1.
Polish language
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Polish is a West Slavic language spoken primarily in Poland and is the native language of the Poles. It belongs to the Lechitic subgroup of the West Slavic languages, Polish is the official language of Poland, but it is also used throughout the world by Polish minorities in other countries. It is one of the languages of the European Union. Its written standard is the Polish alphabet, which has 9 additions to the letters of the basic Latin script, Polish is closely related to Kashubian, Silesian, Upper Sorbian, Lower Sorbian, Czech and Slovak. It is also the second most widely spoken Slavic language, after Russian, in history, Polish is known to be an important language, both diplomatically and academically in Central and Eastern Europe. Today, Polish is spoken by over 38.5 million people as their first language in Poland. It is also spoken as a language in western parts of Belarus and Ukraine, west and central Lithuania, as well as the northern parts of the Czech Republic. There are 55 million Polish language speakers around the world, Polish began to emerge as a distinct language around the 10th century, the process largely triggered by the establishment and development of the Polish state. With Christianity, Poland also adopted the Latin alphabet, which made it possible to write down Polish, the precursor to modern Polish is the Old Polish language. Ultimately, Polish is thought to descend from the unattested Proto-Slavic language, Poland is the most linguistically homogeneous European country, nearly 97% of Polands citizens declare Polish as their first language. Elsewhere, Poles constitute large minorities in Lithuania, Belarus, Polish is the most widely used minority language in Lithuanias Vilnius County and is found elsewhere in southeastern Lithuania. There are significant numbers of Polish speakers among Polish emigrants and their descendants in many other countries, in the United States, Polish Americans number more than 11 million but most of them cannot speak Polish fluently. The largest concentrations of Polish speakers reported in the census were found in three states, Illinois, New York, and New Jersey. Enough people in these areas speak Polish that PNC Financial Services offer services available in Polish at all of their machines in addition to English and Spanish. According to the 2011 census there are now over 500,000 people in England, in Canada, there is a significant Polish Canadian population, There are 242,885 speakers of Polish according to the 2006 census, with a particular concentration in Toronto and Montreal. The geographical distribution of the Polish language was affected by the territorial changes of Poland immediately after World War II. Poles settled in the Recovered Territories in the west and north and this tendency toward a homogeneity also stems from the vertically integrated nature of the authoritarian Polish Peoples Republic. The inhabitants of different regions of Poland still speak standard Polish somewhat differently, first-language speakers of Polish have no trouble understanding each other, and non-native speakers may have difficulty distinguishing regional variations
2.
Folk dance
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Folk dances are dances that are developed by people that reflect the life of the people of a certain country or region. Not all ethnic dances are folk dances, for example, ritual dances or dances of ritual origin are not considered to be folk dances, ritual dances are usually called Religious dances because of their purpose. The terms ethnic and traditional are used when it is required to emphasize the roots of the dance. In this sense, nearly all folk dances are ethnic ones, if some dances, such as polka, cross ethnic boundaries and even cross the boundary between folk and ballroom dance, ethnic differences are often considerable enough to mention, e. g. Czech polka vs. Dances not generally designed for performance or the stage, though they may later be arranged. Execution dominated by a tradition from various international cultures rather than innovation. New dancers often learn informally by observing others and/or receiving help from others, more controversially, some people define folk dancing as dancing for which there is no governing body or dancing for which there are no competitive or professional institutions. The term folk dance is sometimes applied to dances of historical importance in European culture and history, for other cultures the terms ethnic dance or traditional dance are sometimes used, although the latter terms may encompass ceremonial dances. A number of modern ballroom dances originated from folk ones, varieties of European folk dances include, Sword dances include Longsword dances and rapper dancing. Some choreographed dances such as dance, Scottish country dance. Country dance overlaps with contemporary dance and ballroom dance. Most country dances and ballroom dances originated from folk dances, with gradual refinement over the years, people familiar with folk dancing can often determine what country a dance is from even if they have not seen that particular dance before. Some countries dances have features that are unique to that country, for example, the German and Austrian schuhplattling dance consists of slapping the body and shoes in a fixed pattern, a feature that few other countries dances have. Folk dances sometimes evolved long before current political boundaries, so that certain dances are shared by several countries, for example, some Serbian, Bulgarian, and Croatian dances share the same or similar dances, and sometimes even use the same name and music for those dances. International folk dance groups exist in cities and college campuses in many countries, in which dancers learn folk dances from many cultures for recreation
3.
