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The present article examines the theme of chant used during the funeral service. First, thehistory of the burial of the dead in the first civilizations is presented. Next, the methodof burying the dead and the course of the funeral liturgy in Christianity are shown. The largepart of historical description includes analysis of the music that accompanied the deceasedon the last journey. Subsequently, using the method of text analysis, the author proveda deficiency of liturgical songs that would contain the message of resurrection and hope.
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The article presents melodic transformations of the antiphon ad Mandatum “Si ego Dominuset Magister” recorded in one of the most valuable Polish monuments of the late MiddleAges, Jan Olbracht Gradual (PL-Kk 43, AKKK). The analysis of transformations was carriedout on the basis of comparison with adiastematic notation of the discussed antiphonin Hartker Antiphonary (CH-SGs 390) and its melodic restitution in Graduale Novum.Conducted research led to establishing the identity of the version of the antiphon recordedin Olbracht Gradual and identifying basic differences from versions of the chant noted in oldermanuscripts, such as changes in the relationship between sounds, the use of larger intervalsand change in tonal attribution of the antiphon.
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In 2019, the process of digitising and cataloguing the collection of music literature in Wawelbegan on the power of a contract between the John Paul II pontifical University, the archiveof the Kraków Cathedral Chapter and the Chopin Institute. The work conductedas part of the „Heritage of Polish Music in Open Access” project consists in the digitalisationof the collection, cataloguing it in the RISM database, and creation of the digitaleditions of selected pieces. The digitalisation, cataloguing, and digital editing of the Wawelrepertoire will not only allow a more precise future insight into that invaluable collectionbut will also open entirely new research options that have previously been unavailable.
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In the folklore culture, improvisation can be found within works belonging to three distinct branches, which also are in syncretic relation: the literary, musical, and choreographic branches. The doina and the ballad combine, in different ways, both poetic and the musical improvisation. The genres represented by the doina and the ballad – lyrical and epic, determine the structural and interpretative essence of both species. The poetic content is a defining element for the ballad, because between the melody and the poetic content, the latter defines the genre of the work – the epic genre. On the contrary, in the doina, the melody is in the forefront. In terms of content, however, both species can approach the same subjects. From a musical aspect, both the doina and the ballad are focused on free improvisation, based on the combination of some established traditional musical elements. This often leads to confusion in the interpretation of the given works.
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The contemporary composers’ limited knowledge of the musical culture of the second half of the 18th and the first half of the 19th centuries has led to the fact that in the repertoire of students there is a uniformity and standard in the performance of famous composers and their works of this period. The holding of a number of educational exhibitions by the staff of the leading libraries of the Czech Republic and Ukraine revealed a large layer of musical culture of hitherto unknown works and their authors, especially from the Razumovskys’ music collection. The difficulty in reading the musical text in old keys did not become an obstacle to mastering this musical literature. Of particular note are Georg Benda’s Six Sonatas for Clavier. Interest is aroused not only by the comprehension of this work, but also by the personality of the composer, the era and the style of interpretation. The author strongly recommends including the composition of G. Benda Six Sonatas for Clavier into the educational repertoire of musical educational institutions.
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The work aims to highlight the cultural importance of the activity of the Antifonia Choir in the landscape of contemporary Romanian and European music. Founded in 1969 within the „Gh.Dima” Conservatory of Music from Cluj-Napoca (now Academy, ANMGD)) by the teacher, conductor and composer C. Rîpă in order to promote the new trends in Romanian avant-garde music, the choir was composed, from the very beginning, of the best solfegists of the institution, trained to be able to interpret in the first absolute audition works of great complexity signed by both contemporary Romanian and foreign composers. Completed by the list of premieres, Antifonia’s portfolio includes over 1000 concerts, 14 international awards, participation in important European festivals, collaboration with important orchestras and conductors of world renown. The cultural dimension consists in the uniqueness of the Antifonia phenomenon as well as in the leading role of the Romanian choral movement in the last two decades of the second millenium.
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Does the music work remain the sole property of the composer? What could have sensitized the performer to the point that he improvises his own short introduction before starting the piece, and changes the authentic nuances in some bars? Is the definition of „impromptu” giving freedom to reflect the true feeling inspiration of the performance moment? Th e article includes an introduction on F. Schubert, famous Austrian composer and pianist, the study of the impromptu genre definition and historical context. Th e authors have chosen interpretative versions on F. Schubert’s Impromptu no. 3, op.90 offered by V. Horowitz, S.Richter, D.Lipatti, M.J. Pires, D. Fray, K. Buniatishvili. Besides a short description of their pianistic abilities, the authors tried to reveal the individual approach of each performer. It is important to mention an unusual treatment of this genre by D. Lipatti who added his own two bars improvised on Schubert’s text.
