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Journal articles on the topic 'Twentieth-Century Piano Music'
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COVEY, PAUL MICHAEL. "Selling “The Things Money Can't Buy”: Piano Advertising in the Mid-Twentieth Century." Journal of the Society for American Music 13, no. 1 (February 2019): 54–77. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s1752196318000524.
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AbstractThis study explores piano advertising strategies after 1940 by examining ads printed in Etude, the Music Magazine between then and 1957, when it discontinued publication. Aware of the emerging US consumer culture, piano companies experimented throughout this period with more aggressive marketing techniques than they had previously used. Because Etude’s intended audience included musicians and enthusiasts of every skill and experience level, it was approached accordingly by advertisers. Thus, we can trace in its pages the development of methodologies that, owing to an increasingly sophisticated understanding of the contemporary range of consumers and their interests, came to target distinct and different market segments. Examination of strategies aimed at the respective groups illuminates an important chapter in the development of twentieth-century advertising while highlighting the piano's special status among consumer products and its cultural associations. Analysis of the industry's strategies in dealing with the mid-twentieth-century US economy reveals contemporary understandings of such associations and their effect on the implications of piano acquisition.
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Kieffer, Alexandra. "Bells and the Problem of Realism in Ravel’s Early Piano Music." Journal of Musicology 34, no. 3 (2017): 432–72. http://dx.doi.org/10.1525/jm.2017.34.3.432.
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Early in his career Maurice Ravel composed two pieces that take bells as their subject: “Entre Cloches” from Sites auriculaires, composed in 1897, and “La vallée des cloches,” the final movement of the 1905 work Miroirs. Although these pieces can be contextualized within a nineteenth-century lineage of French piano pieces that depict bell peals, they also set themselves apart by virtue of their heightened attention to the particularities of bell sonorities. Relying heavily on repetitive ostinato patterns, quartal harmonies, and intense dissonances, these pieces play in the nebulous space between transcription and composition. Ravel’s experimentation with bell sonorities in his piano music can be understood in relation to a broader discourse surrounding the sound of bells in nineteenth-century France. A complex sonic object, bell resonance lent itself to different modes of listening: the harmoniousness of bell peals was a common refrain among romantic poets, Catholic clergy, and campanarian historians, but toward the end of the century it became increasingly common for physicists and popular-science publications to complain that bells were inherently discordant. In this context Ravel’s depictions of bells in “Entre cloches” and “La vallée des cloches” suggest a shift in the place of musical listening in nineteenth- and early twentieth-century cultures of aurality. Ravel’s musical listening entailed heightened attentiveness to the empirical qualities of non-musical sound; his pieces negotiate in new ways the boundary between musical composition and the protean sonic world outside of music. This reorientation of musical listening participates in a broader questioning by early twentieth-century modernists of the nature of music and its sonic material.
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forte, allen. "Alban Bergs Piano Sonata, Op. 1: a Landmark in Early Twentieth-Century Music." Music Analysis 26, no. 1-2 (March 2007): 15–24. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2249.2007.00252.x.
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Björkén-Nyberg, Cecilia. "From Carl Czerny’s Miss Cecilia to the Cecilian: Engineering, Aesthetics, and Gendered Piano Instruction." Journal of Historical Research in Music Education 40, no. 2 (May 3, 2018): 125–42. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1536600618771268.
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In this article, Carl Czerny’s Letters to a Young Lady on the Art of Playing the Pianoforte (1837) is studied as a machine manual within the cybernetic economy of James Watt’s governor. It is argued that while the young pupil is encouraged to subject herself to a strict discipline of physical deportment at the piano, this activity is in conflict with her own desire to become a self-regulated learner. The key claim made is that although Czerny’s surveillance strategy prevents Miss Cecilia from breaking with the cybernetic ideal and appropriating the pianistic technology for purposes of virtuosic self-expression, she becomes aware of her latent agency and its potentially subversive implications for gendered music making. As such, Czerny’s piano manual addressed to the stereotypical nineteenth-century piano girl anticipates the pianistic discourse associated with the invention of the player piano at the turn of the twentieth century.
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Colton, Glenn. "Visions of the Stars and Earth: The Images of Jean Coulthard." Canadian University Music Review 21, no. 2 (March 4, 2013): 94–107. http://dx.doi.org/10.7202/1014487ar.
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Image Astrale (1981) and the companion piece Image Terrestre (1990) may be regarded as the defining works of Jean Coulthard's mature pianistic style. Both works feature idiomatic and, at times, virtuosic piano writing, a personal application of sonata form principles, a melodic style which vacillates between dramatic intensity and serene lyricism, and the neo-impressionistic evocation of contrasting images and moods through rich and varied harmonic colours. This article explores Coulthard's Images from both analytical and historical perspectives, assessing relevant style features and demonstrating the significance of the set within Coulthard's œuvre, Canadian music, and twentieth-century piano repertoire.
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Romero, Sergio Ospina. "Ghosts in the Machine and Other Tales around a “Marvelous Invention”: Player Pianos in Latin America in the Early Twentieth Century." Journal of the American Musicological Society 72, no. 1 (2019): 1–42. http://dx.doi.org/10.1525/jams.2019.72.1.1.
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Gabriel García Márquez's literary portrait of the arrival of the pianola in Macondo in One Hundred Years of Solitude functions as a metaphor for the reception and cultural legitimization of player pianos in Latin America during their heyday in the 1910s and 1920s. As a technological intruder, the player piano inhabited a liminal space between the manual and the mechanical as well as between unmediated musical experiences and the mechanically mediated consumption of sounds. It thus constitutes a paradigmatic case by which to examine the contingent construction of ideas about tradition and modernity. The international trade in player pianos between the United States and Latin America during the first decades of the twentieth century was developed in tandem with the commercial expansion and political interventionism of the United States throughout the Americas during the same period. The efforts of North American businessmen to capture the Latin American market and the establishment of marketing networks between US companies and Latin American dealers reveal a complex interplay of mutual stereotyping, First World War commercial geopolitics, capitalization on European cultural/musical referents, and multiple strategies of appropriation and reconfiguration in relation to the player piano's technological and aesthetic potential. The reception of player pianos in Latin America was characterized by anxieties very similar to those of US consumers, particularly with regard to the acousmatic nature of their sounds and their perceived uncanniness. The cultural legitimization of the instrument in the region depended, however, on its adaptation to local discourses, cultural practices, soundscapes, expectations, language, gender constructions, and especially repertoires.
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BERKOWITZ, AARON. "Experimental Actions, the Outcomes of Which Are Foreseen: Experiment and Tradition in Conlon Nancarrow's Studies nos 21 and 36 for Player Piano." Twentieth-Century Music 5, no. 2 (September 2008): 195–217. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s1478572209990053.
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AbstractConlon Nancarrow is often classified as an ‘experimental’ composer. Definitions of experimentalism in twentieth-century music, however, vary widely, from general ones simply requiring the invention of new compositional techniques to some of John Cage's more specific definitions, which advocate indeterminacy. Nancarrow's music, pioneering in its use of the player piano and its exploration of rhythm and tempo, easily fulfils the criteria for experimentalism in a general sense, yet is by no means indeterminate. Nancarrow does not set up experiments and let them take their course, but rather carefully crafts his compositions, drawing on more traditional techniques of motivic development, counterpoint, and formal planning. Through analyses of Nancarrow's Studies nos 21 and 36 for player piano, I shall suggest that it is through the interaction of experiment and tradition that Nancarrow highlights the perceptibility of what is most experimental in his music: the highly novel approaches to the structuring of musical time.
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Oláh, Boglárka Eszter. "Maurice Ravel : Le Tombeau De Couperin – Part II. The Reminiscence of Baroque Dance Forms." Studia Universitatis Babeş-Bolyai Musica 65, no. 2 (December 21, 2020): 297–306. http://dx.doi.org/10.24193/subbmusica.2020.2.19.
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"According to Alfred Cortot, the suite Le tombeau de Couperin could be divided into two main units. The first part presented in the previous volume of this journal, analyses the structural arch of the suite: the first two and the last part, which uses specific compositional technics of the Baroque era. This second part presents the middle section of the suite, the reminiscence of baroque dance forms, through the three contrasting dances: Forlane, Rigaudon, and Menuet. The fusion between the elements of the French baroque keyboard music and the characteristics of the modern piano music transforms this suite into a real and unique masterpiece. By analyzing the Forlane, the Rigaudon, and the Menuet of the suite we can understand the view of twentieth-century artists on the music of the Baroque era. Keywords: Ravel, Suite, Baroque, Reminiscence, Baroque dance forms, Piano, Forlane, Rigaudon, Menuet"
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Hamm, Charles. "Genre, performance and ideology in the early songs of Irving Berlin." Popular Music 13, no. 2 (May 1994): 143–50. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0261143000007005.
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Irving Berlin's 200-odd songs written between 1907, the date of the first one, and late 1914, when his first complete show for the musical stage (Watch Your Step) opened at New York's Globe Theatre, are virtually identical to one another in their published piano/vocal format. Like other Tin Pan Alley songs of the early twentieth century, most of them consist of a brief piano introduction, a few bars of vamp, then several verses, each followed by a chorus. All are in major keys and most have a tempo marking of moderato. Piano introductions are drawn from either the first or last phrase of the chorus, the vamp anticipates the melodic beginning of the verse, and both verse and chorus are usually made up of four 4-bar phrases in C or four 8-bar phrases in other metres.
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Fisk, Charles. "Nineteenth-Century Music?? The Case of Rachmaninov." 19th-Century Music 31, no. 3 (2008): 245–65. http://dx.doi.org/10.1525/ncm.2008.31.3.245.
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Abstract In two of Rachmaninov's last works, the Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini of 1934 and the first of the Symphonic Dances of 1940, a stylistic contrast between an opulently scored lyrical theme and the more angular, dissonant music that surrounds that theme throws into relief the extent that Rachmaninov's musical language had changed and developed since his first great successes thirty years earlier with the Second Piano Concerto and the Second Symphony. The words that motivate a similar stylistic contrast in the song Son (Sleep), composed in 1917, near the end of his most compositionally productive years, suggest an interpretive reading of such a stylistic contrast: the earlier, lusher style is associated here with dreams, and hence with memories; while the later, sparer, more tonally ambiguous style accompanies an evocation of something more impersonal, in the case of the song the stillness of a dreamless sleep. Some of the developing aspects of Rachmaninov's style revealed in these later examples are already evident even in the more traditional-sounding pieces of the last decade (1907––17) of his Russian period, which is shown in an analysis of the piano Prelude in G## Minor of 1910. Even this seemingly traditional Prelude, but more and more in his later music, Rachmaninov emerges as an indisputably twentieth-century composer.
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Gmys, Marcin. "Archives and blank spots: scholarly perspectives for recovering Polish music (1794–1945)." Interdisciplinary Studies in Musicology, no. 19 (December 31, 2019): 95–105. http://dx.doi.org/10.14746/ism.2019.19.6.
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In this article, the author tries to present the issue of blank spots in the history of Polishmusic since 1794 (the world premiere of Cud mniemany, czyli Krakowiacy i Górale [The supposedmirtacle, or Cracovians and highlanders] composed by Jan Stefani to the libretto of Wojciech Bogusławski is regarded as a symbolic beginning of national style in Polish music) up to the end of the SecondWorld War. It was a great period in history when Poland twice did not exist as a state (between1795 and 1918 and between 1939 and 1945).At the beginning the attention is drawn to the Polish music in the nineteenth century. Author describes new discoveries such as the Second Piano Quintet in E flat Major (with double bassinstead of second cello) by Józef Nowakowski (Chopin’s friend), and String Quartets op. 1 and monumentaloratorio Passio Domini Nostri Jesu Christi by Józef Elsner who was Chopin’s teacher in the Conservatory of Music in Warsaw (Elsner’s Passio discovered at the end of the twentieth century isregarded now as the most outstanding religious piece in the history of Polish music in the nineteenth century). Among other works author also mentions romantic opera Monbar (1838) by Ignacy Feliks Dobrzyński and first opera of Stanisław Moniuszko Die Schweitzerhütte (about 1839) written to the German libretto during composer’s studies at Singakademie Berlin. Addressing the issue of Polish music of the first half of the twentieth century author draws attention to the composer Eugeniusz Morawski regarded as the leading Polish author of programme music next to Mieczysław Karłowicz (unfortunately Morawski is still forgotten figure in the Polish musical life). Among others the importance of symphonic heritage of Feliks Nowowiejski, an author ofextremely popular in Europe during the second decade of twentieth century oratorio Quo vadis, is mentioned. At the end of article, the author takes up the problem of the enigmatic figure of Adolf Gużewski.The whole musical output of Gużewski, whose opera Dziewica lodowców [The Ice Maiden] was applauded in Warsaw and Russian opera houses in the second decade of the twentieth century, is now considered lost.
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Bashford, Christina. "Historiography and Invisible Musics: Domestic Chamber Music in Nineteenth-Century Britain." Journal of the American Musicological Society 63, no. 2 (2010): 291–360. http://dx.doi.org/10.1525/jams.2010.63.2.291.
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Abstract A persistent idea in chamber music historiography is that nineteenth-century Britain lacked a significant, serious domestic chamber-music culture of the type so prevalent in Austro-Germany. Such activity is assumed to have dried up ca. 1800, along with indigenous chamber-music composition, to be replaced by music making at the parlor piano and attendance at public concerts. This essay challenges that view and suggests a continuing, coherent subculture of private chamber music spread across Britain, often in unexpected settings and in communities of upper- and middle-class males. Underpinning the analysis is new, suggestive documentation from a range of sources including private diaries, letters, magazines, and auction catalogs. At the same time, many publicly oriented sources are silent about British chamber-music life, or contrast it poorly with Germany. Historical contextualization of this evidence suggests that received thinking in the twentieth century owed much to cultural ideologies embedded in the nineteenth. A knot of British anxieties in the nineteenth century around masculinity, class, intellectualism, and national identity led to the serious, private pursuit of chamber music among men of wealth being downplayed in public, caricatured, or even ignored. While the tenacious positioning of chamber music as inherently German stemmed in part from Germany's construction of its own national identity, it also owed much to the Victorians' tendency to perpetuate a limited view of their own musical culture.
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Giardina, Adriano. "Vers le style d’exécution « mainstream » des concertos pour piano de Mozart: l’enregistrement Columbia du Concerto en Sol majeur, K. 453, par Ernst von Dohnányi." Studia Musicologica 58, no. 2 (June 2017): 197–224. http://dx.doi.org/10.1556/6.2017.58.2.4.
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The gramophone recording of Mozart’s Piano Concerto in G major, K. 453, featuring Ernst von Dohnányi as soloist and conductor of the Budapest Philharmonic Orchestra, made in 1928 for the Columbia Company, is important in many respects. The Hungarian pianist and composer made little more than a handful of gramophone recordings until the late 1940s. This performance is also the first audio recording ever to be published that contained a Mozart piano concerto (some piano rolls with concertos or extracts did exist beforehand). From the beginning of his career, Dohnányi had been one of the keenest promoters of the Austrian composer’s piano pieces. In the Columbia recording, the performing style of Dohnányi and his orchestra is characteristic of its time, notably because it chooses to use a flexible tempo. In addition, the soloist makes use of rubato and chord dislocation. Nonetheless, the performers are also playing in an intimate conversational tone and they emphasize Mozart’s structural clarity. The execution of themes by the pianist is both poetic and restrained. These traits will define the “mainstream” performing style of Mozart’s piano concertos over most of the twentieth century. An implicit aesthetic standard comes into force in the critical reviews of the Columbia records: Mozart’s piano concertos require lightness and gentleness from the soloist. The elements given prominence to the recording and in the reviews also appear in contemporary musicological literature and in texts on music. Recordings of two additional Mozart piano concertos (K. 271 and K. 503), played live by Dohnányi in the 1950s, display a broadly similar performing style. Over the ten years that followed the Columbia recording, the majority of Mozart’s “great” piano concertos were published on records. This newly found popular interest is connected with a positive re-evaluation of this group of Mozart’s works.
