DUET POLYPHONY IN THE WORK OF F. CHOPIN

Abstract

Duet polyphony is being studied – a specific form of two-part voice that combines features of polyphonic counterpoint and romantic instrumental duet. The material of the analysis is the piano work of the outstanding Polish romantic composer F. Chopin, in which duet polyphony was most vividly embodied. The phenomenon of duet polyphony arises as a result of the melodization of one of the middle voices, usually developed due to overtones, and its interaction with the leading melodic voice that presents the theme. Such a duet is not constant and can occur several times, unfolding against the background of a chordal accompaniment, as a result of which signs of subvocality can be detected in the duet and its textural components can be differentiated into the leading voice (main melody), which is the highest and is subject to continuous development, and the hidden voice (consonant), which in one or another part of the form grows out of middle voices. Both of these components are characterized by a significant variety of individual texture characteristics. The most typical are unusual, subtle textural patterns, with the introduction of syncopated, unstable melodic-harmonic figurations with shifted metro-rhythmic accents and emphasized non-chord sounds, with their activation on the weak time of the measure, frequent melodic delays and interweaving of both voices. A sign of duet polyphony is the counterpoint of two voices against the background of a chordal accompaniment. In the piano works of F. Chopin, we come across several models of duet polyphony, in which a hidden voice appears and begins to interact with the main theme, forming a melodious two-part counterpoint in the upper register against the background of the accompaniment of the rest of the voices. Among them, four main ones can be distinguished: 1) counterpoint in an adjacent pair of voices; 2) counterpoint in a pair of distant voices; 3) duplication; 4) tertiary (sext) second.