Triple metre
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It is reasonably common in ballads and classical music but much less so in traditions such as rock & roll and jazz. The most common time in rock, blues, country, funk, although jazz writing has become more adventurous since Dave Brubecks seminal Time Out, the majority of jazz and jazz standards are still in straight quadruple time. One noteworthy example of a classic that employs triple-meter time is John Coltranes version of My Favorite Things. Triple time is common in formal dance styles, for example the waltz, the minuet and the mazurka, the baroque sarabande is commonly a slow triple rather than the much faster Spanish original, consistent with the courtly European interpretations of many Latin dances. Tunes in triple metre tend to be lyrical and less martial than those in duple meter. Consequently, for example, triple meter is rare in national anthems – the national anthems of the United Kingdom, there are many classical works in triple metre. Joseph Haydns Farewell Symphony is a case, as the first three movements are all in triple meter, as is the farewell section of the final movement. In hymns and other works it is still common, with tunes such as Dave Bilboroughs Abba, Father following from more traditional melodies such as Slane, Cloisters. In contemporary pop traditions triple metre is much less common but examples do exist, the verses of Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds from The Beatles 1967 album, Sgt. Manic Depression from the 1967 album, Are You Experienced, the Way Young Lovers Do from the 1968 album, Astral Weeks, by Van Morrison. You Aint The First from the 1991 album, Use Your Illusion I, Waltz #2 and Waltz #1 from Elliott Smiths 1998 album XO. The verses of 3 Libras from the 2000 album, Mer de Noms, by A Perfect Circle and Its About Time from Young the Giants 2014 album, sWVs 1992 R&B hit Weak includes the lyrics cause my heart starts beating triple time but the song is in 44 time. In film music, the score to Peter Pan by James Newton Howard is remarkable in that it is almost entirely written in triple meter
4.
Accent (music)
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In music, an accent is an emphasis, stress, or stronger attack placed on a particular note or set of notes, or chord, either as a result of its context or specifically indicated by an accent mark. Accents contribute to the articulation and prosody of a performance of a musical phrase, accents may be written into a score or part by a composer or added by the performer as part of his or her interpretation of a musical piece. Compared to surrounding notes, A dynamic accent or stress accent is an emphasis using louder sound or a stronger articulation, a tonic accent is an emphasis on notes by virtue of being higher in pitch as opposed to higher in volume. An agogic accent is an emphasis by virtue of being longer in duration, accents which do not correspond to the stressed beats of the prevailing meter are said to be syncopated. For example, in time, also called 4/4, the most common metre in popular music. If chords or notes are played on two or four, this creates syncopation, as the music is emphasizing the weak beats of the bar. Syncopation is used in Classical music, popular music and traditional music, however, it is more prominent in blues, jazz, funk, disco and Latin music. There are four kinds of accents, Longer notated duration of a note, for example. Extended duration of a note within its full-time value, for example, players of organ and harpsichord can emphasize one of a sequence of staccato quarter notes by making it less staccato. Extended duration of a note with the effect of slowing down the tempo. Delayed onset of a note, for example by doing a pause before starting a note, in music notation, an accent mark indicates a louder dynamic and a stronger attack to apply to a single note or an articulation mark. The most common is the accent, the fourth symbol in the diagram above. The vertical accent, third in the diagram, may be stronger or weaker than the horizontal accent, in most musical works this type of accent is meant to be played more forcefully and usually shorter. The remaining marks typically shorten a note, staccato, the first symbol shown above, indicates that the last part of a note should be silenced to create separation between it and the following note. For example, a quarter note should be played as an eighth note followed by an eighth rest. The duration of a note may be about half as long as the note value would indicate, although the tempo. In jazz articulation, it is stated as dit, the staccatissimo, shown second, is usually interpreted as shorter than the staccato, but composers up to the time of Mozart used these symbols interchangeably. A staccatissimo crotchet would be played in traditional art music as a lightly articulated semi-quaver followed by rests which fill the remainder of the beat
5.