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Martin, Sarah. "The Case of Compensating Rubato." Journal of the Royal Musical Association 127, no. 1 (2002): 95–129. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/jrma/127.1.95.
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Rubato has for centuries been linked with the idea of compensating tempo modulation. Despite the wealth of references to this idea in writings by famous performers and teachers over the ages, scholars investigating the idea have so far emphatically dismissed the notion as a myth, or at best a rationalization. In this article, I take as a starting-point these performers' writings, and show that it is scholars rather than performers who have reduced the idea of compensation to an abstract principle. Using Debussy's 1913 piano-roll recordings as examples, I show with the aid of empirical timing data and close listening that compensating rubato is far from a myth in the performance practice of the early twentieth century.
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Eyvazzade, Gunel. "Research on the Problems of Piano Creative Work by A. Arensky in the Scientific Papers of Professor N. Usubova." Bulletin of Kyiv National University of Culture and Arts. Series in Musical Art 4, no. 1 (June 4, 2021): 89–100. http://dx.doi.org/10.31866/2616-7581.4.1.2021.233341.
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The article examines the scientific work of one of the prominent representatives of the 20th century Azerbaijani piano performing school, Honored Art Worker, Professor Nigar Usubova (1914–1994). N. Usubova devoted an important part of her life to pedagogical activity, raising a generation of talented pianists. She made an exceptional contribution to the development of the Azerbaijani piano school and the definition of its future directions. N. Usubova’s pedagogical principles are reflected in her dissertation work and methodical manual. As it is known, N. Usubova studied in the class of A. Goldenweiser and wrote these scientific works under the guidance of the prominent pianist. An important part of these scientific works is devoted to the study of A. Arensky’s piano creative activity. Here, the musician touched upon the features of the composer’s piano performing, as well as the characteristic features of his music. The research also provides performing characteristics of the works analyzed and covering various genres. The purpose of the research is to study the fundamental results and main performing principles in the scientific works dedicated to A. Arensky’s piano creative work by Nigar Usubova, a brilliant representative of the Azerbaijani piano school of the twentieth century. In these scientific research works, N. Usubova touched upon the features of the prominent composer’s piano creative work, performing principles, circle of images; moreover, analyzed the form, genre, tone and other aspects and conducted research on the background of characteristic features of Russian music. We would like to bring to your attention that N. Usubova’s scientific works have not been published. This raises the scientific significance and relevance of the topic more. These scientific works are the first research work dedicated to the study of A. Arensky’s piano music in the Azerbaijani science of music. The research methodology is based on analytical and theoretical analysis, as well as on the source research method (work with archival materials). The main principle is the study and analysis of the fundamental results obtained by N. Usubova in the study of piano music by A. Arensky The scientific novelty of the research is that for the first time the scientific works of the outstanding pianist Nigyar Usubov are studied, their scientific significance, as well as the issues reflected in those works, are revealed. We would like to bring to your attention that these scientific works reflect N. Usubova’s method of approach to A. Arensky’s piano pieces as a pianist. For this reason, these scientific works are a valuable recommendation for every pianist who turns to A. Arensky’s piano creative work. Conclusions. Nigar Usubova is the author of two scientific works and her scientific creative activity is devoted to the definition of performing features of A. Arensky’s piano creative work. Each of these scientific-methodical works was written under the guidance of a prominent representative of the Russian piano school, pedagogue A. Goldenweiser. In these works, N. Usubova worked on A. Arensky’s creative work in a comprehensive and detailed way. According to the author, A. Arensky’s piano creative work is characterized by the clarity of form and texture, the richness of melodic material, which brings him closer to Tchaikovsky’s chamber music. Although the composer prefers miniature forms in his piano creative work, it is also possible to find virtuoso pieces, etudes, scherzos and capriccios. These works, in particular, influenced the formation of S. Rakhmaninov’s and A. Scriabin’s creative activity. The main characteristic features here are polyphonism, polymelodism and polyrhythmics of the piano texture. Simultaneously, N. Usubova thoroughly studied the influence of Western European composers on the formation of A. Arensky’s creative activity.
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Probst, Stephanie. "From Machine to Musical Instrument." Journal of Musicology 38, no. 3 (2021): 329–63. http://dx.doi.org/10.1525/jm.2021.38.3.329.
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Media histories of music often frame technological innovation in the early twentieth century within a general zeal for automated musical reproduction. The engineering efforts of the Aeolian Company and its Pianola counter such narratives by fostering active music-making rather than passive listening. As a pneumatically powered attachment to a piano, the Pianola was initially limited to reproducing strictly mechanical renditions of music from perforated paper rolls. But the invention of the Metrostyle in 1903, a hand lever to achieve tempo-specific effects, significantly refined the musical capacities of the instrument. It allowed for inscribing onto the music rolls authoritative performance instructions that could be enacted by the player. Revisiting the various places that the Metrostyle Pianola inhabited, from the manufacturing site to the concert hall and the bourgeois living room, I illuminate the different sociocultural relationships and musical experiences that it mediates. By relegating certain tasks of conventional piano-playing to the mechanical workings inside the instrument, the Pianola was marketed as facilitating simplified music-making in ever wider parts of society. The Metrostyle annotations served as a pedagogical device for instructing novice players in principles of nuanced and tasteful interpretation. My analysis exposes the reciprocal relationships between the instrument and its human players, from attempts to adapt the physical interface to human physiologies, to the ways in which the instrument, in turn, imposes certain mechanistic affordances on its players.
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MILLER, BONNY H. "Augusta Browne: From Musical Prodigy to Musical Pilgrim in Nineteenth-Century America." Journal of the Society for American Music 8, no. 2 (May 2014): 189–218. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s1752196314000078.
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AbstractAugusta Browne Garrett composed at least two hundred piano pieces, songs, duets, hymns, and sacred settings between her birth in Dublin, Ireland, around 1820, and her death in Washington, D.C., in 1882. Judith Tick celebrated Browne as the “most prolific woman composer in America before 1870” in her landmark study American Women Composers before 1870. Browne, however, cast an enduring shadow as an author as well, publishing two books, a dozen poems, several Protestant morality tracts, and more than sixty music essays, nonfiction pieces, and short stories. By means of her prose publications, Augusta Browne “put herself into the text—as into the world, into history—by her own movement,” as feminist writer Hélène Cixous urged of women a century later. Browne maintained a presence in the periodical press for four decades in a literary career that spanned music journalism, memoir, humor, fiction, poetry, and Christian devotional literature, but one essay, “The Music of America” (1845), generated attention through the twentieth century. With much of her work now easily available in digitized sources, Browne's life can be recovered, her music experienced, and her prose reassessed, which taken together yield a rich picture of the struggles, successes, and opinions of a singular participant and witness in American music of her era.
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Bayuk, Dimitri. "Literature, Music, and Science in Nineteenth Century Russian Culture: Prince Odoyevskiy’s Quest for a Natural Enharmonic Scale." Science in Context 15, no. 2 (June 2002): 183–207. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s026988970200042x.
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ArgumentAn attempt to understand and analyze a unique nineteenth-century musical instrument – the enharmonic piano from the collection of the Glinka Museum of Russian Musical Culture in Moscow – directs a historian towards Prince Vladimir Odoyevskiy’s efforts to construct a special musical scale corresponding to the indigenous tradition of Russian music. Known today mostly as an author of Romantic short stories, Odoyevskiy was also an amateur scientist and musician, a follower of Schelling’s Naturphilosophie, and a mystic. He tried to design his new musical scale and instruments on the basis of experimental science and mathematics. Odoyevskiy’s life-long search for a synthesis of literature, music, positive science, and spirituality demonstrates how the adaptation and appropriation of European arts preceded and paved the way towards the appropriation of European sciences among the educated élite in nineteenth-century Russia. The tensions inherent in the process led to Odoyevskiy’s nationalist rebellion against the European musical standard, the equal temperament. His call for a different musical scale remained largely ignored in the nineteenth century, until the topic was raised anew by twentieth-century composers and musicians.
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Тарасова, Н. Ю., and Б. Ю, Москальов. "The language of jazz into the instrumental suite of XX century (on the material of Suite for piano „1922ˮ by P. Hindemith and „Suite of sentimentsˮ by Y. Chugunov)." Музикознавча думка Дніпропетровщини, no. 15 (November 4, 2019): 171–85. http://dx.doi.org/10.33287/221914.
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The purpose of this article is revealing the main methods of synthesizing jazz stylistics with the means of expressiveness of music of the twentieth century in the genre context of the suite. The research methods are based on the use of musical-cultural, comparative-historical, theoretical-analytical and textual approaches. Scientific novelty. For the first time, a camera analysis of suite „1922” by P. Hindemith and „Suite of Sentimentsˮ by Y. Chugunov 1) in the context of genre updating of the suite by elements of jazz style and jazz performances, 2) in the aspect of the interaction of harmonious, accord-tonal, form-forming means of expressiveness of jazz and music of the twentieth century. Conclusions. The interaction of the jazz language with the academic tradition essentially influenced the renovations of the genre in the suites „1922ˮ by P. Hyndemith and „Suite Sentimentsˮ by Y. Chugunov. Jazz influence has contributed to: 1) individualization of the musical decision of the suite, increase of unique expressiveness (skepticism about dance in Hindemith, rich and dynamic palette of lyrical feelings, with contrast of contemplation and mobility in Chugunov); 2) release of the genre character and structure of the cycle from Baroque-classical genre-structural normativity (in the first work, the dance genres of music of the twentieth century, in the second – different emotional states, become decisive); 3) combining the form of a suite cycle (not a simple sequence of plays based on theestablished tempo principle, but a plastic improvisational transition, with the loss of the boundaries of the parts) (in „Suite of Sentiments” by Chugunov), with a through metro rhythm and internal unification with ironic author overtones expressed by harmonic, textured and rhythmic means (in the Suite „1922ˮ by Hindemith); 4) the formative role of rhythm formulas of jazz music (emphasizing weak parts, syncopation, rhythmic brokenness of melody, triple rhythm formulas and unstable formulas with small rhythmic meters), typical jazz performing techniques (fermat, „hangs”, discontinued melodies) and Latin American music of harmonic means (movement by parallel chords, active use of trio sounds, seventh chords, non-chords with alterations), jazz features of intonation (false fingering); 5) application of compositional features of ragtime, swing (cadences, improvisations, repetitions).
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Dević, Ana Tamara, and Zsolt Lazar. "Sauer’s, Godowsky’s, and Backhaus’s Budapest recitals in the reviews of Géza Csáth (1906–1912)." Studia Musicologica 58, no. 3-4 (December 2017): 399–414. http://dx.doi.org/10.1556/6.2017.58.3-4.7.
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This study analyzes the music critiques of Géza Csáth (1887–1919) on the interpretational achievements of the eminent European pianists Emil von Sauer, Leopold Godowsky, and Wilhelm Backhaus, who gave guest performances in Budapest from 1906 to 1912. By comparing Csáth’s opinions about the performances of the above mentioned pianists with those of the critics who wrote for Hungarian, German, Austrian, French and Serbian newspapers, the authors arrive to the conclusion that, at the time, artists were being more and more explicitly profiled exclusively as performers, while the practice of both composing and performing one’s own compositions, which had been customary, was slowly disappearing. The importance of the chosen critiques by Csáth lies first and foremost in the author’s comments, which indicate the changes happening in the piano practice in the late nineteenth and the early twentieth century.
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Rogers, Victoria. "Thomas Goff, Four Harpsichords, J.S. Bach and the Royal Festival Hall." Royal Musical Association Research Chronicle 49 (2018): 50–67. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14723808.2017.1341204.
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During the 1950s and 1960s in London, in the Royal Festival Hall, an unusual series of concerts took place. These concerts stood apart from the usual offerings in London's post-war musical life. What they offered was early music, principally J.S. Bach's concertos for two, three and four keyboards, played not on the piano, as had hitherto been the case, but on the harpsichord. This article documents, for the first time, the facts, and the implications, of the Royal Festival Hall concert series: how it came about; the repertoire; the performers; and the performances. The article concludes that the Royal Festival Hall concerts were notable in the evolution of the early music movement in the UK, deepening its reach to a broader audience and nurturing an awareness of an issue that was increasingly to gain traction in the later decades of the twentieth century: the idea of historical authenticity in the performance of early music.
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Winter, Robert S. "The Bifocal Close and the Evolution of the Viennese Classical Style." Journal of the American Musicological Society 42, no. 2 (1989): 275–337. http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/831658.
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The classical half cadence on the dominant in the exposition that becomes tonicized after a decisive articulation has been noted only in passing by twentieth-century writers. Even fewer have noted the parallel usage of this device in the recapitulation, where the same half cadence serves as a local dominant. To this neglect can be added the general disdain with which earlier theorists like Czerny, Reicha, A. B. Marx, and Riemann viewed what can be called "the bifocal close." Contrary to the collective ignorance about, or disapproval of, the bifocal close, it turns out to have played an important role in the evolution of the Viennese classical style, especially in the music of W. A. Mozart. Perhaps drawing on his experiences in Mannheim and Paris (two centers where the bifocal close was first cultivated), Mozart used the bifocal close in almost 150 movements, which span from his first symphony to his last piano concerto. For Mozart it was a device that afforded large-scale dissonance and structural symmetry. Its appeal was much less for Joseph Haydn, whose rare usage of the bifocal close betrayed a desire to conceal rather than underscore symmetries. As the classical style waned, so did the importance of the bifocal close. Nevertheless, it can be found in several of Beethoven's early forays into piano sonata, quartet, overture, and symphony, and even beyond.
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Bruhn, Christopher. "The Transitive Multiverse of Charles Ives's “Concord” Sonata." Journal of Musicology 28, no. 2 (2011): 166–94. http://dx.doi.org/10.1525/jm.2011.28.2.166.
Full textAbstract:
The philosophy of William James can be useful in the interpretation of works of art, although James himself never specifically set forth an aesthetic theory. As an example, a Jamesian view of consciousness is enacted on multiple levels in Charles Ives's Piano Sonata No. 2, “Concord, Mass., 1840–60,” and the accompanying Essays before a Sonata. James's metaphor for the working of the human mind—a view widely circulated in Ives's day—as a “stream of thought,” the largely transitory movement of which James likened to a bird's flights and perchings; the value James finds in vagueness; and his treatment of the nature of truth as fundamentally mutable and provisional all find musical expression in the “Concord” Sonata. Additionally, the complex genealogy of the sonata and its connection to related works, notably the Fourth and Universe Symphonies, can be interpreted as reflecting James's cosmological vision of a pluralistic universe or “multiverse.” Reading the sonata through a Jamesian lens provides new insights into the behavior of Ives's music by relating it to turn-of-the-century thinking about the functioning of the human brain as well as early-twentieth-century American philosophy and cosmology.
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Klendiy, O. M. "Interpretative aspect of C. Saint‑Saëns’s piano music." Problems of Interaction Between Arts, Pedagogy and the Theory and Practice of Education 56, no. 56 (July 10, 2020): 136–53. http://dx.doi.org/10.34064/khnum1-56.09.
