Henri Dutilleux, haunted by Baudelaire

2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (3) ◽  
pp. 399-417
Author(s):  
Caroline Potter
Keyword(s):  
Song Cycle ◽  
Art Criticism ◽  
Prose Poem ◽  
Early Twenty ◽  
Cello Concerto ◽  
French Composers ◽  
Henri Dutilleux

One of the leading French composers of the twentieth and early twenty-first centuries, Henri Dutilleux (1916-2013) set only one text by Baudelaire, though he said that the poet was the artist in any medium who had the strongest impact on him; indeed, he said that ‘Baudelaire continues to haunt me.’ This article explores how this ‘haunting’ affected Dutilleux’s oeuvre, from his cello concerto Tout un monde lointain… [‘A Far Distant World’] (1967-1970) whose five movements are each preceded by a Baudelaire epigraph, through to his final completed work, the song cycle Le Temps l’horloge [‘Time the Clock’] (2006-2009) which concludes with a setting of Baudelaire’s prose poem Enivrez-vous [‘Be Intoxicated’]. Le Temps l’horloge also features settings of poems by Jean Tardieu and Robert Desnos, and Baudelaire’s poetry and art criticism were centrally important to both these writers. The multiple interrelationships between Baudelaire, Tardieu, Desnos, and Dutilleux are traced in this article, and analysis of ‘Enivrez-vous’ shows it to be the summation of Dutilleux’s output.

Power in Russia: Modus Vivendi and Artis Imago

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tatyana Zlotnikova ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Art Criticism ◽  
Empirical Support ◽  
First Century ◽  
The Unconscious ◽  
Theoretical Substantiation ◽  
Early Twenty ◽  
Modus Vivendi ◽  
History Of ◽  
Creative Experience ◽  
History Of Culture

Contemporary Russian socio-cultural, cultural and philosophical, socio psychological, artistic and aesthetic practices actualize the Russian tradition of rejection, criticism, undisguised hatred and fear of power. Today, however, power has ceased to be a subject of one-dimensional denial or condemnation, becoming the subject of an interdisciplinary scientific discourse that integrates cultural studies, philosophy, social psychology, semiotics, art criticism and history (history of culture). The article provides theoretical substantiation and empirical support for the two facets of notions of power. The first facet is the unique, not only political, but also mental determinant of the problem of power in Russia, a kind of reflection of modus vivendi. The second facet is the artistic and image-based determinant of problem of power in Russia designated as artis imago. Theoretical grounds for solving these problems are found in F. Nietzsche’s perceptions of the binary “potentate-mass” opposition, G. Le Bon’s of the “leader”, K.-G. Jung’s of mechanisms of human motivation for power. The paper dwells on the “semiosis of power” in the focus of thoughts by A. F. Losev, P. A. Sorokin, R. Barthes. Based on S. Freud’s views of the unconscious and G. V. Plekhanov’s and J. Maritain’s views of the totalitarian power, we substantiate the concept of “the imperial unconscious”. The paper focuses on the importance of the freedom motif in art (D. Diderot and V. G. Belinsky as theorists, S. Y. Yursky as an art practitioner). Power as a subject of influence and object of analysis by Russian creators is studied on the material of perceptions and creative experience of A. S. Pushkin (in the context of works devoted to Russian “impostors” by numerous authors). Special attention is paid to the early twenty-first century television series on Soviet rulers (Stalin, Khrushchev, Brezhnev, Furtseva). The conclusion is made on the relevance of Pushkin’s remark about “living power” “hated by the rabble” for contemporary Russia.

