Lidia Długołęcka
Maciej Pinkwart

MUZYKA I TATRY

SUMMARY

The book presents the most important characteristics of the musical folklore and the role that music has played and still plays among the shepherds of the Highlands of southern Poland. Further chapters treat the influence of Highlander music and the Tatra mountains themselves on professional composers of classical, popular, jazz, film, and even martial music. The Tatras, the highest mountains in this part of Europe, lie on the border of Poland and Slovakia; therefore, the authors devote one chapter to the music of the Tatra Slovaks. The musical life of Zakopane is discussed at length. The book includes an index of works inspired by the Tatras and the Highlanders.

For the foreigners who visit the Highlands in growing numbers, the most interesting part will doubtless be the information about Highland folk music, which always draws a crowd, when it is performed in Zakopane. Its special quality or, as some would have it, its exotic nature, is one of the most characteristic elements of Highland folklore. When the first settlers appeared in this region at the end of the twelfth century, however, their music and their culture in general were unlike those of today; they recalled the folklore of northern Malopolska, whence the forefathers of the Highlanders came. These oldest elements of Malopolska musical culture have been preserved only in some songs connected with weddings. In the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, the Balkan shepherd tribes known as the Wolochs penetrated southern Poland. They brought with them their own specific culture, connected with the migratory nature of their pastoral agriculture. Their culture and their music were both easily adapted to the mountainous region of the Tatras.

The music of the Highlanders is thus a synthesis of Polish lowland folk music with Balkan elements and an admixture of the neighboring Slovak and Hungarian traditions. Affinities can also be found with the Ukraine, Moravia, and Germany.

Music helped the Highlanders survive the struggle with the severe climate and the barren, stony soil of which they sang that ,,the bread gives out and the water begins." As if to spite the harsh conditions of life, the Highlanders sing about the beauty of the landscape and the freedom that they value above everything else. Highlander music is the apotheosis of the joy of life, and even the most painful events are recounted in brief songs, packed with meaning, that generally end with an optimistic or autoironic point. Sung, played, and danced, music accompanied the Highlanders at home and in the fields, as they grazed their sheep and at the inn. At weddings, ceremonies of song and dance belonged-and to a large measure still belong-to the fundamental part of the ceremony. But there were other occasions when the more prosperous Highlanders became patrons of the musical arts, as in the frequently held ,,posiada", a meeting accompanied by music and dance to mark the end of work in the fields, domestic or church holidays, or visits to shepherds in the high meadows.

Highlander melodies, known in the local dialect as ,,nuty" (notes) are in fact melodic themes with constant rhythmic-harmonic structures whose final shape is determined by the variations introduced into the lead voice by the Highlander musician or singer. This holds true for solo and polyphonic singing, as well as for the first violin in a band. This is a great attribute in performance, since it prevents musical monotony. The ,,nuty" are usually short, 6-, 5-, or 4-bar musical phrases that rest on no more than 5-8 tones spread over a narrow interval: fifths, sevenths, and rarely ninths. Ciiven sucn musical preciousness, it can easily be seen that some melodies have what theoreticians know as the ,,Highland scale": g-f-e-d-c sharp - b-a-g. The descending scale is dominated by major tones; the minor tones are found almost exclusively in melodies of Hungarian origin.

Another element that distinguishes Highlander music from that of other regions of Poland is its rhythm. Its characteristics are near to those of Hungarian music: short accented sounds followed by long unaccented ones. This kind of syncopated rhythm with a strong accent on the shorter notes makes for a vivid, pulsating, characteristically rubato music. Within the space of one melody, the most talented Highlander singers can perform the so-called phrasal rubato, accelerating one phrase so that the next can be slowed down. This creates a unique performance mannerism and also makes impossible a faithful transcription of the notes of a given melody.

Highlander music is generally dance-like, jumpy, and merry, in even meters only (2/4, 4/4). There exists, however, a group of vocal melodies that are completely non-metrical and in a slow tempo: the ,,wierchowe nuty". They are characterized by an effort on the part of more than one person to sing the text as beautifully as possible. Girls grazing cattle in the high meadows informed the boys in the flock-master's hut of their longings and desires, and the echo carried their songs up among the mountains. The boys would hardly leave them without an answer, and a very interesting kind of musical banter arose. Vocal polyphony is quite developed in Highlander music. Practically, there can be as many voices as there are singers, without disturbing the harmony typical of this music. The song is always started off by one voice, which is joined after a moment by others-usually a third or even a fifth lower or higher. These voices often cross, building their own melodic line and creating what are most frequently two- or threevoice chords. This particular harmony, often composed of third progressions, is also a characteristic of Highland folk music.