Full textAbstract:
Background, the objective of the research. From the perspective of interpretative discourse, C. Saint-Saëns’s heritage widens the contemporary views of his performance career and explains the nature of his pianoforte mentality. Moreover, an interpretative approach is becoming an important part of its investigation methodology, which makes it possible to state the aim of the paper, which is to determine the priorities of C. Saint-Saëns as being an outstanding virtuoso performer of his historical era (what is necessary to understand his artistic mentality). According to the aim of the paper, the following practical tasks have been solved: 1) lay down the requirements for a pianist when performing C. Saint-Saëns’s pianoforte cycles; 2) determine the artist’s most performed solo pianoforte works nowadays (namely the cycles). The methodological basis of the research is a comprehensive approach based on the unity of historical biographical, genre-style and performance research methods that emphasize the importance of the piano work of a unique French artist for modern generations of performers. The results of the research. The analysis of the performances of young C. Saint-Saëns has become obvious that at the beginning of his performance career, he was far from the traditional image of a pianist-virtuoso typical for the first half of the 19th century and has represented the model of a pianist-interpreter of classical music pieces, according to new cultural tendencies. In the middle of the 1860s C. Saint-Saëns shifted his genre-style priorities in his concert performance and widened the geography of his audience outside France to Germany, England and Russia. The French virtuoso improved his repertoire by performing the works of contemporary composers. However, the tendency towards romantic repertoire did not prevent him from including of J.-Ph. Rameau’s and J. S. Bach’s works into his concert program. Beginning from the 1890s to the end of C. Saint-Saëns’s performance career (1921), his own works made the basis of his concert programs also. Having systematized of C. Saint-Saëns’s repertoire, four performance preferences have been distinguished: 1) interest in the works of Baroque composers and French national culture of pre-classical period; 2) returning to Viennese classicists as the basis of a pianist’s concert repertoire in the new historical era; 3) having romanticists’ works serving as the example of modern performer’s repertoire in the second half of the 19th century; 4) producing his own music pieces and transcriptions. Based on summarizing the repertoire preferences, in terms of their stylistics and the increase in the significance of the historical interpretation of other composers’ works, which can be traced in C. Saint-Saëns’s statements and recommendations, it has been concluded that at the beginning of the 20th century his performance style corresponded to the one typical for new post-romantic performers – “interpreters-generalists” (according to O. Kandynskyi-Rybnikov, 1991). The comparison of C. Saint-Saëns’s solo concert programs of different years and the genre and style orientation of the piano compositions created by him in the corresponding periods shows a noticeable interconnection of two major areas of his creative activity – concert and composing. In his early period, he interpreted, as a pianist, mainly the classical music pieces (especially Beethoven’s). And his own Op. 3, Bagatelli, was created under the influence of the Viennese classicism music. In his mature period (starting from the middle of the 1860s), which was connected with C. Saint-Saëns’s concert tours outside France and the enrichment of his repertoire with the works by F. List, F. Chopin, F. Mendelssohn, R. Schumann, there was a shift of the composer’s genre and style priorities: he composed the concert etudes of the Op. 52, program pieces of the Album Op. 72. Finally, in his late period (from the 1890s), except for his own music pieces, the basis of C. Saint-Saëns’s concert programs consists of the works of classicists. At those times, his Suite Oр. 90, Six Etudes op. 135 for left hand and Six Fugues Op. 61 were created, which shows the author’s interest in the genre models of European Baroque. The fundamental principles of C. Saint-Saëns’s pianoforte mentality has been distinguished: virtuosity and simultaneous accuracy of applying expressive means; clarity and accuracy of instrument sound together with the delicacy and flexible manner of intoning; in terms of the interpretation of historically remote composers’ pieces (pre-classical, classical and early-romantic periods), the attempts to approximate the tone to the authentic sound pattern. Taking into account the composer’s performance style and the tasks set in the score of his works, the requirements for a pianists needed for the interpretation of C. Saint-Saëns’s pianoforte cycles have been laid down: high level of performance technical preparation; analytical skills, wide kit of mental sound patterns that integrates the features of various historical and style eras, from Baroque to PostRomanticizm. As for the panorama of the interpretative versions of C. Saint-Saëns’s piano works, every cycle has quite rich performance history, which is proved by numerous professional recordings. Over the last decade, more and more recordings of C. Saint-Saëns’s pianoforte cycles have been appearing, which contributes to the popularization of the pianoforte heritage of the French artist. Most of them have been created by French pianists. However, the geography of the recordings is quite wide: Italy, the USA, Switzerland, Hungary, Austria, Russia, Germany. Unfortunately, in Ukraine the piano cycles are almost unknown and are rarely performed; there are no known audio recordings of their performance by outstanding Ukrainian pianists. Conclusion. In search of a starting point in mastering the principles of interpretation of French piano culture, the study of the creative activity by C. Saint-Saëns today has advantages over the study of other French composers of the mid XIX – early XX century, because there is a large amount of material available that reveals its artistic, in particular performing, priorities. All the above indicates the need to popularize the piano heritage of C. Saint-Saens in the modern globalized world and proves the importance of an interpretological approach to its understanding. The latter reveals the essence of the piano style of a unique artist who, in his creative evolution, has gone from classicromantic attitudes to examples of his own nео-stylistic thinking, which dominates the art of the twentieth century.
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Cascudo, Teresa. "The Musical Salon of the Countess of Proença-a-Velha in Lisbon: A Case of Patronage and Activism at the Turn of the Twentieth Century." Nineteenth-Century Music Review 14, no. 2 (January 9, 2017): 195–210. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s1479409816000070.
Full textAbstract:
This article seeks to shed light on the musical activities sponsored in Lisbon by women of high society, and specifically on the organization of the concerts produced by the Countess of Proença-a-Velha (1864–1944) in Lisbon at the turn of the ninteenth and the twentieth centuries. Between 1899 and 1903, the Countess held nine musical soirées and matinées at her home, and organized the first season of the Sociedade Artística de Concertos de Canto (Artistic Singing Concerts Society), which she founded. She also composed and premiered about 30 vocal works with piano accompaniment. Although both the number of events and her catalogue are small in size, they form an important window on turn-of-the-century Portuguese culture. Her decisions to focus on the repertoire of lyrical music and feature performances mainly by women was in stark contrast to the deeply masculine nature of the musical organizations active in Lisbon during the period. This article also explores the ideological dimension of her activities. An examination of the vocal pieces performed at the countess’ concerts shows that she intentionally explored four interrelated concepts of music: modern music, religious music, early music and Portuguese music. Some of her songs took part in the construction of what she considered to be a Portuguese national music inspired by Portuguese national poetry. The programmes the countess devised presented both a social and political dimension, proposing an elitist model for female socialization based upon the idea of the utility of cultural involvement and vindicating the role of tradition and, in particular, national tradition.
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Desai, Boman. "The Boy Brahms." 19th-Century Music 27, no. 2 (2003): 132–36. http://dx.doi.org/10.1525/ncm.2003.27.2.132.
Full textAbstract:
During the late twentieth century, the veracity of a particular aspect of Johannes Brahms's boyhood came under challenge. Had he played the piano in Hamburg's dockside bars as many of his biographers had recorded, or had he not? The two sides of the story were debated in the spring 2001 issue of 19th-Century Music. Jan Swafford, Brahms's definitive biographer in English, provided the case for the status quo, citing all the known instances of times when Brahms himself had mentioned the story to friends and biographers. Styra Avins, a translator of many of Brahms's heretofore untranslated letters into English, provided evidence to the contrary by saying all the friends and biographers were mistaken. Swafford's inventory of sources is complete, but there remained more to be said. In "The Boy Brahms" I have attempted to show how Avins's evidence is strictly circumstantial and speculative. At this remove from the incidents in question it can be nothing more. I have attempted to refute the conclusions she has drawn from the young Brahms's handwriting, the testimony of neighbors, and the laws governing attendance in the bars, among other things. I have also attempted to show inconsistencies in Avins's arguments that throw into question her thesis and support the veracity of the original story.
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Калицкий, V. Kalitskiy, Диденко, and N. Didenko. "Musical Communication: Problems of Theory and Practice." Modern Communication Studies 3, no. 4 (August 15, 2014): 10–16. http://dx.doi.org/10.12737/5396.
Full textAbstract:
The article considers the concept of musical communication as the content
of music and performing practice. Phenomenon of existence of a musical
work in miscommunication relationships. Reveals the importance of
an integrated approach for the most successful performance of a musical
work. The need detailed consideration of the phenomenon of musical communication
serves to update through a review and analysis as a means
of Humanities and art history. The essence and specific features of the
phenomenon are projected on specific examples of music: in the process
of composing musical works of the composer, his artistic interpretation by
the contractor and multifaceted perception of the recipient. The authors of
this article, with special emphasis on musical practice of the twentieth century
(especially in the field of writing and interpretation of piano works by
russian and western european composers and performers), allowing most
adequately and fully disclose material provisions of musical communication.
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Revuluri, Sindhumathi. "French Folk Songs and the Invention of History." 19th-Century Music 39, no. 3 (2016): 248–71. http://dx.doi.org/10.1525/ncm.2016.39.3.248.
Full textAbstract:
A favorite project of scholars in late-nineteenth- and early-twentieth-century France was to collect folk songs from various French provinces and to add new harmonic accompaniments before publishing them. This folk-song project, like so many others, has obvious nationalist undertones: gathering songs from every French province and celebrating an essential and enduring French spirit. Yet the nuances of this project and its broader context suggest a diverse set of concerns. An examination of the rhetoric around folk-song collection shows how French scholars of the period conflated history and geography: they made the provinces the place of history. Collecting songs from the provinces thus became a way of recovering France's past. Paired with contemporary discussions of musical progress and especially those related to harmony, the addition of piano accompaniments to monophonic songs now reads as a form of history writing. In this article, I argue that French music scholars of the fin de siècle acted out their preferred narratives of music history through folk-song harmonizations. What seemed like a unanimously motivated nationalist project actually reveals the development and contestation of the discipline of music history.
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Buchok, L. V. "Pianoforte compositions “Etude” by D. Zador and “Impromptu” by I. Marton in the context of the problem of analysis and interpretation of the creative idea." Aspects of Historical Musicology 13, no. 13 (September 15, 2018): 113–26. http://dx.doi.org/10.34064/khnum2-13.09.
Full textAbstract:
Background. In the time of Ukraine’s state independence, the interest of scholars in reproduction of a coherent historically formed image of regional cultures arose. The thing is, that almost throughout the twentieth century the priority issue was that the term «international» was considered as «assimilated». However, in the second half of the 20th century signifi cant processes took place in Transcarpathia, which manifested the formation of a professional Transcarpathian composer’s school – a movement led by Dezyderiy Zador and picked up by other composers, in particular Ishtvan Marton. In particular, the interest of Transcarpathian composers in piano compositions is of considerable interest as one of the segments of the European professional tradition: on the one hand, it is a testimony to the higher level of professional training and the practice of possession of classical experience; on the other hand, a geographically designated vector of stylistic modelling in the context of the intonational fund and the semantic fi eld of the European academic piano music in its inextricable connection with historically contemporary European-style stylistic phenomena. In its turn, the style shaping initiatives of the Transcarpathian composers of the second half of the 20th century caused signifi cant changes in their theoretical understanding – in accordance with the change of the mental paradigm of artistic creativity from the classical to the post-classical, when the method of tracing “style features” (the initial model of the formation of the method of style analysis) can no longer clarify the essence of the author’s concepts and requires orientation to methodologically predetermined transformations in the basis of the theory of style (for example, the human-dimensional nature of style). The problem, therefore, is that, on the example of selectively taken piano compositions of Transcarpathian composers of the period of the second half of the 20th century to present methodologically updated position of their stylistic analysis and executable interpretation – in view of the achievements of musicological thought at the border of the 20th – 21st centuries concerning the interpretation of stylistic phenomena of the modern age as a certain innovation project and its development in the conditions of post-traditional professionalism. Thus, today the task is to expand the perceptions of the piano creativity of the composers of Transcarpathia in the context of the whole 20th century, which includes the phases of modernism, modernism and avant-garde, united by the idea of the ultimate autonomy of the style. The scientifi c novelty of the conducted research is the broadening of the ideas of the pianoforte art of the Transcarpathian composers in the context of the intonation fund and the semantic fi eld of the European academic piano music of the whole 20th century, which contains the phases of modern, modernism and avant-garde, united by the intention of extreme style autonomy. Objectives. The purpose of the work is to comprehend the specifi cs of the analytical elaboration and performer’s interpretation of the «Etude» by D. Zador and «Impromptu » by I. Marton as such that, given the characteristic of the Transcarpathian region, the priority of choral compositions in the fi rst half of the 20th century testifi es to the formation of the original style initiatives, namely instrumental, in particular piano music in the middle of the twentieth century. Methods. The comparative, phenomenological and functional methods of research are used, which in aggregate gav e an opportunity to relate to the realities of the development of the national (Ukrainian) musicology, to reveal the world-view specifi cs and the vectors of individual stylistic modeling in the pianoforte art of Transcarpathian composers of the middle of the twentieth century, to provide knowledge of the semantic structure of the studied musical works. Results. It has been found out that on the background of changes in the mental paradigm of musical creativity from classical to post-classical, the analysis and interpretation of real musical text requires its semantic decoding in the intention of an accurate explanation of the idea and the intention of a particular musical work. However, as it has been established, there is an urgent need to focus on the immanent property of the semantic structure of innovative musical «projects», which exactly in the second half of the 20th century mostly show heterogeneity of style modelling – in the version of the active associative of correspondence range in the space of historical styles. This will provide an opportunity to eliminate the disadvantages of the formal-logical analysis method, which usually provokes the establishment and description of purely stylistic values of the real musical text without attempts at their fi gurative and semantic interpretation, and even provides an approximate summary of the analysis data at the level of the creative idea and the composer’s plan. It is proved that «Etude» с-moll of Dezyderiy Zador is a brightly modern (secessionist) stylistic model based on the characteristic of post-romanticism author’s stylization of historically known stylistic systems, and at the same time it has a distinctly individual, characteristic image concept, whose dynamic structure is determined by dramatic (semantic) perspective of the inclusion of various sorts of allusions and reminiscences concerning the manner of piano music; in turn, «Impromptu» by I. Marton is an example of mastering modernist trends with their expressionist (pathologized) expression of their perception of themselves in a spiritually declined world, when the declamative articulation of sound forms and their crystalline fragility, which are intended to recreate the ratio of the vulnerability of the alienated subject and inexorably terrible destructive power from the outside. Instead, it has been observed that not always the performers of the mentioned works read their idea and decode the image system. In general, this indicates an inability to adequately respond to styling in the version of the neo-stylistic formation (neo-romanticism, neoclassicism, etc.) – when the attachment of auditory experience to a historically known style (like manners – romantic, classical, etc.) tends to subconsciously ignore the transition to a hierarchical level of renewal (neo – renewed) by introducing innovations (sonorism, abstractly tuned block model of themes etc.) and the search for a stylistic centre of gravity using the allusion way of style development (allusion as the kind of indirect quoting) that ensures the existence of the concept of the so-called mixed style. Conclusions. The comprehension of the stylistic character of the creative ideas and intentions of piano art of Transcarpathian composers of the second half of the 20th century based on methods of semantic decoding of the real notations is heuristically productive for their hermeneutic reception – in order to maximize the probable approximation to the essence and concept of a musical composition and its adequate (meaningful) reproduction by the performers.
30
Sediuk, I. O. "Artistic and aesthetic ideas in “Plays” for two pianos by P. Dambis." Aspects of Historical Musicology 15, no. 15 (September 15, 2019): 181–98. http://dx.doi.org/10.34064/khnum2-15.09.