Fauré and the Effable: Theatricality, Reflection, and Semiosis in the mélodies

2015 ◽  
Vol 68 (3) ◽  
pp. 497-558 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen Rumph
Keyword(s):  
Philosophy Of Mind ◽  
Song Cycle ◽  
Critical Reflection ◽  
Charles Sanders Peirce ◽  
Musical Experience ◽  
Gabriel Faure ◽  
Leading Role ◽  
French Composers ◽  
Musical Hermeneutics

Gabriel Fauré plays a leading role in Vladimir Jankélévitch's influential critique of musical hermeneutics, La musique et l'ineffable (1961). For the French philosopher, Fauré's works epitomized music that resists verbal interpretation and demands absorption in temporal experience. Yet, like many French composers, Fauré drew upon theatrical song in his mélodies, introducing a performative element that encourages distance as well as absorption. These hybrid mélodies invite both singer and audience to listen critically, savoring the performance within the performance; indeed, these songs offer up music itself as an object of reflection. This article reassesses Jankélévitch's idea of ineffability in light of Fauré's use of diegetic song, questioning the apparent claim that musical experience is incompatible with critical reflection. An introductory analysis of La musique et l'ineffable explores the crucial role of Henri Bergson's philosophy of mind, especially his theory of perception, and demonstrates the inseparable role of both metaphysical cognition and representation in Bergsonian phenomenology. The following song analyses illustrate the need for both reflective and immersive listening. An examination of two settings from Théophile Gautier's La comédie de la mort reveals how Fauré responded to the poet's writerly play between lyric and performative modes, while a longer analysis of the song cycle La chanson d'Ève, based upon a stage ballad, demonstrates how Fauré exploited theatrical song to portray Eve's fall into self-consciousness. Finally, the conclusion proposes a musical hermeneutics compatible with Jankélévitch's idea of ineffability, one informed by the semiotic theory of Charles Sanders Peirce.

The Symphonies of Joonas Kokkonen

Tempo ◽  
1999 ◽  
pp. 18-23
Author(s):  
Edward Jurkowski
Keyword(s):  
World War Ii ◽  
Song Cycle ◽  
Piano Music ◽  
String Quartets ◽  
World War ◽  
Chamber Works ◽  
Piano Quintet ◽  
Post World War Ii ◽  
Cello Concerto ◽  
Surprising Fact

With the death of Joonas Kokkonen in October of 1996, Finland lost one of its most important post-World War II composers. Almost certainly, Kokkonen is most widely known outside Finland for his 1975 opera Viimeiset kiusaukset (Tlie Last Temptations). Yet his orchestral compositions such as the Cello Concerto (1969), the song cycle Lintuijen Tuonela (The Hades of the Birds, 1958–59), the Requiem (1981), the chamberorchestra work …Durch einen Spiegel… 1977), or such chamber works as the Piano Quintet (1953) or the String Quartets Nos.l (1959) and 3 (1976) demonstrate that masterpieces may be found in virtually every genre of Kokkonen's output. (Oddly, piano music represents a small and minor position in Kokkonen's oeuvre – a surprising fact given his accomplishments as a pianist.)

Middle Years

Samuel Barber ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 282-343
Author(s):  
Barbara B. Heyman
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
Symphony Orchestra ◽  
Prose Poem ◽  
Piano Sonata ◽  
James Agee ◽  
American Composers ◽  
Boston Symphony Orchestra ◽  
Cello Concerto ◽  
Impending Death ◽  
Annual Award

After his discharge from the Army, Barber continued work with the Office of War Information but was able to work at home. He received a commission from John Nicholas Brown for a Cello Concerto for the Boston Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Serge Koussevitzky. Written to include the strengths and predilections of cellist Raya Garbousova, the concerto is considered one of the most challenging contemporary works of the genre and won Barber the Fifth Annual Award of the Music Critics Circle of New York. Reputedly one of the most promising American composers of his time, Barber also composed music for Martha Graham’s ballet about Medea, Cave of the Heart. In 1947, under the shadow of his father’s deteriorating health and Louise Homer’s impending death, Barber composed his most “American work,” Knoxville: Summer of 1915, for voice and orchestra. It is set to a nostalgic prose-poem by James Agee and was premiered by the Boston Symphony with Eleanor Steber as soloist. Following this, Barber composed a piano sonata for Vladimir Horowitz, a work that had the most stunning impact on the American musical world.

scholarly journals Power in Russia: Modus Vivendi and Artis Imago

2019 ◽  
pp. 38-48
Author(s):  
Tatyana Zlotnikova
Keyword(s):  
Art Criticism ◽  
Empirical Support ◽  
First Century ◽  
The Unconscious ◽  
Theoretical Substantiation ◽  
Early Twenty ◽  
Modus Vivendi ◽  
History Of ◽  
Creative Experience ◽  
History Of Culture

