Two artists and two mélodies

André Caplet (1878-1925) set just two of Baudelaire’s poems: La Cloche fêlée [‘The Cracked Bell’] and La Mort des pauvres [‘The Death of the Poor’]. These mélodies were composed in 1922, just three years before the artist’s death. For a composer with a tendency to shy away from setting poetry of the French giants of literature, the questions of how and why Caplet chose to translate Baudelaire’s poetry into the mélodie are intriguing. This exploration of La Cloche fêlée and La Mort des pauvres considers the ways in which Caplet reflects the poetic imagery of Baudelaire’s texts within musical structures. Caplet’s compositional language is distinctive, and his artistic approach to musically illuminating poetic meaning is perceptive and sensitive. Through viewing the creative intersection of these two artists, this article offers an interpretation that presents a perspective on Caplet’s musical character and reveals insight into his connection to Baudelaire’s poetic language.

Naturalistyczna muzykologia systematyczna wobec poglądów Meyera na emocje i znaczenie w muzyce

Leonard B. Meyer’s book Emotion and Meaning in Music was published more than half a century ago. It still provides inspiration for musicologists with various specialisms to undertake research aimed at understanding the intriguing link between music and emotions and the relationship between musical structure and meaning. Since the publication of this outstanding volume we have seen extraordinarily dynamic development of the musicological disciplines constituting that part of systematic musicology which is based on the premises of naturalism. The article focuses on those selected research areas of thisbranch of musicology where the influence of the ideas first presented in the above volume is particularly significant. The most important of Meyer’s postulates in naturalistically oriented systematic musicology that continue to be discussed include: the key role of expectation in shaping our emotional reactions to the musical passages we hear and the inner musical character of the affective meanings created in this way. The main challenges faced by Meyer’s postulates during the recent decades are examined, and the solutions to them proposed within the framework of naturalistically oriented thinking about music.

‘Just notes’: Young musicians’ perspectives on learning expressive performance

Expressiveness is an important aspect of an excellent music performance as it adds quality and interest to the playing and listening experience. Although several studies have investigated tertiary students’ learning of expressiveness, little is known about effective approaches for teaching children to perform expressively. In the present project, 16 young musicians (aged 9–16, with performance levels at Pre-Grade 1 – Grade 8) took part in a video-stimulated recall interview after an experimental investigation which had featured methods for teaching and facilitating expressiveness. The interviews explored pupils’ perspectives on that instruction, which included practice of difficult sections, scales practice, improvisation, and questions and dialogue regarding musical character. Participants who had been taught via dialogic teaching indicated that the questions relating to musical character and expressive tools had been helpful for their understanding of the ‘musicality’ of their pieces and thus for their learning of performance expression. The questions regarding musical character were seen as helpful, as this had facilitated pupils’ reflection on, and understanding of the interpretation, thus contributing to their learning of expressiveness. This demonstrates the importance of teachers’ enquiry and pupils’ reflection for young musicians’ learning of expressive performance.

