ABSTRACT
During his formative years in Warsaw, Szymanowski studied privately with Zygmunt Noskowski, who published, approximately in the same period, two interrelated treatises: A Practical Explanation of Harmony as a Preparatory Course for the Study of Counterpoint, in collaboration with Marek Zawirski (1903), and Counterpoint, Canon, Variation and Fugue: A Practical Explanation (1907). 1 Noskowski undoubtedly exerted a profound influence on Szymanowski’s education as a composer and there is every reason to believe that some elements of that education are to be found in his treatises, notably in the book on counterpoint. As we will see, this treatise extends beyond the scope assigned to similar volumes and broaches topics normally considered to belong to the sphere of composition as such. A careful study of Noskowski’s treatise, particularly of its more original aspects, sheds light on Szymanowski’s compositional processes.
