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| Bernardo Bellotto known as Canaletto (1722-1780) |
The Heart of Europe and the Early Modern Music of the West: a Musicological Electrocardiogram
The past two centuries have been particularly unkind to Central Europe: a succession of wars, long occupations, partitions and imposed ideologies have left the countries in this perilous corridor radically changed. A cursory glance at maps of Poland, from the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in the late eighteenth century, through the German, Russian and Austrian partitions, to its reemergence in the twentieth century and its current state, determined at the end of the Second World War, reveals the severity of the territorial shifts and points to the range of political and cultural systems imposed upon Poland by a succession of foreign governments.
It is hardly surprising, therefore, that Poland (and other central European countries) have occupied a marginal position in histories of Western Art Music. In equal parts subject to musicological partitions that have partly absorbed its music into that of neighbouring countries, conflated with the rest of the ‘East’ behind Stalin’s Iron Curtain, or simply ‘left behind’ owing to the difficulty of the Polish language and of accessing Polish literature, the music of Early Modern Poland has not received much attention from scholars in Western Europe and English-speaking academies internationally. This paper will survey the historical problems that have led to this state of affairs, and introduce a book on Polish Music, currently in preparation by a team of scholars from Poland, England, Scotland, Sweden, Germany, the United States and America, which seeks to redress the imbalance.
It is hardly surprising, therefore, that Poland (and other central European countries) have occupied a marginal position in histories of Western Art Music. In equal parts subject to musicological partitions that have partly absorbed its music into that of neighbouring countries, conflated with the rest of the ‘East’ behind Stalin’s Iron Curtain, or simply ‘left behind’ owing to the difficulty of the Polish language and of accessing Polish literature, the music of Early Modern Poland has not received much attention from scholars in Western Europe and English-speaking academies internationally. This paper will survey the historical problems that have led to this state of affairs, and introduce a book on Polish Music, currently in preparation by a team of scholars from Poland, England, Scotland, Sweden, Germany, the United States and America, which seeks to redress the imbalance.
Location: Kingsland Room, 6th level, ANU School of Music
Date: Thursday the 12th May commencing at 2.30pm.
Bookings not required but seating is extremely limited to 50 seats.
This event is an aperitif to two other events around Polish music - Chopin’s heart - also at the ANU School of Music, AtheNaeUm (formerly Library).
Friday 13th May My Journey to Find the Heart of Fryderyk Chopin - a visual presentation about Chopin’s heart with musical accompaniment ending with actual images of Chopin’s heart which is located in the Church of the Holy Cross, Warsaw
Saturday 14th May Chopin and Friends - a recital given by Konrad Olszewski around Chopin’s friends, who influenced him and who he influenced. Listen to Chopin, Bach, Mozart, Field, Liszt, Scriabin and Szymanowski. All details on Friends of Chopin Australia website www.friendsofchopin.org.au
Events highly recommended by Bumerang Polski
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