The present volume is devoted to the issue of ‘non-absolute music’ – the topic of the 53rd Musicological Conference of the Polish Composers’ Union (Bydgoszcz-Ostromecko, October 2024). 

Twelve authors from Poland and other countries present diverse aspects of the issue and different methodological approaches – from hermeneutics and semiotics to archival research. The volume opens with articles questioning the classical dichotomy between absolute and programme music, and proposing new analytical tools. They are followed by articles on a song by Brahms, opera by Różycki, leitmotifs in Wagner’s oeuvre, and the semiotics of music. The second section features studies devoted to music in a visual context – film music by Kilar, Mykietyn, and Czyż, soundtrack to Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds, as well as the iconography of bagpipes in Bosch’s paintings. The volume ends with a study of the Viennese contexts of Józef Koffler’s life and work.

The publication demonstrates that the question about the autonomy of music remains a key issue in contemporary musicology.

Editorial