Music Journal of Northern Europe № 3(31), 2022
Contents
Ekaterina G. Okuneva, Alexandra Y. Dubova
THE CONCEPT OF TOTALITARIANISM AND THE PRINCIPLES OF ITS MUSICAL EMBODIMENT IN EVERY GOOD BOY DESERVES FAVOUR BY TOM STOPPARD AND ANDRÉ PREVIN | 1-25
Tamara I. Tverdovskaya
REACHING THE VERY ESSENCE: J. S. BACH’S COMPOSITION ELEMENTS IN SIX FUGUES OP. 17 BY N. A. RIMSKY-KORSAKOV: J. S. BACH’S COMPOSITION ELEMENTS IN SIX FUGUES OP. 17 BY N. A. RIMSKY-KORSAKOV | 26-38
Svetlana V. Kosyreva
THE SOUND PICTURE OF THE WORLD OF THE FINNO-UGRIANS: ASPECTS OF MONODIC THINKING | 39-53
Elena E. Nikulina
FOLK-POETIC INTERPRETATION OF THE FIGURE OF THE THEOTOKOS IN THE SPIRITUAL POEMS AND ICON PAINTING OF THE ANCIENT KARELIA (THROUGH THE EXAMPLE OF SINGLE MONUMENTS) | 54-65
Irina V. Koposova, Daria S. Koldanova
A TAKE AT THE TIMBRE OF THE THEREMIN IN THE CYCLE SIX TRANSLATIONS FROM WILLY MELNIKOV BY ALEXANDER REICHELSON | 66-84
Li Zichu, Nadezhda V. Medvedeva
THE ISSUE OF THE PERCUSSION INSTRUMENTS CLASSIFICATION | 85-96
Danila V. Lyubimov
CHOREOGRAPHIC POEM BY K. S. URALSKY TO THE MUSIC OF S. V. RACHMANINOFF’S SECOND PIANO CONCERTOBY K. S. URALSKY TO THE MUSIC OF S. V. RACHMANINOFF’S SECOND PIANO CONCERTO | 97-111
Anna G. Chupova
THE CONCEPT OF THE WINDOW FORM AND ITS REPRESENTATION IN THE OEUVRE OF SALVATORE SCIARRINO | 112-134
Maria V. Kozak
THE BIOGRAPHY OF AVENIR DE MONFRED AND THE CURRENT TRENDS IN RUSSIAN BIOGRAPHY | 135-153
Ekaterina G. Okuneva, Alexandra Y. Dubova THE CONCEPT OF TOTALITARIANISM AND THE PRINCIPLES OF ITS MUSICAL EMBODIMENT IN EVERY GOOD BOY DESERVES FAVOUR BY TOM STOPPARD AND ANDRÉ PREVIN |
Abstract: The object of the research in the article is the play for actors and orchestra Every Good Boy Deserves Favour, created by the British playwright Tom Stoppard and the American composer André Previn in 1977. The main idea of the play is the confrontation between a totalitarian state and an individual. The article reveals the features of the drama and style of the play from the perspective of the embodiment of its leading thematic line. The influence of the theater of the absurd in Stoppard’s drama is noted. Special attention is devoted to the specifics of the stage production, as well as the musical language packed with stylistic allusions and quotations. The choice of intertextual references, their analysis and interpretation allow us to assert that music becomes an important semantic component of the whole play, not only reflecting the main idea of the composition, but also establishing additional semantic overtones that reveal the fate of art in a totalitarian state.
