones and microtonal structures, multiphonics on wind instruments, sound
combinations on non-pitched instruments - percussion - in essence new material is not foreign to
composers. And most of all texture! 18
Witold Szalonek, variously referred to as an 'avant-garde classicist,' 'sonoristic

extremist' and 'the greatest representative of avant-garde current in Polish music,' 19
strongly identified himself with the sonorist movement. In 1976 Szalonek proposed a
number of theses entitled 'Sonority and its Form Shaping Powers.' 20 This document
provides a very important insight into his thoughts on music. Firstly, he says, 'music is a
16
Schaeffer,letter to author (November !6, 2001).
17
Ibid.
18
Ibid.
19
Dziadek, 'Tw6rcwsc Witolda Szalonka na tie dziej6w muzyki polskiej II polowy XX wieku' [Witold
Szalonek's Compositional Output Against the Background of Polish Music of the Second Half of the 20"
Century], Musica practica. Musica teoretica, (Poznan: Akademia Muzyczna, 2003). 99 and 101.
20
Szalonek. 'Sonority and its Form Shaping Powers,' Berlin 1976.
268
phenomenon in the field of communication.' Secondly, concerning the psychological
sphere of musical expression and perception, he stresses the communication of its content
21
by 'aural means ('by what is audible'). Thirdly, he sees music as a
neurological/physical phenomenon, within which musical statements are 'conditioned by
the function and structure of Man's central nervous system and hearing apparatus,' and
are 'constructions of sonic stimuli which manifest themselves within the element of
time.' 22
Szalonek then proceeds to a series of propositions that relate directly to sonorism. Since
sonority is seen as a primary structural element, the focus here is on the formal aspects of
a piece. Although they were written a decade after composing Lessons, these comments
may be regarded as a retrospective analysis of his own creative output from the
'sonoristic period.' 23 The propositions are:
4. The possibility of perceiving various kinds of constructions of sonic stimuli, permits an equally
varied range of sound parameters to which the 'principle ofrepetition'can be applied:
A) Timbre, determined by:
a) characteristics of the sound generator employed
b) characteristics of articulation
c) pitch, which can be organized horizontally (melody)m or vertically in combinations
of psychological experience
B) Volume, as a physical or as a psychological experience

C) Division of time, which can manifest itself either in structured rhythm, or in arhythmic sonic-
space forms.
5. Independently of the degree of complexity of inner sonic parameters (i.e. timbre), the greater
the connections and interdependence of sonic structures in a work, the more disciplined and clear
will be its form and ultimately its statements.
21
Music is an asemantic language which Man - a socia1 creature situated on the path of evolution and
already having developed 'reflective consciousness' - expresses and perceives al1 the contents
indispensable for his human condition, which can be communicated only in terms of aural means ('by what
is audible'). Szalonek, 'Sonority and its Form Shaping Powers,' Berlin 1976.
22
Ibid.
23
Ibid.
269
6. The level of intertwining dependencies, conditionalities and relationship of sound parameters,
which contribute to the macro-structure of a musical work can be perceived consciously as well as
subconsciously by the listener.
7. Because of: a) the sonic stimuli (as acoustic phenomenon)

b) their generators (the performing apparatus) and
c) the receiver (the human nervous system fitted out in the hearing mechanism) are
all governed by the laws of nature, the development of the language of music and its progress from
simple to more complex forms is a result of this unique interdependence. (This development on
Man's discoveries of natural law reflects the level of the intellectual and spiritual progress of
various civilizations and cultures). This process takes place exclusively in the physical aspect of
musical language and its resulting form functions as a tool of communication that is steadily being
~modernized'. In contrast, the aspect of musical contents has always afforded, and wilJ always
afford, evoling Man the possibility of expressing universal and infinite values.
8. "New Music (of the 'white Western world') is, since Debussy, determined by the universalistic
tendencies which are integrating the intelJectual scope and aesthetic treasures of non-European
cultures on one hand, and the achievements in the field of electroacoustical apparatus on the other
hand.
Berlin 1976
Szalonek viewed sonorism as a tendency 'in which values of timbre are used as a
fundamental and autonomous means of expression' 24 rather than a theory. For him
sonorism began with Chopin, who composed with a specific instrument in mind: 'it is
impossible to translate his compositions for another instrument and this is Chopin's
phenomenon.' 25 Other composers mentioned by Szalonek as 'thinking in terms of timbre'
are Debussy, and later Varese.
Amongst the Polish avant-garde, Szalonek was the only composer for whom aspects of
sonorism were present almost throughout his entire compositional output. As noted
earlier, his research into multiphonics, carried out since the early 1960s, goes to the heart
of sonorism: that is, the process of sound generation and the use of all its 'side effects,'
24
Szalonek, 'Sonority and its Form Shaping Powers.'
25
Szalonek, 'Wok61 sonoryzmu. Z Witoldem Szalonkiem rozmawia lwona Szafranska' [Around sonorism],
Opcje no. 2 (December 1993): 76.
270
including the sounds which traditionally would not be classified as 'musical sound.' The
music of non-European cultures also had an impact on Szalonek's notion of sonorism:
'I've been saying for a long time that, to a large degree, composers' imaginations have
been stimulated by non European cultures. This opening of musical language based on
the dur-moll system, to the language of 'other' cultures began with Debussy.. .' All of
these areas are of basic value for him and all treated equally as a form of artistic
expression; in fact, they are dictated by the 'the spirit of the epoch characterized by a
natural tendency to proceed towards universal ism in all walks of life.' 26 They are
necessary and, as Szalonek remarked, are not a sign of the pursuit of innovation purely
for its own sake. Just as, with Penderecki, there was no difference between pitched sound
and whispering, unpitched sounds (szmer in Polish)27 so for Szalonek, sounds are not to
be divided into 'beautiful therefore musical' and 'ugly, therefore unmusical and
unsuitable' ones. There shouldn't be also a division into 'our' and 'other' cultures. In this
context, Szalonek's description of how Chopin's 'soundscape' shaped his musicality
during his formative years of childhood and youth is interesting and reflects his own
sensitivity to sound around him: 28
I can't imagine that it was about 'rows of weeping willow trees which disappear into the distance,
in the flatness of a foggy landscape .. .'"
No! His musicality was shaped first of all by the surrounding soundscape! He must have been
deeply moved by everything that sounded! Including the threatening buzzing of crickets, of a bee
or a wasp, the singing of a golden oriole [wilga], chaffinch (zi~ba], or lark [skowronek] and
perhaps even a nightingale [slowik], by mother's or nanny's lullaby, the crooning [zawodzic] of
country girls, the sound of shepherd's pipes and the unusual sound of Jewish harp, the scraping
26
Szalonek, '0 niewykorzystanych walorach instrument6w d~tych drewnianych,' 112.
27
As Penderecki said: 'for me the difference between unpitched sounds 'szrner' and pitched sounds never
existed. While composing Psalmus I was also working on Dimensions of Time and Silence and indeed
Psalmus features these sonorities which could not be achieved using the orchestra and choir [dla mnie
nigdy the istnialo rozr6Zoienie mi~zy szmerem a d:Zwi~kiem. Pracuj~tc w studio nad Psalmusem, pisalem
r6wnoczeSnie Wymiary czasu i ciszy i w Psalmusie sa wlaSciwie te rzeczy kt6rych nie mo.tna byto uzyskaC
za pomoc~t ch6ru i orkiestry [ ..... ].Penderecki, 'Dyskusja na Seminarium poswi~conym Krzysztofowi
Pendereckiemu,' 46.
28
The speech on the 30" anniversary of Chopin Society was published later under the title: 'Krajobraz
dzwi~kowy muzyki Chopina'[Soundscape of Chopin's Music],' Opcje 2 (1994}: 58-59.
29
Interestingly this rather melancholic image of a typically Polish landscape with weeping willow trees was
a background to one of the most poignant moments in the Antczak's film Pragnienie Milosci [The Desire
of Love] about Chopin.
271
bow of the double-bass [basetla], the capers and music of taverns, the tinkling sound of cymbals of
some Jankiel from Szafarnia was absorbing the richness of Polish village's folklore. All of
these fanned Chopin's 'soundscape' ... and the music of church bells: here are the two sound
archetypes, the two foundations of his creative output.
Contact with non-European music had an enormous impact in shaping Szalonek's artistic
stance and his understanding of sonorism. In 1962, after listening to gamelan music,
Szalonek discovered 'the missing link' between Chopin and Debussy and while still
under the influence of this discovery, wrote a treatise entitled 'Claude Debussy - on the
Centenary of his Birth' which contains his reflections and opinions on the influence of
non-European music. 30 Asked about the key to his notion of sonorism, Szalonek replied
as follows:
Sonorism appears to me as a manifestation of musical thought shaped by the utilization of the

