M. K. Čiurlionis as a pioneer of Lithuanian piano music

ENThis paper attempts to describe the musical output for piano by Mikalojus Konstantinas Čiurlionis (1875-1911). Lithuanian artist and composer. Čiurlionis was a painter, composer, choral conductor, and critic. He was the first Lithuanian composer to receive a musical education abroad, and the first to produce professional symphonic, chamber and piano compositions. Works for piano constitute the most significant part of Čiurlionis's musical output. There is no strict agreement among the Lithuanian scholars concerning the number of Čiurlionis's piano works (up to 240 are ascribed to him), since many were never completed, others could be considered organ works for manuals only, and several exist only in manuscript sketches. They are marked by two distinguishing traits: pastoral lyricism, derived from the influence of folk melodies, and what refer to as 'philosophical’ content, expressed in dark, gloomy colors. Čiurlionis's philosophical-aesthetic outlook was formatively influenced by Kant and Nietzsche, and by his studies of Indian mythology, religion, astronomy, cosmology and psychology. His idols in art were Klinger and Becklin, contributing to his inclination towards symbolism in painting as well as in music.The thematic material of Čiurlionis's piano music is very condensed, themes being short, charged emotionally, and self-contained. They are usually surrounded by inventive harmony, progressively including more and more polyphonic devices in the texture. In piano music of his later period (from 1904). the composer perfected his own style of polyphony. Ostinato-type counter-melodies and contrasting polyrhythms contribute to a highly concentrated expression of ideas. In the field of harmony, altered chords and free modulations show evidence of the influence of Wagner and Strauss. On the other hand, the composer also displays a colonstic approach to harmony, using neontodal features mixed w ith sparse linear textures. His use of synthetic modes, intimations of serialism and the emancipation of rhythm and tonality are all clear traits o modernism. Čiurlionis's efforts to use musical compositional methods in his paintings provoke the search of visual means of expression in his music, presenting us with the possibility of a rather fresh angle of approach towards the analysis of his music.