New MusiBlog - The Podhalean Mode

Location: Blogs New MusiBlog Music Theory
Posted by: brian	11/15/2006 11:56 AM
The first thought that ran through my mind when I read about the Podhalean mode in Ann K. McNamee's article is "wait...what?" The podhalean mode is an ancient Polish folk mode that is utilized in Polish folk music. This mode is characterized by the raised 4th and a lowered 7th. C - D - E - F# - G - A - B-flat - C Any basic-theory minded person will quickly say wait this is just the ascending g harmonic minor scale starting on C. While that is the case, and what I first noticed, the emphasis of this mode does not lie around G. The emphasis is more focused on C. The title of McNamee's article is "Bitonality, Mode and Interval in the Music of Karol Szymanowski." We have already established the idea of mode by mentioning that Szymanowski uses the podhalen mode in his Mazurkas Op. 50. (This article focuses on Op. 50, no. 3) One of the interesting things that McNamee notes regarding the podhalean mode is that it can be parsed into two dominant 7th chords. C - E - G - B-flat and D - F# - A - C These chords "tonicize" natural-IV and V (respectively). Depending on how a composer wishes to take advantage of this aspect of the mode the point regarding bitonality is set up based on the basic structure of the podhalean mode. Because of the way the mode is constructed there are two tritones present: E - B-flat and F# - C. In the Mazurkas, Szymanowski exploits the tritones both melodically, with an emphasis on the raised-4th and lowered-7th, and harmonically, with the potential for tonicizing the dominant and the subdominant. McNamee shows that Szymanowski's Mazurka's not only create a sense of bitonality through the podhalean mode, but they are constructed with an emphasis on 5th relationships. These relationships are drawn from the podhalean mode, in the example of Op. 50 no. 3 the source dyads are C# - G# and F# - B or for those who know pitch class sets: 4-26. McNamee describes how Szymanowski is able to transition from one cycle (C# - G#) to the other (F# - B) throughout the piece. She also explains that the question is bitonality is resolved in the end through the introduction of the E# firmly resolving the final cadence in C# major.

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