Multi-layered scenario of the novel “Earth” by Mikhail Elizarov

This article discusses the novel “Earth” by the contemporary Russian writer Mikhail Elizarov. The plot of the novel develops in the context of philosophical views of the writer with postmodernist idea of thanatological concept of the world. The goal consist in analysis of the plot through organizing power of the “motifs” and their modifications. The relevance of this research lies in the fact that this article is first to carry out the motivic analysis of multi-layered scenario of the novel “Earth”. The author explores the thanatological motif that forms the plot of the novel and correlates with other motifs, such as anthropological, philosophical, maturing, romantic, and procedural criminal. The following conclusions were made:  1) The work “Earth” demonstrates the genre characteristics of the novel and balances on the border between realism and deconstruction, The conducted motivic analysis proves the presence of static and dynamic motifs. The theme of hallucinogenic narrative resembles life, death, and fate. 2) The motifs in the novel “Earth” are intertwined, overlaying and complementing each other. The author believes that the key motif is thanatological motif, which manifests on several levels and interlaces with the characters of the novel in most episodes. This motif forms the plot and theme, as well as other philosophical, anthropological, maturing, romantic, and procedural criminal motifs in the novel. 3)  The lyrical motif of the novel “Earth” is the romantic motif. The epic motif is the duel between two Krotyshevs brothers. Dramatic motif is both, thanatological and philosophical motifs, which describes senescence and brevity of life. Motif of maturing along with anthropological motif are considered as individual motif.

Complex Motivic Analysis

Chapter 7 establishes the rules and guidelines for complex motivic analysis (CMA). CMA is the more advanced mode of motivic analysis, which centers around the activity of a larger, network-type motive composed of elements from many domains (similar to Schoenberg’s Grundgestalt). The chapter first provides an introduction to the expanded format for motive, including guidance on which domains to include and the proper format for each. It then guides readers through construction of a complex motive for a short Brahms waltz. The remainder of the chapter is given over to describing the paired end products of CMA, which are (1) an Organic Map illustrating the most significant motivic connections in the manner of an enhanced BMA, and (2) a “Narrative” that tallies and charts the number of Complex elements exhibited by each surface segment of the work. The result of the latter process is a Narrative Curve that charts the work’s fluctuating level of organicism and directly reflects the piece’s CMA archetype. The chapter concludes with demonstration of a full CMA analysis of the Brahms waltz.

Basic Motivic Analysis

Chapter 5 establishes the rules and guidelines for basic motivic analysis (BMA), the more elementary mode of analysis limited to examining the pitch and rhythmic content of music. The first part of the chapter establishes a standard procedure for reduction, or extracting motives from ornamented melodies; this includes rules for motives spanning multiple phrases. The second part of the chapter establishes rules for associating shapes within a work. Such associations are required to be literal, in stark contrast to Schoenberg’s philosophy of Developing Variation. The allowable transformations in pitch are transposition, inversion, and retrograde, and in rhythm are the duration scaling operations, augmentation and diminution. A single, informal associative relation, “sensed connection,” may be used to indicate an analyst’s artistic intuitions about motivic relationships that are unprovable. A last set of rules delineates a proper format for BMA. An analysis must be structured around a single source event called a Focal Point, that occurs near the beginning and furnishes all or nearly all relevant shapes in the piece. Motives must be derived from the Focal Point in forward order (propagative). Discussion is supported by analyses of excerpts by Bach, Beethoven, Brahms, Mozart, Rossini, and Pierre Leemans.

Analysis of Three Works in Contrasting Styles

The three analyses presented in this chapter expound on the theory and methodology presented in chapters 5–7. The first of these, an abbreviated complex motivic analysis of “L’Ondine,” by Cécile Chaminade, reinforces the content of chapter 7 by again taking readers through the processes of narrative construction: segmentation, Focal Point selection, quantification and tally, and the drawing of the Narrative line graph. The other BMA and CMA analyses examine modern works in other genres, a Broadway number by Marvin Hamlisch (“At the Ballet”) and a rock song by Radiohead (“Paranoid Android”). The latter two works are texted, offering a model for how to responsibly integrate a piece’s literal poetic and/or theatric meaning into an account of its motivic activity. As a group, the three analyses are intended to bolster the claim that motivic analysis applies broadly to music.

CMA Narrative Archetypes

This Interlude on the topic of narrative, the second of two, serves as the bridge between the sections on basic motivic analysis (BMA) and complex motivic analysis (CMA). Chapter 7, which formally presents CMA, will explore the ramifications of broadening the Focal Point entity to include domains beyond pitch and rhythm and permitting it to occur anywhere in the piece, not just at the beginning. These shifts necessitate a second set of narrative archetypes for modeling the flow of motivic material across a work. The dominant archetype from BMA, Propagation (BMA-1), occurs in CMA as well. Now, however, it may be deployed in hierarchic fashion across the large sections of a piece, with the central Focal Point radiating packets of material to section-controlling Local Points. Other novel CMA archetypes are proposed to document cases where Focal Point material occurs later within a work (Accretion narrative) or multiple times within a work (Cyclic narrative). Detailed schematic diagrams support the discussion of all CMA types. The chapter concludes with presentation of a summary chart of all BMA and CMA narratives.

