“Describing the tragedy of existence” Structure and Meaning in Krzysztof Penderecki’s
Struktur und Bedeutung der zweiten Sinfonie von Krzysztof Penderecki. Structure and Meaning in Krzysztof Penderecki’s Second Symphony
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 21291823 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Helmut Loos (0000-0002-4742-3639, Professor für Historische Musikwissenschaft an der Universität Leipzig, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2024 |
| Volume | 81 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 153-160 |
| Publication date | 2024-01-01 |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Archiv für Musikwissenschaft (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0003-9292 • E-ISSN: 2366-2794 |
| Publisher | Wissenschaftliche Verlagsgesellschaft mbH (PUBLISHER • DE) |
| DOI | 10.25162/afmw-2024-0008 |
| OpenAlex | W4399860382 |
| Language | EN |
Krzysztof Penderecki composed his Second Symphony in the winter of 1979/1980 amidst the Polish people’s dramatic struggle for freedom. Compositionally, the entire symphony is developed from a seven-note theme which, alongside a minor third, primarily consists of a chromatically ascending, three-note motif. Drawing on the tradition of musical rhetoric, this can be interpreted as the eternal struggle between new beginnings and optimism as opposed to resignation and suffering – “the tragedy of existence.” Over and beyond this dramatic conflict arises a yearning for peace, represented by the Christmas carol “Silent Night, Holy Night.”
Art · Epistemology · Linguistics · Literature · Meaning (existential) · Tragedy (event) · Musicology and Musical Analysis · Philosophy
| Highly cited | No |
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