absolutely unique characteristic of a given sound generator: that is, an instrument, whether it is a
human voice or one of classic European instruments, or a generator of electronic sounds, whispers,
rustling, timpani, or cymbals ... What I mean is that so-called content, perceived only through
hearing, was communicated adequately by means of timbre of a given sound; timbre being in
essence a sign of the identity of a given instrument. Sonorism appears as the soul of the instrument,
ascending through music.31
Szalonek remained enthusiastic about sonorism and the sonoristic period in Polish music
throughout his life. In the early 1990s, he proposed to organise a musicological
symposium under the banner 'Sonorism and its essence: towards a new paradigm in
music theory,' and expressed criticism of the language used to deal not only with
sonorism but with new music in general:
Well, some thirty years ago Dr Chornifiski created a new term - 'sonoristics' - which
described new ways of generating and operating with sound, including what we call the 'sound
effects' one can achieve on traditional European instruments. Since then nobody developed this
idea, so nowadays theory struggles daily to work with a terminology of 'major-minor' provenance
that is inadequate to define contemporary phenomena; the newest ones. for example those of
30
Szalonek, 'Wok61 sonoryzmu,'75.
31
Ibid.
272
electronic music. We are talking about grinding~ banging and squeaking, so we are using negative
terminology. According to the classical theory of artworks~ beauty is their condition sine qua non,
and in relation to new phenomena we are using terminology which contradicts art's aesthetics; we
are using words of a pejorative character which, in consequence, elicit negative responses to new
music in general. 32
Last but not least, Krzysztof Baculewski (b. 1945), a student of Chominski, represents a
younger generation of composers (together with Szymanski, Krupowicz and Sielicki) for
whom sonorism has always been a part of their academic training. 33 There is no doubt, as
Baculewski emphasises, that sonorism was very influential at that time: even as high
school students 'we were fascinated by achievements of Penderecki, Gorecki, Kilar or
Kotonski (electronic music).' 34 As soon as sonorism became an artistic norm during the
1970s and retreated to the academies, most of its participants moved away from it.
For Baculewski, sonorism is not necessarily a theory but more an artistic attitude which
placed coloristics in the centre of compositional concerns: 'therefore the role of other
musical elements was reduced in this kind of music. ' 35 Thus, for Baculewski, sonorism
covers a much wider range of works including pieces like Serocki's 'postserial' Musica
concertante in which this new attitude towards timbre becomes noticeable and the
textural aspect of pointillism comes to the fore.
***
The wide range of opinions presented here raises the following question: to what extent
composers' views align with current musicological thought concerning this period?
The disparity in views between the two and among the musicologists themselves range
from their attitude to Chominski's expositions- which are treated as a theory on the one
hand, and as an insightful body of analytical literature (with a particular historical
dimension) on the other - to the ongoing debate about the range of sonorism in terms of
32
Ibid., 78.
" KrzysztofBaculewski, letter to author (June 21, 2003 ).
34
Ibid.
35
Ibid.
273
composers and works. Even among the more negative views, there is a shared
appreciation of the period's importance. However, as already noted, the renewed interest
in Chominski's theory on sonorism which began in the 1990s did little to inspire the
interest in the works other than the ones which are already well known and unfortunately
the scholarly studies have not been followed by further performances.
By examining the most representative sonoristic works in terms of the sonoristic

footprints and stylistic fingerprints and by placing them both in their own historical
context and a wider European one, this thesis does, I hope, mark a step towards a
reassessment of the sonoristic repertoire, not just as the embodiment of various theories,
but as a body of musical works worthy of detailed study and appreciation, both as scores
and as sound.
274
APPENDIX A
SELECT ANNOTATED DISCOGRAPHY
The following annotated discography includes only those works which are the primary
focus of this thesis.
Polskie Nagrania LP recordings of live performances from the Warsaw Autumn have a
different catalogue number for each side of the disc. The year of issue for these discs is
usually that of the performances; in fact, they were often available for sale within days of
the performance.
Penderecki: For the Victims of Hiroshima- Threnody 1960
Premiere: Warsaw, September 1961

Performers: Krakow Philharmonic Orchestra!Andrzej Markowski
Duration: 8' 26" (originally 8' 37")
Publishers: PWM, Krakow and Schott Verlag, Mainz
Recordings: (performed in 1961 and 1964 - not released); released within: Jubilee
Record Edition on the 25th Anniversary the Warsaw Autumn Festival:
'Warsaw Autumn 1956-1981' no. 3 (SX 2313, LP), Warsaw National
Philharmonic Orchestra!Witold Rowicki.
RCA ltaliana SLD 61005-1 (12" stereo LP, 1966?), Orchestra Sinfonica di
Roma! Bruno Maderna.
Penderecki: Dimensions of Time and Silence 1960-61
Premiere: Krakow, September 1960 (first version); Vienna, June 1961 (second
version)
Performers: Krakow Philharmonic Choir and OrchestralAndrzej Markowski (first
version); RIAS Chamber Choir, Ensemble Die Reihel Friedrich Cerha
(second version).
Duration: 14' 30"
Publishers: PWM, Krak6w and Schott Verlag
Recordings: Sound Chronicle of the Warsaw Autumn 1960 no. I (W-678, Nr arch. 198,
LP) Choir and Krakow Philharmonic Chamber Orchestra!Andrzej
Markowski Warsaw Philharmonic Choir and Orchestra!Andrzej
Markowski; Muza PNCD 017B (CD, 1989), performers as above
(recorded 1972)
275
Lutoslawski: Venetian Games 1961
Premiere: Teatro Ia Fenice, Venice Biennale, 1961 (first, second and fourth
movement);
Performers: Krak6w Chamber Orchestra conducted by Andrzej Markowski
Premiere: Warsaw: Warsaw Autumn 16 September 1961 (complete and revised
version)
Performers: Warsaw National Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Witold Rowicki
Duration: ca 13'
Publishers: PWM, Krak6w and Moeck Verlag
Recordings: Polskie Nagrania 041 (LP, 1962) Warsaw National Philharmonic

Orchestra/Witold Rowicki; EMI IC 165-03 236 Q (CD, 1978) Polish
Radio Symphony Orchestra/Lutoslawski
Sound Chronicle of the Warsaw Autumn 1961, no. I (W-770, archival

no. 202, LP) Lutos!awski: Jeux venitiens. Part 1
Warsaw National Philharmonic Orchestra /Rowicki
Polish Collection of the Warsaw Autumn 1956-2005 (promotional CD No.

I, polmic 001); 'The World of the 'Polish School' [W kr~gu 'szko!y
polskiej']; Warsaw National Philharmonic Orchestra /Rowicki
Lutoslawski: Trois poemes d'Henri Michaux 1961-63
Premiere: Zagreb Music Biennale, 9 May 1963; (Polish premiere: Warsaw Autumn
22 September 1963, Polish Radio Symphony Orchestra and Polish Radio
choir/Jan Krenz and Witold Lutoslawski)
Performers: Zagreb Radio Orchestra/Witold Luto!awski and Zagreb Radio Choir/Ziatic
Duration: ca. 20'
Publishers: PWM, Krak6w/ Chester
Recordings: Polskie Nagrania CD 041 (LP 1964) Polish Radio Symphony
Orchestra/Jan Krenz and Polish Radio choir/Witold Lutos!awski
EMI IC 165-03 231136 Q (1978)
Sound Chronicle of the Warsaw Autumn 1963 no. 2 (W-8711872, archival

no. 210, LP); Krak6w Polish Radio and Television Choir/Lutos!awski and
Katowice Great Symphony Orchestra of Polish Radio and TV/Jan Krenz.
Jubilee Record Edition on the 25th Anniversary the Warsaw Autumn
Festival:
'Warsaw Autumn 1956-1981" no. 3 (SX 2313, LP)
276
Krak6w Polish Radio and TV Choir/ Lutoslawski and Katowice Great
Symphony Orchestra of Polish Radio and TV/Jan Krenz
Sound Chronicle of the Warsaw Autumn 2006 (promotional cassette, no.
6
Camerata Silesia/Szostak and Katowice Great Symphony Orchestra of
Polish Radio and TV/Wit
Schaeffer: Scultura 1960
Premiere: Warsaw, 29th September 1965

Performers: Poznan Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Andrzej Markowski.
Duration: ca 12' 50
Publishers: PWM, Krak6w
Recordings: Polskie Nagrania XW 574 (12" mono LP)
Sound Chronicle of the Warsaw Autumn 1965, no. 4 (XW-573/574,
archival no. 222, LP)
Poznan Philharmonia Orchestral Andrzej Markowski
Jubilee Record Edition on the 25th Anniversary the Warsaw Autumn Festival:
'Warsaw Autumn 1956-1981, no. 5 (SX 2315, LPs)
Poznan Philharmonia Symphony Orchestra/Andrzej Markowski
Polish Collection of the Warsaw Autumn 1956-2005

CD No. I (polmic 001- promotional CD)
The World of the 'Polish school' [W krfl!gu 'szkoly polskiej']
Poznan Philharmonia Symphony Orchestral Andrzej Markowski
Gorecki: Genesis cycle 1962-63
Elementi 1962
Premiere: Krak6w 29th May 1962

Performers: Henryk Gruszka (violin), Antoni Feliks (viola), Adward Wiertelosz
(cello)/Henryk Mikolaj G6recki
Duration: 12' 42"
Publishers: PWM
Recordings Sound Chronicle of the Warsaw Autumn 1965 Muza XW-570 (12" mono
LP), Ensemble instrumental Musiques Nouvelles de Bruxelles
Sound Chronicle of the Warsaw Autumn 1990, no. 4 (promotional
cassette; Marek Mos (violin), Lukasz Symicki (viola), Piotr Janosik (cello)
277
Gorecki: Canti strumentali 1962
Premiere: Warsaw ('Warsaw Autumn) 29th September 1962

Performers: Silesian Philharmonic Orchestra/Karol Stryja
Duration: 8' 4"
Publishers: PWM,Krakow
Recordings: Muza W-825 Silesian Philharmonic Orchestra/Karol Stryja;
Olympia OCD 385 (CD, 1993), Polish National Symphony Orchestra in
Katowice/Jan Krenz (recorded 1967)
Sound Chronicle of the Warsaw Autumn 1962, no. I (W-825/826, Nr arch.
207, LP); Silesian Philharmonia OrchestraiStryja
Gorecki: Monodramma 1963
Premiere: Not performed

Duration: ca 10'
Kilar: Diphthongos 1963
Premiere: Venice, 13th September 1964

Performers: Krakow Philharmonic Choir and OrchestralAndrzej Markowski
Duration: 4' -5'
Recordings: Sound Chronicle of the Warsaw Autumn 1964, no. 2 (W-967/968,
archival no. 215, 10" mono LP); Krakow Symphony Philharmonia
OrchestraiAndrzej Markowski
Serocki: Segmenti 1960
Premiere: Baden-Baden 6 August 1962

Warsaw (WA) 22"d September 1962
Performers: Sudwestfunk Orchestra/Ernest Bour
Krakow Philharmonic OrchestralAndrzej Markowski (Polish Premiere)
Duration: 6'-7'
Publishers: PWM, Krakow and Moeck Verlag, Celie
Recordings: Wergo WER 60018 (12" stereo LP, recorded 1965);
278
Serocki: Symphonic frescoes 1963/64
Premiere: Darmstadt 24th July 1964 Sudwestfunk Orchestra, Baden-Baden