Beat (music)
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In music and music theory, the beat is the basic unit of time, the pulse, of the mensural level. In popular use, beat can refer to a variety of related concepts including, tempo, meter, specific rhythms, Rhythm in music is characterized by a repeating sequence of stressed and unstressed beats and divided into bars organized by time signature and tempo indications. Metric levels faster than the level are division levels. Beat has always been an important part of music, some music genres such as disco will in general de-emphasize the beat, while other such as funk emphasize the beat to accompany dance. The downbeat is the first beat of the bar, i. e. number 1, the upbeat is the last beat in the previous bar which immediately precedes, and hence anticipates, the downbeat. Both terms correspond to the direction taken by the hand of a conductor, an anticipatory note or succession of notes occurring before the first barline of a piece is sometimes referred to as an upbeat figure, section or phrase. Alternative expressions include pickup and anacrusis, the latter term was borrowed from the field of poetry, in which it refers to one or more unstressed extrametrical syllables at the beginning of a line. In music that progresses regularly in 44 time, counted as 1234,1234. The first beat of the bar is usually the strongest accent in the melody and the likeliest place for a change, the third is the next strongest. The second and fourth are weaker—the off-beats, subdivisions that fall between the pulse beats are even weaker and these, if used frequently in a rhythm, can also make it off-beat. The effect can be simulated by evenly and repeatedly counting to four. This is a technique of African polyrhythm that transferred to popular western music. According to Grove Music, the Offbeat is where the downbeat is replaced by a rest or is tied over from the preceding bar, the downbeat can never be the off-beat because it is the strongest beat in 44 time. Certain genres tend to emphasize the off-beat, where this is a characteristic of rocknroll. A back beat, or backbeat, is a syncopated accentuation on the off beat, in a simple 44 rhythm these are beats 2 and 4. A big part of R&Bs attraction had to do with the stompin backbeats that make it so eminently danceable, an early record with an emphasised back beat throughout was Good Rockin Tonight by Wynonie Harris in 1948. There is a back beat on Roll Em Pete by Pete Johnson and Big Joe Turner. A distinctive back beat can be heard on Back Beat Boogie by Harry James And His Orchestra, outside U. S. popular music, there are early recordings of music with a distinctive backbeat, such as the 1949 recording of Mangaratiba by Luiz Gonzaga in Brazil
6.
Quarter note
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A quarter note or crotchet is a note played for one quarter of the duration of a whole note. Often, musicians say that a crotchet is one beat, but this is not always correct, as the beat is indicated by the time signature of the music. Quarter notes are notated with a filled-in oval note head and a straight, the stem usually points upwards if it is below the middle line of the stave or downwards if it is on or above the middle line. However, the direction may differentiate more than one part. The head of the note also reverses its orientation in relation to the stem, in Unicode, the symbol is U+2669. A related value is the quarter rest and it denotes a silence of the same duration as a quarter note. It typically appears as the symbol, or occasionally, as the older symbol, the note derives from the semiminima of mensural notation. The word crotchet comes from Old French crochet, meaning hook, diminutive of croc, hook. However, because the hook appeared on the note in the later white notation. The quarter note is played for half the length of a half note and it is one beat in a bar of 44. The term quarter note is a calque of the German term Viertelnote, the Bulgarian, Chinese, Croatian, Czech, Japanese, Korean, Polish, Russian, Serbian and Slovak names mean quarter and quarters pause
7.
Ballroom dance
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Ballroom dance is a set of partner dances, which are enjoyed both socially and competitively around the world. Because of its performance and entertainment aspects, ballroom dance is widely enjoyed on stage, film. Ballroom dance may refer, at its widest definition, to almost any type of dancing as recreation. The two styles, while differing in technique, rhythm and costumes, exemplify core elements of dancing such as control. Developed in England, the two styles are now regulated by the World Dance Council and the World DanceSport Federation. In the United States, two variations are popular, American Smooth and American Rhythm, which combine elements of the Standard. There are also a number of dances, and local or national dances. Sequence dancing, in pairs or other formations, is still a style of ballroom dance. The term ballroom dancing is derived from the ball which in turn originates from the Latin word ballare which means to dance. In times past, ballroom dancing was social dancing for the privileged, among the dances described were the solemn basse danse, the livelier branle, pavane, and the galliarde which Shakespeare called the cinq pace as it was made of five steps. Eventually, the first definite cleavage between ballet and ballroom came when professional dancers appeared in the ballets, and the left the Court. Ballet technique such as the turned out positions of the feet, however, the dance was initially met with tremendous opposition due to the semblance of impropriety associated with the closed hold, though the stance gradually softened. In the 1840s several new dances made their appearance in the ballroom, including the Polka, Mazurka, in the meantime a strong tendency emerged to drop all decorative steps such as entrechats and ronds de jambes that had found a place in the Quadrilles and other dances. Modern ballroom dance has its roots early in the 20th century, the first was a movement away from the sequence dances towards dances where the couples moved independently. This had been pre-figured by the waltz, which had made this transition. The second was a wave of music, such as jazz. Since dance is to a large extent tied to music, this led to a burst of newly invented dances, there were many dance crazes in the period 1910–1930. The third event was an effort to transform some of the dance crazes into dances which could be taught to a wider dance public in the US
8.
