THE NATIONAL ETHOS OF POLISH MUSIC IN THE VIOLIN CONCERTS BY KAROL SZYMANOWSKI

Abstract

An attempt was made to reveal the national ethos of Polish music in the First (2016) and Second (1933) violin concertos by K. Szymanowski. The peculiarities of the thematics of the solo violin and its development in the context of impressionistic (First Concert) and neo-folk (Second Concert) musical expressiveness are considered. It was found that the lyrical ethos of the First Concerto in avant-garde musical language reflects established national characteristics, and the exaltation and contemplation in the Second is connected with the modern representation of Polish ethnic character and archaic folklore intonation, which echoes the ideals of «Young Poland» and I. Stravinsky, B. Bartok and others. It is emphasized that K. Szymanowski’s violin concerts returned the development of the genre to new landmarks, the composer in collaboration with P. Kokhanski created a new violin style of the 20 ^th century (A. Kalenychenko) and embodied in a highly artistic form two facets of Polish music ethos such as refined lyricism and ethnically conditioned exaltation.