Full textAbstract:
Background. The piano ensemble as a special type of chamber music has become popular in recent decades, as evidenced by numerous international piano duo competitions taking place in different countries, music festivals, master classes. Whereas a large number of scientifi c works is devoted to four-hand duo, two-piano ensemble began to attract the active attention of researchers only in the present day. Despite the individual approaches to its specifi cs and selected music examples, the generic properties of this phenomenon, which distinguish it among other forms of duo music, remain uncertain. Also, the ensemble features the numerous works of the 20th century demonstrating the attraction of the newest composing techniques, enhancing the role of sound and numerical structures, the law of symmetry, etc., while preserving continuity with tradition require a profound study. Objectives. The purpose of the article is to uncover a meaningful idea as well as artistic and aesthetic principles in the macro cycle “Plays” for two pianos by P. Dambis. Methods. An integrated approach together with the theoretical and the comparative research methods was used. Results. A series of ensemble pieces for two pianos by the Latvian composer P. Dambis appears as a kind of quintessence of playing performance logic. During the period of 1973 to 1979, the composer wrote a cycle of 10 pieces, organized in 3 series. The author unites all the pieces under a single name “Plays”, thus revealing his understanding of the piano duo possibilities. The fi rst series dates back to 1973–1974 and includes three contrasting pieces that have different image and style reference. All of them bear the imprint of modern compositional technology, while maintaining an organic connection with cyclic genres. Each of the plays has its internal contrasts, as evidenced by the change of texture and intonation complexes. Emphasizing the second-third music phrases, ostinato repetition, multiple transformations variants of the original element very distinctly makes the Piece Nr. 1 resemble the neofolklore searches of the 20th century without a direct connection with folk sources. In the Piece Nr. 2, the play-dialogue unfolds in the image stylistic space of romanticism, creating an allusion to the famous “La Campanella” by F. Liszt, as well as to the unpretentious music world of F. Mendelssohn. The last Piece of this series demonstrates the synthesis of diatonic and chromatic scales, various types of motion, inversion of structures, shifting of accents, repetitious chanting, sonorant aleatoric synchronous performance of sound complexes. The second series of “Plays” (1975–1976) includes two Pieces; it continues with the variety of previously embodied constructive motifs, although it outlines them more sharply through the opposing ensemble parts. The technique of moving each of the parts into their tonal environment in the Piece Nr. 4 emphasizes their independence, causing the exchange of replicas as if in a dialogue. Whereas Piano I part goes in B-dur and its melody is perceived as an allusion to the second movement of Schumann’s Kreisleriana, in Piano II part, we see harmonious fi guration of polytonal connections: G major - Fis-dur. A colorful palette is created, and it generates a “tail” of sonorous effects. They are achieved through the register technique when the parts of the ensemble are gradually mixed together. On the other hand, the whole usage of white and black keyboard appears in a new way, more broadly – of diatronics and chromaticism, which are interpreted in the music of the twentieth century as certain image-bearing spheres that are sometimes opposed to each other, and as the fundamental constants of different music systems. The Piece Nr. 5 is composed in the competitive spirit between sonorous effects, which is typical for the fi nal sections, and the traditional vocabulary of metric music. The third series of “Plays” (1978–1979) is the largest one as it includes fi ve pieces. Whereas in the fi rst two series of “Plays” the principle of randomness comes into effect periodically, then, beginning with the play number 6, it dominates in the creation of themes and forms. In the third series, P. Dambis embodies sonority and aleatory techniques in different ways either through creating the necessary effect by using an unregulated overlay of diachromatic sequences or interval structures, or through combining them with the traditional rhythm and metric methods of writing. The Piece Nr. 8 can be attributed to the samples where the prominent thematic principle prevails: that is, the clearly defi ned “landscape – background” texture, the presence of constructions that refer to certain genre prototypes, the dance scherzo themes, the energy of the dotted rhythm in triad chords etc. The “Plays” Nr. 9 differ by the miniature form, which is easily explained by using the already well-known playing fi gures. P. Dambis retains the contrast of two clearly defi ned sections, the ametric and the metric music presented both in the horizontal and in the vertical projections, written all the texture voices throughout the whole section and the square structure of the interval sequence. Despite the difference between thematic ideas in this piece, their similarity is revealed through more careful analysis. In other words, the composer offers different modes of one and the same thing. In contrast to the statuesque fi gures, typical of P. Dambis, which get their internal mobility through the ostinato repetition, in the Plays Nr 9. the author introduces the hemi-group that chromatically descends in both parts in parallel, and then moves in opposite directions. Although long time values predominate here, their weight is neutralized by the tempo, thrills, and wide steps. The leaps that exceed the octave bring the game factor; additionally, they are emphasized by a syncope. We can observe a theatrical play with different characters involved, which is enhanced with the comic techniques. Conclusions. The macrocycle for two pianos by P. Dambis reveals the composer’s attitude to both tradition and new discoveries in the music of the 20th century. Nine music pieces represent a kind of anthology showing the development of composer’s thought as a whole: from the desire to preserve the connection with folk prototypes, as evidenced by the signs of the “sutatirne” in the fi rst two pieces, through various allusions of the famous classical examples, to sonoric aleatory technique , which appears as a modus of Baroque improvisation on the new stage of the history. In this sense, the title “Plays” the composer chose acquires new semantic overtones, bringing varied experience of musical culture and allowing to attribute the macrocycle to the synthesizing tendency in music of the previous century.
31
Чернышов, В. И. "Piano Concertos for the Left Hand by Ravel and Prokofiev: Two Answers to One Order." OPERA MUSICOLOGICA, no. 4 (November 15, 2020): 67–91. http://dx.doi.org/10.26156/om.2020.12.4.004.
Full textAbstract:
Пианист Пауль Витгенштейн, желая расширить и обновить свой концертный репертуар, внес в XX веке существенный вклад в фортепианную литературу для левой руки. В 1929–1930 годах он заказывает фортепианный концерт сначала Морису Равелю, а затем Сергею Прокофьеву. Это оказалось возможным благодаря наследству, полученному пианистом после смерти отца — сталелитейного магната Карла Витгенштейна. Если Равелю удалось, хоть и не полностью, удовлетворить потребности заказчика, то Прокофьеву было вовсе отказано в исполнении его музыки. Одной из главных причин неудачи Прокофьева можно считать творческий кризис конца зарубежного периода, когда композитор находился в поисках нового музыкального языка — «новой простоты». В статье прослеживается и сравнивается судьба этих произведений; устанавливаются причины сравнительной невостребованности концерта Прокофьева исполнителями; анализируется композиция, фортепианная фактура и техника, оркестровка. Освещены биографические факты из жизни Пауля Витгенштейна, а также непростые отношения между заказчиком и композиторами. In the twentieth century, the one-armed pianist Paul Wittgenstein made a significant contribution to piano literature for the left hand, which was due to his wish to broaden and update his concert repertoire. In 1929–1930 he ordered a left-handed piano concerto first to Maurice Ravel and then to Sergei Prokofiev. It was possible through the inheritance that Wittgenstein received after the death of his father, the steel magnate Karl Wittgenstein. While Ravel was able to meet the client’s needs, though not completely, Prokofiev was completely denied the performance of his music. One of the main reasons for Prokofiev’s failure might be the creative crisis of the end of the foreign period, when the composer was in search of a new musical language — “the new simplicity”. The article traces and compares the destiny of these piano concertos, specifying the reasons for the relative lack of demand for Prokofiev’s left-handed concerto on behalf of performers. The article also analyzes music, piano texture and technique, form, orchestration of the lefthanded concertos. Special attention is paid to biographical facts from Paul Wittgenstein’s life, as well as uneasy relationship between the client and the composers.
32
Waddell, George, Rosie Perkins, and Aaron Williamon. "Making an Impression." Music Perception 36, no. 1 (September 1, 2018): 60–76. http://dx.doi.org/10.1525/mp.2018.36.1.60.
Full textAbstract:
This article examines the effects of composition length, familiarity, and likeability—as well as the location of performance errors—on the process of forming performance quality ratings. Five piano works by Chopin and a twentieth-century composer were chosen to vary by length and familiarity. Three of these pieces were then manipulated to contain performance errors in the opening material, and two of those the same error at the recapitulation. Forty-two musicians provided continuous quality evaluations and final quality ratings of the performances, hearing one version of each piece. The results showed that familiarity had no effect within works of a well-known composer, but times to first and final decision were significantly extended for an unfamiliar work of an unfamiliar composer. A shorter piece led to a shorter time to first decision. An error at the beginning of a performance caused a shorter time to first decision and lower initial and final ratings, where the same error at the recapitulation did not have a significant effect on the final judgment, despite causing a temporary negative drop. These findings demonstrate how evaluators’ knowledge of a work can affect their rating process and the importance of making a strong first impression in performance.
33
Mits, Oksana. "The genre of the piano miniature in the creative work of M. Moszkowski." Problems of Interaction Between Arts, Pedagogy and the Theory and Practice of Education 50, no. 50 (October 3, 2018): 136–48. http://dx.doi.org/10.34064/khnum1-50.10.
Full textAbstract:
Statement of the problem. Recently, there has been growing interest in the personality of the outstanding Polish composer, pianist, teacher and conductor M. Moszkowski (1854–1925), whose creativity occupies a significant place in the history of European musical art of the second half of the nineteenth – early twentieth centuries. The multifaceted composer’s legacy of M. Moszkowski gives a large variety of materials for researchers. His piano creativity, which encompasses composing, performing, teaching and editorial activities, is an outstanding phenomenon in the European musical culture. One of the key genres of piano music by composer is a miniature. The miniatures that were created by M. Moszkowski during his life, reflects the evolution of his individual style, clearly representing his creative method, aesthetics and piano performance features. However, the question of the genre of miniatures in the work of M. Moszkowski has not been considered by the researchers yet. Thus, there is a need for scientific analysis of M. Moszkowski’s piano miniatures in the context of the general stylistic norms of his creative work. The purpose of the article is characterization of stylistic features and attempt to classify of M. Moszkowski’s piano miniature in view of the role of this genre in the Polish composer’s creativity. Methods. The methodological basis of the study is the unity of scientific approaches, among which the most important is a functional one, associated with the analysis of the genre as a typical structure. The desire to realize the fundamental principles of scientific knowledge, comprehensiveness and concrete historical approach to the study of the target problem requires the combination of musical analysis with historical-cultural, stylistic generalizations, considering piano works by M. Moszkowski in the unity of historical, ideological, stylistic and performing problems involving the conceptual apparatus of theoretical musicology and the theory of pianism. Results. The vast majority of piano pieces by M. Moszkowski are miniatures. According to their place in the performing practice, miniatures are differentiated into concert-virtuoso, pedagogical, household directions. According to the internal genre typological features, they are divided into etudes, dance pieces (waltzes, mazurkas and polonaise serve as confirmation of the musical-historical experience of romantic composers) and others. In the palette of the latter are scherzo, capriccio, fantasia-impromptu, musical moments, arabesques, barcarole, lyrical pieces – that is, almost the whole arsenal of the most common types of miniatures of the Romantic era. The analysis of piano miniatures reveals the composer’s individual attitude to tradition, free choice of figurative and stylistic priorities by him. Under consideration are the piano cycles “Spanish dances” op. 12, “Arabesque” op. 61, the piece-fantasia “Hommage à Schumann” op. 5, Suite for 4 hands “From all over the World op. 23” and other miniatures that were creating throughout the life of the composer. These samples of the salon style of the late XIX century became a kind of generalization of creative searches of the previous constellation of composers – salon performers. Throughout his life, M. Moszkowski repeatedly turns to ancient forms and finds for creation of his miniatures an entirely new impulse: the small forms of the Baroque age. By rethinking, “romanticizing” them, the composer creates his own modifications of the genre models of ancient music in such works as “Canon” (op.15, op. 81, op. 83), “Rococo” op. 36, “Burre” op. 38, “Siciliana” op. 42, “Gavotte” (op. 43, op. 86), “Fugue” op. 47, “Sarabande” op. 56, “Prelude and Fugue” op. 85, as well as numerous “Minuets”. The latter carry out the traits of the aesthetics of the gallant style. Since 1900, Moszkowski prefers etudes. The arsenal of techniques he uses in these works is rich and diverse and emphasizes the artistic qualities of these compositions. Sometimes Moszkowski interprets the genre of the etude very freely: as a substitute for another genre (“Two miniatures” op. 67), as part of the cycle-diology (“Etude-Caprice” and “Improvisation”, op. 70), etc. Modern pianists seldom perform the piano music by Moszkowski. At the same time, the pieces represent a very interesting material that clearly reflects the originality of the musical language of the late romantic pianists, to which Moszkowski belonged. Perhaps, performers confused by the overload of musical material with various technical difficulties. The composer used a wide range of romantic pianistic means. The typical stylistic feature of his music is improvisation, based on the tradition of a brilliant piano style of performance with a romantically impulsive change in emotional states. The performance seems to be more unattainable, because the composer’s bold innovation in virtuoso texture is combined with a refined romantic manner of writing. This circumstance explains the fact that the works by Moszkowski were forgotten for many years. And only now, at the beginning of the twenty-first century, when many values and priorities are revised, art salon style and Moszkowski’s compositions are becoming of great interest. Conclusions. The piano “workshop of miniatures” is the most important component of the composer’s legacy of M. Moszkowski, reflecting the peculiarity of the author’s aesthetic position – cultivating a positive mood, elegance, refinement, virtuosity as signs of ownership of the instrument. It is these aesthetic principles – the feeling of Beauty as preciosity, delicacy, non-conflict state of reality – formed his attitude to the genre of miniatures. M. Moszkowski’s piano miniatures marked by the features of virtuoso style creating associations with the music of F. Chopin and R. Schumann. Chopin’s influences can be traced in the choice of genres of miniatures – among them there are waltzes, polonaises, impromptu, etudes, scherzo and barcaroles. However, for M. Moszkowski, as a composer of Polish origin, was simply necessary to be “native” to the musical heritage of F. Chopin. At the same time, the “similarity” of certain techniques to Chopin’s in the piano works by Moszkowski, always appears in the updated version without duplicating the original sources. The influence of R. Schumann is manifested in the dominance of melodious lyric and playful scherzo’s spheres, the tendency toward the characteristic images and the cycling of pieces, often combined with a certain artistic idea, specified by the programmatic subtitles or by the suite principle. Moszkowski’s piano works are perfect in a form, in possessing of specifics of the piano texture and the richness of figurative thinking. Moszkowski’s miniatures represent a very high level of piano skills, technically, they often require the ability to have a good command of the instrument, but technical difficulties submit to a vivid, meaningful image. Piano miniatures by M. Moszkowski became a significant contribution to the development of Western European art of the second half of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The numerous piano pieces by the composer, distinguished by high artistic qualities, today should rightfully take a worthy place in the concert practice of modern pianists.
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Tackley, Catherine. "Shanty singing in twenty-first-century Britain." International Journal of Maritime History 29, no. 2 (May 2017): 407–21. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0843871417694014.
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The revival of the shanty accompanied the decline of the UK’s shipping industry in the mid-twentieth century. It was dominated by the larger-than-life figure of Stan Hugill, a former shantyman who ensured the continuation of this musical tradition through his performances and books. But in fact, as shanty authority the late Roy Palmer has pointed out, the idea of reviving a dying art had been a concern by the end of the nineteenth century. Following this, folk-song collectors like Cecil Sharp made concerted efforts to document shanties but also to make adaptations (such as censoring the lyrics and providing piano accompaniments) to enable them to be performed on land – even on the concert platform – by those who had little or no direct experience of seafaring. Although this seems to be the complete opposite to Hugill’s approach of connecting the songs with their traditional maritime context, both aimed to ensure that shanties remained relevant. This article considers the continuation of these attitudes to the shanty in the twenty-first century. The recent resurgence in shanty singing in the UK has taken place alongside the regeneration of many UK port areas, the (re-)development of sailortowns as contemporary tourist destinations and associated attempts to connect the public with maritime heritage. I will focus in particular on the Falmouth (Cornwall) International Sea Shanty Festival, exploring the aims and motivations of different performing groups and analysing their contemporary approaches to music which is inextricably linked with seafaring history.