Poland Is Not Yet Lost
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Mazurek Dąbrowskiego is the national anthem of Poland. It is also known by its title, Pieśń Legionów Polskich we Włoszech. English translations of its Polish incipit include, Poland has not yet perished, Poland has not perished yet, Poland is not lost, Poland is not lost yet, and Poland is not yet lost. The music is an unattributed mazurka and considered a folk tune that Polish composer Edward Pałłasz categorizes as functional art which was fashionable among the gentry, Pałłasz wrote, Wybicki probably made use of melodic motifs he had heard and combined them in one formal structure to suit the text. It is one of the most important songs of the Slavic nations, the text of the hymn was modified to suit new occasions and socio-political contexts throughout the songs history. When Poland re-emerged as an independent state in 1918, Dabrowskis Mazurka became its de facto anthem and it was officially adopted as the national anthem of the Republic of Poland in 1926. It also inspired songs by other peoples struggling for independence during the 19th century. One such anthem is Hey, Slavs, the original lyrics, authored by Wybicki, were a poem consisting of six stanzas and a chorus repeated after all but last stanzas, all following an ABAB rhyme scheme. The official lyrics, based on a variant from 1806, show a departure from the original text. It misses two of the original stanzas and reverses the order of other two, notably, the initial verse, Poland has not yet died was replaced with Poland has not yet perished, suggesting a more violent cause of the nations possible death. The manuscript is today only from facsimile copies, twenty four of which were made in 1886 by Edward Rożnowski, Wybickis grandson. The chorus and subsequent stanzas include heart-lifting examples of heroes, set as role models for Polish soldiers, Jan Henryk Dąbrowski, Napoleon, Stefan Czarniecki. Dąbrowski, for whom the anthem is named, was a commander in the failed 1794 Kościuszko Uprising against Russia, bonaparte was, at the time when the song was written, a commander of the Italian campaign of French Revolutionary Wars and Dąbrowskis superior. Having already proven his skills as a leader, he is described in the lyrics as the one who has shown us ways to victory. Bonaparte is the only person mentioned by name in the Polish anthem. In the same castle, Józef Wybicki, started his career as a lawyer, one of his major victories during the uprising was the Battle of Racławice where the result was partly due to Polish peasants armed with scythes. Alongside the scythes, the song mentioned other types of weaponry, traditionally used by the Polish szlachta, or nobility, the sabre, known in Polish as szabla, basia and her father are fictional characters. They are used to represent the women and elderly men who waited for the Polish soldiers to return home, the melody of the Polish anthem is a lively and rhythmical mazurka
9.
Mazovia
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Mazovia is a historical region in mid-north-eastern Poland. Borders of the Mazovian Voivodeship, which was created in 1999, do not reflect exactly its original shape, historical Mazovia existed since the Middle Ages until the partitions of Poland and consisted of three voivodeships with the capitals in Warszawa, Płock and Rawa Mazowiecka. In a narrower sense, the Mazovian Voivodeship was only the first of them, between 1816 and 1844 another Mazovian Voivodeship existed, encompassing the south of the region. In the Middle Ages the main city of the region was Płock, since 1138 Mazovia had a separate branch of the Piast dynasty and was incorporated to the Polish Crown as late as in the 15th and 16th centuries. As much as over 20% of Mazovian population was the yeomanry, inhabitants of Mazovia are Mazurzy – hence the region of Masuria, settled by them. Mazovia has a landscape without hills and without lakes and it is spread over the Mazovian Lowland, on both sides of the Vistula river and its confluence with Narew and Bug. Forests cover one-fifth of the region, with the large Kampinos Forest, Puszcza Biała, in the north Mazovia borders on the Masurian subregion of former Prussia, in the east on Podlachia, in the south on Lesser Poland and in the west on Greater Poland. The area of Mazovia is 33,500 km2 and it has population of 5 million. When the Slavs came to this region from the area of Polesie, they mingled with the descendants of Vistula Veneti. This created a Lechitic tribe, Mazovians, the historical region of Mazovia in the beginning encompassed only the territories on the right bank of Vistula near Płock and had strong connections with Greater Poland. In the period of the rule of the first monarchs of the Piast State, Płock was one of their seats, in the period 1037–1047 it was the capital of the independent, Mazovian state of Masław. Between 1079 and 1138 this city was de facto the capital of Poland, during the 9th century Mazovia was perhaps inhabited by the tribe of Mazovians, and it was incorporated into the Polish state in the second half of 10th century under the Piast ruler Mieszko I. In 1138 the duchy of Mazovia was established, and during the 12th and 13th centuries it joined temporarily various adjacent lands and endured invasions of Prussians, Yotvingians, and Ruthenians. To protect its northern section Conrad I of Masovia called in the Teutonic Knights in 1226, after the reunification of the Polish state by Władysław I in the early 14th century, Mazovia became its fief in 1351. In the second half of 15th century western Mazovia and in 1526/1529 the main part was incorporated into the Polish state, in the 15th century eastern part of the region was settled, mainly by the yeomanry. Mazovia was considered underdeveloped in comparison with Greater Poland and Lesser Poland, in the Early Modern Times Mazovia was known for exporting grain, timber, and fur. It was also distinct because there was no reformation here, Mazovia was divided into three voivodeships, each of them divided into lands, each of them divided into counties. The Polish-Lithuanian Union of Lublin established Mazovia as the region of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, with Warsaw rising to prominence as the seat of the state legislature
10.
