Mieczyslaw Karlowicz - Eternal Songs; Stanislaw and Anna Oswiecim

Mieczyslaw KARLOWICZ (1876-1909)

Eternal Songs, Op. 10

1-Song of Everlasting Longing

2-Song of Love and Death

3-Song of Eternal Being

Stanislaw and Anna Oswiecim, Op. 12

An Episode During a Masquerade, Op. 14

Warsaw National Symphony Orchestra

Stanislaw Wislocki

Recorded: 1965, Warsaw, Poland.

Abuot Eternal Songs Op.10

After a difficult period in 1903–1904, culminating in the pessimistic, introverted, symphonic piece Returning Waves, Mieczysław Karłowicz began work on his next tone poem, entitled Eternal Songs. His plans to complete it in 1905 were disrupted by obligations arising from his appointment as director of the Warsaw Music Society. His second tone poem was finally complete in February of the following year, when he stepped back from his role at the Society. Although the piece seems to be one of Karłowicz’s most personal musical statements, it differs from Returning Waves in that at its heart it does not seek to give lyrical expression to the feelings of an individual. In Eternal Songs, Karłowicz turns his attention to universal values. He takes as his subject the whole of humanity and its shared experience, considered as timeless phenomena. The program of the work is a philosophical, even metaphysical allegory of the feelings and situations that humanity has experienced throughout history, and many commentators have looked for the source of its inspiration in the long, solitary excursions Karłowicz would make in the Tatra Mountains. From a purely musical perspective, thanks to its chosen form, its elaborate compositional techniques and its bold orchestral and harmonic solutions, Eternal Songs is a unique work.

The piece has a three-movement structure, unusual for a symphonic poem, and each movement is identified as a ‘song’: I. The Song of Eternal Longing, II. The Song of Love and Death, III. The Song of Universal Existence. The programmatic dimension is limited to these titles and, of course, the title of the piece as a whole. The only additional literary interventions made by the composer are epigraphs, which he attached to the first and last movements: ‘Here I stand before you, in order to lament my fate ...’ and ‘Greatness, might, majesty, eternity, ruthlessness, necessity’. He also assigned phrases to particular musical themes, such as ‘theme of resignation’ and ‘theme of inconsolable longing’1. Compared to the extensive programs of his earlier works (Symphony ‘The Rebirth’ and Returning Waves), the textual component in this instance is very modest. Musically, the piece seems freely composed, yet with a very well-thought-out construction, woven from intertwining themes. Despite its cyclical form, the tone poem is integrated as a single narrative unit, with the individual parts linked by the motif of ‘universal-death’ that appears in each movement. All three parts rely on an ABA1 structure, where the central section functions as variations that develop the material appearing in the parts on either side. These fragments are a long way from traditional sonata form, however, which is based on two main musical ideas that are then developed. In the various parts of Eternal Songs we are presented with a single main theme, providing the general character of the movement, and a series of complementary ideas that appear at various key moments. These ideas, treated by Karłowicz as symbols and leitmotifs, carry the literary program and create the required mood.

The first part of the cycle – The Song of Eternal Longing – addresses persistent feelings of longing. Some are clearly defined, but others are feelings beyond description, characterised by unfulfillment, searching and nostalgia. Karłowicz certainly made use of his recollections, his memories of the family home in Wiszniew (now Vishneva), which he missed, and these feelings were strengthened by his long, solitary walks in the mountains and the recent loss of people close to him – his father and his sister. The introduction, moving mainly in semitones, creates a sad atmosphere and becomes the basis for chromatic passages that evolve throughout the piece. The main theme follows – the ‘theme of longing’ – and it is a melancholy construction, typical of Karłowicz, including a melody that rises up through the notes of the scale. In this movement the ‘theme of eternity’, which is present throughout the entire piece, makes its first appearance. An interesting feature here is the use Karłowicz makes of the so-called harmonic series, that is – to use the language of acoustics – the simple tones that together make up a single note. It is not hard to imagine that the concept of constructing musical ideas from the harmonic series has its origins in Karłowicz’s philosophical explorations of the phenomenon of timelessness – unchanging, ancient principles; the notion of eternity which becomes the metaphorical heart of the composition.

The second movement – The Song of Love and Death, undoubtedly inspired by Richard Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde – is characterised by two main musical ideas. The first is the ‘love theme’ taken up by the violas, certainly more cheerful than the other themes, but not without its own melancholy. The second is the ‘death theme’, adapted from a Belarussian funeral song. This theme is in a major key, unusually for a requiem, and is also distinguished by its surprising instrumentation (a trio of flutes).

The last part of the triptych – The Song of Universal Existence – is the climax of the piece, in which intensive motif work comes to the fore (i.e. based on short melodic and rhythmic ideas), along with increased dynamics and more sharp-edged rhythmic patterns. Karłowicz’s illustration of the strength and majesty of the universe is rendered more powerful by the brass writing. The open fifths and octaves illustrate the attainment of spiritual purity,

Despite the fact that practically the entire piece maintains a slow or moderate tempo, it is free from longueurs or dull connecting passages. Thanks to the richness of the motifs and the development of particular themes as variations, the careful listener will appreciate not only Karłowicz’s undoubted melodic invention, but also his masterful use of variation and highly original instrumentation. Powerful use of chromatics, not only vertically (harmonically), but also horizontally, allow the composer to create moments of extraordinarily intense emotional tension and – particularly in the melodies – an atmosphere of gloom.

One could ponder at length the question of why Karłowicz used the term ‘songs’, clearly invoking vocal music, for this symphonic work. This was not, of course, an innovation: many years before Karłowicz, Felix Mendelssohn created the genre of songs without words (Lieder ohne Worte), for instrumental miniatures that appeal to the tradition of vocal music by virtue of their lyrical character: singing melodic lines and a characteristic ABA structure (sometimes ABA1). All these characteristics are present in Eternal Songs. There is, however, something else, which for Karłowicz is perhaps of equal significance, if not greater: the symbolism of a song, of the human voice, which has a particular significance in this work. There is no instrument that is more natural, and closer to the individual, than his or her own voice, which in Eternal Songs seems to be an allegory for humanity. The composer raised, then, a serious question – the very concept of humanism and what it means ‘to be human’, clearly suggesting that every individual is a member of the community, regardless of his or her earthly state, and walks a similar path, and experiences the same feelings.

Karłowicz’s second symphonic poem, in comparison with his earlier symphonic pieces, has less in common with neo-romantic, German music. Its melodic character and the way it builds tension, which earlier had been close to the style of Pyotr Tchaikovsky, here take on their own, individual features. The piece also came to symbolise Karłowicz making a firm commitment to the artistic path he had chosen, to the exclusive composition of orchestral music working with a program, to which he was undoubtedly ideally suited and which allowed him to express himself in the most effective way artistically, but also philosophically and emotionally. 

Łukasz Kaczmarowski