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The paper deals with the relationship between the art of music and human emotions, in particular, with the feature of musical works designated in aesthetic literature as „expressiveness“. After a short presentation of several main attempts at explaining the expressiveness of music in analytical aesthetics, the author offers a clarification of the conceptual confusion within presented theories, and points out their main difficulties and deficiencies.
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The aim of this research is to try to understand if songwriting can be considered poetry, particularly that of Francesco Guccini, a singer-songwriter of the very beginning. He is undoubtedly influenced by the musical wave coming from a new generation of songwriters from the United States. The American fashion easily takes root in Europe and makes many proselytes. From the outset, the singer-songwriter in question writes the lyrics to his songs, set them to music and sang them in taverns and dance halls, telling stories he had experienced or witnessed. Thus, he begins his career as a storyteller, his aspiration is telling stories by singing in rhyme. In his lyrics he tells about himself, his family, his origins, the people he knows or has known, he talks about the past and the future, always, however, through a serious and careful psychological introspection. Reading the lyrics of his songs, we immediately realize that they are real poems, but above all we understand his great cultural depth; indeed, apart from the quotations of illustrious authors such as Carducci, Gozzano or Eliot, our singer-songwriter delves into the human soul, bringing to light hidden emotions, which he then transmits to his audience through his music. From his earliest compositions to his latest album, his lyrics have always triggered strong emotions, despite the succession of generations, thanks to his skill in using words.
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"Aca de Barbu was a woman of rare distinction, doubled by an extraordinary work force, at the same time by a disturbing generosity, in accordance with an unbridled passion to identify herself with everything that means beauty of the song [...] Aca de Barbu had o voice of a rare quality, with a volume of a shocking dramatism, not to mention the vocal technique, truly exceptional! She played the soprano roles and mezzosoprano roles with equal ease [...] a great opera singer, a true singing teacher and a musician of ardent patriotism" – these are the valences attributed to the personality of Aca de Barbu, by the musicologist Doru Popovici, in some excerpts from the Preface of the monograph written by the musician Corneliu Buescu. To complete this portrait, we would add the fact that Aca de Barbu assumed the leadeship of the National Opera in Timișoara, from its establishment until 1956. This aspect seems all the more relevant in the context in which this year, the Romanian National Opera in Timișoara celebrated its 75th anniversary since inauguration with Aida by Giuseppe Verdi, on April 27, 1947. An extraordinary step forward for the Banat culture and not only, that Aca de Barbu achieved through an extraordinary will and selflessness.
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The ancestral spiritual experience, shamanism has always represented a fascination forthe human being. Holder of a complex spiritual universe, the shaman is the master of ecstatic journeys, in the Upper world and in the Lower world, between Heaven and Earth. As Mircea Eliade shows, thanks to the experiences gained through "ecstatic trance", only the shaman knows the drama of the human soul, its instability and precariousness. The shaman is the greathealer or the great physician of the soul. Starting from the belief that any disease is caused bya deficiency or a major spiritual crisis, the shaman descends into Hell to find the lost soul of the patient and bring it back to the body. The well-known play by Tennessee Williams, "Orpheus in Hell", illustrates the shamanic experience of Val Xavier, (also called Snake Skin), in order to save the soul of his lover - Lady; the modern version of Eurydice. In his capacity as a shaman,Snake Skin has the snake as a protective animal, but also as a master of initiation. The existence of the "animal double" in the character's destiny is the expression of thefact that shamanic powers are embodied in animals and that the role of the shaman consists in discovering them. The defining element of Val Xavier's existence is the guitar, since music is the language secret of the first artist - shaman of mankind: Orpheus!