Masuria
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Masuria is a region in northern Poland famous for its 2,000 lakes. Before the end of World War II, it was inhabited by Polish-speaking Lutheran Masurians. Masuria occupies much of the Masurian Lake District, administratively, it belongs to Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship. Its biggest city is Ełk, often regarded as its capital and it has territory of about 10,000 km2 and population of 500,000. Before 13th century, the territory was inhabited by the Old Prussians also called Baltic Prussians, the territory later called Masuria was then known as Galindia and was probably a peripheral, deeply forested and lightly populated area. Its inhabitants spoke a language now known as Old Prussian and had their own mythology, although a 19th-century German political entity bore their name, they were not Germans. They were converted to Roman Catholicism in the 13th century, after conquest by the Knights of the Teutonic Order, estimates range from about 170,000 to 220,000 Old Prussians living in the whole of Prussia around 1200. The wilderness was their natural barrier against attack by would-be invaders, during the Northern Crusades of the early 13th century, the Old Prussians used this wide forest as a line of defence. They did so again against the Knights of the Teutonic Order, the orders goal was to convert the native population to Christianity and baptise it by force if necessary. In the subsequent conquest, which lasted over 50 years, the population was nearly exterminated. After the Orders acquisition of Prussia, Poles began to settle in the part of the conquered region. German, Dutch, Flemish, and Danish colonists entered the area afterward, western half of the province was ceded to Poland, and the grand master became a vassal of the Polish crown. The secularization of the Teutonic Order in Prussia and the conversion of Albert of Prussia to Lutheranism in 1525 brought Prussia including the later called Masuria area to Protestantism. The Polish language predominated due to the immigrants from Mazovia. While the countryside was inhabited by Protestant Polish-speakers, who took refuge, the ancient Old Prussian language survived in parts of the countryside until the early 18th century. Areas that had many Polish language speakers were known as the Polish Departments, in 1656, during the Battle of Prostki, the forces of Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, including 2,000 Tatar raiders, beat the allied Swedish and Brandenburg army capturing Bogusław Radziwiłł. The war resulted in the destruction of most towns,249 villages, over 50% of the population of southern Prussia died within the years 1656–1657,23,000 killed, another 80,000 died of diseases and famine,3,400 people were enslaved. In Lötzen 800 out of 919 people died, the last group of refugees to emigrate to Masuria were the Russian Philipons in 1830, when King Frederick William III of Prussia granted them asylum
11.
Classical music
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Classical music is art music produced or rooted in the traditions of Western music, including both liturgical and secular music. The central norms of this tradition became codified between 1550 and 1900, which is known as the common-practice period, Western staff notation is used by composers to indicate to the performer the pitches, tempo, meter and rhythms for a piece of music. This can leave less room for such as improvisation and ad libitum ornamentation. The term classical music did not appear until the early 19th century, the earliest reference to classical music recorded by the Oxford English Dictionary is from about 1836. This score typically determines details of rhythm, pitch, and, the written quality of the music has enabled a high level of complexity within them, J. S. The use of written notation also preserves a record of the works, Musical notation enables 2000s-era performers to sing a choral work from the 1300s Renaissance era or a 1700s Baroque concerto with many of the features of the music being reproduced. That said, the score does not provide complete and exact instructions on how to perform a historical work, even if the tempo is written with an Italian instruction, we do not know exactly how fast the piece should be played. Bach was particularly noted for his complex improvisations, during the Classical era, the composer-performer Mozart was noted for his ability to improvise melodies in different styles. During the Classical era, some virtuoso soloists would improvise the cadenza sections of a concerto, during the Romantic era, Beethoven would improvise at the piano. The instruments currently used in most classical music were largely invented before the mid-19th century and they consist of the instruments found in an orchestra or in a concert band, together with several other solo instruments. The symphony orchestra is the most widely known medium for music and includes members of the string, woodwind, brass. The concert band consists of members of the woodwind, brass and it generally has a larger variety and number of woodwind and brass instruments than the orchestra but does not have a string section. However, many bands use a double bass. Many of the used to perform medieval music still exist. Medieval instruments included the flute, the recorder and plucked string instruments like the lute. As well, early versions of the organ, fiddle, Medieval instruments in Europe had most commonly been used singly, often self accompanied with a drone note, or occasionally in parts. From at least as early as the 13th century through the 15th century there was a division of instruments into haut, during the earlier medieval period, the vocal music from the liturgical genre, predominantly Gregorian chant, was monophonic, using a single, unaccompanied vocal melody line. Polyphonic vocal genres, which used multiple independent vocal melodies, began to develop during the medieval era, becoming prevalent by the later 13th
12.