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Avery, Tamlyn. "“Split by the Moonlight”: Beethoven and the Racial Sublime in African American Literature." American Literature 92, no. 4 (October 6, 2020): 623–52. http://dx.doi.org/10.1215/00029831-8780863.
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Abstract As Nathan Waddell has recently argued of the literary modernists whose aesthetic incorporation of the Beethovenian legend complicates the dominant view of modernism as an antitraditionalist enterprise, Ludwig van Beethoven’s music has in fact left a more significant and complicated mark on African American literature relating to the sublime properties of his musical aesthetic than has previously been recognized. As a point of departure, I apply Michael J. Shapiro’s definition of the racial sublime as a confrontation with the “still vast oppressive structure that imperils black lives” to the setting of twentieth-century African American literature, where Beethoven’s Romantic sublime often stands in for the racial sublime. This transference, I argue, is not an expression of the artist’s repressed instinctual conflict, the mere sublimation of their devotion to “white” culture and the cult of genius, as Amiri Baraka once suggested. Rather, Beethoven’s music formed a persistent and powerful political allegory of the racial sublime for many prominent twentieth-century authors in their literary works, where the sublime constitutes a sublimation of direct forms of power into a range of aesthetic experiences. This can be observed in the Beethovenian ekphrasis featured in prose works by James Weldon Johnson, Langston Hughes, James Baldwin, and Ralph Ellison—four writers whose works have also been considered indebted to blues and jazz musical influences and who approach the racial sublime not through language but by appealing to music’s nonsignifying suggestiveness, in order to capture the intensities that radiate out of these encounters. As this article reveals, their allegorical uses for Beethoven are not unitary. The forcefield of the racial sublime is registered allegorically through the performative sublime of Sonata “Pathétique” in Johnson’s The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man (1912); the sublime melancholy of the “Moonlight” Sonata in Hughes’s tragic short story “Home” (1934); the spiritual sublime of Beethoven’s piano concerti and the Ninth Symphony in Baldwin’s short story “Previous Condition” (1948); and the heroic sublime of the Fifth Symphony in Ellison’s bildungsroman Invisible Man (1952).
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Theobald, Marjorie R. "The Sin of Laura: The Meaning of Culture in the Education of Nineteenth-Century Women." Victoria 1990 1, no. 1 (February 9, 2006): 257–71. http://dx.doi.org/10.7202/031019ar.
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Abstract In the iconography of nineteenth-century female education, the centralfigure is a woman at the piano. This figure embodies a form ofeducation, the female "accomplishments" — music, art, modern languages, literature, and the natural sciences — which was widespread in Britain by the end of the eighteenth century and which spread rapidly throughout the English-speaking world. Yet this form of education has been overlooked or dismissed by both mainstream and feminist historiography. This paper considers the rise of the accomplishments curriculum as a precursor to the emergence, late in the nineteenth century, of the “worthwhile education” of women. This earlier development, in the author's view, requires a reconsideration of that sacred cow of feminist theory, the man/culture, women/nature dichotomy. A study of the female accomplishments also illustrates the earlier rise of the enduring and oppressive myth that there is a natural affinity between the humanities and the female mind — with its equally enduring implication that there is a natural affinity between science and the male mind. Historians of the Edwardian period have noted that the rational, scientific frame of mind, which underpinned the capitalist exploitation of the natural world, was considered to be a "natural" male predilection. Feminist historians have rightly exposed the use of this pseudo-science as a justification of the contemporary intellectual subjugation of women. They have, however, failed to note that intellectual attitudes which were evident more than a century earlier, and which underpinned the emergence of the female accomplishments, ensured that women would be excluded from the great intellectual adventure of the twentieth century.
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Porter, Laraine. "Women Musicians in British Silent Cinema Prior to 1930." Journal of British Cinema and Television 10, no. 3 (July 2013): 563–83. http://dx.doi.org/10.3366/jbctv.2013.0158.
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Referencing a range of sources from personal testimonies, diaries, trade union reports and local cinema studies, this chapter unearths the history of women musicians who played to silent film. It traces the pre-history of their entry into the cinema business through the cultures of Edwardian female musicianship that had created a sizeable number of women piano and violin teachers who were able to fill the rapid demand created by newly built cinemas around 1910. This demand was further increased during the First World War as male musicians were called to the Front and the chapter documents the backlash from within the industry against women who stepped in to fill vacant roles. The chapter argues that women were central to creating the emerging art-form of cinema musicianship and shaping the repertoire of cinema music during the first three decades of the twentieth century. With the coming of sound, those women who had learned the cinema organ, in the face of considerable snobbery, were also well placed to continue musical careers in Cine-Variety during the 1930s and beyond. This article looks particularly at the careers of Ena Baga and Florence de Jong who went on to play for silent films until the 1980s.
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Berry, David. "The Meaning[s] of "Without": An Exploration of Liszt's Bagatelle ohne Tonart." 19th-Century Music 27, no. 3 (2004): 230–62. http://dx.doi.org/10.1525/ncm.2004.27.3.230.
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In this essay, I explore historical and theoretical issues germane to an understanding of an 1885 piano composition with an intriguing title: LisztÕs Bagatelle ohne Tonart--a bagatelle "without tonality" or "without a key." After briefly describing the workÕs history and musical associations with other compositions by Liszt, I survey two present-day approaches that reveal ways in which the work defies tonality: octatonic interpretations via set-class examinations, and Schenker-influenced prolongational models. I then turn to focus instead on how the Bagatelle fit within the framework of nineteenth-century musical thought; how its processes were supported by contemporaneously evolving theories of chromaticism. Partly through an analysis based on the practice of Gottfried Weber (1779-1839), I demonstrate that the Bagatelle is not a piece "without tonality" as much as it is one "without the fulfillment of the tonic." It maintains harmonic tension by avoiding anticipated resolutions, as well as by preserving a sense of ambiguity as to what the actual "missing" key is. Next, I consider why Liszt was prompted to write a piece in such a manner. We know that he was a proponent of musical progress--of Zukunftsmusik ("music of the future")--but for this fact to be relevant we must confirm, first, that Liszt had definite ideas about a Zukunftsharmoniesystem; and second, that such a system is reflected in the processes exhibited by the Bagatelle. I argue that the BagatelleÕs traits are indeed in accordance with theoretical views about musicÕs future direction, to which Liszt subscribed. Relevant theories of Karl Friedrich Weitzmann (1808-80) and Franois-Joseph FŽtis (1784-1871) are assessed. Lastly, in a "Schoenbergian epilogue" I explore connections between LisztÕs operations and SchoenbergÕs ideas, addressing historical associations that conjoin their views of composing "ohne Tonart."I conclude that the 1885 BagatelleÕs attenuation of tonality was part of a tradition that extended from the mid-nineteenth into the early twentieth century--one that stretched from Liszt and his contemporaries through Schoenberg and his pupils and beyond, embracing along the way the theoretical prescriptions of Weitzmann, FŽtis, and Schoenberg himself. The various threads of theory and analysis explored in this article contribute to an understanding of the same strand of musical evolution: the increasing circumvention of tonality to the point that a piece could be written "ohne Tonart."
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Buchok, Lianna. "V. Telychko’s “Children’s Album” as an example of the modern tonal image of the world: peculiarities of the musical vocabulary and melodic ideas." Problems of Interaction Between Arts, Pedagogy and the Theory and Practice of Education 49, no. 49 (September 15, 2018): 70–84. http://dx.doi.org/10.34064/khnum2-49.05.
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Background. The beginning of the development of musical art in Transcarpathia dates back to the end of the nineteenth century and lasts during the first third of the twentieth century. First of all, it was an interest in the genre of choral music (a synthetic genre based on the merging of the Word and Music), which fully corresponded to the enlightened spirit of life of the Transcarpathians under the political conditions of that time. And only in the second half of the twentieth century intensive blossoming of the varieties of instrumental (kind of «pure») music with its conceptually most complex types of creative thinking and adaptation to the methods of style transformation takes place. The piano music, one of the most abstract forms of the creative process, has revealed its peculiarities in this process. However, the researchers virtually never paid attention to piano pieces for children, which are naturally inferior by their practically necessary and didactically appropriate visual simplicity of musical vocabulary to the works of the so-called large genre. In addition, historically, the creative work of Transcarpathian composers has been considered only as a product of a purely regional significance. Therefore, it is important that the piano works of Transcarpathian composers for children should also be considered in the context of such integrity as the Intentional period of the music history, which has been defined as non-classical and at the same time permeated with the idea of global cultural synthesis Objectives. The essence of the tasks and the purpose is to present the "Child Album" by V. Telychko (the first in Transcarpathia sample of the genre of children’s musical album, 2016) as an example of the creation of the modern intonational image of the world - in its associative diversity and intentionality. Methods. A selection of research methods, namely, analytical (analysis and synthesis, induction and deduction, systematization, classification and generalization), comparative, systemic, phenomenological, functional, has been used in view of the holistic approach – in the spirit of spiritual development of the world. In this regard, the interpretive potential of the concepts of the intonational model and the modal nature of musical themes as types of thinking by sound images is considered methodologically appropriate: both purposefully focus attention of the recipient on the sound «body» and the intonational "soul" of the musical matter in the integrity of the creative idea of the work, and also is didactically productive in terms of comprehension of the architectonics of the world of music as a world of musical ideas. Results. V. Telichko’s "Children’s Album" is a cyclic structure of the linear/plot type, where step-by-step compositional and dramaturgical organization of the whole ensures the principle of successive naming of new, but equal in figurative semantic content pieces. At the same time, it will be superfluous to reflect on the fact that the structure of cycles such as "album" is rarely evaluated as such that it is actually "filled in" (for example, with memorable photos or pictures), and only since then its "white" (from alba) of the blank/empty sheets is filled in with the semantics and the logic of placement of fixed events, phenomena, impressions, etc in a certain order. Against the background of such reflection the memory recalls such "albums" of romantics: all of them are based on the logic of the course of a day lived by a child (for example, P. I. Tchaikovsky). V. Telichko’s principle of collecting pieces "into the album" has such a life-justifiable logic – the gradual flow of events of the day, embodied in a child’s only perception of the world and itself. The semantic code of the composer’s plan is referenced in his dedication: "I devote my love to grandchildren Angelina and Anna" - expressing love for grandchildren, admiring their fantasy and energy, caring for the formation of their worldview on a certain system of values (family, native land, diversity of traditions of the countries of the world , historical memory): the pieces "Morning", "My Mother", "Our Grandmother" represent an idea of an ingenuous and happy feeling of a child in the family; "Anna’s Teddy-Bear", "Angelina’s Hobbyhorse" and "Angelina’s Waltz " represent a lively imagination of children, each of them having a favorite game "theme"; the plays "About Transcarpathia", "Kolomyika", "Tropotyanka", "Long road" and "It’s raining" are outlined by the situation of instructive stories of grandfather about the regionally formed traditions of the Transcarpathians, their spirit and uneasy destiny; while the pieces "On Scotland", "On Slovakia" and "On Japan" outline the interests of somewhat different cognitive significance - the intention to comprehend a certain national "otherness", which has its own color of its culture; in the end, "A Lullaby for Anna" creates, so to say, a backlash against the grand finale-prologue, consisting of the pieces "On Austria" (the cultural center of the European musical classicism) and "On Romania" (regionally closest to Transcarpathia country). Another signifying circumstance of the idea and plan of the cycle refers to the types of performances and personification of images, both as members of the family circle and as a certain social unity: in addition to the versions of solo performance, in a considerable number of plays there is ensemble performance in four and six hands; at the same time, each of the parts is composed as a certain texture layer, which in aggregate (duo, terzetto) gives the effect of an "orchestral" score. However, the most important thing is that for the instrumentalist performer, and for the listener or analyst (who is also a "listener"), the "Children’s Album" by V. Telichko is a test of the ability to perceive musical vocabulary in the form of a certain sound form/idea with which it is necessary to have a relationship according to the algorithm of personal identification. On the one hand, in the musical text there is an opportunity to recognize the classical models of musical vocabulary (cantilena, recitation, motility, general forms of motion, signaling, sound illustration); and on the other - due to the constructive interference of the classical techniques of the creation of musical matter (emancipated dissonance, the non-systemic character of the tonality, etc.) the meanings are accumulated. Another important component of the composer’s plan is to introduce a purely methodical (level of methodical reception) task of developing the technology of the game on the piano into the original sound form/idea, which first of all requires a skillful usage of all the fingers. Conclusions. As a research material the "Children’s Album" by a contemporary composer from Transcarpathia, V. Telichko provides several important and mutually perceptible scientific tasks directly related to musicology and pedagogical practice: testing of the theoretically updated analytical apparatus for tracking the intonational field of music and its thoughts and comprehension of the didactically expedient implementation of its results in the educational sphere; in particular, in terms of the prospective guideline for the development of musicality (a high measure of the ability to self-identification with the musical image) and the piano skills of a child musician.
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Sun, NataliiaYuriyivna. "Solo piano compositions by Hsiao Tyzen in the aspect of performing problems." Problems of Interaction Between Arts, Pedagogy and the Theory and Practice of Education 57, no. 57 (March 10, 2020): 165–77. http://dx.doi.org/10.34064/khnum1-57.10.
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Background. The article is dedicated to the piano work of Hsiao Tyzen (1938–2015) – one of Taiwan’s most famous composers. The solo piano compositions of the musician are considered, which make up a significant part of his compositional heritage: three cycles, united under the general name “Poetic Response” – op. 37 (1974), op. 38 (1975) and op. 40 (1977); “The Amazing Grace” (1984), cycle “Memories of Home” op. 49 (1987), consisting of six plays – “Prelude”, “Memory”, “Playground”, “Ancient Taiwanese Melody”, “Elegy”, “Frolicking”; “Farewell Etude”, Op. 55 (1993), “Toccata”, op. 57 (1995), “Dragon Boat Festival”, op. 58 (1996), “Spirit of Taiwan” (1998), “Nana Oh’s Meditation” (1999), “The Angel from Formosa” (1999). This huge layer of music is not sufficiently studied in the performing aspect. The characteristic of the pianistic level of complexity of the compositions under consideration is given, technical and artistic difficulties are revealed. Objectives. The purpose of the study is to identify the main performing tasks in the solo piano compositions of Hsiao Tyzen. Methods of research are based on a set of scientific approaches necessary for the disclosure of its theme. The complex approach, combining the principle of musical-theoretical, musical-historical and performing analysis, is taken as the basis of the methodology. Results. Piano works of Hsiao Tyzen of an early period of art op. 37, 38 and 40, united in the general cycle “Poetic Response”, are devoted to religious themes and include melodies of religious hymns. Combining three diverse piano cycles, the composer builds a kind of complex form of cycles in the cycle. The influence of romanticism in the music of Hsiao Tyzen is felt in his interpretation of melody, harmony, rhythm, tempo and texture. Composers of the twentieth century, especially C. Debussy, influenced the piano compositions of the late period. Since the works created by Hsiao Tyzen have varying degrees of pianistic complexity, it seems important to determine the pedagogical significance of the uncomplicated piano repertoire and the performing tasks that the interpreter of concert compositions faces. The cycle “Memories of Home” op. 49, consisting of six miniatures, is dedicated to the composer’s childhood memories. The main tasks of the pianist in the “Ancient Taiwanese melody” from the cycle “Memories of Home”, op. 49 will be the auditory implementation and development of a touch of legato, the performance of melismatics, the observance of sound balance between hands, the ability to draw a long melodic line, cleverly using a finger swap and moving from one position to another. In the Prelude, the tasks of the performer’s main technical and artistic problems are to accurately reflect dynamic contrasts, the agility of transitions in various textured combinations, the sound realization of polyphony, precise articulation and coordination of small notes in passages. “Memory” requires the performer of the highly professional possession of legato, manifested in the combination of the upper voice of the chord musical fabric, flexible movement skills and an accurate sense of polyrhythmia. In the “Playground” you need to show imaginative imagination, while reflecting the variety of strokes and dynamics specified by the author. “Elegy” requires a deep soulful feeling from a performer, high-quality sounding of a melody, and the formation of long phrases. “Farewell Etude” op. 55 and “Toccata” op. 57 – detailed compositions saturated with romantic technique and imagery. The intonational filling of the plays reflects the national Taiwanese flavor. “Farewell sketch” was the last work of Hsiao Tyzen, written in the tradition of romanticism. The piece is based on the famous Taiwanese folk song “Four Seasons”. The composer places the melody in the middle register, framing on both sides with a luxurious romantic texture. “Toccata” is full of numerous techniques that are difficult enough not only to execute, but even to remember. Frequent change of textured formulas is especially difficult for a pianist, because in addition to the clever execution of a virtuoso texture, you need to keep an accurate rhythmic pulsation. This repertoire is intended for concert performance and requires a pianist of a high professional pianistic level and bright artistry. It requires scale of performance, absolute technical and sound knowledge of the texture, knowledge and auditory presentation of the characteristics of Taiwanese musical culture, and mastery of pedalization. Conclusions. Hsiao Tyzen’s solo piano compositions provide a better understanding of the work of contemporary Taiwanese composers. They are rightfully one of the most striking pages of Taiwanese musical culture and deserve further introduction into a wide international music audience. These works, in our opinion, have high artistic merits and are intended for a different contingent of performers. Their value as a pedagogical and concert repertoire is a vivid imagery, a reflection of the national principle, interesting compositional and sound solutions.
