The catechetical value of Byzantine hymnography

This paper is dedicated to the catechetical vocation of Byzantine hymnography, the author analyzing, on the one hand, the theological “matter” that nourishes it, and on the other - the way in which it is presented to the recipient. Thus, the dogma of the Holy Trinity (including that of trinity unity and intra-Trinitarian perichoresis) animates a series of liturgical songs and is also found in the ekfonises of prayers. No less fertile for Orthodox hymnography is the Christological dimension intimately associated with that of the trinity. To the extent that Byzantine sacred music has Christological and soteriological relevance, it is also the bearer of mariological meanings. Mariological images amplify the sacrificial, eschatological, and epiphanic resonances of Christian liturgy, in general, and of religious music in particular. In conclusion, we will state that, on its catechetical side, Byzantine hymnography has a higher efficiency than discursive theology. Due to the doxological form in which it presents its teachings, it manages to evade sterile didacticism, it communicates vividly with the heart and mind of the believers, fully involving them in the hierophantic exercise.

The Identity of the Performances of the 1960s Directed by Valeriu Cupcea

The fruitful activity of Valeriu Cupcea in the 1960s was manifested in the identity of his plays. In the comedy Take, Yanke, and Kadar by I. Popa, this is a union of people overcoming national and religious prejudices. In the socio-psychological drama from the life of a collective farm village The Wheel of Time by A. Lupan, this is the drama of the era, manifested in life situations, in dramatic collisions of the characters in the play. In the philosophical drama about the life and death of A. Levada’s Faust and Death, this is a clash of human destinies, in the struggle of worldviews. The play I Don’t Want You To Do Good For Me Anymore by G. Malarciuc is a satire against favoritism and nepotism. In the play Two Lives and the Third by F. Vidrascu, this is psychological certainty in revealing the spiritual dramas of the heroes. In the play The Crane Feathers by J. Kinoshita this is a poetical and philosophical reading of an old Japanese legend. In the play Eminescu by M. Stefanescu, this is a highly artistic embodiment of the images of Eminescu, Creanga, Alecsandri. In the play Blanduzia’s Fountain by V. Alecsandri, this is the disclosure of the tragic life of a poet who selflessly strives to bring love and goodness to people and dooms himself to death. And others.

Dialogue with the past in contemporary choreography

The present paper starts from the idea of “archival return” in scientific discourse and its possible uses in choreographic practice. In Poland, many choreographers have tried to reconstruct the works of famous artists from the 20s and 30s of the XX century. The works of Pola Nireńska, Yanka Rudzka and Marie Rambert are brought to the stage from today’s perspective. This phenomenon would contribute to the completion of a history with new valences. In the context of reconstructing the choreography of the past, we will refer to the memory of the body and “the body as an archive”. We will analyze how contemporary choreographers work with memory and bodily memories, trying to find traces to get in touch with historical stagings. The research is based on the concept of the body as an archive and the experience of previous generations in choreographic practice. At the same time, we will try to find the answer to the question: how is the process of including choreography in the archival context treated and how does it manifest itself as such today. We will highlight the connection with the past, but also the contribution to knowing and promoting choreographic values.

The art episteme of national self-identification in the context of postcolonial cultural trauma

At the turn of the millennia, the narrative of the art sciences was enriched by an extensive analytical polylogue: from eschatological forecasts of the end of the crisis of theories and practices to the multicultural utopias of “global art”. A solid sector in this context is made up of trans-disciplinary studies of the problems of national self-identification and the revision of regional art epistemes in the new geocultural realities, in particular, those refracted in the field of postcolonial trauma of national consciousness discourse. This aspect is especially relevant for the countries of the post-Soviet space, because their cultural and artistic development is under the pressure of two equally traumatic paradigms: the Russification one belonging to the past, and the Westernization paradigm that declares itself to be the manifestation of democratic freedoms. However, each of them leads to amnesia in the historical and cultural memory of nations, threatening to collapse. Only a careful study of the causes and consequences of this civilizational phenomenon, as well as the study of the negative impact of the market ideology of the culture industry, will help to avoid depersonalization of national arts and cultures, while preserving the possibility of indigenous flourishing in the future. The article pinpoints the pain points identifies the sensitive issues in solving this problem by contemporary artists and critics from different countries, including Ukraine, leaving open the final effective fixation of the situation, which increases the catastrophic bifurcation by unstable development

The Moldovan film Balada haiducească (Outlaw Ballad): the Phenomenon of Innovation through Tradition

The polemical character of the paper is explained by the need to reconsider the generative factors in the configuration of the new cinematic wave of the “thaw” era. Unlike the popular postulate, the author launches the novel conception: the change in the face of Soviet cinema is entirely due to the ideational-aesthetic performances of the most ideologized genre of historical film, the historical-revolutionary one. Namely in the films, dedicated to the Russian revolution, there happened a reversal of values of the existential equations: “man – history”, “individual – collective”, “general – human-soviet”. Appealing to the generous virtualities of the mythical-archetypal analysis, we specified the change of the vector of cinematographic knowledge in the Balada haiducească/Outlaw Ballad by updating the patterns of the mythical-folkloric complex as the millennial censorship of the nation. Assigning the inspired cinematographic work both to the context of the “thaw” era and to that of the exponential Balkan genre – the film with outlaws, the singularity of the local discourse inscribed in the identity grid of the neo-romantic type was stated