Maria Szymanowska
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Maria Szymanowska was a Polish composer and one of the first professional virtuoso pianists of the 19th century. She toured extensively throughout Europe, especially in the 1820s, before settling permanently in St. Petersburg, in the Russian imperial capital, she composed for the court, gave concerts, taught music, and ran an influential salon. Her compositions—largely piano pieces, songs, and other chamber works. She was the mother of Celina Szymanowska, who married the Polish Romantic poet Adam Mickiewicz, marianna Agata Wołowska was born in Warsaw, Poland on December 14,1789 into a prosperous Polish family. Her father Franciszek Wołowski was a landlord and a brewer and her mother Barbara Wołowska came from a noble Polish Lanckoroński family. She gave her first public recitals in Warsaw and Paris in 1810, the children remained with Maria after her separation from Szymanowski in 1820. Szymanowska died of cholera during the summer 1831 epidemic in St Petersburg and she is presumed to be unrelated to Karol Szymanowski, considered to be the most famous Polish composer of the 20th century. Her playing was well received by critics and audiences alike, garnering her a reputation for a delicate tone, lyrical sense of virtuosity. After years of touring, she returned to Warsaw for some time before relocating in early 1828, first to Moscow and then to St. Petersburg, list_of_compositions_by_Maria_Szymanowska Szymanowska composed around 100 piano pieces. Like many women composers of her time, she wrote music predominantly for instrumentation she had access to, including solo piano pieces and miniatures, songs. Her work is labeled, stylistically, as part of the pre-romantic period stile brillant. Szymanowskas musical style is parallel to the starting point of Frédéric Chopin. Hummel and Field dedicated compositions to her, goethe is rumored to have fallen deeply in love with her. The salon she established in St. Petersburg drew especially prominent crowds, Maria Szmyd-Dormus, ed. Kraków, PWM,1990. Irena Poniatowska, ed. Bryn Mawr, PA, Hildegard,1991, sylvia Glickman, ed. Bryn Mawr, PA, Hildegard,1991. Maria Anna Harley, ed. Bryn Mawr, PA, Hildegard,1999, elżbieta Zapolska, mezzo-soprano, Bart van Oort, fortepiano Broadwood 1825. Riches and Rags, A Wealth of Piano Music by Women, Celina Szymanowska List of Poles Chechlinska, Zofia. Szymanowska, Maria Agata, in Grove Music Online, ed. L. Macy, fierro, Nancy, Maria Agata Szymanowska, 1789-1831 James R. Briscoe, ed.1997
13.
