Katarzyna Bartos

Jan Antoni Wichrowski’s Compositions for Violin Solo and Violin with Piano. Overview

Jan Antoni Wichrowski (1942–2017) was a composer and professor of Karol Lipiński Music Academy in Wrocław. Among around 60 of his compositions representing almost all of music genres and forms, there are three for violin solo and two for violin and piano that the author of this paper was particularly interested in. In the article, Wichrowski’s pieces for violin solo and violin with piano are shown in the context of composer’s life, output and, lastly, general style. The aim of the article is to present a very interesting, yet not well known composer’s music to the broader audience.

As many researchers claim, we live in the era of intertextual works. The analysis of the 3rd Symphony “Circus Maximus” by the American composer John Corigliano definitely proves this statement. The symphony, finished in 2004, had been commissioned by Jerry Junkin – the conductor of the Wind Ensemble and Director of Bands at UT Austin. It is said to be an example of program music. Corigliano’s main purpose was to show connections between the past (Rome Empire) and the contemporary world. The composer notices that animalisation and coerciveness are characteristics of people living in these two eras. The composition consists of eight movements and is written for wind ensemble and percussion. The aim of this article is to show intertextual connotations and references present in the composition, such as: allusions, stylization, reminiscences, and memory of genre. In order to achieve this aim, the author used the Mieczysław Tomaszewski’s systematics of music-in-music existence. Moreover, similarities to Gustav Mahler and Charles Ives’ compositions are shown.

As many researchers claim, we live in the era of intertextual works. The analysis of the 3rd Symphony “Circus Maximus” by the American composer John Corigliano definitely proves this statement. The symphony, finished in 2004, had been commissioned by Jerry Junkin – the conductor of the Wind Ensemble and Director of Bands at UT Austin. It is said to be an example of program music. Corigliano’s main purpose was to show connections between the past (Rome Empire) and the contemporary world. The composer notices that animalisation and coerciveness are characteristics of people living in these two eras. The composition consists of eight movements and is written for wind ensemble and percussion. The aim of this article is to show intertextual connotations and references present in the composition, such as: allusions, stylization, reminiscences, and memory of genre. In order to achieve this aim, the author used the Mieczysław Tomaszewski’s systematics of music-in-music existence. Moreover, similarities to Gustav Mahler and Charles Ives’ compositions are shown.