lithograph from studio of Aleksander Chodkiewicz, before 1827

The Maria Szymanowska Database is an online, open-access repository of pedagogical examples for use in the music theory classroom. Drawn from the works of the virtuoso composer-pianist Maria Szymanowska, the database currently includes over 500 examples from 73 compositions. Examples are organized in the database both by topic and by piece; music theory teachers will find that the examples are appropriate for use throughout typical first- and second-year curricula in higher education contexts.  

The following biographical sketch is excerpted from Halina Goldberg’s review of Album musical de Maria Szymanowska, edited by Renata Suchowiejko, Music & Letters 83, no. 4 (2002): 671–73.

“Maria Agata Wołowska Szymanowska (1789–1831) was Poland’s most acclaimed pianist before Chopin and one of the musical idols of his youth. . . . Her parents, like many assimilated Poles of Jewish ancestry, recognized music as an important path into mainstream Polish culture. Consequently, they supported the young Maria’s musical talent, and to provide her with a nurturing artistic environment they hosted one of Warsaw’s most prominent musical salons. In addition to respected local musicians and amateurs, the Wołowski salon was visited by nearly every prominent musician who travelled through Warsaw during the first quarter of the nineteenth century: Paër, Rode, Steibelt, Cherubini, Klengel, Franz Xaver Mozart (Wolfgang’s son), Spontini, Dussek, Angelica Catalani, and others. . . .

Maria continued to perform during her short-lived marriage, gaining ever greater acclaim in major European cities: Paris, London, Berlin, and Vienna, to mention but a few; and after divorcing her disapproving husband in 1820, she embarked on a full-scale European concert tour. Her performances were judged equal to the best by her audiences and peers: ‘one of the most finished piano-forte players we have ever heard: her taste is refined, and her expression perfect,’ the London Harmonicon said of her. . . . This exceptional talent, combined with her intelligence and beauty, earned her the friendship of the likes of Rossini, Hummel, Goethe, and Baillot (evidenced by ample correspondence). Even at the outset of her concert career she won the admiration of Tsar Alexander I, who bestowed upon her the title of Imperial Court Pianist. In 1828, worn out by the demanding schedule of a successful touring virtuoso, she settled down in St. Petersburg. She died there suddenly during the cholera epidemics of 1831.”

Zofia Woyno, portrait, gouache and pencil on paper, 1816

The database Google sheet is linked at the top of this page. Below, links to zipped folders containing all scores with numbered measures are also provided, as well as links to individual scores. Following the scores, I have suggested a brief list of potential starting points, as the number of examples may initially be overwhelming. Often, the works listed contain the kinds of advanced chromatic procedures we might commonly teach in a second-year course with a Schubert, Schumann, or Chopin example (e.g., modal mixture, augmented sixth and Neapolitan harmonies, chromatic modulation, chromatic sequences, etc.).

Some suggested starting points:

20 Exercises and Preludes

6 Minuets

  • These minuets, along with the 18 Dances in Different Genres and the 6 Marches, are good introductions to binary and compound ternary forms

  • No. 4 in G Minor

    • rhythmic dissonance and metric effects (syncopation, 4:3 polyrhythm, and a displaced downbeat), compound ternary and rounded binary forms, digression schemata (Fonte)

    • link to recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oee0eutH4r0

Songs

  • “Le Départ”

    • Lydian modal inflection, extended progressions over dominant and tonic pedals, diatonic modulations, augmented sixth chords, the Neapolitan

  • 6 Romances, No. 6, “Se spiegar potessi”

    • tonic- and predominant-expanding progressions, diatonic modulation to the relative major, applied chords, contrapuntal figuration (e.g., voice exchange and passing six-four), all three varieties of augmented sixth chords 

    • link to recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BgULS5GnLfY

  • “Pieśń z wieży”

    • this one-page song is good for teaching several late first-year to early second-year concepts (tonic expansion, cadential six-four, applied harmony, a parallel modulating period, a Phrygian half cadence, the Neapolitan), but also contains some idiosyncratic chromatic harmonies: a tonicizing Fr4/3 as well as a functionally predominant IVb7 (spelled as ii6/5 with an altered root)

    • text from the 1828 epic Konrad Wallenrod by Poland’s national poet Adam Mickiewicz (and Szymanowska’s son-in-law)

    • link to recording (in G minor!): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gWq_uRgJHaA



Additional reading:

Walenty Wańkowicz, portrait, oil on canvas, 1828

  • Dobrzański, Sławomir P. 2001. “Maria Szymanowska (1789–1831): Pianist and Composer.” DMA diss., University of Connecticut.

  • Kijas, Anna E. 2010. Maria Szymanowska (1789–1831): A Bio-Bibliography. Scarecrow Press.

  • Swartz, Anne. 1985. “Maria Szymanowska and the Salon Music of the Early Nineteenth Century.” The Polish Review 30 (1): 43–58.