Ludwik Maader, Arias

Ministerstwo Kultury i Dziedzictwa Narodowego

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Ludwik Maader

Arias

for Voices and Instruments

Publisher: PWM Edition

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Cat. no. 10473

Maader's four compositions presented in this volume and described as ''aria'' in both musical manuscripts and the Jasna Góra catalogues indicate not only works for solo voice but also involve two or three solo voices accompanied by instruments and set to non-liturgical text. In practice, however, these compositions might have been included in liturgical services e.g. As part of the Mass instead of the Gradual, Offertory or Communion. ''Arias'' with the above-mentioned scoring constituted an essential part the Paulite chapel repertory from the mid - eighteenth century to the early years of the nineteenth century.
Maader's arias are among the most significant works of the composer. Melody plays a role of great importance as it serves as an essential form-building element and the melodie lines are noteworthy for their dashing and expasive qualities, with distinetly marked climaxes. Classical restraint and balance give way to unexpected turns in the musical narrative, along with a discrupted symmetry in musical phrases which is reminiscent of arias by M.J.Żebrowski. Both the purely instrumental sections and vocal passages, the motives of which are drawn from instrumental fragments, abound in ornaments. There are numerous melismas in the form of turns, scalic lines or arpeggiaic triads. Rhytmic patterns of short notes (in spite of slow tempi) permeate entire arias and constitute one of the elements contributing to the fascinating play of musical tensions, further enhanced by changes in articulation (staccato, legato) as well as rapid and relatively frequent changes in dynamics (pianissimo, piano, forte and modice forte). As regards compositional technique, homophonic texture predominates. [Aleksandra Patalas]

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