Henri Dutilleux, haunted by Baudelaire

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.

Variations on a Rococo Theme by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky: On the Semantics of Thematic Material and Composition

Одно из самых популярных у исполнителей и слушателей произведений П. И. Чайковского — Вариации на тему рококо ор. 33 для виолончели с оркестром — казалось бы, хорошо освещено в литературе, однако до сих пор пьеса остается довольно загадочной с точки зрения ее содержания. В статье делается попытка интерпретировать некоторые особенности тематизма и формы Вариаций. Отправной точкой для рассуждений стали известные слова Чайковского, обращенные к В. Фитценхагену: «Знаешь ли ты, что такое рококо? Это легкая безмятежная радостность». Обретение радости, открытие мира, где нет забот и горестей, — важная жизненная и творческая альтернатива в период работы композитора над Четвертой симфонией, в преддверии тяжелейшего кризиса 1877 года. В качестве ключевых семантических составляющих рассматриваются три сферы: русская народная песня, образ и наследие Моцарта, «галантный век» в творчестве французских композиторов периода Обновления (в первую очередь К. Сен-Санса). С Вариаций на тему рококо в творчестве Чайковского начинается линия как инструментальных, так и театральных произведений, в которых «воскрешается» французский XVIII век; можно говорить о поворотном значении данного сочинения для формирования важной составляющей стиля композитора. One of the most popular works by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky — Variations on a Rococo theme op. 33 for cello and orchestra — seems well covered in literature, but so far the piece has remained quite mysterious in terms of its content. The article attempts to interpret some features of thematic material and forms of Variations. The starting point for the discussion are the well-known words of Tchaikovsky, addressed to Wilhelm Fitzenhagen: “Do you know what rococo is? It’s a serene feeling of joy”. Finding joy, discovering a world where there are no worries and sorrows, was an important, life and creative, alternative during the composer’s work on the Fourth Symphony, on the eve of the most difficult crisis of 1877. In this study, three spheres are considered as the most important components: the Russian folk song; the image and heritage of Mozart; and finally, the siècle galant in the music of French composers of the Renewal period, primarily Camille Saint-Saëns. With Variations on a Rococo theme, Tchaikovsky starts a series of both instrumental and theatrical compositions where the French XVIII century is “resurrected”. This piece is therefore considered as crucial for formation of an important component of the composer’s style.

Social Mechanisms of Musical Stylistic Change: A Case Study from Early 20th-Century France

This study examined notated meter changes in scores by French composers to probe the role of sociological mechanisms in musical stylistic change. The stylistic feature of notated meter changes, which indexed metrical complexity, was conducive to empirical observation and functioned as a salient innovation in France around 1900. The principal sociological variable was membership in the Apaches artistic club, known for its avant-garde identity. A hypothesis that the Apaches would use significantly more meter changes than their peers was supported. Additional explanatory variables were derived from previous historical research on French composers and from theories about stylistic change. A complex relationship between the stylistic feature and social mechanisms emerged, involving multiple, overlapping social structures. The Labovian sociolinguistic approach was especially resonant in this data, as a composer's proximity to certain individuals, groups, and institutions in the social space related to their degree of enthusiasm for metric innovation. In addition, sociolinguistic theories about stylistic variation in human languages were consistent with patterns in this data set. Finally, a descriptive title was also a significant explanatory variable, which implicates the Labovian notion of register and the importance that Meyer gave to aesthetic goals in musical stylistic change.

Alexander Siloti and Jean Roger-Ducasse: About the Production of the Mimodrama “Orpheus” in Petrograd

Based on archival data, memoirs and letters, the article describes the joint work of the pianist Alexander Ilyich Siloti (1863—1945) and the great creators of the Silver Age — choreographer Mikhail Fokin and artist Léon Bakst — on the production of the mimodrama “Orpheus” by the French composer Jean Jules Aimable Roger-Ducasse at the Mariinsky Theatre. The author notes the originality of this composition, new stage solutions, an innovative approach to the production that combines opera and ballet. There are described in detail the decorations and costumes made by Bakst for this production, which could be seen at the exhibition dedicated to the 150th anniversary of the artist in 2016. The premiere was scheduled for the 1915/1916 season, but did not take place. The article explains what prevented the presentation. There are provided some fragments of the correspondence between Siloti and the participants of the production of “Orpheus”, and fragments of reviews for the concert performance of this composition. The article aims at showing new facets of Siloti’s activities, particularly in popularizing the music of French composers in the programs of the entreprise “Concerts of A. Siloti”, which was of great importance in the culture of Petersburg at the beginning of the 20th century. Siloti would often become the first performer of works by foreign authors, which were a “fresh breath” in the cultural and artistic atmosphere of the capital. He tried to enlighten and educate the audience with his concerts, to develop their desire to go to concerts and listen to music. The article gives a general assessment of the activities of A.I. Siloti — a propagandist, educator, pianist, conductor, public figure, a talented organizer of new forms of artistic life and promotion of the best achievements of musical classics and modern creative process.