Contemporary Russian socio-cultural, cultural and philosophical, sociopsychological, artistic and aesthetic practices actualize the Russian tradition of rejection, criticism, undisguised hatred and fear of power. Today, however, power has ceased to be a subject of one-dimensional denial or condemnation, becoming the subject of an interdisciplinary scientific discourse that integrates cultural studies, philosophy, social psychology, semiotics, art criticism and history (history of culture). The article provides theoretical substantiation and empirical support for the two facets of notions of power. The first facet is the unique, not only political, but also mental determinant of the problem of power in Russia, a kind of reflection of modus vivendi. The second facet is the artistic and image-based determinant of problem of power in Russia designated as artis imago. Theoretical grounds for solving these problems are found in F. Nietzsche’s perceptions of the binary “potentate-mass” opposition, G. Le Bon’s of the “leader”, K.-G. Jung’s of mechanisms of human motivation for power. The paper dwells on the “semiosis of power” in the focus of thoughts by A. F. Losev, P. A. Sorokin, R. Barthes. Based on S. Freud’s views of the unconscious and G. V. Plekhanov’s and J. Maritain’s views of the totalitarian power, we substantiate the concept of “the imperial unconscious”. The paper focuses on the importance of the freedom motif in art (D. Diderot and V. G. Belinsky as theorists, S. Y. Yursky as an art practitioner). Power as a subject of influence and object of analysis by Russian creators is studied on the material of perceptions and creative experience of A. S. Pushkin (in the context of works devoted to Russian “impostors” by numerous authors). Special attention is paid to the early twenty-first century television series on Soviet rulers (Stalin, Khrushchev, Brezhnev, Furtseva). The conclusion is made on the relevance of Pushkin’s remark about “living power” “hated by the rabble” for contemporary Russia.

Jazz Bubble

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dale Chapman
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
Political Economy ◽  
Social Practice ◽  
Global Economy ◽  
First Century ◽  
Music Culture ◽  
Social Trends ◽  
Governmental Organizations ◽  
Early Twenty ◽  
A Site

Hailed by corporate, philanthropic, and governmental organizations as a metaphor for democratic interaction and business dynamics, contemporary jazz culture has a story to tell about the relationship between political economy and social practice in the era of neoliberal capitalism. The Jazz Bubble approaches the emergence of the neoclassical jazz aesthetic since the 1980s as a powerful, if unexpected, point of departure for a wide-ranging investigation of important social trends during this period. The emergence of financialization as a key dimension of the global economy shapes a variety of aspects of contemporary jazz culture, and jazz culture comments upon this dimension in turn. During the stateside return of Dexter Gordon in the mid-1970s, the cultural turmoil of the New York fiscal crisis served as a crucial backdrop to understanding the resonance of Gordon’s appearances in the city. The financial markets directly inform the structural upheaval that major label jazz subsidiaries must navigate in the music industry of the early twenty-first century, and they inform the disruptive impact of urban redevelopment in communities that have relied upon jazz as a site of economic vibrancy. In examining these issues, The Jazz Bubble seeks to intensify conversations surrounding music, culture, and political economy.

V.V. Rozanov’s Concepts of the Russian Life Ideal Fundamentals

2019 ◽  
Vol 60 ◽  
pp. 88-94
Author(s):  
Victoria T. Zakharova
Keyword(s):  
Art Criticism ◽  
Domestic Life ◽  
Positive Elements

The article is devoted to revealing in the views of V.V. Rozanov the positive elements of the domestic life and ideal beginnings of Russian life, – both in synchronic and diachronic plans. Various works of the writer and philosopher became the objects of the study: books belonging to the genre of “prose of fragments”, journalistic essays, “Russian Nile” travel essay, articles and reviews of the art criticism character. The analysis showed how important for the philosopher was the idea of the essentiality of preserving those spiritual and cultural national traditions that had always been the key to the sustainability of life.

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