Conclusion

This chapter concludes Musical Motives with an assessment of the benefits and disadvantages of motivic analysis. Listed among the benefits are the method’s general accessibility and its applicability to a wide range of musics. A disadvantage is that a great many pieces even within the Western Classical tradition, naturally resist motivic analysis. The chapter cautions that motivic analysis holds potential but is no panacea. What it does do is allow analysts to quickly and productively engage many dimensions of a musical work. Subsequent portions of the conclusion investigate the extent to which other musico-theoretic entities—specifically, fugue subjects, Galant schemas, and the hooks of popular music—intersect the motive concept. Last, consideration is given to the method’s reliance on literal association as a price to be paid for theoretic rigor.

Exemplars of Basic Motivic Analysis

Chapter 6 demonstrates the BMA method from start to finish by applying it to two complete sonata movements by Beethoven. The first section presents a pitch/pitch-class motivic analysis, and the second a rhythm motive analysis. The results of investigation across these two pieces shed light on a remarkable, shared trait. Both works pose a prime motive at the start and telegraph a set of expectations of how that motive will combine with itself. Paired fifth pitch-class motives chase each other over the course of Beethoven’s First Piano Sonata in F minor, Op. 2, no. 1 (I). Paired six-note rhythmic motives do the same over the course of his Fifth Piano Sonata in C minor, Op. 10, No. 1 (III). The pairs are always in flux, redefining their interrelations across their respective movements.

Musical Motives

Motives, the small, recurring shape elements primarily identified by their pitch and rhythm profiles, are near-ubiquitous in music. Yet despite their long-standing prominence in composition and in past and present discourse on music, motives have resisted systematic treatment. The present work, Musical Motives, establishes a methodology for identifying and labeling motives and for assembling viable, meaningful analyses with them. The book opens with a general introduction to motives and a review of their history in Western music. The body of the work prescribes a two-tiered system for working with motives: basic motivic analysis (BMA) concerns monophonic motives composed of pitch and rhythm, while complex motivic analysis (CMA) concerns polyphonic motives that present as a richer network of elements drawn from many domains, including but not limited to pitch, rhythm, counterpoint, harmony, texture, and articulation. In support of these methods, the book offers a generous set of tools to advance this analytic subdiscipline. One tool is a universal system of motivic nomenclature proposed to facilitate dialogue among analysts. Another is a technique for melodic reduction, rooted in principles of salience, that allows analysts to posit motives that admit flexibility without sacrificing methodologic rigor. Most significant, the work details specific procedures for creating, interpreting, and presenting motivic analyses that range in length from just a few measures to entire pieces. Extensive demonstrations of all points and procedures are given in the form of analyses of selections and full works by composers as diverse as Beethoven, Handel, Chopin, Bach, Mozart, Brahms, Cécile Chaminade, Marvin Hamlisch, Aretha Franklin, John Philip Sousa, and Radiohead.

Bach, Bukowski, genesis

The object of this research is the references to the German composer of the XVIII century – Johann Sebastian Bach in poetry of the classic of modern American literature Charles Bukowski. Special attention is given to the poetic-semiotic and ontological aspects of Bach’s motif in the poetic works of C. Bukowski. The author meticulously examines the nature of mentioned references, categorizing them as the three narrative-ontological types or hypostases, in which the German composer appears in the poetry of C. Bukowski, namely: Bach-ideal, Bach-background, and Bach-father figure. The article employs the method of continuous sampling, interpretation and semantic analysis, motivic analysis, as well as biographical and psychological approaches. The author's special contribution into the research of this topic lies in the conclusion on the Bach’s motif in the poetry of C. Bukowski as a variety of ekphrasis, which suggests a verbal representation not of a single artwork, but of the demiurge (in this case it is Bach) as the creator of entirety of his brilliant compositions.

'Harmony of the spheres' in the musical 'vitrage' of 'the thirteen-star flower of Cassiopeia': Micro- and macro-manipulation with time and space

This paper deals with an analysis of the phantasy for orchestra Trinaestozvezdani cvet Kasiopeje [The Thirteen-star Flower of Cassiopeia] by Vladimir Trmčić (1983). Special attention is paid to the motivic analysis of the work and general aesthetical premises of the program, which influenced the formation of the musical flow. The static nature, sustained tones and micropolyphony enable the composer to experiment with time, space, intervals, timbres, resulting in music with an immanent logic guided by the movement of energy masses.