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Paul Constantinescu had close ties with musicians from Bassarabia and Bucovina from a young age. In 1936 he published in Cernăuţi the work” Costea”, on lyrics by George Coşbuc, with the support of his friends Liviu Rusu and Paul Streinul, at the Mitropolitan Silvestru’s Priningt House. In the same year, the second performance of the” Liturghia în stil psaltic” („Liturgy in Psaltic Style”) also took place in Cernăuţi, and in 1939 the first performance of the Sinfonietta was held in the same city. This paper brings to the fore two works composed by Paul Constantinescu in 1941, the year when Marshal Ion Antonescu signed the June 22nd decree that marked Romania’s entry into the war. Animated by strong patriotic emotions, the composer wrote, in a few days, two works: the cantata „Moartea eroului” (Death of the Hero) and the symphonic poem” Cântarea Basarabiei”(Singing to Bassarabia). If during the communist regime, the two works were kept well hidden in the archives of the Romanian Union of Composers and Musicologists, they were recovered for the cultural circuit after the events of 1989. „Cântarea Basarabiei” was published in the year of the Great Union Centenary at the Music Publishing House in Romania.
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The variety of musical genres approached in the compositional and interpretive art of the contemporary era, effectively, generated the idea of their synthetic application in the process of musical creation. The potential of the musical language varieties, compositional and interpretive techniques generate continuous motor skills in exploring a wide range of motives and subjects – from the historical-mythological to modern global ones. Conceptually, these realities also imply the imperative of the synthesis of genres in the art of music. The contemporary era abounds in experiments in this regard, by overcoming some clichés and conquering new plans of expression. In this study, I intend to highlight creative tendencies in contemporary composition, which result in a synthesis of standardized genres.
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The article presented further is devoted to the specific aspects of interpretation of Robert Schumann’s cello concerto in A minor. In the article we aim to give a complete review of performing challenges, namely comprehension of the integrity of the form, the romantic tempo-rhythm and the specific perception of the musical text when it comes to the romantic style in music. We also analyze the literary origins of the Romantic era in the context of the performer’s preparation and practice.
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A hybrid that originated in the traditional peasant music, Romanian popular music (muzică populară), as it is known from radio broadcasts, TV shows or live performances from all around the country, was developed by mixing the village music of the twentieth century with techniques and principles borrowed from the classical repertoire and other light genres. Muzica populară emerged in the interwar years, but was perfected and regulated by the communist regime, becoming one of the favorite genres of the rural and urban working class and, nowadays, it continues to have a great appeal among all age categories. Our aim was to discover the motivations that lead the village youth of Romania to involve themselves in activities dealing with muzica populară, in particular, or with folklore and traditions, in general. To accomplish this, we conducted several interviews with young people from Sălaj county, from which a few patterns emerged: the rapid familiarization with the genre due to specific TV channels; the acquired taste due to grandparents raising their grandchildren in the absence of the parents who migrated in the 2000s; the expressed devotion to the local culture and their willingness and duty to preserve and promote it. We can also explain the success of muzică populară among young people by structural factors that are at work in the whole society, namely the lack of interest of post-communist authorities in building and/or maintaining a cultural and educational infrastructure in the rural areas. Thus, this paper aims to explore contemporary rural pop culture by considering the connection between the deterioration of the cultural infrastructure in rural areas, transnational migration and the exponential development of an industry devoted to the recent muzică populară.
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The article is an attempt to discuss the specificity of the narrative in radio documentary. The documentary is treated as an artistic form of radio based on the character’s statement born during a meeting with a reporter, the documentary maker. The narrative is treated as an individual statement by the character, but also as a text of culture. Dialogue rules both perspectives. The relationship takes place between the character and the reporter, but also between subsequent elements of the audio material composed according to the author’s intention. We also discuss about the radio documentary being as a form of dialogue with the listener. The essence of the article is the proposed divisions of the radio reportage narrative, taking into account the narrative as a personal statement and as a text. The categorization was supported by examples from Polish radio documentaries. Theoretical considerations are based on studies on artistic radio genres, psychological narrative, narrative identity, and the philosophy of encounter. Radio documentary, which is emphasized by theoreticians and practitioners of the genre, is born out of a situation where there is a dialogical meeting between the author and the protagonist, and the verbalization of experiences during this meeting is a form of identity building. A look at radio documentary from a psychological perspective and the resulting classifications will indicate the importance of interdisciplinary research into audio artistic genres.