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Lokareva, Yuliya. "INTRODUCTION OF THE COURSE «MUSICAL CULTURE OF ELISAVETGRADSHCHINA» IN HIGHER EDUCATION INSTITUTIONS OF ART ORIENTATION." Academic Notes Series Pedagogical Science 1, no. 195 (2021): 92–96. http://dx.doi.org/10.36550/2415-7988-2021-1-195-92-96.
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The article covers topical issues of the unique art center – Yelisavetgrad region at the turn of XIX–XX centuries, a retrospective analysis of the cultural and artistic environment in the multi-vector plane of theatrical, choreographic, fine and architectural arts; development of musical culture in the multifaceted palette of piano, string, vocal and choral performance, as well as the peculiarities of composition in the focus of historical and stylistic trends of the twentieth century. The article emphasizes that the introduction of a special course «Musical Culture of Yelisavetgrad region» in the educational process is an important component of the professional development of students of art and cross specialties of higher educational institutions of art education. The functioning of an important center of education and multicultural life in southern Ukraine Yelisavetgrad - Kirovograd - Kropyvnytskyi, the development of musical culture of Yelisavetgrad XIX - XX centuries has a powerful influence on the development of culture not only in the region but the cultural life of Ukraine. A wide range of problems of formation of various cultural branches of Yelisavetradshchyna, biography of famous musicians, world importance of their creative and pedagogical heritage, unique interethnic cultural exchange expand knowledge about history and culture of the region in its various relations with Poland, educational and cultural centers of the Russian Empire and Europe. Thus, the synthetic and multifaceted nature of the special course «Musical Culture of Yelisavetgrad-Kirovograd-Kropyvnytskyi» causes the combination of all components of the structure of professional development of future teachers of music: motivational, cognitive, creative, reflective, creative and projective, which optimizes the process of professions. the possibility of creative self-expression and actualizes the problem associated with the attitude to the heritage of national culture, with the emotional experience of belonging to the homeland, their homeland, its history and culture, the formation of moral, ethical and aesthetic values of future music teachers.
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Mykhailova, O. V. "Woman in art: a breath of beauty in the men’s world." Aspects of Historical Musicology 17, no. 17 (September 15, 2019): 163–80. http://dx.doi.org/10.34064/khnum2-17.11.
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Background. А history of the development of the human community is at the same time a history of the relationship between men and women, their role in society, in formation of mindset, development of science, technology and art. A woman’s path to the recognition of her merits is a struggle for equality and inclusion in all sectors of public life. Originated with particular urgency in the twentieth century, this set of problems gave impetus to the study of the female phenomenon in the sociocultural space. In this context, the disclosure of the direct contribution of talented women to art and their influence on its development has become of special relevance. The purpose of the article is to summarize segmental of information that highlights the contribution of women to the treasury of world art, their creative and inspiring power. Analytical, historical-biographical and comparative studying methods were applied to reveal the gender relationships in art and the role of woman in them as well as in the sociocultural space in general. The results from this study present a panorama of gifted women from the world of art and music who paved the way for future generations. Among them are: A. Gentileschi (1593–1653), who was the first woman admitted to The Florence Academy of Art; M. Vigee Le Brun (1755–1842), who painted portraits of the French aristocracy and later became a confidant of Marie-Antoinette; B. Morisot (1841–1895), who was accepted by the impressionists in their circle and repeatedly exhibited her works in the Paris Salon; F. Caccini (1587–1640), who went down in history as an Italian composer, teacher, harpsichordist, author of ballets and music for court theater performances; J. Kinkel (1810–1858) – the first female choral director in Germany, who published books about musical education, composed songs on poems of famous poets, as well as on her own texts; F. Mendelssohn (1805–1847) – German singer, pianist and composer, author of cantatas, vocal miniatures of organ preludes, piano pieces; R. Clark (1886–1979) – British viola player and composer who created trio, quartets, compositions for solo instruments, songs on poems of English poets; L. Boulanger (1893–1918) became the first woman to receive Grand Prix de Rome; R. Tsekhlin (1926–2007) – German harpsichordist, composer and teacher who successfully combined the composition of symphonies, concerts, choral and vocal opuses, operas, ballets, music for theatrical productions and cinema with active performing and teaching activities, and many others. The article emphasise the contribution of women-composers, writers, poetesses to the treasury of world literature and art. Among the composers in this row is S. Gubaidulina (1931), who has about 30 prizes and awards. She wrote music for 17 films and her works are being performed by famous musicians around the world. The glory of Ukrainian music is L. Dychko (1939) – the author of operas, oratorios, cantatas, symphonies, choral concertos, ballets, piano works, romances, film music. The broad famous are the French writers: S.-G. Colette (1873–1954), to which the films were devoted, the performances based on her novels are going all over the world, her lyrics are being studied in the literature departments. She was the President of the Goncourt Academy, Chevalier of the Legion of Honour, a square in the center of Paris is named after her. Also, creativity by her compatriot, L. de Vilmorin (1902–1969), on whose poems С. Arrieu, G. Auric, F. Poulenc wrote vocal miniatures, is beloved and recognized as in France as and widely abroad. The article denotes a circle of women who combined the position of a selfsufficient creator and a muse for their companion. M. Verevkina (1860–1938) – a Russian artist, a representative of expressionism in painting, not only helped shape the aesthetic views of her husband A. Yavlensky, contributing to his art education, but for a long time “left the stage” for to not compete with him and help him develop his talent fully. Furthermore, she managed to anticipate many of the discoveries as for the use of light that are associated with the names of H. Matisse, A. Derain and other French fauvist. F. Kahlo (1907–1954), a Mexican artist, was a strict critic and supporter for her husband D. Rivera, led his business, was frequently depicted in his frescoes. C. Schumann (1819–1896) was a committed promoter of R. Schumann’s creativity. She performed his music even when he was not yet recognized by public. She included his compositions in the repertoire of her students after the composer lost his ability to play due to the illness of the hands. She herself performed his works, making R. Schumann famous across Europe. In addition, Clara took care of the welfare of the family – the main source of finance was income from her concerts. The article indicates the growing interest of the twentieth century composers to the poems of female poets. Among them M. Debord-Valmore (1786–1859) – a French poetess, about whom S. Zweig, P. Verlaine and L. Aragon wrote their essays, and her poems were set to music by C. Franck, G. Bizet and R. Ahn; R. Auslender (1901–1988) is a German poetess, a native of Ukraine (Chernovtsy city), author of more than 20 collections, her lyrics were used by an American woman-composer E. Alexander to write “Three Songs” and by German composer G. Grosse-Schware who wrote four pieces for the choir; I. Bachmann (1926–1973) – the winner of three major Austrian awards, author of the libretto for the ballet “Idiot” and opera “The Prince of Hombur”. The composer H. W. Henze, in turn, created music for the play “Cicadas” by I. Bachmann. On this basis, we conclude that women not only successfully engaged in painting, wrote poems and novels, composed music, opened «locked doors», destroyed established stereotypes but were a powerful source of inspiration. Combining the roles of the creator and muse, they helped men reach the greatest heights. Toward the twentieth century, the role of the fair sex representatives in the world of art increased and strengthened significantly, which led Western European culture to a new round of its evolution.
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Parkhomenko, Dar’ia. "“Musical gastronomy” in Rossini’s piano miniatures (on the example of the cycle “Quatre horsd’oeuvres et quatre mendiants”)." Aspects of Historical Musicology 19, no. 19 (February 7, 2020): 169–88. http://dx.doi.org/10.34064/khnum2-19.10.
Full textAbstract:
Formulation of the problem. If the operatic creativity of G. Rossini constantly attracts researchers, then the chamber instrumental music of the composer is lighted only in some works of Western European musicologists, in particular, in the dissertation of Sh. Miller (1990), in which the author analyzes Rossini’s late piano pieces, noting the master’s penchant for frequent repetitions of musical elements. Ch. Park (1997), in turn, examines the chamber-instrumental works of G. Rossini in stylistic and compositional aspects, as a result concluding about his bright innovativeness in this area. B.-R. Kern and R. Moller (2002) are interested in the facts of the composer’s life and create a detailed periodization of his biography and work, sometimes involving the analysis of chamber plays written in the Paris period (1823–1868). At the same time, in domestic sources, chamber-instrumental music by G. Rossini, which becomes a key area of activity in the mature period of his life, is covered only sporadically that determines the relevance of the proposed research. The purpose of this article is to reveal the peculiarities of G. Rossini’s interpretation of piano miniatures using the example of the cycle “Quatre horsd’oeuvres et quatre mendiants” (“Four appetizers and four desserts”). The main task is to consider the features of the composer’s interpretation of the program conception of the musical pieces. Research methodology. Wide cultural-historical and biographical research approaches clearing Rossini’s aesthetic position combine with traditional methods of musicological analysis for examination of the expressive means used by the composer. The specific aspect of considering Rossini’s piano miniatures determined by the fact that we can find numerous mentions about composer’s great passion for cooking in the current musical-critical works and studies about Rossini’s life and career. Research results. Cooking was a source of musical inspiration for G. Rossini. He could compose music during a meal and was able to write musical variations on napkins, often comparing music and food. In addition, he also became the author of two books of recipes, one of which was published under the editorship of T. Beauvert (1997) in Paris. The book came out under the title “Rossini les péchés de gourmandize” (“Rossini – the sins of gourmandize”) and is interesting because some dishes have musical names, for example, “Figaro” salad, “Pasticcini” pastries and “William Tell” cake, and as illustrations the musical works by the composer were used. In the period from 1857 to 1868, G. Rossini created ironic and humorous chamber music, among others eight albums of piano pieces included in his large collection “Peches de vieillesse” (a total of 164 compositions of chamber vocal and instrumental music, combined into 14 albums). The collection “Peches de vieillesse” includes three cycles and several individual food-themed pieces scattered across the various albums. All these miniatures bear the name of a certain culinary ingredient. The “edible” theme in “Peches de vieillesse” arose from the composer’s passionate love for gourmet dishes: he himself argued that good music and the exquisite taste of his dishes are inseparable. The article examines the piano miniatures that make up the “gastronomic” cycle “Four appetizers and four desserts”. According to the composer’s idea, the miniatures were to be performed on “Saturday evenings” in his house. The cycle consists of eight parts, which were included in the fourth album of the megacollection “Peches de vieillesse”. This “edible” cycle is divided into two groups of four miniatures: “Hors-d’oeuvres” / “Appetizers” (No. 1 “Les radis”, No. 2 “Les anchois”, No. 3 “Les Cornichons”: “Introduction: Theme et Variations”, No. 4 “La beurre”: “Theme and variations”) and “Mendicants” / “Desserts” (No. 1 “Les figuees seche”: “Me voila – Bonjour Madame”, No. 2 “Les amandes”: “Minuit sonne – Bonsoir Madame”, No. 3 “Lesraisins”: “A ma petite perruche”), No. 4 “Les noisette”: “A ma chere Nini”). The composition of the album combines the features of an eight-movement cycle and a cycle within a cycle, since the “appetizers” are separated from the “desserts” by a subtitle. In addition, each of the “desserts” is accompanied by short text lines emphasizing the composer’s sense of humor, where Rossini addresses to his wife (“Me voila – Bonjour Madame” – No. 1, “Minuit sonne – Bonsoir, Madame” – No. 2), to his parrot (“A ma petite perruche” – No. 3) and his dog (“A ma chere Nini” – No. 4). “Quatre hors-d’oeuvres et quatre mendiants”, at first glance, is a sequence of pieces of various tempers with a “culinary” program. Each of them poses complex performing tasks for the pianist (imitation of violin strokes, arpeggios and octave beatings at a fast tempo, fiorituras, abrupt changes in dynamic and tempo shades, etc.). The composer’s program idea is realized through a complex of diverse means of musical expression. For example, sharp changes in character and contrasting dynamic shades falling on each beat in the “Les radis” can be associated with the burning taste of a bitter root vegetable, etc. In “Les raisins”, to enhance the humorous effect, Rossini adds text to accompany the melodic line of the upper voice, so that a vocal part appears that completely duplicates the part of the right hand, which takes the cycle beyond the boundaries of piano music. However, in modern interpretations, performers omit these lines. Thus, the analysis of the plays of the cycle revealed a number of unusual compositional solutions (use of verbal text, quotes and allusions), which to a greater extent demonstrate “desserts”, where G. Rossini, in addition to the “culinary” program, using subheads associated with various communicative situations (relationship with his wife, pets, friendly caricaturing). The composer shows his commitment to theatricalization, due not only to various subheadsdedications, but also quotation and allusions (“Les raisins”, a “triple portrait” of the composer proper, his friend and his parrot). Conclusions. As a result, the piano cycle by G. Rossini, in a number of ways, approaches to the piano cycles of romantics, such as, for example, R. Schumann’s “Carnival”. The “culinary” program of the cycle is complemented by an arsenal of sound-visual means of the romantic era, to which G. Rossini refused to count himself among the composers. Along with program genre miniatures, there are portrait pieces; besides that, the composer conducts an indirect dialogue with contemporaries and close people (M. Carafa, J. Rothschild, O. Pélissier, F. Liszt). The pieces demonstrate a vivid theatricality, which is embodied in a variety of characters within one miniature-scene and even in the addition of a verbal text, which indicates the closeness of the cycle to instrumental theater – an attribute of musical creativity of the twentieth century.
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Kharenko, Alina. "Musical dramaturgy as a creative method in jazz art: the example of the piano art by Sergey Davydov." Problems of Interaction Between Arts, Pedagogy and the Theory and Practice of Education 55, no. 55 (November 20, 2019): 155–69. http://dx.doi.org/10.34064/khnum1-55.11.
