Treść książki
Przejdź do opcji czytnikaPrzejdź do nawigacjiPrzejdź do informacjiPrzejdź do stopki
The1
stCompetition.TheDifficultBeginnings
19
intention’,Gperformer’sintention’,andtheirrespectiverelationtothescore.
ThiswasalsotheoriginoftheideaofGmisrepresentedmusic’,inwhichthe
conceptofmisrepresentationhadnotonlyaesthetic,butalsopoliticalcon-
notations.AsWaldorffwrote:
AmongthoseGoverdoing’Chopininterpreters,twoPolisharistocraticladiesplayed
aspecialrole,bothofconsiderablemerittotheirgeneration,andgenuinelypatriot-
ically-minded.Both,too,werepupilsofChopin.TheywereMarcelinaCzartoryska
néeRadziwiłł[1817–1894]andMrsMariaKalergis[1822–1874][ś].Thanksto
theirwidesocialconnectionsthroughoutEurope,supportedbytheirsubstantial
fortunes,thesenobleladiesreachedmanycircleswithChopin’smusic,presenting
itasabannerofthenationinbondage,adornedwithmourningcrape.Whenasked
whetherhisworksmustreallydripwithtearsineveryperformance,theyhadone
irrefutableargument:“WeheardwithourownearshowtheMaestroplayed!”3
Infictionandinothertextualcreations,suchasphilosophyandhistoriogra-
phy,thedisputeconcerningauthor’sintentionandtheGtrue’meaningofthe
giventexthasalsocontinuedsincetimeimmemorial.AlreadyintheLibrary
ofAlexandriacommentatorswrangledovertheinterpretationofHomer’s
epics.20th-centuryattemptstoannouncetheGdeathoftheauthor’have
provedshort-lived.Themajorityofreadersstillthinkthatverbalmessages
havesomespecificmeaning.Nevertheless,incasethatmeaningisdisputed,
wecanalwaysfallbackontherelativelystablesubstanceofthetext.Hereare
theauthor’sownwords,availableinblackandwhite.Wemayargueabout
theirsignificance,buttheirformisunified–unlessithasbeendistortedby
transmissioninmanuscriptorbycensorship.Inmusicwedonothavethis
comfort.Themusicaltextusuallydoesnotbringmeaningscomparableto
thosecarriedbystatementsinanaturallanguage.Thelatterconsistofwords
thatpeopleusetospeaktooneanother.Chopin’smusicposesadouble
difficultysincehewasthefirstperformerofhisownworksandtherefore
notonlyauthoredthenotatedscores4,butalsosetthestandardfortheir
3Ibid.,p.59.
4ThetextofChopin’sworksconstitutesaseparateprobleminmusicologyandphi-
lology.Thecomposerfrequentlysentseveralcopiesofthemanuscriptsofhisnewworks
todifferenteditors(thecopieswerenotalwaysidentical).Healsointroducedhandwritten
correctionsinthealreadypublishedscores.ThismeansthatasingleurtextofChopin’scom-
positionssimplydoesnotexist,andwhichversionisthefinaloneisamatteropenfordebate.
WorkonestablishingtheGpure’textofhismusiccontinuedthroughoutthe20thcentury.
Atpresent,thecanonicalversionsaretheonesprintedintheNationalEditioninitiatedbyJan
Ekier,andparticipantsoftheChopinCompetitionareadvisedtomakeuseofthisedition.It
needstobestressed,however,thatthetextualdifferencesthathavebeenthesubjectofsource
researchmakelittledifferencetolistenerswhoarenotChopinscholarsorprofessionalmusi-
cians.ProblemsofeditingChopin’sworkshavebeenpresentedindetailin:J.Ekier,Wstęp
[Introduction]toWydanieNarodoweDziełFryderykaChopina[TheNationalEditionofthe
WorksofFryderykChopin],Warszawa1974[supplementedelectroniceditionin2008].
