In the last two newsletters we've mentioned that No. 7 of the Polish Music History Series, which I inaugurated in 1982, has just been published and is available from the Polish Music Center at USC for $40. Entitled The Songs of Karol Szymanowski and His Contemporaries, it is an English version of a book already published in Poland. It is a documentation of an International Scholarly Symposium that took place in Zakopane, Poland in March of 1997, at which eighteen papers were presented by musicologists from Poland, the U.S., Canada, Great Britain and other European countries. See last month's newsletter for the Table of Contents.

The Polish version was edited by Zofia Helman, professor of musicology at the U. of Warsaw. The English translation has three editors: Helman, British musicologist Alistair Wightman and Teresa Chylinska of Krakow, who is recognized as "the" specialist on Szymanowski for having spent thirty years researching this composer and having published all of his correspondence. The editor-in-chief of the Polish Music History Series is now Maja Trochimczyk, director of the Polish Music Center. She also was the editor for book No. 6 of the series.

Teresa Chylinska opened the Symposium with the following remarks, which have been printed as the foreword of the new book: "It has been said that Szymanowski 'perhaps was more of a poet than a musician, or a musician whose art grew out of poetry.' These words could, of course, be taken as a rhetorical gambit, if not for the fact that about half of Szymanowski's compositional output is made up of pieces that combine music and words. Among the seventy-five works there are twenty-six cycles of songs (of which four exist in parallel orchestral versions)." She goes on to identify the orchestral/vocal ones and then continues to say, "There is no doubt that poetry was a stimulus for Szymanowski's creative imagination." According to Chylinska, Szymanowski's lyrical output is indeed, "a phenomenon which is both huge and unique in the history of Polish music."

Zofia Helman wrote these words in her essay: "Initially Szymanowski drew on the poetry of Young Poland writers, Kazimierz Tetmajer, Waclaw Berent, Jan Kasprowicz, Tadeusz Micinski. Slightly later, he discovered German modernist poetry: Richard Dehmel, Alfred Mombert, Julius Bierbaum, Gustav Falke and Ricarda Huch." She also quoted a music critic in Vienna in March of 1912 who praised Szymanowski for "choosing texts of good taste! Quite a few Germans could take him as an example. Such good poetry in a German setting is surprising in a Pole. He has made the impression of being an exceptionally talented song composer."

Szymanowski also used French texts, some written by his younger sister Zofia, such as the Songs of the Fairy Princess, or had Polish texts translated into French. A singer does not need to be Polish to sing songs by Szymanowski, but has a wide choice of languages; in addition to French, he also composed three songs to words by his Russian neighbor, Dimitri Dawidow, and seven songs in English to words by James Joyce.

He also composed music to folk music texts in the dialect from the Kurpie region in two versions: Six songs for mixed choir a capella and Twelve songs for solo voice and piano.

He reached to the roots of the Polish language in "Slopiewnie" to a poem by Julian Tuwim. Zofia Helman stated that, "here Szymanowski accepted a poetic challenge and tried to encapsulate the most primeval forms of expression of the imaginary `pre-Lechite' tribe."

He made use of the "gorale" (highlander) motifs in much of his music for he had been fascinated with their folk music and lived in Zakopane for many years. His ballet Harnasie makes use of a melody known as the "Sabala" tune (named after his goral friend, Sabala). He even used it in his Third Symphony, "Song of the Night," which has an oriental flavor due to its Persian poetry.

The authors discuss various aspects of Szymanowski's songs and what inspired him to write them. A few compare his songs with those of his contemporaries in Germany, France and Russia, including Ravel and Stravinsky.

Four of the authors have a direct connection with the Polish Music Center at USC. Teresa Chylinska is the author of No. 5 of our Polish Music History Series, "Karol Szymanowski: His Life & Works." Two others, Stephen Downes and Alistair Wightman of Great Britain, were winners of the Wilk Prizes for Research in Polish Music and have published books on Polish music. Laura Grazyna Kafka, who presented a paper on Szymanowski's "Children's Rhymes" from a performer's perspective, got her first information on Szymanowski from our Center when I was the director. She now lives and teaches on the East coast and regularly performs Szymanowski's songs.