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The present study analyses, for the first time, the relationship between Phanariot poetry (Phanariotika) and music preserved in manuscripts (collections called Mismayes) and printing anthologies with the help of Byzantine musical semiography, starting from the end of the 18th century until the second half of the 19th century. Produced by the Greek elite in Istanbul, but also in the Danubian Principalities during the Phanariot reigns in Wallachia and Moldavia, this repertorial corpus with an obvious entertainment function is investigated on various layers, from aspects related to the themes of Phanariot lyrics in relation to the social function of this music to technical aspects related to specific musical rhythms and modal structures (ēchoi and makams) etc. An important segment of the research deals with the categories of musicians who composed and performed this melange music, as well as the forms in which the repertoires in question were promoted at the courts of the Phanariot princes, in direct relation to musical practices at the Ottoman Court in Istanbul.
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During the first decades of the 19th century, Byzantium was still strong in the collective consciousness and memory, and remained a powerful influence in the lives, the attitudes and the cultural creations of the people of South Easter Europe. In this environment two important personalities emerged: Athanasios Christopoulos in letters and politics, and Nikēphoros Kantouniarēs in music. Their paths crossed in the cultural environment of the Phanariot society and the result of this relationship gave birth to a series of works of art that are the subject of this paper. More specifically, we are presenting twenty-seven (27) songs composed by Nikēphoros on lyrics by Athanasios Christopoulos. The article makes a brief reference to the musical context, gives brief biographical information and proceeds to a topical, rhythmic and morphological analysis. It’s noteworthy that the musical arrangements are in sixteen (16) modal entities and their names pointed out by using both the terminology of Byzantine music and the maqam music one. From a rhythmic standpoint, most of them are in the simple and understandable pattern of one 4-beat usul sofian and two songs in peculiar 10-beat rhythms.
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Relying primarily on tradition, music in Montenegro during the National Liberation War, despite the difficult years of slavery, revived with new strength whose main motives were the call for rebellion, the struggle for liberation and the path to a brighter future. Resisting the occupier in 1941, the people of Montenegro, determined to oppose the enemy,called for a nationwide uprising with their songs, the songs raised fighting morale, instilled courage and were an incentive for further action. Created on the model of old patriotic and revolutionary songs, they testify to significant events, endless marches and great battles that were fought during the liberation war on the territory of Montenegro and in the entire South Slavic area. Long after the end of the war, popular partisan songs against fascism and workers ‘songs with social themes dealing with labor rights, social justice and equality were sung at celebrations and workers’ events. In that period of rebuilding the destroyed country, in the newly formed socio-political system, many creators sided with ideologically oriented socially engaged action. Mass songs with current, socio-political content, then rhapsodies, poems, cantatas, oratorios and suites, thematically related to events and personalities from the National Liberation War were created in the post-war decades by Montenegrin composer Borislav Tamindzic (1932-1992). Adapting music to the given themes, he composed and did arrangements for films, theater, radio and television dramas and thus created works that became part of the program of stage and music spectacles, state anniversaries, traditional ceremonies, events and important anniversaries related to World War II organized in Montenegro and the former Yugoslavia.
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Specific to southern Moldavia, archaic pre-Christian carols are to be found nowadays only in three villages within Vaslui county: Berezeni, Iveşti and Pogoneşti. The analysis of this ritual song’s origin and significances takes into account several carols collected by the folklorist Vasile Adăscăliţei between 1967 and 1972. The present study analyzes the significance of the archaic carol as a tradition performed around New Year, with ritual connotations specific to the old Romanian village’s magic world, placed in a larger context of worldwide rites and symbolics.
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The article aims to examine the circumstances of Milhaud and Villa-Lobos’s encounter, who are the significant figures of 20th century French and Brazilian avant-garde. The analysis of the principle aspects of youthful inspirations, musical approaches and personalities as per Mieczysław Tomaszewski’s concept of the integral interpretation, presents the impact of cultural milieux on artists’ aesthetics, together with their apparent fascination with Carnival. Additionally, the study highlights a connection between the composers’ natures and the fantasy implied either as a category or a genre fantasia. As a result, various analogies are identified linking the composers’ life and musical language.
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The habit of Iad bands caroling for the Advent is a very old one. The " drummer bands ", as they are named in Arad County, continue ta organize themselves every year for the Advent in the villages of Mureş Valley, this habit reperesenting in this regard a local version of Carpathian youth brotherhood, with deep roots in old Dacian, Germanie (mannerbund), Iran male secret societies. Analyzing the scenario of drum caroling it is carried today, 1 noticed that the drummers continue ta follow the old rules for the organization of the group and ta perform the mandatory sequences of the habit, even meanwhile there have been some simplifications and omissions. In the same ethnographic area in the past 40 years, along with caroling in the streets of the village, came a hybrid form of the habit, that is caroling with drums an stage. Despite the de-ritualization and the desemantization of the gestures, the new form was approved by rural communities, becoming a tradition itself. Its acceptance by the community is obliging the researcher ta consider the analysis for both of them.
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