Full textAbstract:
Background. Jazz is one of the most significant phenomena of the entire twentieth century, which in a very short period of time has won the attention of listeners around the world. Finally, many explores are interested in the study of jazz art as a significant element of the world’s musical heritage. There are a lot of works written by national and foreign musicologists who study jazz music from different viewpoints. A great variety of studies in jazz art include works devoted to the technical aspect, on the one hand: the study of scale harmony, rhythm, instrumentation, and on the other hand – the issues of historiography and style formation. However, focusing mainly on the identification of specific methods of using individual elements of the entire complex of music and expressive means of jazz art, scientists are less interested in the study of more «in-depth» issues, such as interpretation in jazz art, form building, semiotic and hermeneuticmethods of jazz music evaluation, musical dramaturgy. The concept of jazzmusic making remains unexplored. In our understanding, the study of musical dramaturgy deserves special attention, because at its level the coordinates of jazz music as a complex improvisation process converge. Objectives. The purpose of the article is to identify and study the main factors that determine the principles of formation of jazz musical dramaturgy at the level of solo piano composition. It is the improvisational nature of the composing and performing arts as well as the absence of a detailed musical notation that indicate the need to study the subject and an attempt to provide its scientific substantiation. Methods. The methodology of the study includes analytical, comparative, systematic and stylistic methods. This methodological basis allows us to identify the principles of jazz musical dramaturgy from the standpoint of piano jazz art, which, in the author’s opinion, gives an opportunity to speak about the peculiarities of organizing a musical text with the texture of different types of arrangement. Results. Over the last decades, jazz, without losing its specificity, has increasingly shown a tendency to interpenetrate with academic musical art, and at the same time become universal. An example of this could be the creative work of the renowned Kharkov jazz pianist Sergey Davydov. Turning to the specifics of the solo improvisational mastery of the pianist, we should distinguish the following important vectors in his work: commitment to the synthesis of jazz and academic traditions, tendency to polyphonize the textual presentation of the musical text, the use of the sonata principles as a consistent processual development of the whole complex of music and artistic ideas. The subject of the analysis offered in this study is a demonstrative example of the arrangement of the musical text of S. Davidov’s solo improvisation, which he demonstrated at the international festival “S. Rakhmaninov and Ukrainian Culturе”, which took place in Kharkiv in 2007 (the analysis was made on the basis of the video footage). The uniqueness of this example is that the pianist in his improvisation synthesized jazz intonation-rhythmic idiom with constructive and creatively inventive correlation of textural and compositional techniques of S. Rachmanino’s pianism. The conducted analysis confirms that S. Davydov, in addition to using the whole arsenal of specific jazz means of organizing sound fabric, adapts in his improvisation texturally-theatrical principles characteristic of S. Rakhmaninov’s work, and not only at the expense of quoting, but and at the intonational level. The factual organization of the composition, in this case, is based on the use of the potential of large and passage techniques, which brings together S. Davydov’s creative concepts with the aesthetics of virtuosity of European pianist composers of the Romantic period. Solo improvisation is analyzed – a kind of musical recital, which lacks the traditional jazz principle of formation based on variational construction, and is dominated by freely interpreted sonatas. Conclusions. Thus, the basic principles of musical dramaturgy formation in jazz art are: the use of specific jazz means of expression, which in the light of textual organization of the musical text realize the emotional and meaningful tension, forming a clear dramatic outline of the whole composition. Conflict, as a multilayered, comprehensive process of choosing an aesthetic position in the climax, reaches a point of dramatic ignition due to specific performance factors: dynamics, agogics, textural-rhythmic combinations. Not only specific performing skills but also energetic translation of the ideological content of the whole composition are involved in this process. In the context of jazz musical dramaturgy, one more important factor, which is fundamental in both solo and ensemble jazz art, is specific communication. However, when compared to academic music, where the listening strategy is interpreted as a «strategy of co-intonation to the sound form» but in jazz culture it is the listener who, at the level of the performer or interpreter, is a direct participant of musical dramaturgy creation. This is expressed by applause at times of intense tension or after the most successful improvisation of one of the ensemble members. Summarizing all the above, on the basis of the analysis we have tried to give our corrections to the concept of «musical dramaturgy in jazz» – is a thematic process of juxtaposition and interaction of elements of jazz language that contains various polystylistic complexes of Western European academic art, directing the energy of communication to the higher artistic unity of a jazz work.
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Metlushko, V. O. "The peculiarities of the instrumental parts interpretation in “Four Pieces for Clarinet and Piano” op. 5 by A. Berg." Aspects of Historical Musicology 15, no. 15 (September 15, 2019): 43–60. http://dx.doi.org/10.34064/khnum2-15.02.
Full textAbstract:
Background. Chamber instrumental music written for a clarinet follows the fate оf so-called small genres in the XXth century. The researches in a varying degree connected with problems of the music written for a clarinet or with its participation are very various. However, features of use of a clarinet in chamber genres are researched, as a rule, in aspect of wider perspective. Owing to this fact information on many compositions which entered the repertoire of modern performers in scientifi c and methodical literature either is absent, or does not exhaust all complex of the questions arising in connection with updating of musical language at preservation of the developed receptions of the instrumental and ensemble composing. Objectives. The purpose of the article is to reveal the features of chamber and instrumental ensemble in Four Pieces for Clarinet and Piano by A. Berg in terms of interpretation of technical and expressive opportunities of a clarinet and role functions of parts. Methods. Structurally functional, compose-dramaturgic and comparative methods of research are used. Results. As the presented literature testifi es, the performer, fi rst of all, should get acquainted with the scientifi c researches in order to facilitate the subsequent interpretation process. This is important for understanding not only the fi guratively emotional and meaningful side of music, but also the novelty of the ensemble ratio of instrumental voices. From this point of view, the clarinetist should be aware of his part both in its individual features, and as an integral part of a single thematic process. It is advisable to recall that the previous musical practice has formed different types of the ratio of parts. Аtonality of the Four Pieces op. 5, associated with the avoidance of tonal landmarks and based on the expressiveness of interval clutches, predetermined the emergence of a new quality of ensemble technique, which declares itself in leveling the concept of solo timbre, accompaniment techniques, and open interchange of thematic material. Outwardly, all these signs are present in the musical text, but the writing technique itself directs the musical process towards the creation of a single intoning space in which the participating timbre-register «individualities» appear to be components of a polyphonic texture. Despite this, the idea of ensemble in a broad sense is preserved, which allows us to consider the clarinet part as a relatively independent phenomenon. So, the plays collected in an opus assume possession of a various palette of articulation and dynamic means, capable to transfer thin change of lyrical moods. Their contrast is exhibited already in the fi rst play, which aims the performer to quickly switch to a different emotional mood in the absence of large-scale thematic structures. Against the background of the multievent fi rst play, the two middle ones are distinguished by their consistency of the fi gurative plan. Hence a more modest palette of strokes, articulation, tempo, dynamic changes. This kind of composer’s installation is largely due to the fact that they are enlarging the semantic ideas that were outlined at the beginning of the opus. Due to this, there is a bright contrast, a sharp change of emotional state. Details of this kind raise the requirements for the quality of performance and reveal the truly virtuosic nature of miniatures in the absence of traditional concert techniques. Final op. 5 is similar to the fi rst play by the presence of contrasting elements. Its complexity is indicated both by the rich texture of the piano part, distinguished by a complex rhythmic pattern, and the heterogeneity of the techniques in the clarinet part, where the expressive solo cantilena is adjacent to the background tremolo, angular non-legato motifs, written out by a group of thirty-second in a 9:1 ratio, register spread, sharp dynamic gradations from p to ff. The composer here remains true to himself, prescribing all tempo, dynamic, expressive techniques. Recall that the requirement of long pauses between plays, on the one hand, helps to switch to a different emotional state, on the other hand, complicates the act of performance due to the fact that ensemble artists must fi nd that measure of restraint of silence, which, while retaining the impression of the preceding, does not destroy the immediate contact with the audience. It is impossible to ignore the fact that in the absence of extraordinary innovations in the fi eld of performing techniques, the composer opens the way for further discoveries in this area. Conclusions. The results of the research summarizing analytical observations, including those in the literature we know about, and evaluating the creative discoveries of A. Berg in Four Pieces for Clarinet and Piano op. 5 taking into account the subsequent compositional practice, let us highlight a few fundamental, in our opinion, moments. First, op. 5 is distinguished by a radical renewal of the musical language, predicting the expansion of the boundaries of an established tradition; secondly, he became the ancestor of a new type of ensemble; thirdly, it allowed to treat the pause as an important component of the artistic intent, as an image of meaningful silence; fourthly, demonstrated a new understanding of software based on the symbolism of sounds and numbers; fi fthly, he revealed a deep connection with the tradition of changing musical patterns. In this context, from the cycle by A. Berg stretched a lot of threads to the works of composers belonging to different generations and national cultures. This allows us to speak about the weighty signifi cance of this opus in the history of the development of clarinet – not only ensemble, but also solo music. We conclude that at the same time, the real compositional practice of the subsequent time refl ected the multi-vector nature of creative interests, characteristic of the music of the twentieth century, where, along with the search for renewing principles, the established methods of instrumental.
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Biliaieva, N. V. "Оlexandr Litvinov – the founder of professional jazz education in Kharkіv (milestones in life and career)." Aspects of Historical Musicology 18, no. 18 (December 28, 2019): 171–90. http://dx.doi.org/10.34064/khnum2-18.10.
Full textAbstract:
Background. Musical culture of Kharkiv has a rich history associated with the names of prominent musicians such as R. Genika, I. Slatin and others. But the creative work of our senior contemporaries, artists, who created in the second half of the XX and early XXI century, made a great influence on the formation of the modern musical face of Kharkiv, the state of professional music education, too. O. I. Litvinov, a composer, pianist (as well as accordion player, performer on wind instruments), conductor and arranger, is no doubt among those artists. However, the creativity of this outstanding musician, who was actually the founder of professional jazz education in Kharkiv, is not currently the subject of widespread discussion in contemporary Ukrainian musicology. There are few sources that would cover O. I. Litvinov’s life and career. For the first time, he is mentioned as the founder of pops’n jazz performance department in a print publication dedicated to the 85th anniversary of KhNUA named after I. P. Kotlyarevsky. In the same context, O. Litvinov’s name is found in O. Kononova’s essay on the evolution of music education in Kharkiv in the jubilee edition dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the University. There is a biographical article in this very anniversary publication. In the earlier anniversary edition “Pro Domo mea” (on the 90th anniversary of the institution) there is some information about O. Litvinov regarding the history of the jazz department creation. Basic biographical data are briefly presented in the article of I. O. Litvinova in the Encyclopedia of Modern Ukraine. A small booklet dedicated to the major milestones of O. Litvinov’s life and creative work was published in the KhNUA (then KhSUA) named after I. P. Kotliarevskyi to mark the 75th anniversary of the musician. There are also several publications devoted mainly to specific dates in the creative life of the maestro (concerts, anniversaries, etc.): by H. Derev’ianko, L. Lohvynenko, M. Dvirnyi, A. Moshna, I. Polska, and O. Sadovnikova. Among purely research works devoted to this striking personality are the Master’s work by Yu. N. Shikova, which was written under the guidance of І. І. Polska at Kharkiv State Academy of Culture. The purpose of the article is to systematize existing information on the life and creative path of the prominent Kharkiv musician, give a brief description of the main features of his performing and composing style. Methods. The work employs historicobiographical, analytical and comparative methods, as well as a genre-stylistic approach. Results. O. Litvinov was born on November 17, 1927 in Zaporozhye. He received his elementary education at a piano music school. From 1943 to 1951 he was in military service, participated in the World War II. After the war, he continued to study music at Kharkiv Music College named after B. Lyatoshynsky, later at the Composition Faculty of Kharkiv Conservatory. He was expelled from there because of his passion for jazz. From 1951 he continued his musical activity as an artist of the MIA Variety Orchestra (in Dnepropetrovsk), in 1955–1956 he was a soloist of the Sakhalin Oblast Philharmonic and Khabarovsk Regional Philharmonic. In 1956–1958 he was the leader of the variety band of the Palace of Culture for Food–Industry Workers, in 1958–1961 he was the leader of the concert band of the Palace of Culture for Builders. From 1961 to 1973, he was the director of his own collective – Honoured Variety Ensemble “Kharkivyanka” at Kharkiv Electromechanical Plant. In 1965 he received the title of Honored Artist of Ukraine, in 1978 – People’s Artist. From 1973 to 1978 – Artistic Director and Conductor of the “Donbass”, Honored Mining Ensemble in Donetsk; from 1978 to 1980 – assistant at the Department of Cultural Studies, director of the Jazz Orchestra at Kharkiv Institute of Law. Since 1980 he worked permanently at Kharkiv I. P. Kotliarevskyi State Institute of Arts: first as a senior lecturer, later as an associate professor of the Chamber Ensemble Department, then as a professor of the Orchestra Wind Instruments Department. Since 1994 he created and headed the Department of Variety Orchestra Instruments, and at the same time he directed the variety-symphony orchestra of Kharkiv State Academy of Culture, the violin ensemble of the National Academy of Law named after Yaroslav the Wise. Since 1999 O. Litvinov was a full member of the Ukrainian Academy of Sciences of National Progress. In 2001 he became a diploma winner of the regional competition “Higher school of Kharkiv region – the best names” in the nomination “Head of Department”. In 2002 he was awarded the Honorary Medal of the Ministry of Culture and Arts of Ukraine. He died on March 15, 2007. O. Litvinov’s creative personality combines the image of composer, arranger, conductor, performer-multiinstrumentalist (apart from piano O. Litvinov played the accordion, organ, wind instruments, violin). O. Litvinov’s works employ the best achievements of world classics and Ukrainian academic music, in particular, the Kharkiv composition school, and embody the best features of jazz and, more broadly, variety music of the twentieth century. These stylistic origins often coexist organically in one piece by O. Litvinov. The performance style of O. Litvinov as a conductor is characterized by very clear, bright, emotional gestures, especially outstanding sounding of the orchestra, the ability to clearly show every change in the thematic development of the piece. The style of O. Litvinov’s arrangements was significantly influenced by the music of Hollywood films, the art of contemporary Soviet composers – Saulsky, Broslavsky, Pokrass, Dunaevskyi, jazz masters – Tsfasman, Utesov, Bernstein and others. Conclusions. O. Litvinov’s creative life was very bright and rich, and his musical activity was diverse and multifaceted. In the present works, the main focus is made more on the “polyphony” (according to A. Mizitova and A. Sadovnikova (2002, p. 17) of this life, its external events. Characteristics of the composer’s, performing, conducting styles of the artist are “inscribed” in this polyphony only as its “voices”. However, each of these voices needs, in our opinion, more detailed consideration. For example, O. Litvinov’s compositional heritage is very large, but only a few of his compositions are performed today and well known to the public. In fact, only one piece for violin ensemble (or for violin and piano), “Eternal Movement”, received true popularity among the performers and the public. Most other works are not published, and the fate of most scores is unclear. So, the direction of further research can be related to a more detailed study of some particular works of O. Litvinov that have survived as well as to deepening knowledge about his performing and pedagogical activity.
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Zhu, Fengdaijiao. "Zhu Jian’er’s life creativity: the historiography of the composer’s personality." Aspects of Historical Musicology 18, no. 18 (December 28, 2019): 190–212. http://dx.doi.org/10.34064/khnum2-18.11.
