Karol Szymanowski: Teaching Journal

Teaching journal.

Teaching materials: Karol Szymanowski (1882-1937, Poland), Symphony No. 3 Op. 27, Song of the Night (1914-6), poem by 13C mystic Jalāl ad-Dīn Muhammad Rūmī; video clip of horror movie; artistic photographs of the violence of nature.

To guide students towards an appreciation of the expression of the cosmic magnificence of the night in Szymanowski’s Song of the Night, I began the class by explaining the Kantian concept of the sublime, which can be understood in the first instance as a combination of pleasurable and unpleasurable feelings. To elucidate mixture of feelings, I first showed a video clip from a horror film, and explained that while fear is a negative feeling, there is a part of us which actually enjoys horror films. I then moved on to two artistic photos of violent scenes (volcano erupting, thunder storm) to explain how two seemingly opposite things—beauty and violence—can coexist in the same artwork. I explained that these photos do not actually capture the full force of the natural phenomenon: imagine ourselves caught in the middle of lightning strikes, or standing at the edge of a volcano. The sublime, according to Kant, comprises a mixture of positive and negative feelings that arise because of an excessive force that we are unable to properly grasp. In Song of the Night, the cosmic, sublime magnificence of the stars—“a humming [of the mighty stars] above the chasm [of the universe]”—is expressed through giant waves of orchestral and choral sounds covering the full registral span that crash onto the listener. These waves are all the more forceful because of the initial quietude of the high strings and solo tenor, expressing the tranquility of the night.

To help students to think through the concept of the sublime, I posed the motion, “Beauty depends on musical form mathematically conceived.” I first explained Kant’s conception of musical beauty as a matter of the formal proportions of harmony (e.g. figured bass) and melody (scale tones)—which can be expressed mathematically, and suggest a rationalist approach to musical beauty. As with much music, it is possible to express the combination of pitches in Song of the Night using numerals. However, the musical work has a heightened expressivity which takes the form of sonic crashing waves, inspiring a mixture of feelings (e.g. both fear and enjoyment of the sonic waves) that characterize the sublime, as opposed to only pleasant sensations in the Kantian definition of musical beauty. To the extent that music expresses an excessive force, a cool-headed mathematical view of form seems inappropriate for grasping Song of the Night, which is perhaps terrifyingly beautiful.