Warsaw (WA) September 1964
Performers: Sudwestfunk Orchestra, Baden-Baden; Polish Radio Symphony Orchestral
Jan Krenz (Polish Premiere)
Duration: II '40"
Publishers: PWM,Krak6w
Recordings: Sound Chronicle of the Warsaw Autumn 1964 no. 4 (W-971/972, archival
no. 217, LP) Muza XL 0267; Katowice Great Symphony Orchestra of
Polish Radio and TV/Jan Krenz
Szalonek: Lesons 1965
Premiere: Warsaw, 30'h September 1965 (IX 'Warsaw Autumn')

Performers: Silesian Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra/Karol Stryja
Duration: 9' 38"
Recordings: Polskie Nagrania XW-576 (12" mono LP), Silesian Philharmonic
Symphony Orchestra/Karol Stryja;
Warsaw Autumn 'chronicle' CD no. 5 (1999, promotional CD) National
Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra/Wojciech Michniewski
Sound Chronicle of the Warsaw Autumn 1965, no. 5 (XW-575,576,

archival no. 223, LP); Silesian Symphony Philharmonia Orchestral Karol
Stryja
Polish Collection of the Warsaw Autumn 1956-2005; promotional CD

no. I (polmic 001) The World of the 'Polish school' [W krl!gu 'szkoly
polskiej']; Warsaw National Philharmonic Symphony Orchestral
Wojciech Michniewski
Sikorski: Sequenza I 1966
Premiere: Warsaw 22"d September1966

Performers: Orchestra Sinfonica RAI di Torino/Andrzej Markowski
Duration: 10'-12'
Recordings: Sound Chronicle of the Warsaw Autumn 1966, no. 2 (M-3 XW-7131714,
archival no. 225, 12" mono LP); Orchestra Sinfonica RAI di
Torino(RAI)/Andrzej Markowski
279
APPENDIX B
Music and Visual Arts in Poland 1945-1966. 1
Visual Arts Music
1945 Krak6w: Exhibition of 'Group of young April 6. Krak6w: PWM (Polish Music
Artists" [Grupa Mlodych Plastyk6w] Publishers) under Tadeusz Ochlewski;
(Tadeusz Kantor's Group) Reactivation of the Polish Society of
Contemporary Music;
Katowice: inauguration of the Polish Radio
Orchestra
I October, First issue of biweekly "Ruch
Muzyczny" [Musical Movement] under red.
Stefan Kisielewski;
1946 Krak6w: The Exhibition of 'Contemporary August 16-22, Duszniki: First Chopin
Artists' Festival;
Reactivation of Polish Society for
Contemporary Music.
1947 Poznan: Formation of Group "4F+R"
1948 Wroclaw: Wystawa Ziem Odzyskanych August 5-8, The National Convention of
[The Exhibition of Regained Territories]; Polish Composers in Lag6w
Krakow, Palac Sztuki, The Exhibition of
Contemporary Art;
1949 The first tashist painting by Alfred Lenica; Formation of 'Group 49' by Kazimierz I
Poznan. Salon CBA: The first exhibition of Serocki, Tadeusz Baird and Jan Krenz;
..4F+R"; Chopin's Composers Competition
I
1950 I
Inauguration of monthly music journal

Muzyka
I
1
The main sources for important cultural events in music and visual arts in Poland between 1945 and 1966
are based on the following sources: Baculewski, Wsp61czesnosc. Cz~sc 1: 1939-1974, 14-31; Bogucki,
Sztuka Polski Ludowej, 51-178; Chomitlski, Muzyka Polski Ludowej, 175-209; Bylander, The Warsaw
Autumn International Festival of Contemporary Music, 23-100; Kowalska, Polska Awangarda Malarska
I 945- I 970, 186-190.
280
1951 The first Festival of Polish Music
1952 Formation of Instytut Sztuki PAN [Polish

Academy of Sciences]
1953 Katowice: formation of Group "St-53"
1955 Warsaw: Arsenal- National Art exhibition Opening of Philharmonie in Warsaw;

under the title: Against war, against fascism; The second Festival of Polish Music;
Formation of 'Group 55' and its first Fifth International Festival of Youth and
Exhibition in Warsaw. Students
Krak6w: Exhibition of Group 'Nine' '
Poznan: Formation of 'Group R-55'
1956 Poznan: Exhibition of 'Group R-55' Warsaw: First Warsaw Autumn Festival;
Periodicals: Przeglad arstystyczny, Projekt April, Muzyka (monthly to quarterly became
Lublin: Formation of Group 'Castle' a scholarly journal)
[Zamek] Inauguration of the International Jazz
Warsaw: Opening of 'Crooked Wheel Festival in Sopot (later moved to Warsaw)
Gallery' [Galeria Krzywego Kola] October, Poland joins the Music Council of
UNESCO International Tribunal of
Composers Competition in Paris
1957 Warsaw: II exhibition of Contemporary Art Krak6w: Reactivation of Ruch Muzyczny

'Zach~ta' (after 8 year gap)
Plastyka [Arts] red. Janusz Bogucki- with Warsaw: Formation of Experitmental Studio
the Literary Life under J6zef Patkowski and the beginning of
electronic music in Poland;
Poznafl: First International Competition of
Stringed Instrument Makers;
Kilar, Dobrowolski, Kotonski Serocki,
Markowski and Krenz for the first time
visited the Darmstadt Summer Cources
1958 Warsaw: Wojciech Fangor's Spatial Second Warsaw Autumn Festival

Studium; First concert of electronic music;
Krak6w: Opening of the Gallery Inauguration of Jazz books
'Krzysztofora •
1959 Warsaw: III exhibition of Contemporary Art The first autonomous music concrete piece
'Zach~ta' by a Polish composer: Concrete Study I on
one cymbal stroke) by Wlodzimierz
KotoOski.
281
1960 Warsaw: Gallery of 'Krzywe Kolo' -
Exhibition: Confrontations
1961 Elbl'!g: Opening of gallery 'El' Penderecki 's Threnody for the Victims of
Hiroshima received fourth prize
1964 Poznan: Opening of Gallery 'Od Nowa' Krak6w: performance of Schaeffer's Nonstop
in the gallery 'Krzysztofora'
1965 Warsaw, Salon TPSP, Tadeusz Kantor:

Polish Happening
1966 Krak6w: The first exhibition of the 30 March MUnster, Germany: the premiere of
International Bienna]e of Graphic Art Penderecki's St Luke Passion commissioned
initiated by Witold Skulicz. by Westdeutscher Rundfunk for the 700
anniversary of the cathedral in MUnster;
22 April Krak6w: the first performance of St
Luke Passion in Poland
282
BffiLIOGRAPHY
REFERENCE BOOKS
Bylander, Cynthia. Krzysztof Penderecki. A Rio-Bibliography. Westport: Praeger

Publishers, 2004.
Gawlil'lska Malgorzata and Boguslawa Zajac. Sylwetki wsp6lczesnych kompozytor6w

polskich. [Contemporary Polish composers]. Edited by Zofia Bogdanowicz. Krakow:
Miejska Biblioteka Publiczna, 1984.
Mach1is Joseph. Introduction to Contemporary Music. New York: Norton, 1979.
Michalowski, Kornel and Gillian Olechno-Huszcza. Polish Music Literature (1515-

1990): A Selected Annotated Bibliography. Los Angeles, University of Southern
California, Friends of Polish Music, 1991.
Mrygon Adam and Eva Mrygon. Bibliografia polskiego pismiennictwa muzykologicznego

(1945-1970). Warsaw: Panstwowe Wydawnictwo Naukowe, 1972.
Rottenberg, Anda. Sztuka w Polsce 1945-2005 [Art in Poland 1945-2005]. Warsaw:

Stentor, 2005.
Stockhausen, Karlheinz. Karlheinz Stockhausen bei den 1nternationalen Ferienkursen

Fur Neue Musik in Darmstadt 1951-1996. Documente und Briefe. Kiirten: Stockhausen
Verlag, 2001.
283
Smialek William. Polish Music A Research and Information Guide. New York Gerland
Publishing, I 989.
MONOGRAPHS AND ARTICLES
Baculewski, Krzysztof. Polska tw6rczosc kompozytorska I945-1984 [Polish

Composition 1945-1984]. Krak6w: PWM, I987.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ . Historia Muzyki Polskiej, tom VII: Wspolczesnosc I: 1939-

1974 [History of Polish Music, vol. 7: Contemporary, part I: I939-I974], Warsaw:
Sutkowski Edition, 1996.
Berger, Roman. 'Polska Szkola Kompozytorska: Fakt, Mit? Wizja? Projekt?' [Polish
Compositional School: Fact? Myth? Vision? Project?]. Dysonanse 2 (I998): 24-31.
Bartolozzi, Bruno. New Sounds for Woodwind. Trans. and ed. Reginald
Smith-Brindle. Oxford: Oxford University Press, I967.
Belza, Igor. 'Recepcja wsp6lczesnej muzyki polskiej w Zwi11.Zku Radzieckim' [Reception

of Contemporary Polish Music in CCCP]. Muzyka 20, no. 3(1975): 64-73.
Bilica, Krzysztof. 'Ofiarom Hiroszimy- Tren Krzysztofa Pendereckiego. Pr6ba analizy

jednego z aspekt6w utworu' [Penderecki's Threnody for the Victims of Hiroshima. An
attempt to analyze one of the work's aspects]. Muzyka I 9, no. 2 (1974): 45-71.
284
Bogucki, Janusz. Sztuka Polski Ludowej [The Art of Peoples Poland]. Warsaw:
Wydawnictwa Artystyczne i Filmowe, 1983.
Bois, Mario. Iannis Xenakis. The Man and His Music. London: Boosey & Hawkes Music
Publishers, 1967.
Bradley, Gene Albers. De natura sonoris I and II by Krzysztof Penderecki, A