Henryk Wieniawski
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Henryk Wieniawski was a Jewish Polish violinist and composer. Henryk Wieniawski was born in Lublin, Congress Poland, wolf Helman, also known as Tobiasz Pietruszka, changed his name to Tadeusz Wieniawski, taking on the name of his neighbourhood to blend into his Polish environment better. Prior to obtaining his degree, he had converted to Catholicism. He married Regina Wolff, the daughter of a noted Jewish physician from Warsaw, after graduation, Henryk toured extensively and gave many recitals, where he was often accompanied by his brother Józef on piano. In 1847, he published his first opus, a Grand Caprice Fantastique, when his engagement to Isabella Hampton was opposed by her parents, Wieniawski wrote Légende, Op.17, this work helped her parents change their mind, and the couple married in 1860. From 1872 to 1874, Wieniawski toured the United States with Rubinstein, Wieniawski replaced Henri Vieuxtemps as violin professor at the Conservatoire Royal de Bruxelles in 1875. During his residence in Brussels, Wieniawskis health declined, and he often had to stop in the middle of his concerts and he started a tour of Russia in 1879 but was unable to complete it, and was taken to a hospital in Odessa after a concert. On 14 February 1880, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovskys patroness Nadezhda von Meck took him into her home and his friends also arranged a benefit concert to help provide for his family. He died in Moscow a few weeks later from an attack and was interred in the Powązki Cemetery in Warsaw. His daughter Régine Wieniawski, born in Brussels the year before his death and she published her early works as Irène Wieniawska, but after marrying Sir Aubrey Dean Paul and becoming a British subject, she used the pseudonym Poldowski. Another daughter, Henriette, would go on to marry Joseph Holland Loring in 1904, Wieniawski was a player in the Beethoven Quartet Society in London, where he also performed on viola. His LÉcole moderne,10 Études-caprices is a well known work for aspiring violinists. His Scherzo-Tarantelle, Op.16 and Légende, Op.17 are also performed works. He also wrote two popular mazurkas for solo violin and piano accompaniment, using such as left-hand pizzicato, harmonics, large leaps. Wieniawski was given a number of posthumous honours and his portrait appeared on a postage stamp of Poland in 1952 and again in 1957. A100 złoty coin was issued in 1979 bearing his image and this devils staccato was used to discipline students technique. The first violin competition named after Wieniawski took place in Warsaw in 1935, ginette Neveu took first prize, David Oistrakh second, and Henri Temianka third. The International Henryk Wieniawski Violin Competition has been held five years since 1952
14.
Karol Szymanowski
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Karol Maciej Szymanowski was a Polish composer and pianist, the most celebrated Polish composer of the early 20th century. He is considered a member of the late 19th-/early 20th-century modernist movement Young Poland. The early works show the influence of the late Romantic German school as well as the works of Alexander Scriabin, as exemplified by his Étude Op.4 No.3. Later, he developed an impressionistic and partially atonal style, represented by works as the Third Symphony. His third period was influenced by the music of the Polish Górale people, including the ballet Harnasie, the Fourth Symphony. King Roger, composed between 1918-1924, remains the most popular opera by Szymanowski, Szymanowski was born into the Korwin-Szymanowski family, members of the wealthy land-owning Polish gentry class, in the village of Tymoszówka, then in the Kiev Governorate of the Russian Empire. He studied music privately with his father before enrolling at the Gustav Neuhaus Elisavetgrad School of Music in 1892, from 1901 he attended the State Conservatory in Warsaw, of which he was later director from 1926 until retiring in 1930. Since musical opportunities in Russian-occupied Poland were quite limited, he travelled throughout Europe, North Africa, the Middle East, being lame in one knee made him unsuitable for military service in World War I. In 1918, Szymanowski completed the manuscript of a novel, Efebos. His travels, especially those to the Mediterranean area, provided him with new experience, after his return he raved about Sicily, especially Taormina. There, he said, I saw a few young men bathing who could be models for Antinous, I couldnt take my eyes off them. Now he was a confirmed homosexual and he told me all this with burning eyes. Szymanowski settled in Warsaw in 1919, in 1926 he accepted the position of Director of the Warsaw Conservatory though he had little administrative experience. He became seriously ill in 1928 and temporarily lost his post and he was diagnosed with an acute form of tuberculosis, and in 1929 traveled to Davos, Switzerland, for medical treatment. Szymanowski resumed his position at the Conservatory in 1930, but the school was closed two years later by a ministerial decision and he moved to Villa Atma in Zakopane where he composed fervently. In 1936 Szymanowski received more treatment at a sanatorium in Grasse and he died at a sanatorium in Lausanne on 29 March 1937. His body was brought back to Poland by his sister Stanisława and laid to rest at Skałka in Kraków, Szymanowskis long correspondence with the pianist Jan Smeterlin, who was a significant champion of his piano works, was published in 1969. Szymanowski was influenced by the music of Richard Wagner, Richard Strauss, Max Reger, Alexander Scriabin and the impressionism of Claude Debussy and he also drew much influence from his countryman Frédéric Chopin and from Polish folk music
15.