The writing technique as a component of the compositional process (on the examples of creative practice of the second half of the 20th – 21st centuries)

Background, objectives and methodology of the research. The social and cultural paradigm of the 20th century has given rise to a type of composing thinking that did not exist before – a scientific one. Thus, the evolution of the composer’s writing can be defined as a path from thinking by perfect consonance, emancipated dissonance to thinking by deterministic sound and its parameters (height, duration, dynamics, timbre, and articulation). The term of the «composer’s writing technique» means a set of techniques and methods of working with the musical material as a result of the activity of thinking/awareness. Therefore, the aim of this article is an attempt to explore the relationship between the compositional process and writing techniques of the 20th – 21st centuries (pointillism, aleatorysonorous, algorithmic composition), as well as the specifics of polyphonic, homophonic writing in a new context. The methodology of the study includes references to the scientific works by P. Boulez (1971), K. Stockhausen (1963), V. Medushevsky (1984), M. Bonfeld (2006), I. Beckman (2010), I. Kuznetsov (2011), K. Maidenberg-Todorova (2013), M. Vysotska and G. Grigoryeva (2014). Presentation of research results. The phenomenon of writing techniques is very important in the study of the specifics of the compositional process, as it is the technique, for the most part, becomes the goal of creation for many composers of the 20th century. In addition to new techniques, polyphonic and homophonic writing have undergone some changes. The polyphonic one has specific features that are manifested in linearity, part-writing, etc. Examples can be found in the works by D. Ligeti (micro-polyphony), R. Shchedrin, V. Bibik, V. Ptushkin, V. Sylvestrov, and O. Shchetynsky. Regarding the homophonic writing, we shall note that, first of all, it is an indicator of style and conceptual thinking of a composer (works by A. Pyart, J. Tavener, and L. Sumera). In pointillism, the sound is thought of as a deterministic, isolated structure, which is expressed by its various parameters. Here are the examples from the creative work by A. Webern («The Variations for the Piano»; «The Variations for the Orchestra»), by E. Denysov «DSCH». The aleatory-sonorous technique is associated with the operation of timbre sonorities, according to their specific patterns, and developed in the 50–60s of the 20th century in the works by I. Xenakis, V. Lyutoslavsky, Ksh. Penderetsky, and D. Ligeti. The algorithmic composition is an indicator of scientific and mathematical thinking, and is divided into: fractal, stochastic, spectral, concrete and electroacoustic music. The first was formed within the framework of the works by C. Dodge, G. li Nelson, D. Ligeti, and others (I. Beckman, 2010). Stochastic music is associated with the name of I. Xenakis, and the ancestors of the spectral school are the French composers G. Grisey and T. Murray. Conclusions. The article considers the writing techniques of the 20th–21st centuries as components of the compositional process. It can be concluded that the studied techniques are fundamentally interconnected, revealing the nature of the composer’s thinking/consciousness from different positions. The presented techniques are: the objectification of sound forms, the method of creation; the fact of the composer’s consciousness; the consequence of the historical and cultural evolution of the musical language and communication.

Modernization of biographical narratology: Reflections on Arnold Zweig’s artistic novella Symphonie Fantastique

This article is devoted to the German-Jewish writer Arnold Zweig’s (1887–1968) biographical novella Symphonie Fantastique (1943), told from the perspective of a young musicologist participating in World War II, applied to the life and work of French composer Hector Berlioz. Arnold Zweig not only writes the biography of one of the most prominent French composers for Harold Breton, but he also confronts the Vichy Regime. The aim of this article is to capture the technique of Arnold Zweig, who combines history and the identification of an artist with a given object.

