The Marionettes (Duet)
Stanislaw Pószyński
Timeline
Stanislaw Prószyński (1926-1997)
- Born in 1926 in Warsaw, Poland, Stanislaw Pószyński studied composition at the Warsaw music school.
- He was a winner of many musical competitions and in 1945 became music director and pianist in the musical theaters in Warsaw and Łódź.
- From 1960, he lectured at the State Higher School of Music in Warsaw becoming a professor in 1984. In addition to working in the experimental theatre he also composed music for films, radio and television dramas.At the same time, he was a journalist and author which included the publication of a series of books on some of the great composers of opera.
- From 1974 he also taught at the College of Pedagogy in Olsztyn.
Style
Stanislaw Pószyński may not be a big name as a CONTEMPORARY composer but his works are extensive ranging from his prizewinning Little Symphony for orchestra in 1947, numerous works for choirs and many smaller works for string quartets and solo instruments with piano accompaniment.
A Marionette is another name for a puppet. There is a long tradition of puppetry in Eastern Europe and he brings out the character of the mechanical movements of the marionettes in this piano duet.
Interpretation
- This is brisk duet so both parts need to be in perfect synchronisation to be really effective. Decide how you will start the piece cleanly and keep in time together. Both part have a mixture of staccato and sustained notes. Make sure all the staccato notes are equally short and crisp. Think of the staccato crotchets as staccato quavers with rests in between each note:
- The dynamics are either piano or forte and the changes between need to be sudden and sound unexpected: (b17-24):
- Make sure all the notes in the chords from bar 23 sound exactly together. So listen carefully to each other when you are practicing together:
- The accelerando from bar 31 needs to increase the tempo gradually until the final flourish at the end:
