ZOFIA CHECHLIŃSKA
Political conditions and Polish national music in the early 19th century
The demand for creating national music was already universal in Poland at the beginning of
the 19th century. It was connected to a different political situation than that in the main
European musical centres. To understand it, it is necessary to go back to the 18th Century. In
1795 Poland eventually lost its independence, and was divided between Russia, Prussia and
Austria. The lost of independence caused an increase in the sense of national identity. One
part of Poland, with its capital, Warsaw, came under Prussian power (until 1807). After
Napoleon’s army had entered Warsaw, the so-called Warsaw Duchy was created from a small
part of previously Polish territories, and people believed it was the germ of an independent
Polish state. The Napoleonic Wars increased the hopes for regaining independence, and a
sense of national community. Napoleon fought against Russia, Prussia and Austria – the
countries which divided Poland, and Polish soldiers fought in his army hoping he would help
in regaining their own state. Such hopes disappeared with Napoleon’s collapse. Among the
other results of the Congress of Vienna, the so-called “Polish Kingdom” was established from
a part of previous Polish territories, with Warsaw as its capital. The name “Polish Kingdom”
is misleading, because it was not an independent state, but a province with only limited
autonomy. It was dependent on Russia and connected to it by a personal union (the Russian
Tsar was the Polish King), with Russian censorship etc.
The unfulfilled hopes of regaining independence increased even further the sense of
national community and again increased the desire for independence, which resulted in the
November Uprising against Russia in 1830. After the Uprising collapsed, the limited
autonomy of the Polish Kingdom was eliminated, but the desire for independence was very
strong during the whole 19th century. In 1848, at the beginning of the Springtime of Nations,
Chopin wrote to his friend, and the copyist of his works, Julian Fontana: “terrible things will
happen, but at the end of them there will be Poland, glorious, great, just Poland” (KCh,
II,239).
The manifestations of national identity were especially important under these
conditions. On one hand they were the expression of national feelings, but on the other they
had to increase these feelings. These manifestations were promoted by the country’s
intellectual and artistic elite rather than by the government, as the independent Polish
government did not exist. But they served, of course, political goals: to regain independence,
or – at least – to preserve national identity. These manifestations were possible – first of all –
in art, and particularly in music, which, as an asemantic art, could express the national spirit
more freely (the Russian censorship controlled all public events and publications).
Thus, Polish musical culture was dominated by the idea of national music. This idea,
formulated by Herder in 18th century was transplanted to Poland by Kazimierz Brodziński, a
friend of Józef Elsner, Chopin’s teacher. Brodziński published an essay generally repeating
Herder’s ideas in 1818 in Warsaw. The demand for the creation of a national music was
widespread. It was still repeated in the Warsaw press in 1820s. The creation of national music
was considered composers’ duty, and – at the same time – the national character of music was
regarded as one of the most important criteria for its evaluation.
In 1818, in a review of one of Elsner’s operas, a critic wrote that the music of the
opera expressed national spirit, which gave it exceptional value (GW 1818 no 36, add.). This
kind of evaluation was typical of the time. According to Herder’s concept, national music had
to be based on folk art. In Polish music it resulted in the use of Polish dance rhythms, and in
quotations of Polish folk melodies or popular tunes, which often did not come from folk
music. Hundreds of mazurkas, polonaises and krakoviaks were composed. They usually had
the character of salon pieces and had nothing to do with real folk music. Dance rhythms were
used in other musical genres as well: in symphonies, operas and even in religious music. But
the use of Polish dance rhythms did not come into being in the 19th century. They appeared in
many symphonies and other musical works in the 18th century, although not as often as in the
19th century. However, they were not received as national in the 18th century, and were not
intended as such. It was just a kind of local colour. The way they were received, and the
composers’ attitude to them, changed in the 19th century. The basic factor here was the
reception.
At the beginning of the 19th century the “national” character of music did not influence
the musical language itself. Even there, where the authentic folk tunes were quoted (which
was rather rare at the beginning of the century), they were adjusted to the conventional
musical language. Thus, the dance rhythms or motives typical for folk or popular music were
placed onto the universal musical language. They just played a role of a code telling the
audience, “this is national”. Only Chopin broke away from this superficial way of expressing
national music.
Undoubtedly, Chopin – as other Polish composers – wanted to create national music. In a
letter to his friend, Tytus Woyciechowski, from Vienna in December 1830 he wrote: “You
know how much I wanted to feel our national music, and now I’ve partly managed to do so”
(KCh, I, 210).
Chopin’s works from the Warsaw period realised the idea of national music in similar
way to works by other Polish composers. The artistic level of his works was, of course, much
higher, but it was the result of his talent and not of the method. But this method very quickly
seemed to him insufficient, and he looked for a new way to express the spirit of the nation. He
created his own language appropriate to this goal, and folk music was just one of the elements
inspiring experiments in this field. It certainly was the individual language of the composer,
but it was received as national. This language was based on the universal musical language,
which was the point of departure for the composer, but – on the other hand – his individual
language influenced the musical language of other composers, and thus its elements entered
the universal musical language.
So, there are not two different musiacal languages: national and universal. Both are
strictly connected, and the national “flavour” or character is either the result of codes imposed
on a universal language, and therefore received as national, or the result of an individual
composer’s language, which is treated as national in its reception.
Zofia Chechlińska
Osiedle Przyjażń 126
01-355 Warszawa
Poland
zchechlinska@nifc.pl