Comparative Analysis. D.M.A. Dissertation, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign,
1978.
Bristiger, Michal. 'Sonorismo e strutturalismo.' Collage 9 (Palermo 1970): 72-76.
Brooks, Richard James. Structural functions of 'musical gesture' as heard in selected

instrumental compositions of the twentieth-century: a graphic analytic method. Ph.D.
diss., New York University, 1981.
By lander, Cynthia. 'The Warsaw Autumn International Festival of Contemporary Music,

I 956- I 961: Its goals, structures, programs and people.' Ph.D. diss., Ohio State University,
1989.
Cage, John. Notations. New York: Something Else Press, 1969.
Carter, Elliott. 'Letter from Europe.' In Elliott Carter, Collected Essays and Lectures,
1937-1995, edited by Jonathan Bernard, 31-39. Rochester: University of Rochester Press,
1997.
Cardew, Cornelius. 'Notation- Interpretation, Etc.' Tempo 58 (1961): 21-33.
Ch!opecki, Andrzej. 'Should Music Criticism Be Saved?' (The Syndrome of

Ideologically Entangled Criticism). Sounds Australian (Summer 1990): 22-24.
285
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ . 'Zabobony gasnll_cego stulecia' [Superstitions of the fading
century]. Dysonanse [Dyssonances]. Special Issue (1997): 8-20.
'Polish Music 1958-1966. The Syndrome of the Double

Opening.' In Studies in Penderecki, vol. 2, edited by Ray Robinson and Regina
Chlopicka, 117-125. Princeton: Prestige Publications, 2003.
Chlopicka, Regina. 'Extra-Musical Inspirations in the Early Works of Krzysztof

Penderecki.' In Studies in Penderecki, vol. 2, edited by Ray Robinson and Regina
Chlopicka, 257-271. Princeton: Prestige Publications, 2003.
________. Krzysztof Penderecki. Musica Sacra - Musica Profana.Warsaw:

Adam Mickiewicz Institute, 2003.
Chomiiiski, J6zef. Muzyka Polski Ludowej [The music of the PRL]. Warsaw: PWM, 1968.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ . 'The contribution of Polish composers to the shaping of a modem

language in music.' Polish Musicological Society I (1977): 167-215.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _. 'Z zagadnieii techniki kompozytorskiej XX wieku' [Problems of

the 20th century compositional technique]. Muzyka 3, no. I (1956): 23-48.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _. 'Przemiany techniki kompozytorskiej w trzydziestoleciu PRL'

[Tranformations of compositional technique in Thirty Years of Polish People's Republic],
Muzyka 20, no. 3 (1975): 16-27.
'Technika sonorystyczna jako przedmiot systematycznego

szkolenia' [Sonoristics as a subject of systematic training/schooling]. Muzyka 6, no. 3
(1961): 3-10.
286
Chominski, J6zef and Krystyna Wilkowska-Chominska. 'Podstawy Sonologii
muzycznej' [The foundations of musical Sonology]. Formy muzyczne [Musical Forms],
Krak6w: PWM, 1983.
Cowell, Henry. New Musical Resources. New York: Something Else Press, 1969.
Cwiklinski, Przemyslaw and Jacek Ziamo. Pasja [The Passion]. Warszawa: Polska
Oficyna Wydawnicza BOW, 1993.
Davies, Lyn. 'Serocki's "Spatial Sonoristics."' Tempo !45 (1983): 28-32.
Dobrowolski, Andrzej. 'Wplyw festivali Warszawska Jesiefz na rozw6j zycia

muzycznego w Polsce' [The influence of Warsaw Autumn festivals on the musical life in
Poland]. Muzyka 20, no. 3 (1975): 58-63.
Droba, Krzysztof. 'Hierarchia czynnik6w formalnych w tw6rczosci Krzysztofa

Pendereckiego (na przykladzie Polimorfii)' [The hierarchy of formal elements in the
creative output of Krzysztof Penderecki (on the example of Polimorfia)]. Muzyka 2!, no.
2 ( 1976): 22-28.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ . 'Droga do sensu tragicznego.' Ruch Muzyczny 22, no. 15 ( 1978): 3.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ . '06recki, Henryk Mikolaj,' Encyklopedia Muzyczna, edited by

Elzbieta Dzi~ebowska vol. 3. Krak6w: Polskie Wydawnictwo Muzyczne, 1987, 420-433.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ . Sonoristics. The term and range of the notion. IMS 16th International
Congress. London, 19th August 1997. Unpublished paper.
287
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ . 'Sonoryzm Polski' [Polish Sonorism]. In Kompozytorzy Polscy
1918-2000 [Polish Composers 1918-2000], vol. I, edited by Marek Podhajski, 277-281.
Gdansk- Warszawa: Akademia Muzyczna w Gdaflsku i w Warszawie, 2005.
Dziadek, Magdalena. 'Tw6rczosc Witolda Szalonka na tie dziej6w muzyki polskiej II

polowy XX wieku' [The compositional output of Witold Szalonek Against the
background of the Polish music in the second half of the 20th century]. In Musica
practica. Musica theoretica, edited by Brodniewicz Teresa, Janusz Kepinski, Hanna
Kostrzewska and Janina Tatarska, 95-103. Poznan: Wydawnictwo Akademii Muzycznej,
2003.
Dzi(!bowska, Elzbieta. 'Koncepcja realnego ksztaltu dziela muzycznego' [The concept of

the real shape of the musical work]. Muzyka 24, no. 4 (1979): 5-16
'Dyskusja na Seminarium poswi(!conym Krzysztofowi Pendereckiemu' [Discussion

devoted to the music of Krzysztof Penderecki]. Muzyka 21, no. 2 (1976): 29-52.
Dufallo, Richard. Trackings. Composers Speak with Richard Dufallo. New York: Oxford
University Press, 1989, 340-52.
Erhardt, Ludwik. Spotkania z Krzysztofem Pendereckim [Encounters with Krzysztof

Penderecki]. Krak6w: PWM, 1975.
________. 'Kazimierz Serocki laureat Nagrody Ministra Kultury i Sztuki za

rok 1963' [Kazimierz Serocki Prize-winner of the Ministry of Arts and Culture for the
year 1963]. Ruch Muzyczny 7, no. 19 (1-15 October 1963): 3-4.
Ebert-Obermeier, Traude. 'Niekt6re zagadnienia recepcji polskiej muzyki wsp61czesnej

w Niemieckiej Republice Demokratycznej' [Some issues of reception of Polish
contemporary music in the DDR]. Muzyka 20, no. 3 (1975): 74-82.
288
Evarts, John. 'The New Musical Notation -a Graphic Art?' Leonardo I, no. 4 (October,
1968): 405-412.
Foy, Randolph. Textural Transformations: The Instrumental Music of Krzysztof

Penderecki, 1960-1973. D.M.A. diss. Baltimore, Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins
University, 1994.
Gawrm1ska, Bozena. 'Organizacja tworzywa muzycznego w tw6rczosci Kazimierza

Serockiego 1960-70' [The organization of musical fabric in the oeuvre of Kazimierz
Serocki]. Muzyka no. 2 (1981): 23-45.
- - - - - - - - - - - · 'Szkola polska - koniec historii?' [The Polish School -

The End of History?]. In Duchowosi: Europy Srodkowej i Wschodniej w muzyce konca
XX wieku [Spirituality of the Middle and Eastern Europe in music towards the end of the
20'h century], edited by Krzysztof Droba, Teresa Malecka and Krzysztof Szwajgier, 129-
136. Krak6w: Akademia Muzyczna, 2004.
Gojowy, Detlef. 'Drugie Sredniowiecze. Laudation na czesc Witolda Szalonka' [The

Second Middle Ages. Laudation in honor of Witolda Szalonka]. Opcje 2 (1994): 79-85.
Gorczycka, Monika. 'Wobec nowych wymiar6w (na marginesie Musique en relief i

Epizodow) [In the face of new dimensions (in the background of Musique en relief and
Episodes)]. Ruch Muzyczny 4, no. 21 (1-15 November 1960): 10-11
Griffiths, Paul. Modern Music and After. Directions since 1945. Oxford: Oxford
University Press, 1995.
Gwizdalanka, Danuta. Music and Politics [Muzyka i polityka]. Krak6w: PWM, 1999.
- - - - - - - - - - · 'Warszawskie Jesienie w cieniu polityki' [Warsaw Autumns

in the shadow of politics]. Ruch Muzyczny 18 (1997): 11-15.
289
Gwizdalanka, Danuta and Krzysztof Meyer. Lutoslawski. Droga do Dojrzalosci [The
road to maturity]. Krak6w: PWM, 2003.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - · Lutoslawski. Droga do Mistrzostwa [The

road to mastery]. Krak6w: PWM, 2004.
Harley, James. Xenakis. His life in Music. New York: Routledge, 2004.
Harley, Maria Anna. 'The Polish School of Sonorism and its European Context,'
Crosscurrents and Counterpoints: Offerings in Honor of Bengt Hambraeus at 70. Edited
by Per Broman, Nora A. Engebretsen and Alphonce Bo. Gothenburg: University of
Gothenburg, Sweden, 1998: 62-77. Reprinted in Polish as 'Polski sonoryzm i jego
europejski kontekst' [Polish sonorism and its European context]. Dissonances - Pismo
muzyki wsp6lczesnej [Dysonances. Journal of Contemporary Music and Other Arts]
Special Issue ( 1997): 34-40.
Haubenstock-Ramati, Roman. 'Forum: Notation. Notation - Material and Form,'

Perspective of New Music 4, no. I (Autumn-Winter, 1965): 39-44.
Haussler, Josef. 'Kazimierz Serocki. Musica concertante - Segments for Chamber

Orchestra, Episodes- Symphonic Frescos.' Sleeve notes. Heliodor Wergo 2549 015.
Hicks, Michael. 'Cowell's Clusters.' The Musical Quarterly 77, no. 3 (1993): 428-458.
Homma, Martina. 'Witold Lutoslawski's Trois poemes d'Henri Michaux. The sketches
and the work.' Polish Music Joumal3, no. 2 (Winter 2000).
http://www.usc.edu/dept/polish_music/PMJ/issue/3.2.00/homma.html (accessed June 20,
2006).
290
Humphries, Carl. 'Perspektywy rozwoju badan nad muzyk11_ na przykladzie tw6rczosci
Witolda Szalonka' [Perspectives of the Research Development on the basis of the
compositional output ofWitold Szalonek]. Dysonanse I (1998): 31-37.
'Witold Szalonek: choreograf dzwil!ku' [Witold Szalonek:

choreographer of sound]. Opcje 2 (1998): 88-92.
Jacobson, Bernard. 2dh-Century Composers. A Polish Renaissance. London: Phaidon

