Abstract

The article, The Nature of Polish 20th Century Sonata for Solo Violin is a highlighted motive of a broad course of studies concerning the entirety of Polish 20th century musical works in the genre of violin sonatas. The text is constructed in a continuing way and divided into the 1st and the 2nd half of the century 

The introductory paragraph contains a short, historical outline of the solo violin sonata, start- ing from the age of baroque. It is followed by the proper content of the article. All the solo violin sonatas composed by Polish composers throughout the entire 20th century, those published as well as those preserved in manuscripts, are discussed successively. Descriptions of the works focus on stylistics, form, and expression. They are supplemented with references to statements made by the composers (e.g. Kwiatkowski, Meyer), taken from publications and correspondence with the au- thoress, and from problem literature. Musicological literature, authors’ commentaries, works pub- lished by violinists, as well as press reviews were taken into consideration in the latter.

There is a numerical disproportion in the trend of Polish 20th century solo violin sonatas out- put in the first and in the second half of the century, which is reflected by the structure of the text. The works composed in the 1st half of the century form a poly-stylistic picture with a definite advantage of the Bach pattern, whereas the compositions of the 2nd half of the century form a poly- stylistic image with a distinct advantage of sonorousness. Deliberations emphasise highly individ- ual creative ideas, unconventional technical measures and methods of their notation (e.g. crotchets, aleatory elements, polychronia). Comparative remarks are used depending on mutual relations between individual works. Chronological analyses result in final conclusions:

1. 1)  from a general point of view the solo violin sonatas reflect transformations taking part in

   Polish music of a given period of time, but at the same time they show a time-shift in relation

   to the music,

2. 2)  the output is unevenly distributed in this field

3. 3)  all the sonatas composed in the 20th century fall into five stylistic sections:

   1. a)  the Bach pattern

   2. b)  neo-classicism

   3. c)  sonorousness

   4. d)  integral stylistics

   5. e)  classical post-modernism.

The article is complemented with a systematic list of sonatas in the abovementioned stylistic

sections.