Mikołaj z Radomia
As we approach the music of Mikołaj of Radom it is
worth remembering that he was the first Polish composer whose talent
and learning were of a European calibre: the first whose knowledge and
skills allowed him not only to imitate foreign models but to contribute
creatively to the development of European music. His work should be
judged against the same exacting standards as compositions by his early
15th century contemporaries Ciconia, Pycard and Grenon, with no
preferential treatment.
Today, when interest in early music has allowed us to discover hitherto
unknown areas of music, it is easier to place Mikołaj and his works on
the musical map of late Medieval Europe. Post-war research by Polish
musicologists (notably by Mirosław Perz) has enriched our knowledge
about the origins of polyphony in Poland, pushing back its beginnings
to the end of the 13th century, at which time compositions from the
School of Notre Dame of Paris were already current in the nunnery of
the Order of St Claire in Stary Sącz. Thus Mikołaj of Radom, considered
before World War II to have been the first Polish polyphonist, was
working within a century-old tradition. As such his emergence loses its
air of singularity, the more so if we realize that he was not active in
a cultural void but in the capital of a powerful state growing in
international importance and standing on the verge of a great spiritual
emancipation.
The reign of Władysław Jagiełło which coincided with Mikołaj's lifetime
was memorable not only for the spectacular victory over the Teutonic
Knights at Grunwald (Tannenberg). There was, in 1400, the revival of
the first Polish university in Cracow with its colleges of law,
medicine, liberal arts and later, theology. There was the growing
international prestige of Poland as shown at the Council of Constance
where the erudition and diplomatic skills of the
Polish envoys Paweł Włodkowie and Archbishop Mikołaj Trąba commanded
universal respect. Then there was the tolerance unparalleled in other
countries, which prescribed respect for every human being regardless of
how much their beliefs contradicted accepted opinion. ("It is not meet
to worry the persons or the estates of unbelievers who wish to live
peacefully among Christians," wrote Paweł Włodkowie, "Sins the ruler
who deprives these of anything without cause, as even the Pope may not
take anything from them.") There were in Poland enlightened men
"spreading the renown of the Polish state throughout the world" (as Jan
Długosz put it in his chronicle); there were illustrious knights, famed
as paragons of virtue (to mention only Zawisza the Black). Mikołaj's
elitist, intellectual music would have had an appreciative audience at
court and in the University milieu. It was played and copied –
Mikołaj's compositions were preserved in two of the most comprehensive
manuscripts from the 1430s. It would have been performed by the King's
chapel, founded in 1432 by Władysław Jagiełło for his young fourth wife
Zofia. It is even surmised that Mikołaj himself was a member of the
chapel; court records mention a "Nicolaus clavicymbalista dominae
Reginae Poloniae." One of Mikołaj's preserved works relates to the
birth of prince Kazimierz in 1426 which would also confirm his
association with Cracow and the royal court.
Mikołaj's work testifies to Poland's openness to the developments then
taking place in western European music. His compositions may be
situated somewhere between Ciconia and the young Dufay; analogies for
many of his ideas are to be found in the so-called Old Hall manuscript
(compiled 1410-15). The music therefore occupies a rightful place in
high European culture. Both manuscripts with Mikołaj's works contain
compositions by Ciconia, Antonius de Civitate and Zacharias. The young
Mikołaj (about whose studies nothing is known) could well have learned
his craft from the works of Ciconia, the greatest composer of the turn
of the 14th century. How he got his knowledge of Dufay's compositions
written when the latter belonged to the Papal chapel remains a mystery.
He did nonetheless introduce some of the Burgundian master's innovative
ideas into his own works (as in the Magnificat for instance.)
All this distinguishes Mikołaj as an artist using the complex musical
idiom that made up part of the European cultural heritage. Only ten
works by Poland's greatest 15th century composer have come down to us.
Even on the basis of such scant evidence it is possible to define the
artist's style. All the pieces were written for three parts, their tone
typical of the late Medieval period. With the exception of the
Magnificat they all dispense with references to chant and the
isorhythmic structure of the material. The works are primarily sacred
(liturgical) in character: three paired settings of the Gloria and
Credo, a Magnificat, an Alleluia, a panegyrical motet – the
Hystorigraphi aciem mentis and one probably secular composition without
text.
Mikołaj's "missal pairs" are constructed according to the same
principles as Ciconia's. The two elements share basic motifs, have
analogous settings and contrapuntal schemes. Both Gloria and Credo
culminate in a long virtuoso coda on the word "Amen" in keeping with
Medieval treatments of the form.
In spite of their general resemblance Mikołaj's paired settings differ
greatly in detail. The first is notable for its fluid and very vocal
melodic structure and the frequent use of imitation. Ciconia's
influence is very apparent here, the analogies extending as far as
individual phrases.
The second Gloria-Credo pair has a typically Burgundian setting
and character: one vocal part with a soft, lyrical and refined melody
and two instrumental parts indicated by the absence of text under the
notation.
The third pair has a pronounced, syncopated rhythmic and melodic
structure with a Medieval angularity, full of large shifts of interval
often difficult for the singers to handle. It is also the most virtuoso
of the three, sometimes to the point of audacity (as in the "Amen"). At
times the composer adds a fourth part, engaged in lively discourse with
the descant. The pair also stands out by virtue of its long-resounding
chords briefly interrupting the vivid narrative and certainly endowed
with a symbolic meaning, stressing as they do the words "Jesu Christe"
(a similar device is incidentally employed by both Guillaume de Machaut
and Dufay.)
Of no less interest is Mikołaj's three-part composition which, perhaps
owing to neglect by the scribe, lacks words. In form it is a typical
French ballad with a simple, flowing melody, distinctly different from
the intricate (and sometimes fairly jagged) arabesques found in the
composer's sacred music. It would be interesting indeed to learn in
what language the piece was written.
The Historigraphi aciem mentis is a panegyrical motet to a text
by Vice-chancellor of the Crown Stanislaw Ciołek celebrating in far
from classical Latin the birth of prince Kazimierz and praising the
royal couple: Władysław and his wife Zofia. The music is joyous and
optimistic, forceful and simple compared to Mikołaj's ornate sacred
compositions.
And finally the Magnificat – the most beautiful and inspired of
Mikołaj's works, and the most modern. Here the composer refers directly
to Dufay's famous Magnificat sexti toni with its
stately progression of falsobordone chords (made up in descending order
of a fourth and a sixth) unprecedented in their softness and fullness
of sound. It is here that Mikołaj's melodic talents are best revealed
as the composer shows his lyrical side. The work is meticulously
structured in its symmetrical plan of repeated and interweaving
passages. Mikołaj's Magnificat is rooted in Gregorian chant, for
centuries the well-spring of European polyphony. It is also firmly set
in the cultural reality of its time, dominated by the soft, lyrical
style known as international Gothic.
When listening to this intricately arranged, meditative music we
realize that works written centuries ago contain some still-relevant
knowledge about man and his innate need for beauty. This might explain
the surprising resurgence of early music in an age when all values have
apparently been questioned. In the light of this growing fascination it
is worth pausing to consider Mikołaj of Radom's music, long known to
Polish musicologists, as it might turn out that its time has come.
Ewa Obniska
(Translation: Artur Zapatowski)