3d) Approaching Harnasie and other violin pieces of Szymanowski 

In order to understand the pieces described above and explore ways of performing them, I discuss how violinists might be informed by the history of these works, their composer, their scoring and arrangement and relationship to folklore. From analysing Szymanowski’s works including the ballet “Harnasie” I noticed how important the role of the violin is. He writes mostly in the high register, with many solos or repetitions of the main melody after other instruments. The violin often plays original folk melodies. Szymanowski uses different kinds of techniques such as tremolos or harmonics to make the music sparkle and to bring out its brutality and pureness of sound which connects it to Podhale music. At the same time this approach extends the violin’s technical and sonoristic possibilities. The significant use of lyrical melodies makes the function of the violin similar to that of the human voice.

 From the biography of Szymanowski we know that folk songs were often sung in his hometown Tymoszówka. The composer’s sister, Maria Szymanowska was a singer and it was to her that Szymanowski dedicated most of his songs. He treated vocal lyricism with unusual reverence. Its influence can be seen in all his compositions, both chamber ones - violin, piano or quartets, and also in larger forms, such as Harnasie. The lyricism and voice-like concept can be found in the main melodies of Violin concerto no.2 and Harnasie.

The vocal inspiration likewise explains the characteristic use of long phrases, close to the natural, breath-regulated shaping of the phrase in singing. If we look carefully at the scores we notice many vocal indications such as dolce, cantabile, recitativo and dolce espressivo.

 The singing melody in the Harnasie ballet leads in the high violin register, maintains long rhythmic values and is often juxtaposed against a lively accompaniment creating a contrasting background.

Another connection discussed earlier, is the link between violin and voice in Harnasie. Most of the time in the transcription of the ballet the violin takes over the vocal parts. This example can be seen in the very beginning of the transcription which is a melody of a song Powiydzze mi, powiydz do uska prawego. Even though violin parts are often written in the higher register compared to the voice, I still believe that Szymanowski was truly inspired by the instrument’s vocal qualities. The use of high registers of violin represents a singing, shining colour. 

Next to the connection with the voice, Szymanowski’s admiration for Kochański’s playing style is a clear influence. Important characteristics of Kochański’s playing include the use of continuous vibrato and a broad palette of colours. As Kochański writes in the book String Mastery by music journalist Frederick H. Martens : 

The idea was to extend the possibilities of violin expression, especially as regards colour. In the older violin music the listener is so used to simple charm of melody that he does not miss the absence of colour. But in modern music the new sonorities and their development gives the violin a much greater variety of tone colouring, indispensable in such composition.1

In the first part of the chapter I have described all the characteristics that apply to the lyrical moments of the Harnasie transcription as well as other slow moments from other violin pieces by Szymanowski from the Nationalistic period. However, the question is how can we use this information in practice?

If we start from the beginning of the Harnasie transcription, the whole first page of the violin part is a slow introduction. (page) As we already know this part is from the last scene from the ballet, a song sung by the tenor Powiydzze mi, powiydz do uska prawego. While listening and comparing many recordings of the piece such as those by Wanda Wiłkomirska (violin) and Tadeusz Chmielewski (piano) or Janusz Wawrowski (violin) and Grzegorz Skrobiński (piano) [examples 2,3 and 4] as well as my own recording from last year and listening to Kochański’s recording of Rachmaninov’s Vocalise (example 5) I came to some conclusions.

The two major inspirations for Szymanowski were the similarity of the violin to the voice and the way his friend Kochański played. Therefore, that part of the Harnasie should be played with a very romantic approach. As a violinist it is important to use a continuous, compact and fast vibrato which goes smoothly from one note to another. Also, the right hand should have good contact with the string, without using too much bow. To support long phrases one needs to make supple changes of position, with a singing tone creating small glissandi. These glissandi should be a central part of the performance. They should not be very noticeable or too exaggerated. They are meant to resemble natural glissandos between notes when singing. They are not written in the scores, however, the fingerings that Kochański proposes (such as using one finger to play several notes, or playing a few bars on one string - example) suggest the use of glissandos. This is close to the way Wawrowski and Skrobiński play the piece. In my opinion these artists show aspects that are both a combination of romantic and expressive playing of Kochański, as well as a natural way of singing on the violin. When I compare it to my own recording, which was made last year, before I gained all the deeper knowledge concerning the way of performing Harnasie, I see some things that could have been done differently. 

Firstly, the vibrato could be more continuous and used in the way that makes the music flow. I must admit I had a bit of a different view last year concerning vibrato in this piece. I rather stepped back from a very romantic sound in favour of a gentle clean sound. Now I see that Szymanowski’s view on that was probably quite different. 

However, the other crucial aspects I described earlier are evident in my recording, such as the natural use of glissandi or a singing, pure tone. 

