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Spółka Nakładowa Młodych Kompozytorów Polskich (1905-1912) and the Myth of Young Poland in Music
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This study deals with the four-composer Polish musical association, Young Polish Composers' Publishing Company, which became commonly known as the group Poland in Music. Young Poland in Music is considered by Polish and non-Polish music historians to be the signal inaugurator of modernism in Polish music. However, despite this most important attribution, the past eighty-odd years have witnessed considerable confusion over the perceptions of: 1) exactly who constituted the publishing company, 2) why it was founded, 3) what the intentions of its members were, and 4) the general reception its members' music received. This paper addresses and resolves this multiple confusion. Chapter I presents an introductory survey of the political, socio/cultural, and musical developments of Poland between 1772 and c1900, the period of the Polish Partitions through the beginnings of the "Young Poland" era. Chapter II presents a discussion of the facts surrounding the founding of the publishing company, as well as a discussion of the eighty-odd years of historical misinterpretations that have developed about the composers' company and its relationship to "Young Poland in Music." Chapter III discusses the interpersonal relationships of the composers and other persons directly involved with them and their company, and the impact that these relationships had on the publishing company. Additionally, the chapter brings into focus the specific relationships between the musicologist, Adolf Chybiński, the company, and its individual members. The chapter concludes with a discussion of the actual publishing activities of the company. Chapter IV examines the three concerts sponsored by the company and their critical receptions in Warsaw and Berlin through the surviving reviews and comments of leading contemporary music critics, the concert participants, the composers' close colleagues, and the composers themselves. Finally, Chapter V contains a brief discussion of the music presented on the three concerts, characterizing the works within the …