INSIDE THE DANTE WORLDS: SYMBOLIC SPACE OF BORIS TISHCHENKO’S "DANTE-SYMPHONIES" On the 755th anniversary of the birth of Dante Alighieri (1265–1321)

The article is devoted to the embodiment of Dante's "Divine Comedy" in the music of the Saint Petersburg composer Boris Tishchenko (1939–2010) using his "Dante Symphonies", op. 123 (1997–2005) as an example. There are several studies, analyzing various aspects of the implementation of the immortal Dante's masterpiece in the field of musical art. Among these works it is worth mentioning the research essays dedicated directly to "Dante-symphonies", which are authored by A. N. Knyazev, G. P. Ovsyankina, M. S. Samarina, S. Yu. Sumin. The present research lies in the plane of the local key problem, which brings relevance and novelty to the sphere of modern musical dantology — synthesis of numerical codes and biblical symbols in "Dante-symphonies". The article reviews biblical symbolism as the forming element of Boris Tishchenko's "Dantesymphonies". The analysis reveals the principles of synthesis of composer's techniques of the XXth century, sacred symbolism of the Holy Writ and numerical codes. The accompanying text to the symphony is studied. The author examines characteristic features of the composer's style as applied to the musical language of "Dante-symphonies".

Download Full-text

Medieval Interpretation of Phonation Through the Divine Comedy, by Dante Alighieri

Otolaryngology ◽

10.1177/01945998211073056 ◽

2022 ◽

pp. 019459982110730

Author(s):

Martha Borraccini ◽

Matteo Marinini ◽

Michele Augusto Riva

Keyword(s):

Middle Ages ◽

Dante Alighieri ◽

Medical Knowledge ◽

Divine Comedy ◽

Word Formation ◽

Medieval Period ◽

Vocal Cords ◽

The Divine Comedy ◽

And Function ◽

Dual Functions

The anatomic and medical knowledge of people throughout history is unexpectedly evident in some of the poems and texts written by intellectuals of the time. This article attempts to understand the conception of laryngology in the Middle Ages by analyzing the Divine Comedy, written by the Italian poet Dante Alighieri (1265-1321) at the beginning of the 14th century. In the text, Dante mentions the throat several times. He recognizes that the larynx has the dual functions of allowing respiration (dead souls recognize that the poet is alive through movement of his throat when breathing) and speech (souls with their throat cut cannot speak). However, Dante does not seem to know of the existence of vocal cords, thinking that it is the tongue that allows for word formation. In general, Dante’s poem indicates that the anatomy and function of the throat were known during the medieval period, although this knowledge was not precise.

Download Full-text

Siete voi qui, ser Brunetto?». I volti di Brunetto Latini: rappresentazione e autorappresentazione

Italianistica Debreceniensis ◽

10.34102/italdeb/2017/4642 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 23 ◽

pp. 96-107

Author(s):

Noemi Ótott

Keyword(s):

Dante Alighieri ◽

Divine Comedy ◽

Point Of View ◽

Republican Rome ◽

The Divine Comedy ◽

The Creation

As in portrait (attributed to Giotto) of Brunetto Latini and Dante Alighieri, history has tended to pair the two poets, who were both exiled from their native Florence. The role played by Brunetto Latini in Florence’s history paralleled that of the orator Cicero in Republican Rome and Dante, his student, was Florence’s Virgil. The famous “Brunetto’s Song” (Canto XV of Inferno) has generated many controversies, determined and justified by an uninterrupted and secular reflection. The encounter between the protagonist-traveler and his master has great importance also from the point of view of the creation of The Divine Comedy. But the old florentine intellectual does not only appear in this canto: in fact, he is the author and, at the same time, the protagonist of the famous opera Il Tesoretto, a didactic-allegorical poem written in volgare. In my study I focus on the figure of Brunetto Latini and on his representation by Dante. At first I examine the protagonist Latini: how he appears in the canto and what his part is in The Divine Comedy. Then I concentrate on the author Latini and I try to identify the poet’s voices in the texts and descriptions according to the context.