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Founded more than 420 years ago, this opera aimed to recreate a perfect blend of music, theatre and dance – the pillars of ancient Greek theatre – a desideratum that, in some respects, has persisted over the centuries. The Enlightened Week by Nicolae Branzeu, which, as we will demonstrate, happily brings together the constituent elements of total syncretic art, has a special place in the history of the Romanian opera. The work, structured as a one-part poem, capitalizes on the Wagnerian technique of infinite melody. The compositional language of Romanian musical expression is distinguished by the recitative vocal interventions (the arioso treatments are less common) and by giving the central role to the orchestra; it is the one that exposes the musical motifs, comments or supports the scaffolding of dramaturgy with a special sensitivity. The Enlightened Week is a place where human encounters the sacred and the heresy. The context outlines the discovery of new coordinates of the archetypal characters: the mother under the sign of a cleavage – life-giving and death liberator; the son – located between the abyss of human conscience and salvation; the old woman, stood out as a saviour, lost in revenge. The apotheosis predicted by the spectator is in total discord with the sonorous event that the composer ultimately validates. The present study outlines the panoply of leitmotifs, the harmonic work, the gradation of musical tensions and the role mapping, to provide a unitary projection of the author's identity matrix in the context of universal compositional diversity. The Enlightened Week anchors a reference chapter of the Romanian opera, and its value coordinates – captured by the interwar press – were also validated by George Enescu. A unique work in the Romanian genre creation, obscured by the maze of history.
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The concerto for string orchestra was approached by Romanian composers in the mid 20th century, using various methods, which have highlighted the immense potential a string ensamble can encompass. Multiple phases can be distinguished in the genre’s stylistic evolution, 1950-1960 (Sigismund Toduță, Paul Constantinescu, Ion Dumitrescu, Tudor Ciortea), 1960-1980 (Wilhelm Georg Berger, Adalbert Winkler, Remus Georgescu, Mircea Chiriac, Șigismund Toduță, Vasile Herman), 1980-2000 (Vasile Timiș, Viorel Munteanu, Liana Alexandra, Ulpiu Vlad). Frequently resorting to the structure of the Baroque style, some composers managed to create musical speeches of great virtuosity and expressivity, similar to those of a lead singer, using all the elements of the musical language: melody, rhythm, dynamics, agogic, timbre.
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Parnassus Musicus Ferdinandæus is a collection of motets dedicated to Archduke Ferdinand II and printed in 1615 in Venice under the care of Giovanni Battista Bonometti (Italian musician active in the first two decades of the17th century). He brought together the creations of thirty-two Italian composers – motets composed on psalms and sacred songs – being not only a reflection of the taste of the future emperor and of the musical chapel at his court in Graz, but also a proof of the contribution of Italian music to the shaping and evolution of musical art of that period: the collection is the most important testimony of the early Baroque in Austria. In this way, will be analyzed the works entitled Cantate Domino, two motets on continuous bass with similar text, composed by Claudio Monteverdi (1567-1643) and Orazio Nanterni (born in the middle of the XVI century) active in Milan in the first decades of the seventeenth century. The structure of these vocal miniatures with instrumental accompaniment, but also their functionality, which goes far beyond the liturgical space, highlight a strong influence of Italian music in the region. The direct presence of Italian musicians at the courts of Central Europe or of their works is an additional proof of the importance and influence exerted from a Latin space in a culture of Germanic origin.
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The development of musical culture, especially in Central and Eastern Europe, is characterized by extremely lively exchange and lively relationships. The documents of these relationships are partly the surviving letters. All types of letters, both private and business, are of interest to the musicologist, and not just letters from the so-called "heroes" of music history, but especially from musicians or people who are only locally known and who are involved in music.
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The correspondence of the composer and writer Milenko Paunovic (1889¬1924) has a great role in revealing different aspects of his life, work and mind. Nearly 100 letters are preserved, most of which belong to his correspondence with his familly and particularly with his sister Jelena Paunović, a pianist. One part of Jelena's correspondence with other persons gives ns also diverse informations about her brother. All the saved letters are kept in the holdings of the Institute of Musi¬cology and the Serbian Archive.Paunović's correspondence is discussed from several viewpoins. In the intro¬duction of the article is given a brief survey and description of the correspondence (according to the list enclosed at the end of the text). This is followed by analysis of some of Jelena's letters that clarify certain facts about the posthumous fate of Paunović's works. In the two central parts of the article the correspondence is observed as a source rich with informations concerning Paunović’s biography, dating and chronological systematization of his works, as well as his (un)realized plans for performance. The concluding discussing is devoted to Paunović's perso¬nality, his ambitions, aspirations, relations to the others: it is possible to determine and explain his artistic creation like a specific autobiography and his correspondence speaks in favor of this thesis.
