F. Chopin and M.K. Čiurlionis’ Early Works for Piano: Creative Parallels, Overlapping, Influence
Doctoral student: Gabrielė Kondrotaitė
Supervisors: Prof. Zbignevas Ibelgauptas, Prof. Dr. (hp) Gražina Daunoravičienė
Department: Piano
Duration: 2010–2014
Abstract
Gabrielė Kondrotaitė
One of the well-known and undisputed initial inspirations in Čiurlionis’ early works for piano relates to the romantic tradition, the spirit of Chopin. The first part of the artistic research project draws historic, personal, cultural and artistic parallels between these two composers and defines points of contact in terms of relevant contexts and texts. This project reveals the benefits linking Chopin and Čiurlionis from the overall perspective: the Romanticist aesthetics, humanistic ideas, national awareness, consciously preserved contacts with own nation’s folklore and its creative integration, original touch that predicts new artistic trends, etc.
The second part is devoted to the presentation, analysis and interpretation of Chopin’s and Čiurlionis’ creative parallels. The discussion centres on Čiurlionis’ music for piano before 1904, which reveals creative correlations with Chopin’s opuses. This part distinguishes the creative spheres of both artists that reflect points of contact of varied intensity: nationality in music, idiomatic of genres, individual solutions of piano texture, characteristic elements of genres as well as details and features of musical language. Specific influences of Chopin’s works on Čiurlionis’ pieces for piano from his early period are revealed and explored. After tracing an occasional musical mark of the Polish composer or a set of such marks in the works of the Lithuanian artist, the way it appeared there is analysed: as an inert particle of salon culture (Čiurlionis’ mazurkas), as reverberation of a canonical work or maybe as the birth of a Čiurlionis-style mark, which is close to Chopin but is paradigmatic (e.g. possible correlations between Chopin-style tierces and Čiurlionis-style decimas, a distinct transformation of Chopin-style chromaticisms, etc.). The project also aims to select the most correct terminology suitable for discussing the influence of Chopin’s music on Čiurlionis’ early works for piano.