Dimensi Tasawuf dalam Musik Religi Bimbo, 1974-1980: Sebuah Kajian Sejarah

This article discusses Islamic da'wa delivered through music with its song lyrics. The purpose of this study is to uncover Islamic da'wa in Bimbo songs. Bimbo's type of music is categorized as seasonal music which is only popular at certain times, especially the month of Ramadan. The research used a historical approach to uncover the development of Bimbo songs, and a semantic approach is also used to analyze the meaning and Sufism message contained in their song lyrics. Based on data analysis conducted, it is known that in Indonesia, Bimbo was a music group established in Bandung in 1974 that pioneered religious music and songs. Bimbo started its career through pop music with love, politic, environment, and humor themes. For six years, the Bimbo music group has sung more than 50 songs adopted from Taufiq Ismail 's Islamic poetry some of which were about Sufism. The theme of Sufism in Bimbo songs illustrates the deep inspiration of the singer and creator so that it becomes separate preaching that is easily accepted by the community. It can be concluded that Bimbo, the religious music group was famous for its musical character and Islamic poetry which contains the Sufiems values. Artikel ini membahas tentang tema tasawuf sebagai dakwah Islam yang disampaikan melalui seni musik dalam syair-syair lagu. Tujuan penelitian ini adalah untuk mengungkap dakwah Islam dalam lagu-lagu Bimbo. Jenis musik Bimbo dikategorikan sebagai musik musiman yang hanya populer pada saat-saat tertentu, khususnya bulan Romadhan. Pendekatan yang digunakan dalam penelitian ini adalah pendekatan sejarah untuk mengungkap perkembangan lagu-lagu Bimbo. Pendekatan semantik juga digunakan untuk menganalisis makna dan pesan tasawwuf dalam lagu Bimbo. Berdasarkan analisis data yang dilakukan, diketahui bahwa di Indonesia, musik religi Islam dipelopori oleh kelompok musik Bimbo asal Bandung pada 1974. Bimbo mengawali kariernya melalui musik pop yang bertemakan cinta, politik, lingkungan, dan humor atau jenaka. Selama enam tahun kelompok musik Bimbo telah menyanyikan lagu dengan syair islami karya Taufiq Ismail sekitar lebih dari 50-an lagu, bahkan ada yang bertemakan tasawuf. Tema tasawuf dalam lagu-lagu Bimbo menggambarkan penjiwaan yang dalam pada penyanyi dan penciptanya sehingga menjadi dakwah tersendiri yang mudah diterima di kalangan masyarakat. Dengan demikian dapat disimpulkan bahwa kelompok musik religi Bimbo terkenal dengan karakter musik dan syair islami yang mengandung nilai-nilai tasawuf. يناقش هذا البحث الدعوة الإسلامية التي يتم تقديمها من خلال فن الموسيقى في نصوص الأغاني. و الغرض من هذه الدراسة كشف الدعوة الإسلامية في أغاني بيمبو(Bimbo). أغاني بيمبو(Bimbo) موسيقى مؤقتة تحظى بشعبية كبيرة في أوقات معينة فقط، خاصة في شهر رمضان. و الطريقة المستخدمة في هذا البحث هي الطريقة التاريخية و الدلالية. استنادًا إلى تحليل البيانات الذي تم إجراؤه، من المعروف أن الموسيقى الدينية الإسلامية في إندونيسيا كانت رائدة في مجموعة Bimbo الموسيقية من باندونج في عام 1974. بدأ Bimbo مسيرته المهنية من خلال موسيقى البوب (Musik Pop) بعنوان: الحب، والسياسة، والبيئة، والفكاهة. على مدار ست سنوات، غنت مجموعة بيمبو الموسيقية أغاني الشعر الإسلامي يؤلف توفيق إسماعيل أكثر من 50 أغنية، و أن هناك الأغاني بالموضوعات الصوفية. و يوضح الموضوع الصوفي في أغنيات Bimbo الإلهام العميق للمغني والمبدع بحيث يصبح عظة منفصلة يتم قبولها بسهولة في المجتمع. لذلك، استنتج الباحث أن مجموعة بمبو(Bimbo) الموسيقية الدينية تشتهر بطابعها الموسيقي والشعر الإسلامي الذي يحتوي على القيم الصوفية ويؤثرعلى تطور الموسيقى في إندونيسيا أيضا.

Bandura concert style of the 21st century (on the example of the bandura concerto with orchestra „Bandura foreverˮ by V. Martyniuk)

The purpose of this scientific article is to determine the location of the bandura for a bandura with a piano by celebrated Ukrainian composer Valentina Martyniuk „Bandura foreverˮ in professional Ukrainian music. The target of this investigative work is determined by the corresponding tasks that are to identify the genre-style features of the musical character-logical language of outstanding, distinguished V. Martyniuk. The round of methods for this represented investigation is based on the historical, typological, analytical and didactic approaches, which allows the practically study of this research topic. The scientific novelty of this submitted explorative work is that it examines the original work of renowned contemporary Ukrainian composer V. Martyniuk for the bandura of the concert direction as a distinctive phenomenon combining academic and ethnic musical traditions. Conclusions. The analysis of the concert for a bandura with an orchestra „Bandura forever” by well-known author V. Martynyuk, in which we can see the richness of the imaginative-style panorama, defines the composer's special interest in neo-style – neo-folklorism, neo-romanticism, neo-classicism, neo-baroque, neo-impressionism; manifestations postmodernism, in particular, experimentation in the synthesis of various styles, including those that are opposite in their artistic and aesthetic essence. The original bandura repertoire relies heavily on folk themes and demonstrates the versatility of domestic, nationally musical folklore. Music of the famous composer V. Martynyuk has unrepeatable, charismatic artistically imaginative characterization, which had amazingly bright demonstrated into that musically artistic outstanding masterpiece. The creating of music for academic bandura by Ukrainian professional composers was and staying for today the one of main problem in relation to national, domestic musically performing art.

