Zygmunt Noskowski - 8 Krakowiaks Op. 25 (Świętoński)

Zygmunt Noskowski - Osiem krakowiaków Published in 1889 Piano: Wojciech Świętoński 0:00 - I. Allegretto Amabile in F#-Minor 3:16 - II. Allegretto Energico in Bb-Major 6:13 - III. Quasi Moderato e Mesto in B-Minor 9:25 - IV. Allegro in G-Major 13:13 - V. Moderato Cantabile in Ab-Major 15:04 - VI. Allegretto Vivo e Amabile in Db-Major 17:04 - VII. Allegretto Animato in A-Major 20:13 - VIII. Allegro Non Troppo in F-Major Zygmunt Noskowski was a Polish Composer who was born in Warsaw and lived from 1846-1909. He was known mostly for his symphonic compositions. He worked not only as a musician, but as a teacher and a journalist. He taught almost all of the most important composers of the next generation in Polish music. It is through his efforts primarily that symphonic music was introduced to Warsaw, and he built the foundations for a strong symphonic tradition in Poland [1]. At the time of his birth, Poland was divided between Austria, Prussia, and the Russian Empire. Conditions were difficult for Polish artists due to censorship and general repression of Polish culture. Noskowski himself was a witness of a pogrom against the "manifestations of patriotism" (pogrom manifestacji patriotycznej) conducted by Russian soldiers on the 27th of February 1861 in Warsaw. After witnessing the events, he traveled to Kraków and visited the Tatra mountains. These events influenced the rest of his creative output. The sights of the mountains and the beauty of Kraków juxtaposed with the foreign oppression that he saw could not be discounted easily, given that he later joined the January Uprising after his father's death in 1863. Interestingly, Noskowski was not well aware of Chopin's output. His mother was a dedicated supporter of Towiański, who was a messianic, apocalyptic religious leader in Poland who claimed he had a vision of the end times. Chopin was highly critical of Towiański, which led Noskowski's family to avoid his work. Noskowski would detach from Towianism later in his life and become a propagator of Chopin's music. In the meantime, however, he still saw Ignacy Feliks Dobrzyński as the model Polish composer. Stylistically, he absorbed much of Dobrzyński's style as well as those of his other teachers - Kątski, Moniuszko, and Kiel. [1] Wroński, Witold. Zygmunt Noskowski. Warsaw: Polskie Wydawnictwo Muzyczne, 1960.