https://doi.org/10.16926/em.2017.12.02
The article presents an unknown and previously not studied part of the work of the outstanding
Polish conductor, Grzegorz Fitelberg (1879–1953), who during his youth was intensively engaged
in composing and gained recognition not only at composition competitions. The study concerns
seven violin works from his youthful period comprising:
— Romance sans paroles in D major;
— Romance sans paroles in A major op. 11;
— Sonata No. 1 in A minor for violin and piano op. 2,
— Berceuse in C sharp minor for violin and piano (without opus number);
— Mazurka for violin and piano (in G major, without opus number);
— Sonata No. 2 in F major for violin and piano op. 12;
— unfinished Violin Concerto in D minor, op. 13.
The musicological literature in Polish concerning Grzegorz Fitelberg focuses primarily on the
presentation of the conductor’s output, which overshadowed the composer's work that he quit in
1918. It’s Fitelberg’s intense activity as a conductor probably that made him withdraw from composing,
and the youthful works, which undoubtedly deserve attention, were forgotten.
The analysis of Fitelberg’s violin works has shown that these works are worth remembering
due to their artistic value. In these compositions, we can observe the evolution of the musical
language. The development of the melodics in the subsequent works was based on a gradual increase
of the interval mobility. In the piano part, in the harmonics, we can observe the development
of chord structures, their expansion, enrichment with counterpoint voices, ‘foreign’ sounds
and alterations. In line with harmonics evolution, we can observe the tendency to expand violin
registers. The stylistic profile of these works evolved from romantic patterns to more sophisticated
neo-romantic language and the first signs of impressionistic aesthetics. What has been highlighted
in the sonatas is mainly the development of texture, whereas the lyrical miniatures evolve on the
level of melodics and harmonics. In the Violin Concerto in D minor, the sound language is more
complex, it serves dramatic purposes; it contrasts diatonicism with chromaticism, and the massif
sound of the ensemble with that of the soloist action.
Fitelberg’s violin compositions appear as artistically valuable and, at the same time, as the ones
in which Fitelberg developed the foundations of his creative technique. Along with violin works
by other composers of the turn of the 19th and 20th century (Stojowski, Melcer, Maliszewski,
Andrzejowski, Zarzycki), they constitute an important section of the chamber music compositions
of that period. Unfortunately, these compositions, even though they were recorded in 2010, are
still awaiting to gain more attention of performers and music lovers.
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