Acoustic analysis of selected sacred buildings in Szczecin

The aim of this study was to assess acoustically selected sacred buildings located in Szczecin. The research part contains the research methodology and the results obtained. The research was carried out using two methods. The first one is the integrated impulse response method, where, using a bursting balloon, the time of sound pressure drop was measured at selected points of the object. In the interrupted noise method, the sound pressure drop was measured after the noise generated by the omnidirectional loudspeaker had ceased. Reverberation time was calculated for the results obtained, which is the main and basic parameter determining the interior acoustics. On the basis of the above-mentioned measurements, the reverberation indicators for the temples were also calculated. When analyzing the components of the reverberation indicator, it was noticed that poor acoustics in the sanctuary concerns speech, while interior acoustics is good for the reception of organ music. In the analyzed church, the reception of liturgical music is also better than the reception of speech, but the differences between these values are small.

Presence of Three-Dimensional Sound Field Facilitates Listeners’ Mood, Felt Emotion, and Respiration Rate When Listening to Music

Many studies have investigated the effects of music listening from the viewpoint of music features such as tempo or key by measuring psychological or psychophysiological responses. In addition, technologies for three-dimensional sound field (3D-SF) reproduction and binaural recording have been developed to induce a realistic sensation of sound. However, it is still unclear whether music listened to in the presence of 3D-SF is more impressive than in the absence of it. We hypothesized that the presence of a 3D-SF when listening to music facilitates listeners’ moods, emotions for music, and physiological activities such as respiration rate. Here, we examined this hypothesis by evaluating differences between a reproduction condition with headphones (HD condition) and one with a 3D-SF reproduction system (3D-SF condition). We used a 3D-SF reproduction system based on the boundary surface control principle (BoSC system) to reproduce a sound field of music in the 3D-SF condition. Music in the 3D-SF condition was binaurally recorded through a dummy head in the BoSC reproduction room and reproduced with headphones in the HD condition. Therefore, music in the HD condition was auditorily as rich in information as that in the 3D-SF condition, but the 3D-sound field surrounding listeners was absent. We measured the respiration rate and heart rate of participants listening to acousmonium and pipe organ music. The participants rated their felt moods before and after they listened to music, and after they listened, they also rated their felt emotion. We found that the increase in respiration rate, the degree of decrease in well-being, and unpleasantness for both pieces in the 3D-SF condition were greater than in the HD condition. These results suggest that the presence of 3D-SF enhances changes in mood, felt emotion for music, and respiration rate when listening to music.

Agogiikka ja rekisteröiminen esittäjän keinovaroina saksalaisessa urkumusiikissa

The subject of my doctoral studies is the use of agogics in German organ music between the 17th and the 19th century. The repertoire of my five concerts proceeded chronologically in order to demonstrate the evolution of agogics. In my written thesis, I investigate my methods of choosing stops when performing German romantic music.

"Life, Color, Warmth and Truth"

This paper proposes a mathematical model for expressive timing in German late Romantic organ music based on Riemannian phrasing principles. The model is built following the symmetric hierarchical motivic scheme and then applied to the organ work of Max Reger. It was shown that music expressive content is carried by the model parameter defined as temporal elasticity. Along with the standard analytical and empirical evaluation, the model was also evaluated in terms of its naturalness. We found that the correlation between model and human performance is comparable with the correlation between distinct professional human interpretations.

The ethnical factor in european literature for the organ in the 19th and the first half of the 20th centuries based on works by british, italian and Jewish Composers

The article presents examples of the emphasised ethnical factor in works belonging to the European organ literature of the 19th and the first half of the 20th centuries, found in pieces written by British, Italian and Jewish composers. In case of British composers, significant were the proposals of Ralph Vaughan Williams, who primarily saw folk songs as the tool for expressing a national style. Among the composers who wrote music inspired by traditional songs or quoting them directly (which was an important novelty in the British organ literature) were: Cecil Armstrong Gibbs, Percy Whitlock, Cyril Bradley Rootham, Geoffrey Turton Shaw, Harold Carpenter Lumb Stocks, and more. The influence of national elements on Italian organ literature is not as strong but it seems justified to assume that some composers might have been influenced by the romanità myth which identified the features of the Italian nation with the ideas allegedly drawn from the traditions of ancient Rome. These composers were Giuseppe Corsi and Alfredo Casella. It is worth paying attention to the phenomenon of writing organ masses which preceded the popularisation of that myth. In this context, composers of Jewish organ music attempted to emphasise the ethnical factor in their works in the clearest, most consequent and most comprehensive ways possible. Abraham Zevi Idelsohn summed up their ideological programme, indicating that music meant for being performed in synagogues, including Jewish organ music, should be based on traditional melodies and scales, at the same time using tonal harmonic systems, which was supposed to allow for introducing prayerful atmosphere and concentration of the audience as well as understanding it properly. This group of composers included Louis Lewandowski, David Nowakowski, Arno Nadel, and others.

PROTESTANT CHORALE AND METHODS OF ITS PROCESSING

The article is devoted to the consideration of the Protestant chorale, the preconditions of its origin and the first examples. The situation from the history of the early Lutheran church is described, when Martin Luther introduced communal choral singing. The main task set in the work is to analyze the main methods of processing Protestant chorales in the works of prominent Western European and domestic composers. Several vocal, instrumental and vocal-instrumental genres are considered, which are based on choral. It is noted that the most common means of processing the chorale is its harmonization, designed for both choral and organ performance. In the Renaissance and Baroque, the practice of creating figures on the choral became quite common, as well as the use of the choral as the theme of the fugue – fugue choral. Another way of elaborating the chorale was the technique of cantus firmus, while the theme of the chorale was located in the lower voice or in the tenor in rhythmic expanse, forming the basis of the whole composition. One of the leading genres of organ music – choral preludes – is considered, special attention is paid to the works of JS Bach. The principle of construction of choral fantasies is analyzed separately. Among other genres, parties, toccatas, masses, oratorios, and other works were created on the basis of chorales. In conclusion, there is a modern tendency to return to the practice of using chant in the liturgy in its original form, as they sounded earlier.

Felix Mendelssohn’s Reception of Bach’s Organ Works

This chapter investigates how Felix Mendelssohn responded to Bach’s organ music on the basis of new evidence garnered from a recently published edition of Mendelssohn’s letters. According to these documents, Mendelssohn “received” Bach’s organ works in a variety of musical and social contexts across Europe. Of particular importance is Mendelssohn’s response to a set of four-hand piano transcriptions of Bach’s organ chorales prepared by his friend J. N. Schelble.