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The interwar competition between two influential musicians from Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia, composer Petar Koljović and conductor Zdeljek Halabala (Chalabala), shows the performance of the opera Koiššna on Czech stages, in Brno and Prague, in 1932 and 1935. For these occasions, there was a reworking of a complex musical-scenic work such as KoiiiuiuHu, which was largely initiated by the conductor of the opera in Brno, Zdeljek Halabala. The retouching and addition of the score will take place over the road, on the route Brno - Zagreb, or rather Prague - Zagreb or Prague - Belgrade. In the period 1932-1940, as long as the ban lasted, about 100 pieces were composed, mostly preserved in the composer's penmanship.
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The correspondence between two of the most important composers in Yugoslavia during the period between the two world wars: Miloje Milojević (1884¬1946), a Serb living in Belgrade, and Slavko Osterc (1895-1946), Slovene living in Ljubljana, gives us valuable insight into their musical aspirations, ambitions, relations to other colleagues, the functioning of musical institutions and the cultural and even political climate of the times. The stylistic features of their works are basically different, Milojević being a modernist with late romantic roots, while Osterc was inclined to objectivity of the neoclassical and »constructive expre¬ssionist«' type. The main topics of their correspondence include: the activities of the Yugoslav section of the International Society7 for Contemporary Music, in which they were very7 much involved, and the efforts they made to have their works performed both in the country and abroad. Milojević and Osterc maintained very good relations throughout the period covered by this exchange of letters, that is from 1933-1941 (Osterc's last letter was sent three months before his death in May 1941) and their correspondence provides evidence of several instances of the mutual generosity7, as they helped each other in their careers.The portion of this correspondence that is kept in Ljubljana - Milojević's letters to Osterc - has already been published and analysed by Dragotin Cvetko. As such, the edition of the remaining correspondence, Osterc's letters to Milojević, that is kept in the private archive of Milojević's grandson Vlastimir Trajković in Belgrade, completes the picture. The language Osterc used was his mother tongue, Slovenian, with »borrowings« from the Serbian, the result being an often amusing mixture of the two.
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The style of Schönberg's letters is impulsive, oriented towards communication, perhaps less sophisticated and more spontaneous compared to the writing style of some contemporaries. The parallelism between Schönberg speaking, acting and composing and the lively expression of the letters may be justified. The most scientifically significant part of the correspondence are the documents that document the intellectual exchange between Schönberg and his students. The letters that were sent to Schönberg from the closest circle of students - Berg and Webern in particular, but no less important Josef Polnauer, Erwin Stein and Heinrich Jalowetz - or the master's letters to the students are of inestimable value. The by no means untroubled relationship between the triad of the Vienna School, the conflicts that arose due to Schönberg's often demanding character, but also the strong solidarity between the three avant-gardists can be seen directly in the letters.
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From the voluminous correspondence of Bartók, which is kept in the hospital archive in Budapest, a part was selected that refers to the commissitor's correspondence with the Bulgarian folklorist Rajna Kacarova. The old topics of this correspondence, conducted from 1935 to 1937 in French, were Bartok's plans to visit Bulgaria in order to better get to know the country's musical history, as well as the professional questions of recording folk music.
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The Serbian ethnomusicologist and music pedagogue Miodrag A. Vasiljević corresponded with colleagues from neighbouring Bulgaria between 1934 and 1962. This exchange of letters went through three phases. The first phase was linked with his stay in Skopje until the breakout of World War II; during the second phase - in the course of the 1940’s - he was active in the Department for Folk Music at Radio Belgrade and he founded his method of music teaching on traditional Serbian music; in the third phase (the 1950’s and beginning of 1960’s) Vasiljević aimed at a closer cooperation with Bulgarian musicians. All the phases are characterised by his pronounced interest in the folk music heritage of Balkan peoples. At the beginning that interest was focused on popularising art music that was based on folk music. Later, he enthusiastically carried out his reforms of music teaching in Serbia, as well as improvements of methods in Serbian ethnomusicology.
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Scientific autonomy does not in itself lead to the isolation of music in the aesthetic domain. Founded on the coherent network of its own rules, the musical system is able to bend and modify itself under the influence of what is “external” to it: the meaning contained in linguistic statements. The idea of musical representation is then modified in the direction of a possible reconciliation of (Cartesian) reason and creative imagination, of the general and the particular, of the norm and of individuality, to the extent that the musical system, becoming analogous to the linguistic system, as “language in action”, participates each time in the event of its own creation.