Scientific-methodical activity of the pedagogues of the Special Piano Department of the State Conservatory of Chisinau during the years 1950–1970

The article describes the methodological and scientific works of the Special Piano department teachers from the Chisinau State Conservatory, created in the period 1950–1970s. The most common type of unpublished articles are reviews of colleagues’ concerts, reports, abstracts, essays and musical collections. The most serious scientific plans of the teachers were related to the genre of the dissertation. In the 1960s. the scientific and methodological articles of teachers of the department of Special Piano begin to appear. The most significant part of them is formed by music collections, composed of the music of Moldovan composers. T. Voitsekhovskaya and A. Dailis compiled and edited musical aids for students of different ages. The uniqueness of these scientific and methodological opuses is due to the specifics of the material under study – the subject of a special piano, the subtleties of which are familiar to authors, pianists-teachers and performers from their direct professional activities. The named scientific publications opened the way for further research of pianists, who became especially numerous at the turn of the XX–XXI centuries.

Spectacle of musealization and literaturization of the world in post/postmodern society

This article discusses current issues in the evolution of museums worldwide, influenced by global phenomena. The globalization of culture, on the one hand, and the musealization of the world, on the other hand, become the plays of a spectacle of the contemporary world. The museum cultural model becomes dominant in today’s society, influencing all spheres and finding representation in the world’s literatures. Among the various approached theories, the concepts of musealization of the modelled world as a cultural spectacle, “the world as a museum”, imaginary museum, the literaturization of the museum and the musealization of literature. From this perspective, the theses of the Nobel laureates in literature Mario Vargas Llosa and Orhan Pamuk are analysed. In Pamuk’s novel The Museum of Innocence, the museum is the structuring narratological axis of the novel, its theme and compositional nucleus.

Documentary testimonies about the national music in European culture Historiographical journey (XVI—XVII centuries

The study brings to the forefront some reference information on the connections of national oral music with the European space. The sources of documentation, to which we turn, allow a first finding, according to which our music enters the attention of the West in the XVI century. Firstly, we refer to the first records of folklore, which appeared in publications in Poland, Germany and France, and which are found in tabulations, anthologies and (or) collections of music. Once they have come out of print and have been put into circulation, they reach the creative laboratory of European artistic personalities, who have gone on to capitalize on our ethnic music in various forms and genres. We catalog some creations through concrete examples, having as a source of suggestion the local melody. Along the way, the actual musical documents from the period under investigation are supplemented with data and information from adjacent fields. The paper takes into account the contribution of foreign authors in a limited period of time (XVI–XVII centuries), who through their contribution have facilitated the promotion of the originality of our musical culture, increasing its visibility and value on the European continent.

Romanian musical creation of Bizantine source in the period 1918–2018

Written in the year of Romania’s centennial anniversary as a national state, this paper intends to offer a panorama of the monodic music of Byzantine tradition of the period, composed by the Romanian chanters. Although the entire twentieth century was characterized by the harmonization of the already established church chants, the musical works written in neumatic notation specific to the Orthodox Church continue to exist, albeit discontinuously. Based on the political changes that occurred in the Romanian society, three distinct periods of psaltic music creation can be distinguished: a. 1918–1947; b. 1948–1989; c. 1990–2018. The first period coincides with the last stage of the process of “Romanianization” of church chants. The second one corresponds to the communist period and is marked by the Communist Party’s decisions regarding the Church, namely the attempt to standardise the church chants. After 1990, psaltic music regains its position and the compositions of the last two decades enrich its repertoire with new collections of chants. Thus, we can see that in the course of a century marked by political turmoil and changes, psaltic composition went on a hiatus in the first decades of the totalitarian regime, to gradually resurge after 1980, enriched with numerous works bearing a distinct Romanian stamp.

The constitution of the academic accordion art in the Moldavian SSR in the period 1940–1960

With the annexation of Bessarabia to the USSR, the process of professionalization of accordionists, convering all levels of artistic education in the country, is influenced by the evolution of performing arts in Eastern Europe (especially Russia, Belarus, Ukraine). The academic bases are consolidated by illustrious pedagogues, such as Iziaslav Birbraier, Valentin Zagumionov (I. Birbraier’s student), Ivan Folomkin (one of the first graduates of the Gnesin State Musical-Pedagogical Institute in Moskow) and others. Durind the years 1940–1960, the establishment of the accordion interpretive art in the Moldavian SSR was directly conditioned by the massive ideologization of the ex-Soviet cultural space, which largely blurred the national identity aspect in the accordion academization process. Based on the classical-romantic aesthetics „adjusted” by the doctrine of socialist realism, the professionalization of Bessarabian instrumentalists is distinguished by a prominent conservatism compared to other accordion schools of that period, such as German, Danish, Czech etc. (we refer primarily to the compositional domain). Even if in this time segment the accordion failed to fully integrate into the „family” of European academic instruments, taking into account some areas (organological, compositional, pedagogical, interpretive) that needed to be intensely perfected, the first postwar decades can still be considered the reference point for establishing the academic status of chromatic harmonics in the Moldavian SSR