Response to Victoria Brown’s Journal on the Etudes and Nocturne of Maria Szymanowska

Being a lover of the music of Chopin, the timbre of the piano, and Romanticism in general I took great pleasure in listening to the short Etudes and Nocturnes of the Polish-born, Maria Szymanowska. Of any “pre-romantic” composers, she may have had the most impact on Chopin, the celebrated composer and pianist of the Romantic period, who was also from Poland. In her journal article, Victoria Brown notes the parallel between Szymanowska and the Irish composer John Field. There is a lineage here. Field was the first to adapt the “Nocturne” to a single movement character piece for piano. In turn, Szymanowska used the form and made it her own and subsequently Chopin did the same. The nocturne was not the only form that Chopin took for inspiration from Szymanoska and others. Their Etudes and Polonaises also show close similarities in form, technique, and melodic phrasing, however Chopin’s works are more developed, more chromatic, and essentially more expressively “Romantic.”
No composer creates from nothing; there is always something that came before that informed. Maria Szymanowska was influenced by her piano tutors(one of whom was trained by Haydn), musicians that were invited to her home by her parents, and the traditional music of Poland. Essentially her music was informed by “Classical” styles and local dance music. From these and the infusion of ideas from Field and poets such as Goethe she began to create something new. We can hear this in her Etudes and Nocturne. While the Etudes are short and developmentally simple, they demonstrate inventive techniques for the piano. I especially like the second “Etude in C Major.” The “bubbling” arpeggio technique is quite impressive and texturally exciting; almost Lisztian. The “Nocturne in Bb Major” included on this recording is my favorite of hers. As Brown points out, it demonstrates her compositions a bridge between the Classical and Romantic periods. I do not feel, however, that the change is apparent from one section to the other. Rather, I hear the lightness of the Classical style. With the Nocturne as well as the Etudes, Szymanowska uses the major mode to give a tender lightheartedness. If the music is any indication of her mood, it seems she is jovial and “in love” with the act of music making and living life. While the expressiveness “could be in part because of the performer’s interpretations” I tend to think that certain compositions and compositional styles lend themselves better toward the expression of the performer. This is the magic of the “Nocturne in Bb Major.” It is available for creative interpretation of expression. This may be another facet of her influence on Chopin and other composers and performers of the nineteenth century.
Brown comments on the fact that Szymanowska was referred to as the “feminine Field” and brings up good points about how sexism may have played a role in the shape of her career. While it may be possible to entertain the idea of a female vituosa, could the nineteenth century European mind allow for a “feminine Beethoven?” Did Szymanowska really cut back on composing because she performed so much? Did her taking care of her children take away that time? Or did European society at the time frown on women taking up composing and directing? These are questions that will not be answered here, but they are important to consider when pondering this issue. I cannot help but think that if she had been able to compose more during her life that her influence may have been on par with that of Shubert, or Chopin.
I would indeed love to hear more of her compositions and agree with Brown’s affirmation that Maria Szymanowska’s “works are simply wonderful!”


Spiegl, Fritz. Lives, Wives, and Loves of the Great Composers. New York, Marion Boyars Publishers, 1997.
Dobrzański, Sławomir. Maria Szymanowska and Fryderyk Chopin: Parallelism and Influence. Polish Music Journal. Vol. 5, No. 1, Summer 2002.
Dobrzański, Sławomir. Maria Szymanowska & the Evolution of Professional Pianism. http://chopinfound.brinkster.net/ip.asp?op=MariaSzymanowska