Download Full-text

Analysis of the Opera Kerem by Akhmet Adnan Saygun

Bulletin of Kyiv National University of Culture and Arts Series in Musical Art ◽

10.31866/2616-7581.4.1.2021.233334 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 4 (1) ◽

pp. 11-20

Author(s):

Aysel Asadova

Keyword(s):

Folk Music ◽

Structure Characteristic ◽

Theoretical Problem ◽

Musical Language ◽

Musical Drama ◽

Musical Culture ◽

National Values ◽

Characteristic Features ◽

First Time ◽

The Way

The article analyzes the musical language of the opera Kerem by A. Adnan Saygun. Ahmet Adnan Saygun was born during the Ottoman period and lived in the newly created Republic of Turkey. Saygun is one of the founders of the Turkish School of Composing, as well as one of the founders of the Turkish Five. The composer paid great attention to folk art and national values. You can always see folk music and folklore in his works. The purpose of the research is to analyze Sufi motives in the scenes of the opera. Mainly, the attention is paid to musical drama and harmonic aspects of the opera, which directly reflect Turkish folklore and musical culture in general. The research methodology lies in solving a scientific and theoretical problem. A number of theoretical and analytical methods have been applied, highlighting the principle of using a literary text in musical scenes that contain phrases that reflect “reunification with the Creator” in Sufism. The use of characteristic rhythmic patterns in mystical scenes, when searching for information, the methods of the axiological concept of culture were used, which made it possible to highlight the characteristic features of Turkish music. The scientific novelty of the research lies in the fact that for the first time the reflection of religious characteristics based on folk music, in particular, based on modal structures and maqams, analysis of the mystical motives of the opera, in combination with modern musical techniques is considered. Conclusions. Saigun’s opera Kerem is one of the rare works based on Sufi philosophy. A clear reflection of the main thought of Sufi philosophy was noted in Kerem, according to which the suffering of the seeker of truth is marked by a return to it. The way of light is the way of Allah. The composer, to show the unique colour and character of Anatolia, the life and customs of people, used the fret and rhythmic structure characteristic of Turkish music. As a result of the study, we see how in Kerem the author enthusiastically and passionately works on national values in all aspects of the opera.

Download Full-text

Dante’s Models in Romantic Music

Solov’evskie issledovaniya ◽

10.17588/2076-9210.2021.4.070-081 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 70-81

Author(s):

K.V. Zenkin

Keyword(s):

Divine Comedy ◽

Musical Language ◽

Entire System ◽

Musical Meaning ◽

Musical Sound ◽

The World ◽

Romantic Music ◽

Interdisciplinary Methodology ◽

The Given

Dante’s impact on music has been studied completely enough, but so far mainly in an empirical and descriptive way. The article examines the works of romantic composers of the 19th - early 20th centuries, based on the plot of Dante’s “Divine Comedy”: Liszt’s fantasy-sonata “After reading Dante” and the “Dante-Symphony”, the “Francesca da Rimini” by Tchaikovsky (symphonic fantasy) and Rachmaninoff (opera). The author analyses compositional and stylistic models of the romantic music inspired by Dante’s poetry as a system, which is relevant for modern musicology, in particular, for the theories of musical language, style, and musical meaning. Along with the traditional musicological methods of analysis of form and intonational dramaturgy, an interdisciplinary methodology is applied, associated with the coverage of the entire system of musical compositional prototypes as a structuring of meaning. This has a pronounced narrative poetic nature in romantic music. The results of the study demonstrate a system of structural and semantic invariants (secondary, musical models) conditioned by Dante’s figurative world and manifested in melody, harmony, fret organization, composition. The conclusions of the article reveal the roles of Dante’s models of the world in the works considered in the following aspects: in the process of extreme intensification of the contrasts of romantic music in the semantic coordinates of “Hell – Paradise”; “Love – Death”; in the approval of the concept of Liebestod; in the creation of new, extreme expressive possibilities for the given style, which significantly expanded the idea of the boundaries of beauty and caused transformations in musical sound (harmony, texture, melody); in the formation of stable idioms of romantic music from Liszt to Rachmaninov; in the modification of the structures of a one-part sonata, of the cyclic symphony, and of opera, which have received the quality of a vectorial dramaturgical process and open dramaturgy.

Download Full-text