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Zygmunt Noskowski - Trzecia symfonia "Od wiosny do wiosny"
Published in 1904
Conductor: Jose Maria Florencio
Orchestra: Narodowa Orkiestra Symfoniczna Polskiego Radio Katowice
0:00 - I. Spring - Molto allegro con affezzione
12:07 - II. Summer - The Beauty of St. Johns eve: Adagio molto espressivo
20:12 - III. Fall: At a Harvest Festival - A festive song with a dance: Allegro
26:51 - IV. Winter: Silence and solitude of nature. A snowstorm. Spring's return and a sunny morning: Adagio Molto
Zygmunt Noskowski was a Polish Composer who was born in Warsaw and lived from 1846-1909. He was known mostly for his symphonic compositions. He worked not only as a musician, but as a teacher and a journalist. He taught almost all of the most important composers of the next generation in Polish music. It is through his efforts primarily that symphonic music was introduced to Warsaw, and he built the foundations for a strong symphonic tradition in Poland [1].
At the time of his birth, Poland was divided between Austria, Prussia, and the Russian Empire. Conditions were difficult for Polish artists due to censorship and general repression of Polish culture. Noskowski himself was a witness of a pogrom against the "manifestations of patriotism" (pogrom manifestacji patriotycznej) conducted by Russian soldiers on the 27th of February 1861 in Warsaw.
After witnessing the events, he traveled to Kraków and visited the Tatra mountains. These events influenced the rest of his creative output. The sights of the mountains and the beauty of Kraków juxtaposed with the foreign oppression that he saw could not be discounted easily, given that he later joined the January Uprising after his father's death in 1863.
Interestingly, Noskowski was not well aware of Chopin's output. His mother was a dedicated supporter of Towiański, who was a messianic, apocalyptic religious leader in Poland who claimed he had a vision of the end times. Chopin was highly critical of Towiański, which led Noskowski's family to avoid his work. Noskowski would detach from Towianism later in his life and become a propagator of Chopin's music. In the meantime, however, he still saw Ignacy Feliks Dobrzyński as the model Polish composer. Stylistically, he absorbed much of Dobrzyński's style as well as those of his other teachers - Kątski, Moniuszko, and Kiel.
From Spring to Spring
Noskowski's third and final symphony was commissioned by the Warsaw Philharmonic [2]. Like most of Noskowski's symphonic output, it was designed especially for the Polish nation as part of Noskowski's artistic positivism or, in other words, its goal was to comfort the Polish nation whose country had been divided by Austria, Prussia, and the Russian Empire [2][3]. In this symphony, the promise of rebirth for Poland comes in parallel with the yearly seasonal cycle. Of course, nothing in the symphony is devoid of Polishness, and the images of death and rebirth are wound together with Polish characteristics. As a reviewer wrote at the time: "[Noskowski] gives ethnographic characteristics of the people in the Native Polish rhythm and on various melodic peculiarities, typical of our music” [4].
I. Spring - A symphonic idylle of the highest order. Noskowski uses little figurations to mimic birds chirping, the running water, and the Polish landscape filled with the golden sun. One can hear similarities with the overture "Morskie Oko" which describes one of the natural wonders of Poland. In its more dramatic sections, similarities with "The Steppe" can be heard, making it seem like this movement pays tribute to Poland's past through her history and primordial landscape.
II. Summer - St. John's eve comes about in midsummer and the festivities celebrate the birth of John the Baptist (lots of parallels could be drawn between this great Saint and Poland herself). On this night, men and women sing festive songs wearing crowns of flowers which are thrown into nearby bodies of water. The Fall movement is nocturnal in nature and sings out village songs under percussive effects that evoke stars twinkling overhead.
III. Fall - I translated Noskowski's title "Okrężne" (roundabout, circular) a harvest festival - this is not exactly right. There is an old Polish festival called "Okrężne" which happens after all of the crops have been collected and the farmer had "circled" his fields [5]. Often there were sacrifices of animals or crops to sacred groves and grand feasts afterwards. Of course, there were many folk songs to accompany this tradition.
IV. Winter and the Return of Spring - The final movement depicts the positivist promise the most clearly. From the beauty of Poland, the desolation of it comes in its Winter - its occupation. The music is low and ominous, but the Spring soon returns in glory after fast, youthful passages that are bright but somehow violent. These are the snowstorms - the struggles, but they pass by and the golden sunlight shines over Poland once more.
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