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The fundamental question of identity on all levels - national, religious, socio-political, cultural, existential - which presupposes all of Schnittke's work finds its answer in the polystylistic method developed by Schnittke. According to this method, there are two types of relationship to tradition: the quotation principle and the allusion principle. Polystylistics becomes an expression of Schnittke's artistic worldview. This is evident in the inner program of his instrumental work, but above all in the dramaturgy of his stage works. The author takes the opera Historia by D. Johann Fausten and Life with an Idiot as an example.
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Sofia Gubaidulina’s compositions are characterised by a special kind of symbolism and constructivism both based on numbers, i.e. mathematical proportions. In almost all her works so-called numerical plots can be detected. The proportions of the Fibonacci series provide a basis for many of her works composed since the beginning of the 1980s. In more recent times she used some rows derivating from the Fibonacci series, in particular the Lucas sequence.
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The history of Western classical music and the development of its notational system show that composers have tried to control more and more aspects of their compositions as precisely as possible. Total serialism represents the culmination of compositional control. Given this progressively increasing compositional control, the emergence of chance music, or aleatoric music, in the mid-twentieth century is a significantly interesting phenomenon. In aleatoric music, the composer deliberately incorporates elements of chance in the process of composition and/or in performance. Consequently, aleatoric works challenge the traditional notion of an art work as a closed entity fixed by its author. The philosophical root of aleatoric music can be traced to poststructuralism, specifically its critique of the Enlightenment notion of the author as the creator of the meaning of his or her work. Roland Barthes' declaration of "the death of the author" epitomizes the poststructuralists' position. Distinguishing "Text" from "Work," Barthes maintains that in a "Text," meanings are to be engendered not by the author but by the reader. Barthes conceives aleatoric music as an example of the "Text," which demands "the birth of the reader." This essay critically re-examines Barthes' notion of aleatoric music, focusing on the complicated status of the reader in music. The readers of a musical Text can be both performers and listeners. When Barthes' declaration of the birth of the reader is applied to the listener, it becomes problematic, since the listener, unlike the literary reader, does not have direct access to the "Text" but needs to be mediated by the performer. As Carl Dahlhaus has remarked, listeners cannot be exposed to other possible renditions that the performer could have chosen but did not choose, and in this respect, the supposed openness of an aleatoric piece is closed and fixed at the time of performance. In aleatoric music, it is not listeners but only performers who are promoted to the rank of co-author of the works. Finally, this essay explores the reason why Barthes turned to music for the purpose of illustrating his theory of text. What rhetorical role does music play in his articulation of "Work" and "Text"? Precisely because of music's "difference" as a performance art, music history provides the examples of the lowest and the highest moments in Barthes' theory of text, that is, those of Work and Text. If, for Barthes, the institutionalization of the professional performer in music history demonstrates the advent of Work better than literary examples, the performer's supposed dissolution in aleatoric music is more liberating than any literary moments of Text. This is because the figure of music--as performance art-- provides Barthes with a reified and bodily "situated" model of the Subject.
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Годишња конфсрснција Британског форума за етномузикологију овс годинс јс, V сарадњи са Одсском за извођачкс умстности на Унивср- зитсту Брунсл V Твикснхаму, ирсдграђу Лондона, окуиила стномузико- логс и музикологс из вишс свроиских зсмаља и са других континсната. Учссници скуиа су махом ирсдавачи на унивсрзитстима и колсџима или сарадници научних института.
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Од 12. до 26. сситсмбра 2001. годинс одржан je v Јсрсвану (Јсрмснија) Други мсђународни фсстивал и симиозијум «Традиционална и духовна музика - наслеђе човечанства» (Traditional and Sacred Music - Heritage of Humanity) односно пуним називом «Традиционнам и духовнам музмка - наслсдис чсловсчсства (Восток - Заиад: диалоги в Армснии). У оквиру симиозијума билс су ирсдложснс три области: Исток и Заиад - антитсза и синтсза, Канонскс традицијс ритуалнс и црквснс музикс и Духовнс тсмс v стваралачком дслу комиозитора v другој иоловини 20. вска.
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