After reading the book one is inspired to hear the beautiful songs written by Szymanowski. Here is where disappointment will set in. Go to your local record shop but do not expect to find any solo voice recordings. Most of the records are of his piano or violin works, as well as his symphonies and choral works. There are four versions of his opera, King Roger and several versions of choral/instrumental works. Look for the Marco Polo, Naxos International, Koch-Schwann and Polskie Nagrania labels.

Our book on Szymanowski's life and works (No. 5 of the PMHS) provides a list of all recordings made through 1993 (both LPs and CDs). I remember my first sounds of his "Song of the Night" Symphony, with the beautiful voice of soprano Stefania Wojtowicz, on the old Muza long-playing record. That was the Szymanowski voice I knew and remembered. This has been transferred onto CD as the Polskie Nagrania CD 063. I don't know if this can be readily found.

More than a dozen soloists have recorded his songs for voice and piano in the past on the LPs, but they are hard to find: Andrzej Bachleda, Colette Comoy, Dorothy Dorow, Jadwiga Gadulanka, Zofia Janukowicz-Poblocka, Izabella Klosinska, Halina Lukomska, Anna Malewicz-Madej, Myron Myres, Gertrude Ottenthal, Krystyna Rorbach, Andrzej Snarski, Pauline Stark, Krystyna Szostak-Radkowa, Barbara Zagorzanka and Teresa Zylis-Gara.

The only recent solo album that I found is on the new Polish label, DUX, and it is by Urszula Krygier, mezzo, singing ten Karlowicz and eleven Szymanowski songs. This is a welcome addition because she has a superior voice. I was on the jury at the First International Moniuszko Vocal Competition where she won first place. This is also welcome because it fills a great void. You can find this recording on the internet at www.DUX.pl and order directly from them. The DUX label should be available in our local record shops, since so many DUX releases have been reviewed recently.

It is interesting to note that only recently have men been singing The Love Songs of Hafiz and Songs of the Infatuated Muezzin. Perhaps this was due to the fact that Szymanowski's sister, Stanislawa, premiered and performed his works at the beginning. In 1989, Ryszard Minkiewicz sang the Love Songs and the Infatuated Muezzin in an orchestral arrangement. Bachleda, of course, was the first tenor to sing the solo voice in the "Harnasie" ballet, while famed tenor Wieslaw Ochman took over Stefania Wojtowicz's role in the Third Symphony, followed by Ryszard Karczykowski and Josef Hopferwieser (1981 and 1984).

In addition to Stefania Woytowicz's voice, another favorite Polish soprano of mine was Halina Lukomska, who sings his Cradle Songs, Love Songs of Hafiz and Zuleika on PNCD 067. Teresa Zylis-Gara recorded the Opus 5, one of the most popular for sopranos, and this has been transferred from the old MUZA LP onto the same Polskie Nagrania CD. I don't know whether the non-Polish soloists, Pauline Stark, Colette Comoy and Dorothy Dorow, are available from Spectrum, Solstice and Etcetera, respectively. We have them in the Polish Music Center archives.

In summary, I wish to stress the fact that the composer saw to it that each song was published in its original text and also was translated into at least one more language, thus giving the singer an option to select from two or three languages of each song. So not knowing the Polish language shouldn't be an excuse for not singing Szymanowski's songs. They are so beautiful and so varied in their mood and sound and will add to the joy of both the singer and listener. It is high time that more of his solo songs are recorded, for it will fill a void for listeners and will enrich the vocal repertoire. Our local songbird, Juliana Gondek, should be coming out with a recording in the near future. Other soloists who are performing Szymanowski's songs in their recitals that I know about are Dayle Vander Sande, Barbara Nowicki and Laura Grazyna Kafka (all from the East coast). If you know of any others, please let me know. I do hope that there will be more soon!