Full textAbstract:
Background. The article is devoted to the study of the personality of the outstanding Chinese composer Zhu Jian’er (1922–2017) – the leading figure of the national musical art of the twentieth century. It is proved that the presented problematic makes it possible to most deeply and accurately explore the musical heritage of the artist. In order to better understand the meaning of the composer’s creations, it is necessary to consider his environment, the stages of creative formation, the characteristics of character and personal qualities, his civic position and the characteristics of his worldview. Most of Zhu Jian’er’s life was in times of great turmoil associated with the Sino-Japanese liberation war, with the rigid ideological line of the Communist Party, with the excesses of the Cultural Revolution, etc. Consideration of the work of an outstanding composer through the prism of his personality became possible only in the twenty-first century, when Chinese society was completely freed from the pressure of ideology, which had long been felt after the policy of the Cultural Revolution in the country. Objectives. The purpose of this article is to systematize the historiographic information about the life-making of Zhu Jian’er in the context of the general trends in the development of Chinese musical culture of the twentieth and early twenty-first century. Methods. The methodology of the research is based on the scientific approaches necessary for the disclosure of the topic. The integrated research way is used that combines the principle of musical-theoretical, musical-historical and performing analysis. Results. The composer’s youth passed in Shanghai, occupied by the Japanese invaders. Great importance to the young man had a twenty-four-hour musical radio program, through which he became acquainted with European classical music. In 1945, the composer became the leader of the musical group of the Corps of Cultural Art of the Suzhou military district, and then the director and conductor of the orchestra. As soon as the country was liberated, the composer returned to Shanghai with many musicians from the military orchestra. He was appointed to the position of the head of the musical ensemble of the state film studio. In the summer of 1955, at the age of 33, Zhu Jian’er enrolled in the graduate school of the Moscow Conservatory. Returning to China in the summer of 1960, Zhu Jian’er was full of ambition and a desire to serve his homeland and people. However, the subsequent years of the Cultural Revolution for a decade deprived him of the possibility of full-fledged creativity. Own feelings receded into the background, the collective ousted the personal. In his music the composer presented the Cultural Revolution – with its false goals, ugly human relations, distorted values, unjustified sufferings. This idea formed the basis of the First Symphony. Many outstanding masterpieces of the composer have won major awards at home and abroad, bringing glory to Chinese music on the international music scene. People close to Zhu Jian’er noted that the composer was rarely seen among friends or acquaintances, he was silent and did not like to talk. He was very thin, and it was not clear how a fiery passion and great creative energy lived in such a weak body. The composer had a mild temperament, he never became angry with people and was careful in his statements. However, even such a kind and conflict-free person, faced with unhealthy trends in the music industry, was embroiled in legal proceedings related to “violation of rights” and was forced to fight for his reputation. But he was not afraid of reprisals, his energy and strong enthusiasm gave him strength. Despite the fact that Zhu Jian’er was always an ordinary person, immersed in his own affairs, he was not indifferent to the events in his country and the fate of the national culture. In addition, he was also worried about the international situation and the influence of China outside. The composer has always been interested in politics and collected information about musical culture abroad. He had his own understanding of the world, and he tried to hold an independent opinion, although, as a real creator, he was often visited by the spirit of doubt. Despite his painful body, Zhu Jian’er was a very tough and courageous man. In the years when China was shook by events that he considered as the national catastrophe, the composer retained loyalty to the power. It was not conformism, the musician sincerely loved his homeland and was ready to die for it, his position was that the mistakes would be corrected and the country would gain strength. These inner experiences deeply touched the composer’s mind and feelings, and were subsequently reflected in his music, being formed the unique musical style of his works. In recent years, as an elderly and painful man, Zhu Jian’er continued, in his words, “to pay off debts” – writing articles for various Shanghai music publishers, editing symphonic, orchestral and piano music, and writing a monograph. In most cases, this was underpaid or completely unpaid work. However, the composer was doing such work, considering it his duty. Conclusions. We can observe important milestones in the life-making of Zhu Jian’er, which radically influenced his multifaceted musical creativity. The outlook and civil position of the musician was formed during the years of the Sino-Japanese war of liberation. This enforced his ardent love for his native land and his people. Since he himself was physically unable to be in the ranks of the army, the desire to defend their homeland was expressed in the military songs by Zhu Jian’er. The critical attitude of the musician to the policy of the Cultural Revolution did not change his positive attitude towards life, but only made him think about the meaning of the artist’s life and purpose in society. The activities of the composer in the team of the military ensemble led him to realize the need for further professional development. The passionate desire to gain the highest stages of composer skills prompted Zhu Jian’er insistently to possess by this knowledge at the Moscow Conservatory and then at the Shanghai Conservatory. The composer honed his skills in the field of vocal, instrumental, chamber and choral music, however, the genre of the symphony in which the musician expressed his civic creed and view of the world became the pinnacle of his work.
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Zhu, Fengdaijiao. "The formation of the chamber-vocal style of Zhu Jian’er: early works." Problems of Interaction Between Arts, Pedagogy and the Theory and Practice of Education 52, no. 52 (October 3, 2019): 173–87. http://dx.doi.org/10.34064/khnum1-52.12.
Full textAbstract:
Background. The little-known pages of the work of an outstanding Chinese composer are presented. The genesis of chamber-vocal style is explored on the example of early chamber and vocal creativity of the 1940s. This is the stage in the formation of the musical language of the composer, which coincides with the “experimental” period of the formation of Chinese chamber vocal music of the twentieth century. Zhu Jiangier became one of the pioneers in the attempts of creative synthesis of national and European musical experience. Specificity of musical content and features of the intonational language, form, texture of the piano accompaniment of the cycle or. 1 (1940–1944) and two songs created in 1944 are considered. The characterization of the composer’s early song creativity, features inherent in his style, is generalized. It is proved that the earliest period of creativity, in particular, the sphere of chamber vocal music, which formed the personality of Zhu Jiangera style. Objectives. The purpose of this article is to consider and study the early period of the chamber-vocal creativity of Zhu Jian’er, the formation of his talent in his young years. The section of the creative biography of the composer, connected with the 1940s, has been least studied by researchers. At the same time, it was he who laid and formed the foundations of Zhu Jianar’s compositional personality in the field of vocal music. Methods. The methods of research are based on the scientific approaches necessary for the disclosure of the topic. The methodology is based on an integrated approach that combines the principle of musical-theoretical, musical-historical and executive analysis. Results. The specifics of the musical content, peculiarities of the intonational language, the composition form and texture of the piano accompaniment of the vocal cycle op. 1 (1940–1944) and two songs created in 1944 are considered. The subject content of the cycle songs covered a wide range of musical images. The central place in the songs is devoted to philosophical reflections on the meaning of life, the theme of love for the homeland, everyday sketches, and landscape and love lyrics, separation. The general composition of the first opus is of considerable interest – the first play is divided into four parts, which allows one to speak of such a structural phenomenon as a cycle in a cycle. There is clearly felt the influence of Western European compositional technology. At the same time, the song has features of traditional Chinese music, which is due, above all, to the elements of pentatonic in the melody of the vocal part of the work. The first song of op. 1 No. 1 “Memory” is a mini-cycle consisting of four parts. Poetic text determines the detailed nature of the musical composition with a pronounced ballad color and complex drama, the structure of the song is based on the principle of end-to-end development, the change of emotional mood occurs in one breath. Already on this composition it is clear that at the very beginning of his work Zhu Jian’er had the skill of a versatile depiction of inner experiences and difficulties encountered in the life of the hero. The second number or. 1 No. 2 “Waves washing sand” – imbued with a lyrical and philosophical mood. In the musical-figurative sphere, the landscape poetry occupies a central place with philosophical overtones, symbolically revealing the images of waves on the sand, characterizing the lyrical experiences of the hero and his sadness. op. 1 No. 3 “Lullaby” – the lyrical center of the cycle, a song of meditation with a predominant shade of sadness and philosophical overtones – the theme of enlightenment, the general meaningful canvas corresponds to the genre of lullabies, the appeal to the child, full of tender feelings. The fourth song Or. 1 No. 4 “I want to return to my homeland”, serves as a kind of finale. The basis of the song is the topic of separation, which is very popular in the songwriting of Chinese composers. The content of the song is symbolic: it is not only dreams of a distant friend, family and friends, but also a reflection of emotional feelings of separation from the motherland. Songs “Spring, when you return” and “Dream” were created by the composer in 1944, are devoted to events from the life of the composer. Zhu Jian’er saturates the musical fabric of the song with unstable harmonies, offers a more complex texture solution to the piano part (alternating polyphonic and homophonic-harmonious presentation) and gives it greater independence as an independent layer of musical tissue. The vocal melody also acquires a new look. An arioso-declamatory by nature, it embodies all the nuances of a poetic text that is pronounced with a special sentimental feeling (“Spring, when you return”) or a joyful hope (“Dream”). The analysis completes the generalized characterization of the composer’s early song-writing, in which the inherent features are distinguished. The skill and artistic significance of his songs testify to the fact that Zhu Jian’er succeeded in original compositions with vivid national characteristics. In the early chamber-vocal works of Zhu Jian’er, musical embodiment was achieved both in luminous, lyrical, and sad, even grim character themes related to the reflection of deep emotional, indeed – philosophical aspects of being revealed through a change of experiences. The theme of many songs is associated with the embodiment of the thoughts and feelings of a person, with the chanting of a beautiful nature. Conclusions. The least studied early period of creativity, in particular, the sphere of chamber-vocal music formed the individuality of the compositional style of Zhu Jian’er. Zhu Jian’er’s songs are characterized by vivid musical images and colorful writing, vividly representing the individuality of the composer’s musical language. These works alone allow us to say that in his early years the composer Zhu Jian’er was a high-level musician.
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Kostohryz, S. О. "Genre-style priorities for the development of composer’s work for the balalaika in Slobozhanska Ukraine." Aspects of Historical Musicology 13, no. 13 (September 15, 2018): 87–99. http://dx.doi.org/10.34064/khnum2-13.07.
Full textAbstract:
The article proposes analyze of the balalaika art and technical potential. The complex of texture- and register and timbreand phonic methods of suites performing, which represent the Ukrainian interpretation tradition of the genre, is determined. Instrumentalism principles and impacts in balalaika performance in the composer’s works of the twentieth century are revealed. Texture features of the works for balalaika suite genre are considered, the characteristics on the genesis stage of balalaika are marked: simplifi ed chord texture with narrow range, predominant two and three-voice texture in cantilena, minute passage technique with a small set of traditional rotations. Texture types of musical thematic presentment and the level of virtuosity of the stringed instruments in the sound formation are determined. The object of research is the professional performance on the balalaika. The subject of research is performing on balalaikas of Kharkiv as a component of Ukrainian musical art. In terms of instrumentalism as a type of thinking the method of sound production on the balalaika, dependent by the direct contact of the right hand fi ngers with a string, which is basic, creating countless bar, dynamic and timbral combinations, is revealed. In for balalaika M. Stetsun “With Balalaika in Spain” analyzed genre prototypes of the, that the impacts of the new romantic suite, characterized by a compound of stable (required) and free-variable cycle parts, based on the experience of the other genre forms of music-making, are immediately traced. Attention is paid to the unplugged (where violin takes the leading position), dynamic (where piano owns leading positions) and texture capabilities. Balalaika qualities are analyzed: limitation of natural acoustic properties requires texture mobility and frequent use of the tremolo; dynamic capabilities are also limited, as the result the “step” dynamics development is applied; texture possibilities are largely constrained by the range and technology. The principle of genre and stylistic synthesis, in which song and dance origins of national folklore and shaping structural logic borrowed from the experience of the Ukraine tradition are organically combined, is formulated. Multiple ties with folk traditions, which include: reliance on folklore themes and quotes; development techniques of the song thematic (inner thematic variation, imitation roll, undervoice polyphony, hidden two-voice texture); metro-rhythmic formula, coming from the dance genre; irregular accent, intended to the saturation of images with internal dynamics are revealed in the Concerto for balalaika and orchestra by A. Gaidenko. The use of styling techniques of playing folk music instruments in the balalaika party, which was used for the creation of a bright and deep national painted images typing, is specially emphasized. Overbalance of the lyrical narrative thematic invention, where folk type of the thematic invention makes to rearrange semantic accents in the genre interpretation, is identifi ed in “Variations on the Ukrainian Theme” by Gregory Tsitsalyuk. Improvisation, interpreted by the composer as a fi xed freedom, numerous brilliant colored soloist’s ritornels together with the main themes performing at the piano, broken chords, scale-wise passages – all marked methods indicate a high level of both externally-demonstrative and deep-semantic level of the music content. The arsenal of technical complexity methods of performing (articulation, strokes, complex elements), running on the disclosure of the musical work style; diversity of the texture design of musical thematic invention; genre and semantic specifi city (landscapes, personal experiences, household sketches, dance and song images), which is also connected with the balalaika specifi cs; and the dynamic profi le of musical drama cycle is detected. The idea of the historically formed specifi cs of textured and tonal articulation intoning on the balalaika in its academic status is adopted. Such levels of analysis like detection of existing texture and melodic formulas and connected with it fi ngering and articulation complex; timbre and texture and register variance confi rmed the instrumentalism genre specifi city. Articulation, timbre and texture technological formulas of balalaika performance, in terms of suite genre, which are universal from the point of view of the instrumental thinking specifi city, are found; their role in other genre and stylistic creativity conditions for balalaika are justifi ed. There are identifi ed such outlooks of research as the Concerto for balalaika and orchestra by P. Haydamakа, A. Gaidenko and the creation of a special “dictionary” as a system of typical historically selected texture and genre formulas. Piece, which reveal the balalaika evolution in the musical performing culture, served the basis for research. Current stylistic processes and their transformation in modern concert- and pedagogical practice were depicted in f piece for balalaika by G. Tsitsalyuk, P. Haydamakа, A. Gaidenko like in the mirror. Analyzed examples demonstrate the individual stylistic interpretation of genre, typical for the development of academic instrumentalism in the XX century. It was found, that art of balalaika performing infl uences the instrumental style of composing and keeps a memory of genre of composing and performing art in this sphere (methods of instrumental phonation and timbre- and phonic development).
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Hvarkata, Zdravka. "VАRIABILITY, APHORISTIC PHRASE AND PLAYING AS AESTHETIC AND STRUCTURE-FORMING PRINCIPLES IN "MOVEMENTS FOR 13 STRINGS INSTRUMENTS" BY SIMEON PIRONKOV." KNOWLEDGE INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL 31, no. 6 (June 5, 2019): 1817–22. http://dx.doi.org/10.35120/kij31061817h.
Full textAbstract:
The composition “Movements for 13 string instruments” was completed in 1967 and belongs to the group of works by Simeon Pironkov whose titles include the word “music” – “Night music”, which is written the year before, “Ballet music in memory of Igor Stravinsky”, created at the beginning of the ‘70s of the last century, and “Music for two pianos and orchestra”. The external connection is the genre uncertainty of their names, which is equally characteristic of the notion “movements” which emphasizes the continuity of the musical process over time without suggesting a connection to a particular genre. At the same time, unlike the three “music”-s, the plural form used in the title – “movements” – draws attention to the plurality of the musical impulses that make up the whole musical thought. The strength of the 13 string instruments indicates the belonging of the work to the chamber orchestral music and fits it into the objective European tendency towards chamberhood, which was established in the first decades of the twentieth century. Listeners are unexpectedly involved in “Movements for 13 string instruments” to hear about eight minutes 37 of micro-episodes – movements that resemble fast-moving movie frames or short theatrical scenes – before the colorful kaleidoscope of parallel-moving melodic lines, clusters, peculiar rhythmic formulas and characteristic strokes to be abruptly cut off by the “guillotine of the four-bars final” (according to the exact expression of the musicologist Rosalia Bix). The versatility of the used vehicles of expression and the masterful handing of them are important prerequisites for the artistic impact of the work, recreating with a laconic expression part of the ever flowing life stream in the form of a series of changing movements. At the same time, it is also a way of the composers playing with its own creation, an expression of the typical for the 20th century tendency for the art to entertain with its means. In any case, “Movements for 13 string instruments” express the youthful spirit of their creator, because, according to the extremely inventive maxim of the theater producer Nicolay Georgiev, “man has stopped playing not because he is old but he is old because he has stopped playing”.