Popularitas Gamelan Gong Kebyar Dalam Arena Pertarungan Kekuasaan Gamelan Bali

Gong kebyar is the most popular Balinese gamelan ensemble. Gong kebyar is a new class of Balinese gamelan created between 1910 and 1915 in the north of Bali. The popularity of gong kebyar is used as a medium in the arena of power struggles. The analysis of this study uses the ethnomusicology point of view in discussing gong kebyar in the context of Balinese culture and sociology discipline to discuss gong kebyar in social scope critically. "Kebyar" refers to the Bourdieu power theory that used as a cultural capital in the arena of Balinese gamelan power struggle. Gong kebyar through cultural capital of the symbolic value "kebyar" gained dominance in the arena of Balinese gamelan power struggle. Balinese gamelan outside gong kebyar experiencing changes in the form of “tabuh gong” is the inclusion of the “tabuh gong” which is the identity of musical character of Gong kebyar. Keywords: gong kebyar, kebyar, cultural capital, Balinese gamelan.

Psałterz poznański. Prolegomena lingwistyczne

This article discusses a collection of fifty psalms published as The Poznań Psalter. A Collection of Psalms for Common Singing at Home and in Church (Poznań 2017). As a text genre, the publication represents a song book, which – according to its dictionary definition – is: ‘a collection of songs (solemn or popular) with their lyrics and notes’. The publication can alternatively be classified as a hymnal. The authors of the paraphrased psalter intended to underscore the musical character of the Biblical texts. This musical character is underscored by giving the particular psalms their regular rhythmic pattern, partly supported with a rhyming pattern. As far as the musical layer of the Poznań Psalter is concerned, the authors make a conscious reference to tradition, since the melodic lines are transferred from the Geneva Psalter (1563 edition). The language layer, on the other hand, departs from tradition, since it does not exhibit the historically marked lexical or grammatical structures. Analysing the text of the Poznań Psalter, composed by the Protestant (Reformed Evangelical Church) authors in the context of the Polish tradition of Biblical translation, one can conclude that this tradition retains its vital interdenominational nature, which – as in the case in point – is capable of using the Warsaw Bible and the Millennium Bible as sources of textual adaptation.

Art and Meaning. Messiaen Influences on Romanian Composition Universes

In this paper, we will tackle several dominant Messiaen influences, as concerns ideas and/or technical approaches, on important Romanian composition systems, with reference to concepts such as musical character, number, Time/time, repetition. We will refer to characters as structures, characters as tuning systems and characters as musical/cultural paradigms as they occur in Aurel Stroe’s creation, and then we will turn our attention to Ștefan Niculescu’s melody-musical character with memory. Surprising but/and natural, objective but/and inspired, Niculescu opens up different perspectives on the personality of musical character as well. Numbers (what is fascinating is that they are mainly just figures) prove to be an example of simplicity as they comprise in a condensed manner technical information, emotions and musical inspiration. We will prove/illustrate this relying on three technical/semantic perspectives: poetry of numbers-duration in Liviu Glodeanu’s creation, numbers defining dodecaphonic series cells in Roman Vlad’s work, or numbers-foundation for the whole modal edifice in Vieru’s perspective. As for time/Time, which is the main character of Messiaen’s (and actually everyone’s, even humanity’s) musical, poetic, philosophical and theological thinking, we will only dwell on two hypostases, namely Stroe’s and Niculescu’s perspectives. Stroe conceives time as an element integrated in the sphere of memory and identity, as the recurrence in the present time of slices of memories involves the superposing of slices of time. For Niculescu, time is foundation, a condensation of the fact that syntax relies on two temporal categories, succesivity and simultaneity. We will dwell on the repetition “character” in the context of Aurel Stroe’s mobiles, or in parts of monodies of periodicities, screens and loops in Anatol Vieru’s creation. The conclusions will naturally follow the line of art and meaning.