Maria Szymanowska - 20 Etudes and Preludes (Dobrzański)

Maria Szymanowska - Dwadzieścia etiud i preludiów
Written between 1819-1820
I've also seen this set called "20 Preludes," "20 Exercises and Preludes," and "20 Etudes."

Pianist: Sławomir P. Dobrzański

0:00 - I. Vivace
2:37 - II. Moderato
4:50 - III. Moderato
6:29 - IV. Agitato
8:20 - V. Con moto
11:04 - VI. Moderato
13:10 - VII. Scherzando
15:30 - VIII. Con brio
17:16 - IX. Moderato
22:53 - X. Commoto
23:55 - XI. Con fuoco
26:36 - XII. Vivace
28:43 - XIII. Scherzo
30:29 - XIV. Risoluto
32:26 - XV. Vivace
35:45 - XVI. Grazioso
37:21 - XVII. Con fuoco
39:23 - XVIII. Presto
41:06 - XIX. Con spirito
43:57 - XX. Cantabile

Maria Szymanowska (1789-1831) was one of the Romantic Era's great fascinations. With a daughter that married Mickiewicz and very close relations to Goethe, she would already have had enough flash to draw the eye of anyone paying attention, but add to that a performing career as a pianist and her keeping one of the most frequented salons in St. Petersburg and there is no wonder that she would draw such a reputation [1]. As one of the first professional pianists in the Romantic Era, she served to propagate the music of Field and Hummel [2] and even wrote over a hundred piano pieces of her own. She has a reputation as a proto-Chopin, and while that seems like hyperbole, there are obvious parallels.

Szymanowska's short life was one of great activity and artistic flowering rooted in a spattering of formational experiences. Szymanowska was born in Warsaw to a home frequently visited by Chopin's own first teacher, Józef Elsner who reportedly took interest in her apparent talent [1]. Early on, she received instruction from Antoni Lisowski and Tomasz Grimm as well as from Franciszek Lessel and Karol Kurpiński. Scholars have debated whether or not Szymanowska was a student of Field, but there is a letter of recommendation to a publisher that proves that Field was at least acquainted with Szymanowska [2][3]. At around 1810, her performing career took off. In the years between 1810 and 1815, she withdrew from touring, resuming after 1815, catalyzing her most fruitful composing period that ended in 1820, which was the year she and her husband divorced [1]. After divorcing her husband, Szymanowska and her children moved to St. Petersburg where she played for the Tsarist Court and ran a musical salon where she crossed paths with, among others, Glinka, Mickiewicz, and Pushkin.

Context, of course, shaped Szymanowska, who received a cultural and stylistic context from her many teachers. Here in the unknown of rapid change, Szymanowska found herself at the intersection of salon music [2], the "brillant" style [4], and so-called "Polish sentimentalism" [1]. In truth, Szymanowska's music reflects each of these movements. The brillant style was, first and foremost, a style of interpretation that featured quick playing in difficult passages, heavy legato, quick or moderate tempi contrasted with slow tempi, and emphasizing the lyrical elements in a piece [4]. Of course, playing in this style drew more composers to write like this, and thus, pieces were written by Czerny, Hummel, and Field to accommodate this style. Salon music, by contrast, is a controversial and nebulous term, but most of Szymanowska's work falls into this category. The most coherent definition of Salon Music is in opposition to Concert Music. While salon music refers to light music that is played for entertainment or ease of listening, concert music is more artistic or challenging. Salon music fills the air with something pleasant, while concert music draws the listener into deeper contemplation [2]. Polish sentimentalism reflects a wistful, nostalgic mood found in post-partition Polish music [1]. It is most recognizable in Ogiński's polonaise writing, in which style Szymanowska continued writing. For Szymanowska, each of these stylistic features serves as a pillar in her music which is light, sentimental, and highly virtuosic, displaying great feats of pianistic agility.

As for Szymanowska's influence on Chopin goes, there is historical evidence that Chopin saw at least two of her concerts in Warsaw, but no commentary was found [4]. Further, while Szymanowska's emphasis on the piano and her writing in the genres of Etude, Prelude, Polonaise, and Nocturne precede Chopin, she never exhibited the creative ingenuity and imaginative, poetic writing that it took to radically redefine those genres as did Chopin.

[1] S. P. Dobrzański. Maria Szymanowska (1789-1831): Pianist and Composer. University of Connecticut. 2001.
[2] A. Swartz. Maria Szymanowska And The Salon Music Of The Early Nineteenth Century. The Polish Review 30, no. 1 p. 43–58. 1985.
[3] T. de Valera. Maria Szymanowska (1790-1831): A Pupil of John Field. Dublin Historical Record 56, no. 1 p. 53–55. 2003.
[4] I. Poniatowska. Maria Szymanowska i Styl brillant. Studia Chopinowskie. The Sources of Chopin’s Style. Inspirations and Contexts. Warszawa. s. 135–15. 2005.