Every song ends with the unison of male and female voices, although some ,,wierchowe nuty" end in a glissando performed by only one person-when performed outdoors, the echo can create an impressive musical cascade.

The Highlander singing style is strong, strained, and sometimes simply shouted. The male voices use falsetto in the higher registers. The female voices are usually low and from the chest.

The instrumental polyphony of Highlander music appears in its fullest in the band (known in the dialect as ,,a music"), usually made up of a trio of violins and basses. The first violin (,,the born musician") leads the melody, determines the nature of the musical composition. Different first violinists give the same ,,nuty" different sounds that vary in tempo, the manner of attacking the sounds, and the leading of the melody. These variations on the part of the first violin give Highland music its unrepeatable climate and make accurate transcription almost impossible. At present the typical makeup of a Highlander band is: one first violin, two second violins (each known as a ,,sekundzista") and a bassist. The first violin is sometimes replaced by the ,,dudy" (a wind instrument made from a goat skin, similar to bagpipes). Formerly, the ,,geslik", whittled by the musicians themselves from one piece of wood and therefore called ,,zlobcok" (whittled) was used instead of the violin. The bass is today a kind of cello, without a leg and usually carried on a strap.

The Highlander dances are very showy. Shaped over the years under the influence of contact with neighboring shepherd peoples, they amaze today's audiences with their colorful, elemental nature. A typical Highlander dance is a suite of dances, a showpiece for one pair, in which the man dominates while the woman is a colorful background for his steps. On the other hand, the ,,robbers' dance," which is always enthusiastically applauded, is a suite for male dancers with a ,,warlike" character. It is similar in many ways to the male dances of neighboring regions, such as the kozak, the kozaczok, the huculka, and the niedzwiedz.

The first regional ensembles that demonstrated the richness of Highland music to guests in Zakopane were organized at the end of the nineteeth century. In the 1920's the Highland artist Helena Roj-Kozlowska organized a folk theater that presented music and dances. At present there are several dozen regional groups in Zakopane and the Highlands. The best known include the Klimek Bachleda and Bartus Obrochta groups from Zakopane, the Swarni from Nowy Targ, and the Skalni student group from Cracow.

The International Festival of Highland Folklore, during which mountain folk from all over the world perform their music, dances, and celebrations to large audiences that come specially for the occasion, has been held in Zakopane since 1968. This holiday of the world's highlanders is celebrated every year in September and accompanied by the ,,Tatra Autumn", a beautiful presentation of culture derived from or inspired by the Polish mountains.

As early as the nineteenth century many Polish composers, including Stanislaw Moniuszko and Ignacy Jan Paderewski, tried to transfer Highland music and dance to the symphony hall or the opera stage, but not until Karol Szymanowski did anyone succeed fully. On the basis of authentic Highland ,,nuty" and using contemporary musical language in a work for tenor, mixed chorus, and a large symphony orchestra, Szymanowski created his famous ballet ,,Harnasie", whose world premier was in Prague in 1935 and whose most famous performance was in Paris in 1936 with Serge Lifar dancing the role of Harnasie, leader of a mountain robber band.

The outstanding contemporary Polish composer Wojciech Kilar's symphonic poems based on citations from Highland music or inspired by the mountains, including ,,Krzesany", ,,Koscielec 1909", ,,Siwa Mgla", and ,,Orawa", have been performed throughout Europe. Highland ,,nuty", or impressions of the Tatras, have also appeared in the work of more recent composers, including those who work in jazz, pop, and rock. The most famous popular group with roots in the Highlands was Skaldowie, known as ,,the Polish Beatles".

Highland music can be heard in many places in Zakopane, the best known of which are the auditorium of the City Cultural Center at 4 Kosciuszko St. and the nearby Swarna Regional Center, where there is a ,,Posiada" - a lecture on a regional theme with a Highland band also performing - every week. A permanent venue for serious music is the small Karol Szymanowski Museum in the Atma villa at 19 Kasprusie St., where chamber music, primarily the work of Szymanowski, is performed at least once a month and compact disks are played each day at noon. Interesting musical events are also held in the gallery of the Artistic Exhibition Bureau on Krupowki St. and in the concert hall of the Mieczyslaw Karlowicz Music School at 12 Sienkiewicza St.

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