In order to express my knowledge of today with what I already presented last year, I wanted to record an example of how it might sound. In this recording I will mainly try to show a more romantic approach to vibrato, the one more similar to Kochański's style. (example below)

To get a bigger picture of possible performance practises I suggest listening to the music examples below, the original tenor part from the ballet (example 1), three different performances of Harnasie transcription (example 2, 3 and 4) and Kochański’s Vocalise which shows his expressiveness and romantic style (example 5). 

After analysing the slower parts of Szymanowski’s nationalistic pieces we should take into account the non-lyrical fragments, the more lively, dance ones, which usually have numerous folklore quotations in them. The approach of the violinist should indeed be very contrasting to the melodic approach described above. Firstly, we should realise that Szymanowski heard these melodies from the Highlanders, therefore the playing style should resemble theirs as closely as possible. Obviously, there are things classical violinists are not going to change for the sake of performing one piece, such as the placement of the violin or bow hold. The physical posture of folk violinists would be viewed by most classical musicians as “incorrect”. In Podhale folk music the violin, mostly without shoulder rest or even without chinrest is placed somewhere below the shoulder, in the chest area, while the bow grip is absolutely free, although usually quite similar to a grip known to many "classical" players. 

Nevertheless, there are some aspects that musicians can take a look at and analyse, to inform their practice. The first striking feature of Podhale folk is the simplification of many things that classical violinists are often overly concerned with. Firstly, one could try playing as much as possible in the 1st or 2nd position. This could be done from bar 44 to 61 of Harnasie. (example)The fingerings suggested by Kochański also imply staying in the first position. The next common characteristic of Podhale folk violinists is the occasional use of vibrato and frequent non vibrato playing. This would form a big contrast from what I have described above for the lyrical parts of these pieces. It would be good practice to play from bar 44 till 84 without any vibrato so that the left hand gets used to no additional movement, and the accents written in the part come only from the impulse of the right hand. Apart from that, this fragment of Harnasie should be played quite legato. Gorals who were respecting the traditional way of playing connected the notes as much as possible, unless there were syncopations or accentations (as in bars 49 - 50). In this case, the separation of notes and their strong marking is most justified. Taking all this into account, in my opinion the recording by Wiłkomirska and Chmielewski of this section (3:17 - 4:16) comes closest to an approximation of the character of Podhale music.

To understand exactly what I mean, I encourage you to listen to the example on the right which I recorded myself, which shows a passage from bar 49 to bar 65. In this passage, I tried to include all the elements described above - no vibrato, staying (as much as possible) in the first position, playing legato (except for accented places).

Interesting enough, while listening to the recordings of original folk bands, one gets the impression that the music is not devoid of vibrato. As we hear in the example given on the right, as well as in the musical examples cited earlier in the work. What we hear, and for classical musicians, sounds like vibrato is an interesting procedure which is a combination of left hand movement and trilling. I could also call it an ornamentation of the notes, but it is used almost all the time in folk performances. This combination creates something we are unlikely to encounter in the classical world. The impression of vibrato, which is not created through vibrato technique. I think that for classical musicians, this type of performance technique is quite difficult to learn. If we take this knowledge into account when analysing Harnasie, I suspect that Szymanowski might not have expected the use of this type of "vibrato" ornamentation. However, we know that Szymanowski spent a great deal of time among the Highlanders and among Highland music, which is why all the features of that music were used to some extent in Harnasie. Therefore, I am quite convinced that all the fragments in which trills appear (and there are very many of them) were intended to resemble the original use of this type of ornament. Examples of ordinary trills on one note occur in bars 47 - 48, 51 - 52, 55 - 56. While in this piece we also encounter trills over the whole melody as in bars 128 - 132, 134 - 136, 145 - 150. (in my recording min 5:17)

While experimenting with this type of vibrato, I came to some conclusions. Firstly, additional vibrato when trilling octaves (as in bars 128-150) is almost impossible. The reason is mainly that when trilling and vibrating at the same time, the intonation "ripples" a lot. Therefore, if it was added at octaves the intonation would be too unsatisfactory. However, I decided to record a fragment (bars 49 - 65) using an ornamented vibrato on the longer notes (as the highlanders do)[example 8]. On the first recording, I used the ornamented vibrato 3 times, only at the end of the fragment. On the second recording (example 9), I ventured into more ornamentation vibrato, and I think it came out quite satisfactorily. To sum up both recordings, I think that it was quite challenging at first to dive into this technique. Sometimes, while playing my fingers would simply forget to do this movement, or if they did, it disrupted my intonation or position changes. It took me a few tries until I got more comfortable with it. In my opinion, an exercise like this is very interesting and practising can bring many unexpected positive effects. I don't think that using this ornamentation vibrato through the whole piece would be wise, however if it feels like the right moment, from time to time using this effect may be beneficial for the performance.