A Portfolio of Compositions in Response to a Study of the Aesthetic Function of Folklore in Modern Polish Music

Abstract

There is an overwhelming tendency for scholars of Polish music to politicise the presence of folk music references when they appear in art music compositions. This has particularly been the case in studies of Frédéric Chopin, where certain myths pertaining to that composer’s extramusical intentions long dominated how his music was unpacked in musicological discourse. In this thesis, I demonstrate that our understanding of later Polish composers suffers similarly from this tendency. In an examination of the discourse surrounding both Karol Szymanowski and Henryk Mikołaj Górecki, I show that a myopic understanding of the compositional possibilities bound up in folk music engagement has limited the scope of our interrogations into their compositional practices. I then reposition folk music as an aesthetic tool in their works that has enabled these artists to negotiate the compositional challenges confronting their respective generations. In addition to improving our understanding of these two composers’ methods, my analyses highlight how folk music models can lend a sense of familiarity and cohesion to the modern musical aesthetic. I then take these findings and define a framework for categorising the aesthetic function of folklore in modern Polish music. Turning to my own compositional practice, I analyse a portfolio of original works that have been influenced by my concurrent study of Polish composers and Polish folk music. With this I demonstrate how these categories of aesthetic function have enabled me to engage with a wide range of traditional sources, including Polish folk music, folk music from other cultures, and other non-musical artefacts of Polish culture. I further show that, within this breadth of historical sources, there exists a significant amount of aesthetic potential waiting to be unpacked by any modern composer who shares my goal to create music that is cohesive, conveys a clear musical narrative, and possesses a strong individual identity.