Press Limited, 1996.
Jarocinski, Stefan. 'Polish Music after World War II.' In Contemporary Music in Europe:
A Comprehensive Survey, edited by Paul Henry Lang and Nathan Broder, 244-258.
London: Dent and Sons, 1965.
Jaroszewicz, Jerzy. 'Tomasz Sikorski's Sequenza /.' Ruch Muzyczny !0, no. 22 (15-30
November 1966): 7.
J arzl!bska, Alicja. 'Sonorystyczne srodki wyrazu muzycznego w kwartetach

smyczkowych XX wieku' [Sonoristic means of musical expression in 20th-century string
quartets]. Muzyka 26, no. 3-4 (1981): 47-64.
- - - - - - - - - · 'Nowatorskie efekty dzwil!kowo-szmerowe i ich notacja: pojl!cie

"sonorystyka" J6zefa Chominskiego' [New Sound Effects and Their Notation: J6zef
Chomiilski' s 'Sonoristics' ]. In Z dziej6w mysli o muzyce [From the history of ideas about
music], 247-251. Krak6w: Musica Jagiellonica, 2002.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ . Sp6r o pi~kno muzyki. Wprowadzenie do kultury muzycznej XX

wieku [Dispute about the Beauty of Music. An Introduction to the Musical Culture of the
20'h Century]. Wroclaw: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Wroclawskiego, 2004.
291
Kaczorek, Ireneusz. 'Wartosc estetyczna i artystyczna Fresk6w Symfonicznych
Kazimierza Serockiego' [The Aesthetic and Artistic Value of Kazimierz Serocki's
Symphonic Frescoes]. In Dzielo Muzyczne. Studia i Rozprawy [The Work of Art. Studies
and Debates], 123-215. Poznan: Wydawnictwo Akademii Muzycznej, 1999.
Kaczynski, Tadeusz. 'Concerto Breve Tomasza Sikorskiego' [Tomasz Sikorski's

Concerto Breve]. Ruch Muzyczny 9, no. 17 (1-15 September 1965): 14
- - - - - - - - - · 'Jesien '66. Pierwsze rozpoznanie' [Jesien '66. At the first

glance]. Ruch Muzyczny 10, no. 22 (15-30 November 1966): 11-12.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ . 'Kwintet D~ty Tomasza Sikorskiego' [Tomasz Sikorski's Wind

Quintet]. RuchMuzyczny9, no. 17 (1-15 September 1965): 10.
Kagel, Mauricio. 'Tone, Clusters, Attacks, Transitions.' Die Reihe 5 (1954): 40-55.
Kaluzny, Jan. 'Krzysztof Penderecki and his contribution to modem musical notation.'
Polish Review 3, no. 8 (1963): 86-95.
Karkoschka, Erhard. Notation in New Music. A Critical Guide to Interpretation and

Realisation. London: Universal Edition, 1972.
Kilar, Wojciech. Na Jasnej G6rze. Odnalazlem wolnq Polske ... i siebie [At Jasna G6ra I
found free Poland, I found myself]. Cz~stochowa: Edycja Swi~tego Pawla, 2003.
Kisielewski, Stefan. 'Polska tw6rczosc muzyczna wczoraj i dzis' [Polish Compositional

Output Now and Then]. Ruch Muzyczny 4, no. 18 (15-30 September 1960): 1-2.
292
_________ . 'Dwudziestolecie Polskiego Wydawnictwa Muzycznego' [The
Twentieth Anniversary of Polish Music Publishers). Ruch Muzyczny 9, no. 19 (1-15
October 1965): 8-9.
Klee, Paul. On Modern Art. Translated by Paul Findlay with an Introduction by Herbert
Read. London: Faber: 1966.
Kowalska, Bo2:ena. Polska Avangarda Malarska 1945-1970 [Polish Avant-garde m

Painting 1945-1970]. Warsaw: PWN, 1975.
Kowalska-Zajli,C, Ewa. Oblicza Avangardy. Roman Haubenstock-Ramati [Faces of the

Avant-Garde. Roman Haubenstock-Ramati]. L6di: Akademia Muzyczna im. Grazyny i
Kiejstuta Bacewicz6w, 2000.
Kostrzewska, Hanna. 'Poj~;cie sonorystyki w po1skiej mysli muzykologicznej' [The

notion of sonoristics in Polish Musicological Thought]. Muzyka 35, no. I (1990): 53-59.
- - - - - - - - - - · Sonorystyka [Sonoristics]. Poznan: Ars nova, 1994.
- - - - - - - - - - · 'Sonoryzm jako forma muzycznej wypowiedzi w XX wieku

(na przykladzie wczesnej tw6rczosci Krzysztofa Pendereckiego )' [Sonorism as a Form of
Musical Expression in the 20th century (on the basis of early works by Krzysztof
Penderecki)). In Musica practica. Musica theoretica, edited by Brodniewicz Teresa,
Janusz Kt;;pinski, Hanna Kostrzewska and Janina Tatarska, 155-163. Poznan:
Wydawnictwo Akademii Muzycznej, 2001.
- - - - - - - - - - · 'Tw6rczosc fortepianowa Kazimierz Serockiego' [The piano

works of Kazimierz Serocki]. In Musica practica. Musica theoretica, edited by
Brodniewicz Teresa, Janusz Kepinski, Hanna Kostrzewska and Janina Tatarska, 111-119.
Poznan: Wydawnictwo Akademii Muzycznej im. I.J. Paderewskiego, 2001.
293
Krawczyk, Dorota. 'Koncepcje czasu i ich wplyw na ksztaltowanie formy w polskiej
muzyce wsp6lczesnej' [Conceptions of time and their impact on the shaping of form in
Polish contemporary music]. Muzyka 40, no. 4 (1995): 113- 117.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ . 'Lutoslawski i Serocki - Dwa typy ksztaltowania struktury

czasowej utworu' [Lutoslawski and Serocki- Two types of time formation in the musical
work], Dziedzictwo europejskie a polska kultura muzyczna w dobie przemian. Studia pod
redakcjq Anny Czekanowskiej, 219-232. Krak6w: Musica Jagiellonica, 1995.
Kotm'Iski, Wlodzimierz. Muzyka elektroniczna [Electronic Music]. Krak6w: PWM, 2002.
- - - - - - - - - - · 'Perkusja' [Percussion]. Ruch Muzyczny 4, no. 3 (1-15 March

1960): 14-15.
'Kronika PWM 1945-65' [The Chronicle of the Polish Music Publishers]. Ruch
Muzyczny 9, no. 19 (1-15 October 1965):6-7.
Lindstedt, Iwona. 'Teoria sonologii muzycznej J6zefa Michala Chominskiego' [J6zef

Michal Chominski's Theory of Music Sonology]. Muzyka 51, no.l-2 (2006): 33-84.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ . 'The Development of Twelve-Note and Serial Techniques in

the Music of Polish Twentieth-Century Composers.' In Musicology Today, I 06- 124.
Warsaw: Institute of Musicology, University of Warsaw, 2005.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _. Dodekafonia i serializm w tw6rczosci kompozytor6w polskich

XX wieku [Dodecaphony and Serialism in the Output of Polish Twentieth-Century
Composers]. Lublin: Polihymnia, 2001.
294
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ . 'Between Dodecaphony and Sonoristics: Post-Serial Formulas
in Penderecki's Work, 1960-1962.' In Studies in Penderecki, vol. 2, edited by Ray
Robinson and Regina Chlopicka, 227-243. Princeton NJ: Prestige Publications 2003.
Lissa, Zofia. 'Analiza repertuaru Warszawskich Jesieni' [The analysis of the Warsaw
Autumn Repertoire]. Muzyka 14, no. 3 (1969): 40-66.
_ _ _ _ _ . 'GI6wne nurty stylistyczne w muzyce polskiej 1944-1974 [The Main

Stylistic Currents in the Polish Music 1944-1974]. Muzyka 20, no. 3 (1975): 5-15.
Lobanowa, Marina. Gyorgy Ligeti: Style, Ideas, Poetics, Berlin: Verlag Ernst Kuhn, 2002.
Lutoslawski, Witold. Witold Lutoslawski. Postscriptum. Edited by Danuta Gwizdalanka

and Krzysztof Meyer. Fundacja Zeszyt6w Literackich: 1999.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _. 'T~sknota za nieznanym swiatem' [Longing for an unknown

world]. Kontrapunkt, Magazyn Kulturalny Tygodnika Powszechnego 67, no. 1 (15
February 2004): 12-13.
Lutoslawski issue, Muzyka 40, no. 1-2 (1995).
Malinowski, Wladyslaw. 'Od nowej muzyki ku przeszlosci. Sonoryzm Marka

Stachowskiego' [From the New Music towards the Past. Sonorism of Marek Stachowski].
In De Musica 12 (2006). http://free.art.pUdemusica/de_mu_12/12_02.html (accessed 5
June 2007).
Malecka, Teresa. 'Neusis II Marka Stachowskiego' [Marek Stachowski's Neusis II].
Muzyka 23, no. 1 (1978): 45-60.
- - - - - - - - - - · 'Problem sonorystyki w Mitach Szymanowskiego' [The

Problem of Sonoristics in Myths by Szymanowski]. Muzyka 4, no. 4 (1957): 31-44.
295
Markiewicz, Leon. 'GI6wne tendencje tw6rcze w katowick:im srodowisku
kompozytorsk:im' [Main Creative Tendencies in the Katowice Compositional Circles].
Muzyka 19, no. 2 (1974): 22-30.
- - - - - - - - - · 'Choros I Henryka G6reck:iego' [Henryk G6reck:i's Choros I].

