Motywy muzyczne w prozie tatrzańskiej Stanisława Witkiewicza

The musicality of Stanisław Witkiewicz’s Tatra prose has so far not been studied by scholars in any detail. Following Andrzej Hejmej’s findings, the present author focuses first on musicality I, i.e. the sound layer of the text, in which ahuge role is played by extensive quotations in dialect as well as fragments of songs. This reveals one of the key principles governing Witkiewicz’s text – the principle of contrast. Next, the author examines musicality II, i.e. the level of thematisation of music. Here of considerable importance are sound images of nature, silence as well as murmur of streams, sounds of wind and stone echoes, and even of fire. The expression Witkiewicz uses here is “great music of nature”. Just as often Witkiewicz refers to highlanders’ music, especially Sabała’s playing, though it is treated more like aform of archaic, wild expression than original aesthetic quality.