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''Polymorphia'' is a musical composition for 48 string instruments (twenty-four violins and eight each of violas, cellos and basses) composed by the Polish composer Krzysztof Penderecki in 1961. The piece was commissioned by the North German Radio Hamburg. It premiered on April 16, 1962 by the radio orchestra and was conducted by Andrzej Markowski. ''Polymorphia'' is dedicated to Hermann Moeck, the first of Penderecki’s editors in the West. At the end of the 1950s and in the early 1960s (Penderecki’s post student years), he sought out new sonic and technical possibilities of instruments, particularly strings,〔Danuta Mirka, ''The Sonoristic Structuralism of Krzysztof Penderecki''(Katowice: Music Academy in Katowice, 1997), 8 & 318–320〕 by unconventional means of articulation and peculiar treatment of sound-pitch.〔Regina Chlopicka, “Stylistic Phrases in the Work of Krzysztof Penderecki.” ''Studies in Penderecki'' vol.1, ed. Ray Robinson and Regina Chlopicka (Princeton, NJ: Prestige Publications, Inc, 1998), 54〕 In doing so, Penderecki abandoned the traditional notation system and invented his own graphic notation, which was inspired by electroencephalograms. His earlier composition, ''Threnody to the Victims of Hiroshima'' (1960), received the first success of this type of work. ''Polymorphia'' was composed soon afterward as a result of his continuation with such experimental innovation. In Greek, ''poly'' means "many" and ''morph'' means "shape" or "form" (from the Greek morphe), therefore Polymorphia can be understood as “many shapes or forms.” ''Polymorphia'' literally means “the same meaning in many different forms.” The “forms” here do not refer to musical forms but sound effects. Penderecki’s biographer Wolfram Schwinger associates the title ''Polymorphia'', with “the broadly deployed scale of sound...the exchange and simultaneous penetration of sound and noise, the contrast and interflow of soft and hard sounds.”〔Wolfram Schwinger, ''Krzysztof Penderecki: His Life and Work'', trans. William Mann (London: Schott, 1989), 137〕 Similar to ''Threnody to the Victims of Hiroshima'', Penderecki constructed the piece by sound events. Instead of “melody”, dense clusters, microtones and glissandi are heard. Perhaps most notable, the dissonant sonorist piece ends with a C major triad. == Penderecki's Timbre System == The period of compositional output in which Penderecki’s ''Polymorphia'' was composed is known as his sonoristic period, during which he used a method of composing based on timbre organization. This timbre organization was based on the simple explanation that the process of generating the acoustic wave is simply the “collision of two physical bodies, one being a sound source, the other being the body that vibrates the sound source.”〔Danuta Mirka, “To Cut the Gordian Knot: The Timbre System of Krzysztof Penderecki,” ''Journal of Music Theory'' 45, no. 2 (Autumn, 2001), 435–456 (on-line ); Internet; accessed 12 March 2009. 436.〕 Penderecki most likely derived his timbre organization from the teaching of Mieczyslaw Drobner, a Polish acoustician and organologist who in 1958 obtained the post of lecturer at the school where Penderecki had recently finished studying and was employed as an assistant.〔 In 1960, Drobner’s book ''Instrumentoznawstwo i akustyka'' was published, in which he called the sound source a ''vibrator'', and in later publications called the body that agitates the vibrator an ''inciter''. This book was important because it was one of the first to discuss the methods and parameters of timbral organization. Though these were not new ideas, it is likely Penderecki used this information from Drobner to develop his own timbre system. Because Penderecki understood timbre primarily as a function of the materials, the timbral categories in his sonorism are based upon the most common materials used in the assembly of instruments and accessories of traditional symphonic orchestras: metal, wood, leather, felt, and hair.〔 Though any of these materials can act as both vibrators and inciters, felt and hair are the least effective vibrators due to the fact that they would be inaudible when vibrated. This then means that at least one of the two sound-generating bodies must be made of metal, wood, or leather, referred to as primary materials.〔 In Penderecki’s timbre system, the three primary materials may (and do) interact with one another, whereas felt and hair can only interact with one of the primary materials and not themselves. Though he was inspired by Drobner, Penderecki’s timbre system goes another step further, in which “it is of no importance whether metal, wood, and leather are represented by a vibrator or by an inciter, both colliding bodies being of equal weight as primary materials.”〔 This means that “if a given body can be a sound source—that is, if it is made of one of the three materials capable of performing this function (m, w, l) --then it becomes a sound source regardless of whether it is hit, rubbed or plucked or itself hits, rubs or plucks.”〔 Though Penderecki’s timbre system used material categories found in the traditional symphonic orchestra, he had to employ drastic changes to produce the desired effects. Because metal predominates typical orchestras (metal strings, metal percussion instruments, etc.), Penderecki needed to find ways of enlarging the representation of wood and leather. Though this was the case for other works, ''Polymorphia'' is based on an opposition of metal and wood. Since the piece is written solely for stringed instruments, Penderecki used a variety of methods to create opposing sections of metal and wood.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Polymorphia」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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