The aesthetics of animated sound: François Bayle, Bernard Parmegiani and the Service de la recherche de l’ORTF

Founded by Pierre Schaeffer in 1960, the Service de la recherche at Radiodiffusion-Télévision Française sought to incubate technical and aesthetic research in television and radio, supporting the development of novel animation techniques, pedagogical films for television and experimental short films. As such, the Service served as a fertile meeting point for composers and filmmakers, playing a significant role in the early careers of a number of well-known French composers of electroacoustic music. The early work of both François Bayle and Bernard Parmegiani principally consisted of music and sound for the moving image – and in particular for experimental animated shorts by filmmakers including Robert Lapoujade and Piotr Kamler – created with the support of the Service de la recherche. In attending to the particular configurations of sound and image worked out in these collaborations, the idea of ‘animation’ emerges as a recurring concern in the electroacoustic music of the period, underwriting both a general approach to recorded sound and, I argue, particular formal and technical developments in the aesthetics of French electroacoustic music in the 1960s and beyond.

Developing functional literacy by means of contemporary art

Problem and objective. The level of functional literacy is checked by the Programme for International Student Assessment, where Russian students demonstrate their weak positions. As one of the ways to improve the results of international testing, it is proposed to study works of contemporary art and to construct, on their basis, tasks of a wide range of scientific fields aimed at forming functional literacy, involving students in creative tasks of a project type. The purpose of the article is to show ways to develop functional literacy through educational-cognitive and educational-practical tasks developed in the process of comprehending the work by French composers Pierre Henri Marie Schaeffer and Pierre Henry Symphonie pour un homme seul, which has wide pedagogical capabilities. Methods. Developing functional literacy by means of contemporary art is based on the system-activity, person-centred, and multi-artistic approaches. The analysis of theoretical sources in pedagogy and art history was used. Results. The pedagogical potential of contemporary art, in particular, works of concrete music, opens up significant prospects for students to create their own creative products that combine different types of arts. This requires the development of educational-practical skills with the involvement of a wide range of information to obtain a creative result. The educational orientation consists in the implementation of a conceptual idea in a literary-musical composition and its visualisation with the involvement of personal computers connected to the Internet, sound speakers, a USB microphone, and computer programmes. Conclusion. The knowledge, skills, and abilities obtained in the study of contemporary art are effective in forming functional literacy in general and additional education, lesson and extracurricular activities while integrating the content of art lessons and school subjects of basic school.

Performing Ornaments in English Harpsichord Music. Part I

The article deals with the problems of interpreting English ornaments (embellishments, graces) of the second half of the 17th century in the process of their evolution. The authors consistently analyze the recommendations of the early English musicians Edward Bevin, Christopher Simpson, Matthew Locke, John Playford, and Henry Purcell. Emphasis in this study is allotted to the first ever published in England full table of ornaments with their execution written by Christopher Simpson in his The Division-Violist (London, 1659). Detailed consideration here is given to the ornament named “Shaked Beat”. It should be noted that the first full table “Marques des Agréments et leur signification” in France was enclosed only in D’Anglebert’s Pièces de Clavecin (c1689). For comparison, recommendations of the performance of ornaments are provided by some Italian, German and French composers and theorists of this time, such as Emilio del Cavalieri, Guillaume-Gabriel Nivers, Jean Rousseau, Gilles Jullien, Étienne Loulié and Johann Gottfried Walther. A critical revision of scholarly publications on the problems of this study beginning from Edward Dannreuther and Arnold Dolmetsch to the present time has been carried out. Serious inaccuracies were found in the works of modern researchers and in reference and encyclopedic publications, including The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians and Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart.

W okowach mitów – "Medeamaterial" Heinera Müllera, Pascala Dusapina i Sashy Waltz

Pascal Dusapin is regarded as one of the outstanding contemporary French composers. The opera genre seems to have a special place among his creative achievements. Medeamaterial is the composer’s second work for the stage, and one of many where myth becomes the subject. As the text of the libretto, he chose a text by a German dramatist, Heiner Müller. Both authors decide to reinterpret an antique history and deconstruct it using the means available to them. As does Sasha Waltz, who in 2007 staged Dusapin’s work. All three, while initiating a dialogue with the past, set the work firmly in the present. In this article the author attempts to answer the question how the devices used by these creative artists shape the psychological portrait of the drama’s heroine.