Partimenti by Bernardo Pasquini – Realisation of Selected Bassi from Sonate per uno o due Cembali con il basso cifrato

Bernardo Pasquini (1637–1710) was one of the very first composers to write partimenti, albeit he did not use the word “partimento”. He titled his works for one or two keyboards, written in the form of basso continuo, as Basso, Basso continuo, Sonata, Versetto etc. One of his manuscripts that include partimenti, entitled Sonate per uno o due Cembali con il basso cifrato, is held in the British Library of London, under the signature number Ms. Add. 31501, I. Two works from this collection, Basso Continuo [II] and [Basso IV], are realised by the Author as fully composed pieces and presented below. The realisation of these Partimenti intends to engage a polyphonic texture according to the rules of basso continuo and counterpoint adequate to the aesthetics and techniques of the music from the Baroque era. Realisations represent different genres of instrumental music of the 18th century, they apply counterpoint (fugue, fughetta and imitation texture) or freer techniques (figurative sonata, polyphonic fantasia).

Selected Facts from the Biography and Activity of Seweryn Kortowicz in the Light of the Sources from the Archdiocesan Archives in Gniezno and the Archdiocesan Archives in Poznań

Seweryn Kortowicz was a musician and composer active in the region of Greater Poland, an important centre of Polish music culture, in the 19th century. The composer’s work was preserved mainly in Gniezno, but also in Poznań. He was a local composer, serving as a music director in the Gniezno cathedral for over 50 years. The article presents the current state of research on the life and work of this composer.

Musical Education As a Memetic Practice

Memes as cultural transmission units or imitation units were first described by the British biologist Richard Dawkins. Being the equivalent of genes, they are able to undergo replication processes, spread “from brain to brain” and evolve. These catchy, attractive and easy to remember structures are also found in music. Based on the assumption that memetics is not a popular science among musicians, both practitioners and teachers, the analysis undertaken in this text is an attempt to reflect memetic practice in the methods of the musical education developed by Zoltan Kodály, Carl Orff, Émile Jaques-Dalcroze and Edwin Gordon. It is also an offer for educators who are looking for new inspiration to work with children, either in music or general education.

Music in Modern Football (Soccer)

In the following article, the author discusses the connections between the worlds of music and football, how they used to look in the past decades and how they look in the modern times. He refers to the sociological studies that try to explain so close connections between these two different worlds. He addresses stadium chants, which, in his opinion, should be treated as a phenomenon that is underestimated in the public debate when the subject of collective music performances is covered. He shows, by the example of Poland and England, the differences of the fans’ musical customs, depending on the country. Another important element of the paper are examples of the national anthems’ huge meaning for the national football teams’ matches. Author cites musical compositions inspired by football and tells stories of the songs that became the fans’ informal anthems. He shows many figures that connect the concert halls with the dressing rooms of the most important stadiums in the world – musicians that love football and footballers who have exceptional musical knowledge or even start they own musical career. Moreover, the author describes the new ways of using music in the modern football in order to change football games into the impressive shows that engage all senses of the spectators.

Black Metal Through the Eyes of the Philologist: An Attempt to Define the Term Linguistically

The main purpose of the article is to present a new definition of an extreme music genre, namely black metal, based on the linguistic theory of prototypes. This necessity eventuates from its expansion, as a result of which the genre (specifically: its forms) is blowing up from within. In the face of diversity of black metal songs and the fact that all of traditional black metal’s main features could be invalidated by the opposing work of one of contemporary bands, a new, more capacious model of a definition is needed. The presented model is a prototypical categorisation derived from a postmodern linguistic paradigm.