Ruch Muzyczny 8, no. 21 (1-15 November 1964): 8-9
- - - - - - - - - · 'Elementy Henryka G6reck:iego' [Henryk G6reck:i's Elementi].

Ruch Muzyczny 9, no. 17 (1-15 September 1965): 9.
- - - - - - - - · 'Fresk:i symfoniczne Serock:iego' [Serock:i's Symphonic Frescoes].

Ruch Muzyczny 8, no. 21 (1964): 9.
- - - - - - - - · 'Les sons Witolda Szalonka' [Witold Szalonek Les sons]. Ruch

Muzyczny 9, no. 17 (1-15 September 1965): 13.
________ . '0 zderzeniach, radosci i ... katastrofizmie' [About collisions, joy

and ... catastrophes]. Ruch Muzyczny 4, no. 21 (1-15 November 1960): 10-11
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ . 'Scultura Boguslawa Schaeffera' [Boguslaw Schaeffer's Scultura].

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ . 'Stare i nowe w muzyce B. Szabelskiego' [Old and New in the

Music of B. Szabelski]. Ruch Muzyczny 6, no. 18 (15-31 September 1962): 9-10.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ . 'Riff 62 Wojciecha Kilara' [Wojciech Kilar's Riff 62]. Ruch

Muzyczny 7, no. 2 (15-31 January 1963): 10.
_________. 'Rozmowa z Henrykiem G6reck:im' [Conversation with Henryk

G6reck:i]. Ruch Muzyczny 4, no. 17 (1-15 September 1962): 6-8.
296
--------· 'Wojciech ICi1ar's Springfield sonnet' [Wojciech Kilar's
Springfield sonnet]. Ruch Muzyczny 9, no. 17 (1-15 September 1965): 8.
Maslowiec, Anna. '"The Utmost Economy of Musical Material:" Structural Elements in

the Works of G6recki from Refrain ( 1965) to Ad Matrem ( 1971 ). ' Context 14 (Summer
1997): 15-33.
Michalski, Grzegorz. 'The Glittering Music of Kazimierz Serocki.' Music in Poland, 1-2
( 1983 ): 15-19.
Miklaszewska, Joanna. Minimalism w muzyce polskiej [Minimalism in Polish music].

Krak6w: Musica Jagiellonica, 2003.
Mirka, Danuta. 'G6reckiego muzyka geometrica' [G6recki's geometric music].

Dysonanse I (1998): 20-30.
- - - - - - - · 'Penderecki's Sonorism Against Serialism.' In Studies in Penderecki,

vol. 2, edited by Ray Robinson and Regina Chlopicka, 305-311. Princeton NJ: Prestige
Publications 2003.
'Sonorystyczny Strukturalizm Krzysztofa Pendereckiego' [The

sonoristic structuralism of KrzysztofPenderecki]. In Muzyka Polska 1945-1995, 235-247.
Krakow: Akademia Muzyczna w Krakowie, 1996.
_______ . The sonoristic Structuralism of Krzysztof Penderecki. Katowice:

Akademia Muzyczna, 1997.
Morgan, Robert. Twentieth-Century Music. A History of Musical Style in Modern Europe

and America. New York: Norton, 1991.
297
Mycielski, Zygmunt. 'Scultura Bogus!awa Schaeffera' [Bogus!aw Schaeffer's Scultura].
Ruch muzyczny II, no. 19 (1- 15 October 1967): 17.
- - - - - - - - - · Dziennik 1950-1959 [Journal 1950-1959]. Warszawa: Iskry,

1999.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ . 'Warszawska Jesien 1961' [Warsaw Autumn 1961]. Ruch

Muzyczny 5, no. 21 (1-15 November 1961): 1-4.
- - - - - - - - - · 'Passio et mors domini nostri Jesu Christi secundum lucam

Krzysztofa Pendereckiego.' RuchMuzyczny 10, no. 10 (15-31 May 1966): 3-7.
Nicholls, David. 'Getting Rid of the Glue. The Music of the New York School.' In The
New York Schools of Music and Visual Ans, edited by Steven Johnson, 17-56. New York:
Routlege, 2002.
Nikolska, Irina. '0 ewolucji tw6rczosci instrumentalnej Krzysztofa Pendereckiego' [The

evolution of Krzysztof Penderecki's instrumental writing]. Muzyka 32, no. I (1987): 31-
53.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ . 'Recepcja polskiej muzyki wsp6!czesnej w Rosji (1960-1980'

[Reception of Contemporary Polish Music in Russia ( 1960-1980)]. Dziedzictwo
europejskie a polska kultura muzyczna w dobie przemian. Studia pod redakcjq Anny
Czekanowskiej. Krak6w: Musica Jagiellonica, 1995,261-274.
- - - - - - - - - · Conversations with Witold Lutoslawski. Stockholm: Melos, En

Musiktidskrift, 1994.
Nordwall, Ove ed. Lutoslawski. Translated by Christopher Gibbs et a!. Stockholm:

Edition Wilhelm Hanses, 1968.
298
Ochlewski, Tadeusz. 'Po dwudziestu latach mojej pracy w PWM' [After Twenty Years
of my Work in the Polish Music Publishers]. Ruch Muzyczny 9, no. 19 (1-15 October
1965): 3.
O'Loughlin, Niall. 'Threnody and Performance.' In Studies in Penderecki, vol. 2, edited

by Ray Robinson and Regina Chlopicka, 57-68. Princeton: Prestige Publications, 2003.
Pacewicz, Izabela. 'Sonorism.' In Kompozytorzy Polscy 1918-2000 [Polish Composers

1918-2000], vol. 1, edited by Marek Podhajski, 269-275. Gdansk- Warszawa: Akademia
Muzyczna w Gdansku i w Warszawie, 2005.
Paja-Stach, Jadwiga. Witold Lutoslawski. Krak6w: Musica Jagiellonica, 1996.
________ . Lutoslawski i jego styl muzyczny [Lutoslawski and His Musical

Style]. Krak6w: Musica Iagellonica, 1997.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ ., ed. Witold Lutoslawski i }ego wklad do kultury muzycznej XX wieku

[Witold Lutoslawski and his contribution to the 20'h century musical culture]. Krak6w:
Musica Jagiellonica, 2005.
Pasiecznik, Monika. 'Szalonek z czysca historii' [Szlonek from purgatory of history],

Odra, 6 (2006): 83-85.
Penderecki, Krzysztof. Labyrinth of Time. Five Addresses for the End of the Millennium.
Edited by Ray Robinson. Translated by William Brand. Chapel Hill: Hinshaw Music,
1998.
Pociej, Bohdan. 'Muzyka ipsa Boguslawa Schaeffera' [Boguslaw Schaeffer's Muzyka

Ipsa.' Ruch Muzyczny 7, no. 7 (1-15 April1963): 12-14.
299
_ _ _ _ _ _ . 'Muzyka polska 1960 czyli o potrzebie, kierunkach i granicach
nowatorstwa' [Polish Music 1960- on the needs, directions and limitations of the new].
RuchMuzyczny4, no. 21 (1-15 November 1960): 2-3.
_ _ _ _ _ _ . 'Poza dobrem i zlem' [Beyond good and bad]. Ruch Muzyczny 8, no.
22 (15-30 November 1964): 3-5.
_ _ _ _ _ _ . 'Zderzenia Henryka G6reckiego' [Henryk G6recki's Scontri]. Ruch

Muzyczny 4, no. 18 (15-30 September 1960): 7.
- - - - - - - · 'Gry Weneckie. Nowy utw6r Witolda Lutoslawskiego' [Venetian

Games. A new work by Witold Lutoslawski]. Ruch Muzyczny 5, no. 10 (15-30 May
1961):4.
_______ ,.'Tertium datur Boguslawa Schaeffera' [Boguslaw Schaeffer's Tertium

datur]. Ruch Muzycmy 4, no. 21 (1-15 November 1960): 4.
Poszowski, Antoni 'Zagadnienie sonorystycznej techniki harmonicznej' [The question of

sonoristic technique in harmony?]. Zeszyty Naukowe PWSM w Sopocie, Z. III, Sopot
1967.
Podobinska, K.Iaudia and Leszek Polony. Ciesz~ si~ darem zycia. Rozmowy z Wojciechem
Kilarem [I enjoy the gift of life. Conversations with Wojciech Kilar]. Krak6w: PWM,
1997.
Polony, Leszek. Wojciech Kilar. Krak6w: PWM, 2005.
Prosnak, Antoni. 'Zagadnienie sonorystyki na przykladzie etiud Chopina' [Sonoristics in

Chopin's Etudes]. Muzyka 3, no. 1-2 (1958): 14-32.
300
Rae, Charles Bodman. Muzyka Lutoslawskiego. Warszawa: PWN, 1996.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ .The Music ofLutoslawski. Sydney: Omnibus Press, 1999.
Rappoport-Gelfand, Lidia. 'Sonorism: Problems of Style and Form in Modern Polish

Music.' Journal of Musicological Research 4 (1983): 399-416.
- - - - - - - - - - - - · M u s i c a l Life in Poland. The Postwar Years 1945-1977.

Amsterdam: Gordon and Breach, 1991.
Risatti, Howard. New Music Vocabulary. A Guide to Notational Signs for Contemporary
Music. Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 1975.
Roberts, Gwyneth Margareth. 'Procedures for analysis of sound masses.' PhD diss.,
Indiana University, 1978.
Rogala, Jacek. Muzyka polska XX wieku [Polish music of the 20th Century]. Krakow:
PWM, 2000.
Rosen, Judith. Bacewicz. Her Life and Works. Los Angeles: PMRC, 1984.
Ri:irich, Mary. 'Penderecki's Threnody for the Victims of Hiroshima: A case study in the
dangers of expressive aesthetics and the limits of formal analysis.' Slavic Symposium,
Department of the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg (1982): 193-235.
Rychlik, J6zef. 'Punktualizm we wczesnej tw6rczosci Krzysztofa Pendereckiego'

[Pointillism in KrzysztofPenderecki's early musical works]. Muzyka 21, no. 21 (1976): 5-
21.
301
Schaeffer, Boguslaw. Dzwi~ki i znaki. Wprowadzenie do kompozycji wsp6lczesnej,
Warszawa: PWN, 1969.
---------·Muzyka XX wieku: rw6rcy i problemy. Krak6w: Wydawnictwo

Literackie, 1975.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ . Nowa Muzyka. Problemy wsp6lczesnej techniki kompozytorskiej.