November Uprising
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The November Uprising, Polish–Russian War 1830–31, also known as the Cadet Revolution, was an armed rebellion in the heartland of partitioned Poland against the Russian Empire. The uprising began on 29 November 1830 in Warsaw when the young Polish officers from the local Army of the Congress Polands military academy revolted, led by lieutenant Piotr Wysocki and they were soon joined by large segments of societies of Lithuania, Belarus, and the Right-bank Ukraine. Despite local successes, the uprising was crushed by a numerically superior Imperial Russian Army under Ivan Paskevich. Tsar Nicholas I decreed that henceforth Poland was a part of Russia, with Warsaw little more than a military garrison. After the Partitions of Poland, Poland ceased to exist as an independent political entity at the end of 1795, however, the Napoleonic Wars and Polish participation in the wars against Russia and Austria resulted in the creation the Duchy of Warsaw in 1807. The Congress of Vienna brought that states existence to an end in 1815, and essentially solidified the long-term division of Poland among Russia, Prussia, United with Russia through a personal union with the Tsar as King of Poland, the province could elect its own parliament and government. The kingdom had its own courts, army and treasury, over time, however, the freedoms granted to the Kingdom were gradually taken back and the constitution was progressively ignored by the Russian authorities. Alexander I of Russia never formally crowned himself as King of Poland, instead, in 1815, he appointed Grand Duke Constantine Pavlovich as de facto viceroy, disregarding the constitution. Soon after the Congress of Vienna resolutions were signed, Russia ceased to respect them, in 1819 Alexander I abandoned liberty of the press in Congress Kingdom and introduced censorship. As a result, after 1825 sessions of Polish Sejm were conducted in secret, Nicholas I of Russia formally crowned himself as King of Poland on 24 May 1829 in Warsaw. He abolished Polish social and patriotic organizations, the opposition of the Kaliszanie faction. Although married to a Pole, he was considered as an enemy of the Polish nation. Also, his command over the Polish Army led to conflicts within the officer corps. These frictions led to various conspiracies throughout the country, most notably within the army, the final spark that ignited Warsaw was a Russian plan to use the Polish Army to suppress Frances July Revolution and the Belgian Revolution, in clear violation of the Polish constitution. The rebels managed to enter the Belweder, but Grand Duke Constantine had escaped in womens clothing, the rebels then turned to the main city arsenal, capturing it after a brief struggle. The following day, armed Polish civilians forced the Russian troops to north of Warsaw. This incident is called the Warsaw Uprising or the November Night. Taken by surprise by the unfolding of events during the night of 29 November
16.
Counterpoint
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In music, counterpoint is the relationship between voices that are harmonically interdependent yet independent in rhythm and contour. It has been most commonly identified in the European classical tradition, strongly developing during the Renaissance and in much of the common practice period, the term originates from the Latin punctus contra punctum meaning point against point. Counterpoint generally involves musical lines with strongly independent identities, Counterpoint has been used to designate a voice or even an entire composition. In each era, contrapuntally organized music writing has been subject to rules—sometimes strict ones, chords are the simultaneous soundings of notes, whereas harmonic, vertical features are considered secondary and almost incidental when counterpoint is the predominant textural element. Counterpoint focuses on melodic interaction—only secondarily on the produced by that interaction. In the words of John Rahn, It is hard to write a beautiful song and it is harder to write several individually beautiful songs that, when sung simultaneously, sound as a more beautiful polyphonic whole. The way that is accomplished in detail is, some examples of related compositional techniques include, the round, the canon, and perhaps the most complex contrapuntal convention, the fugue. All of these are examples of imitative counterpoint, Species counterpoint generally offers less freedom to the composer than other types of counterpoint and therefore is called a strict counterpoint. The student gradually attains the ability to free counterpoint according to the given rules at the time. The idea is at least as old as 1532, when Giovanni Maria Lanfranco described a concept in his Scintille di musica. Zacconi, unlike later theorists, included a few extra contrapuntal techniques, a succession of later theorists quite closely imitated Fuxs seminal work, often with some small and idiosyncratic modifications in the rules. The following rules apply to melodic writing in each species, for each part, if the final is approached from below, then the leading tone must be raised in a minor key, but not in Phrygian or Hypophrygian mode. Thus, in the Dorian mode on D, a C♯ is necessary at the cadence, permitted melodic intervals are the perfect fourth, fifth, and octave, as well as the major and minor second, major and minor third, and ascending minor sixth. The ascending minor sixth must be followed by motion downwards. The three notes should be from the triad, if this is impossible, they should not outline more than one octave. In general, do not write more than two skips in the same direction, if writing a skip in one direction, it is best to proceed after the skip with motion in the other direction. The interval of a tritone in three notes should be avoided as is the interval of a seventh in three notes, there must be a climax or high point in the line countering the cantus firmus. This usually occurs somewhere in the middle of exercise and must occur on a strong beat, an outlining of a seventh is avoided within a single line moving in the same direction