[New music. Problems of contemporary compositional technique]. Wydanie nowe II.
Krak6w: PWM, 1969.
Scherzo dla Wojciecha Kilara prowadzily Maria Malatynska i Agnieszka Malatynska-

Stankiewicz [Scherzo for Wojciech Kilar conducted by Maria Malatynska i Agnieszka
Malatynska-Stankiewicz]. Krak6w: PWM, 2002.
Schiller, Henryk. 'Po prawykonaniu Wymiar6w czasu i ciszy Krzysztofa Pendereckiego'

[After the Premiere of Krzysztof Penderecki's Dimentions of Time and Silence]. Ruch
Muzyczny 4, no. 21 (1-15 November 1960): 5-6.
Schwinger, Wolfram. Krzysztof Penderecki. His Life and Work. London: Schott, 1989.
Skowron, Zbigniew. Recepcja postaw i program6w awangardowych w powojennej

muzyce polskiej [The Reception of Avant-garde attitudes and Programme Post-war Polish
Music]. Materialy sesji naukowej, Krak6w, 6-10 December 1995.
Sonntag, Brunhilda. 'Przyczynek do tw6rczosci kompozytorskiej Witolda Szalonka'

[Contribution to Compositional Oeuvre of Witold Szalonek]. Opcje 2 (1994): 86-89.
Stawowy, Ludomira and Joanna Zajll,C. Boguslaw Schaeffer. Salzburg: Collsch Edition,
2001?
302
Stucky, Steven. Lutoslawski and his Music. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,
1981.
Stone, Kurt. 'New Notation for New Music, Part 2' Music Educators Journal 63, no. 3
(November, 1976): 54-61.
Szalonek, Witold. 'Krajobraz dzwi~kowy muzyki Chopina' [Sound landscape of
Chopin's music]. Opcje 3 (1993): 58-59.
- - - - - - - - · · '0 walorach sonorystycznych instrument6w d~tych drewnianych'

[On the unexploited sonoristic qualities of woodwind instruments]. Res Facta, 1973.
--------·'Sonority and its Form Shaping Powers.' Unpublished paper. Berlin

June 1976.
Thomas, Adrian. 'A Pole Apart: The Music of G6reck:i since 1965.' Contact 28 (1984):
20-31.
- - - - - - - · Bacewicz. Chamber and Orchestral Music. Los Angeles: PMRC, 1985.
- - - - - - · G6recki. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1997.
- - - - - - - · 'Jeux venitiens: Working Methods at the Start of Lutoslawski's

Mature Period.' In Lutoslawski Studies, edited by Zbigniew Skowron, 211-243. Oxford:
Oxford University Press, 200 I.
'The Music of Henryk Mikolaj G6reck:i: The First Decade.' Contact,

27 (1983): 10-20.
_______ . Polish Music since Szymanowski. Cambridge: Cambridge University

Press, 2005.
303
Tomaszewski, Mieczyslaw. 'Listening to Penderecki.' In Studies in Penderecki, vol. 2,
edited by Ray Robinson and Regina Chlopicka, 17-28. Princeton: Prestige Publications,
2003.
Toop, Richard. Gyorgy Ligeti. London, Phaidon Press, 1999.
_ _ _ _ _ .'Notations.' Collage 9 (Palermo, 1970): 93-98.
Zathey, Janusz. 'Darmstadt osierocony' [Orphaned Darmstadt]. Ruch Muzyczny 6, no. 15

(1-15 August 1962): 10-11.
Zielinski, Tadeusz A. 'Nowe utwory Krzysztofa Pendereckiego' [The new works of

Krzysztof Penderecki]. Ruch Muzyczny 5, no. 12 (15-30 June 1961 ): 17-18 and 24.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ ,. Dramat Instrumentalny Pendereckiego [The instrumental drama of

Penderecki]. Krak6w: PWM, 2003.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ . 'Fluorescencje Krzysztofa Pendereckiego' [Krzysztof

Penderecki's Fluorescences]. Ruch Muzyczny 7, no. 2 (1964): 5-6.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ . 'Jesien i kryteria' [Autumn and Criteria).' Ruch Muzyczny 9, no.

21 (1965): 16-18.
- - - - - - - - · 0 tw6rczosci Kazimierza Serockiego [About the creative output of

Kazimierz Serocki]. Krak6w: PWM, 1985.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _. 'Nowa sytuacja polskiej muzyki wsp61czesnej' [The new situation

of Polish contemporary music]. Ruch Muzyczny 5, no. 2 (15-31 January 1961): 2-3.
304
- - - - - - - - · 'Odkrycia i wydarzenia' [Discoveries and events]. Ruch Muzyczny
8, no. 22 (15-30 November 1964): 6-7.
- - - - - - - - · 'Wlodzimierz Kotm1ski's Concerto and Trio.' Ruch Muzyczny 5,

no. 21 (1-15 November 1961): 9.
- - - - - - - - · 'Wsp6tczesny kompozytor a tradycja. Rozmowa z Krzysztofem

Pendereckim' [Contemporary composer and tradition. A conversation with Krzysztof
Penderecki]. Ruch Muzyczny 7, no. 12 (1963): 8-9.
Tomaszewski Mieczyslaw. Krzysztof Penderecki and His Music. Krak6w: Akademia

Muzyczna, 2003.
- - - - - - - - - · 'Sonorystyczna ekspresywnosc i alegoryczny symbolizm:

symfonia polska 1944-1994' [Sonoristic expression and alegoric symbolism: Polish
symphony 1944-1994]. In Muzyka Polska 1945-1995 [Polish Music 1945-1995], 13-40.
Krak6w: Akademia Muzyczna w Krakowie, 1996.
Tomaszewski, Mieczyslaw ed. Muzyka Krzysztofa Pendereckiego. Poetyka i recepcja

[The music of Krzysztof Penderecki. Poetics and reception]. Krak6w: Akademia
Muzyczna, 1996.
Valovy, Evzen. 'Kilka uwag o wykonaniach polskiej muzyki wsp6tczesnej w

Czechoslowacji' [A few points about performances of Polish Contemporary Music in
Czechoslovakia]. Muzyka 20, no. 3 (1975): 95-100.
Varga, Balint Andras. Lutoslawski Profile. London: Chester, 1974.
Varnai, Peter. 'Powi!I.Zania mi,.:dzy polsk!j_ i w,.:giersk!j_ tw6rczoscia muzyczn!j_ XX wieku'

[Links between Polish and Hungarian compositional output of the 20th century). Muzyka
20, no. 3 (1975): 101-104.
305
Wachowicz, Zygmunt. 'Muzyka Boguslawa Schaeffera' [The Music of Boguslaw
Schaeffer]. Ruch Muzyczny 4, no. 19 {15-30 October 1960): 3-4.
Wallek-Walewski, Marian. 'W kr'<gu poszukiwan materialowych - Krzysztof

Penderecki' [All around the search of musical material - Krzysztof Penderecki]. Ruch
Muzyczny 4, no. 17 (1-15 September 1960): 1-2.
'Warszawska Jesien' na cenzurowanym. Glosy prasy zagranicznej' [Warsaw Autumn' on

censorship. Voices of the Foreign Press]. Ruch Muzyczny 4, no. 2 (15-29 February 1960):
19.
Wellens, Ian. Music on the Frontline. Nicolas Nabokov's Struggle Against Communism
and Middlebrow Culture. Aldershot: Ashgate, 2002.
Whitehouse, Richard. Wojciech Kilar Film Music, CD notes for 'Bram Stoker's Dracula
and other film music by Wojciech Kilar.' Marco Polo 8.225153.
Zavarsky, Ernest. 'Formy popularyzacji polskiej muzyki wsp61czesnej w Slowacji'

[Forms of popularization of the contemporary Polish music in Slovenia]. Muzyka 20, no.
3 (1975): 105-108.
306
INTERVIEWS
Kaczynski, Tadeusz. 'Trzynascie wcielen Boguslawa Schaeffera. Polemiki jubileuszowej

cz~sc pierwsza' [Thirteen incarnations of Boguslaw Schaeffer. Jubilee Polemics' part 1).
Ruch muzyczny 34, no. 5 (11 March 1990): I and 4.
'Trzynascie wcielen Boguslawa Schaeffera. Polemiki

jubileuszowej cz~sc druga' [Thirteen incarnations of Boguslaw Schaeffer. Jubilee
Polemics' part 2]. Ruch muzyczny 34, no. 5 (25 March 1990): 1 and 4.
'Trzynascie wcielen Boguslawa Schaeffera. Polemiki

jubileuszowej cz~sc trzecia' [Thirteen incarnations of Boguslaw Schaeffer. Jubilee
Polemics' part 3]. Ruch muzyczny 34, no. 5 (April 1990): I and 4.
- - - - - - - - · 'Rozmowa z J6zefem Patkowskim o Studiu Eksperymentalnym.

Rozmawial Tadeusz Kaczynski' [An Interwiew with J6zef Patkowski about Experimental
Studio. Conducted by Tadeusz Kaczynski). Ruch Muzyczny 7, no. 1 (1-15 January 1963):
3-6.
Ligeti in Conversation with Peter Varnai, Josef Hausler, Claude Samuel and himself.
London: Eulenburg Books, 1983.
Lugowska, Marta. 'Wykorzystana szansa. Z Jerzym Jasienskim rozmawia Marta

Lugowska' [A chance taken up. Marta Lugowska talks to Jerzy Jasienski). Studio
(October, 1992): 9.
Malatynska-Stankiewicz, Agnieszka. 'Nie b~de pisal na metry i lokcie.' Z Henrykiem

Mikolajem G6reckim rozmawia Agnieszka Malatynska-Stankiewicz. Przeglad Polski
307
On-Line 20 February 2004. http://www.dziennik.com/www/dziennik/kult/archiwum/OI-
06-04/pp-02-20-0I.html (accessed May 15, 2006).
Marczyr\ski, Jacek. 'Muzyka jest labityntem. Rozmowa Jacka Marczyr\skiego z

Krzysztofem Pendereckim' [Music is a Maize. Conversation with Krzysztof Penderecki-
Jacek Marczyr\ski]. Rzeczpospolita- Plus minus (31 October- 2 November 2003): 8.
Markiewicz, Leon. 'Conversation with Henryk G6recki: Leon Markiewicz, July 1962'.
Translated by Anna Maslowiec Context 14 (Summer 1997): 35-41.
- - - - - - - · 'Po powrocie z Paryza. Rozmowa z Wojciechem Kilarem' [After

returning from Paris. A Conversation with Wojciech Kilar with Leon Markiewicz]. Ruch
Muzyczny 5, no. 5 (1-15 March 1961): 3-4.
- - - - - - - · 'Witold Szalonek o Darmstacie i Wyznaniach '. An Interwiew with

Leon Markiewicz [Witold Szalonek on Darmstadt and Corifessions]. Ruch Muzyczn 4, no.
22 (15-30 November 1960): 22.
'Rozmowa z J6zefem Patkowskim o Studiu Eksperymentalnym' [An Interview with

J6zef Patkowski about Experimental Studio]. Ruch Muzyczny 7, no. I (1-15 January
1963): 3-6.
Rozmowa z Boguslawem Schaefferem I [An Interview with Boguslaw Schaeffer part I].
Rozmowa z Boguslawem Schaefferem(II) [An Interwiew with Boguslaw Schaeffer (II)].

Ruch Muzyczny 4, no. 19 (15-30 October 1960): 3-5.
So, Mark G. 'Wojciech Kilar Interview Part One,' The Online Magazine of Motion
Picture and Television Music Appreciation Lost Issue (July 2001).
308
r
http://www.filmscoremonthly.com/articles/2001/04_Jul---
Lost_Issue_ Wojciech_Kilar_Part_One.asp (accessed May 13, 2007)
Szafranska, Iwona. 'Wok6l sonoryzmu. Z Witoldem Szalonkiem rozmawia Iwona

Szafranska' [Around sonorism. Iwona Szafranska talks to Witold Szalonek]. Opcje
[Options] no. 2 (1994): 75-78.
- - - - - - - · 'Czy istnieje polska szkola kompozytorska? Z Pawlem Szymanskim,

Stanislawem Krupowiczem, Andrzejem Chlopeckim - rozmawia Iwona Szafranska,'
[Polish Compositional School - Does it exist? Iwona Szafranska talks to Pawel
Szymanski, Stanislaw Krupowicz and Andrzej Chlopecki). Dysonanse, Special Issue,
(1997): 41-42.
INTERVIEWS CONDUCTED BY THE AUTHOR
Baculewski, Krzysztof. Interview with author (Warsaw, November II, 2005).
- - - - - - - - · A letter to author (June 21, 2003).
Kilar, Wojciech. Interview with author (Dzierzoni6w, October 29, 2005).
Kotonski, Wlodzimierz. Interview with author (Warsaw, November II, 2005) ..
- - - - - - - - · A letter to author (October 27, 1999).
Krauze, Zygmunt. A letter to author (October, 2, 1999).
309
Schaeffer, Boguslaw. A letter to author (November 16, 2001).
Toop, Richard. Interview with author (Sydney, April, 24, 2006).
310
SCORES
Gorecki, Henryk Miko!aj. Genesis. Krak6w: PWM, 1977.
- - - - - - - - - · · Choros I. Krakow: PWM, 1976.
- - - - - - - - - · Refren. Krak6w: PWM, 1979.
- - - - - - - - - · Scontri. Krak6w: PWM, 1962.
Kilar, Wojciech. Diphthongos. Krak6w: PWM, 1965.
- - - - - · Riff62. Krak6w: PWM, 1963.
_ _ _ _ _ _. Gem!rique. Krak6w: PWM, 1964.
Kotm1ski, Wlodzimierz. A battere. Celie: Moeck Verlag, 1968.
- - - - - - - - - · Concerto per Quattro. Krak6w: PWM, 1977.
- - - - - - - - - · Musica per fiati e timpani. Krak6w: PWM, 1964.
- - - - - - - - · Kwintet [Quintet]. Krak6w: PWM, 1966.
Lutoslawski, Witold. Jeux Venitiens. Celie: Moeck Verlag, 1962
--------·Trois Poemes d'Henri Michaux. Krak6w, 1964.
Penderecki, Krzysztof. Anaklasis. Celie: Moeck Verlag, 1960.
311
--------·Dimensions of Time and Silence. Celle: Moeck Verlag, 1961.
- - - - - - - - · Emanacje [Emanations]. Krak6w: PWM, 1978.
- - - - - - - - · Fluorescences. Krak6w: PWM, 1980.
- - - - - - - - · Ofiarom Hiroszimy - Tren [Threnody - To the Victims of

Hiroshima]. Krak6w: PWM, 1961.
- - - - - - - - · Quartetto per archi. Krak6w: PWM, 1971.
- - - - - - - - · Polymorphia. Krak6w: PWM, I 982.
Schaeffer, Boguslaw. Equivalenze sonore per 20 esecutor. Krak6w: PWM, I 962.
- - - - - - - - · Musica ipsa. Krak6w: PWM, 1965.
- - - - - - - - · Montaggio. Krak6w: PWM, 1962.
- - - - - - - · Scultura. Krak6w: PWM, 1967.
- - - - - - - - · String Quartet. Berlin: Ahn & Simrock, 1966.
-------~·Tertium datur. Krak6w: PWM, 1962.
Serocki, Kazimierz. Continuum. Krak6w: PWM, 1974.
- - - - - - - · Epizody. Krak6w: PWM, 1979.
312
- - - - - - - · F o r t e e piano. Krak6w: PWM, 1980.
- - - - - - - - · Musica concertante. Krak6w: PWM, 1978.
- - - - - - - · Segmenti. Krak6w: PWM, 1970.
-------·Symphonic Frescoes. Krak6w: PWM, 1979.
Sikorski, Tomasz. Concerto Breve. Krak6w: PWM, 1968.
- - - - - - · Prologhi. Krak6w: PWM, 1967.
- - - - - - · Sequenza /. Krak6w: PWM, 1970.
Szalonek, Witold. Lessons. Krak6w: PWM, 1967.
- - - - - - · Mutazioni. Krak6w: PWM, 1969.
- - - - - - · Mutanza. Krak6w: PWM, 1970.
- - - - - - · 1+1+1+1. Stockholm: Hansen Edition, 1973.
313
SYDNEY CONSERVATORIUM OF MUSIC LIBRARY

Sonorism and The Polish Avant Garde Vol 1

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Sonorism and The Polish Avant Garde Vol 1

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Sonorism and The Polish Avant Garde Vol 1

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Copyright and use of this thesis

This thesis must be used in accordance with the

Reproduction of matertal protected by copyright

Section 51 (2) of the Copyright Act permits

The Copyright Act gran~s the creator of a work a

You may infringe the author's moral rights if you:

For f urther information contact the University's

Date: 3,1. 0'8. ~o<q

A thesis submitted in fulfilment

List of tables X111

Chapter 1 Historical Overview 10.

Poland after the War: between 1945 and 1954 15.

The Polish 'thaw': between 1954 and 1956 22.

After 1956: the Warsaw Autumn Festival of Contemporary

Music and the Birth of the Polish Avant-Garde 31.

Chapter 2 Concept of Sonorism and Sonoristics 42.

J6zef Chominski and the Notion of Sonorism 42.

Early Responses to Chominski's Article 44.

Towards the Theory of Sonoristics: Chominski's Later Writings 46.

Resonance: Writings from 1970s and 1980s 51.

Sonorism Revisited: after 1990 54.

Introduction to part 2 77.

Chapter 3 'Sound as Texture': Sonorism in its European Context 84.

Chapter 4 From Pointillism to Sonorism 102.

Chapter 5 Sonoristic Notation 123.

Chapter 6 'Total Sonorism' 1960-1966 138.

Penderecki: Threnody- to The Victims of Hiroshima (1960) 146.

Dimensions of Time and Silence ( 1960-61) 157.

Schaeffer: Scultura (1960) 175.

Gorecki: Genesis cycle: Elementi (1962) 184.

Canti strumentali (1962) and Monodram (1963) 194.

Serocki: Segmenti (1960) and Symphonic frescoes ( 1963-64) 204.

Kilar: Diphthongos (1964) 219.

Szalonek: Le sons ( 1965) 227.

Sikorski: Sequenza I ( 1966) 237.

Chapter? From footprints to fingerprints 249.

Chapter 8 Legacy of Sonorism 255.

Chapter 9 Epilogue: Epilogue: Retrospective Views on Sonorism

and the Sonoristic Period. 264.

Fig. 4.1 Serocki, Musica concertante, first movement, mm. 1-5. I.

AK Armia Krajowa (Home Army)

ISCM International Society for Contemporary Music

PZPR Polish United Worker's Party (Polska Zjednoczona Partia Robotnicza)

WA Warsaw Autumn Festival of Contemporary Music (Warszawska Jesien)

ZKP Zwi:tzek Kompozytor6w Polskich (Polish Composers' Union)

UNESCO United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization.

Sonorism (sonorystyka) as a concept was introduced into Polish musicology by a

Festival of Contemporary Music, 1956-1961...,' 19-21.

Poland after the War: between 1945 and 1954

It seemed that in order to be allowed to test the boundaries of creative freedom,

The Polish 'thaw': between 1954 and 195641

concert gm'd e ... 52

As painters retained some sort of control over an element of chance, so composers in

The chain of dramatic political events in Poland was initiated by Khrushchev's

Indeed, in parallel with the process of rapid assimilation of Western avant-garde

The Concept of Sonorism and Sonoristics

Jozef Chomiiiski and the Notion of Sonorism

the actual sonic/real shape of the work 6

the musical work], Muzyka 24, no. 4 (1979): 14.