Keywords: André Previn, Tom Stoppard, Every Good Boy Deserves Favour, 20th century music, theater of the absurd, totalitarianism, Soviet dissidents
Tamara I. Tverdovskaya REACHING THE VERY ESSENCE: J. S. BACH’S COMPOSITION ELEMENTS IN SIX FUGUES OP. 17 BY N. A. RIMSKY-KORSAKOV |
Abstract: The article considers Six Fugues op. 17 by N. A. Rimsky-Korsakov (1875) as an important milestone in the history of the Saint Petersburg conservatory contrapuntal school. The analysis of the fugues carried out by Victor M. Belyaev, an outstanding Russian researcher and a graduate of the Saint Petersburg Conservatory, and published in the Moscow weekly magazine Muzyka in 1914, proves Rimsky-Korsakov’s deep understanding of the compositional patterns of the Bach fugue. Rimsky-Korsakov's original implementation of Bach's principles became one of the foundations of the composer's creative method and was carried on in the contrapuntal technique of his disciples. The author clarifies the circumstances of the publication of Belyaev's work and the subsequent discussion with Boris L. Sabaneev, as well as supplements Belyaev's analysis with some analytical observations.
Keywords: N. A. Rimsky-Korsakov, Six Fugues op. 17 (1875), J. S. Bach, V. M. Belyaev, Muzyka magazine, fugue, subject, complex counterpoint, stretta
Svetlana V. Kosyreva THE SOUND PICTURE OF THE WORLD OF THE FINNO-UGRIANS: ASPECTS OF MONODIC THINKING |
Abstract: The article focuses on the specific features of the sound picture of the Finno-Ugric peoples’ world. The sound ideal of the Finno-Ugrians was formed in the conditions of the forest acoustic environment, distinguished by a unique perception of space. The sound practice in the context of the traditional thinking of ethnic groups is reviewed through the example of the monodic forms of traditional improvisations. The ethnic stylistic representatives of the pre-song archaism are revealed.
Keywords: Finno-Ugric monody, traditional improvisations, sound picture of the world, pre-song archaism, ethnic sound ideal, ethnic stylistic representatives, intonation, timbre, articulation, speech functions (communicative, appellative)
Elena E. Nikulina FOLK-POETIC INTERPRETATION OF THE FIGURE OF THE THEOTOKOS IN THE SPIRITUAL POEMS AND ICON PAINTING OF THE ANCIENT KARELIA (THROUGH THE EXAMPLE OF SINGLE MONUMENTS) |
Abstract: The article is dedicated to the issues of the visualization of the figure of the Theotokos in icon painting and spiritual poems exemplified by the Karelian monuments of the 18th and 19-20th centuries – Our Lady of the Sign and The Dream of the Most Holy Theotokos. In the context of this topic, the phenomenon of dual faith is analyzed along with its influence on the semantic structure of the composition. The peasant craftsmen’s focus on folk art, day-to-day trade and paganism becomes one of the key points. This aspect becomes fundamental, since it specifically allows creating new existential meanings. Summing up, a conclusion is made that a set of various aspects paves the way for various interpretations of canonical images, including apocrypha with their ancient background.
Keywords: Theotokos of the Sign, Mother Goddess, The Dream of the Most Holy Theotokos, passion of Christ, popular worldview, folklore, dual faith phenomenon, icon painting, spiritual poem, spiral pattern
Irina V. Koposova, Daria S. Koldanova A TAKE AT THE TIMBRE OF THE THEREMIN IN THE CYCLE SIX TRANSLATIONS FROM WILLY MELNIKOV BY ALEXANDER REICHELSON |
Abstract: The article is devoted to the analysis of the cycle Six Translations from Willy Melnikov by Alexander Reichelson written in the technique of cryptophony. The article summarizes the features of this technique on the basis of the available sources and identifies the reasons why A. Reichelson gravitated toward it; it defines the manner of W. Melnikov and specifies the implementation features of cryptography in the Six Translations.
During the analysis, the features of the theremin timbre and its participation in the development of the composition imagery are identified. Cryptophonic translations are construed as a distinctive variety of vocal music in which the text is not heard, however, the motives incorporated in it make sense due to the selected playing techniques (namely, various types of sliding), register and other features of the theremin part.
Keywords: Alexander Reichelson, Six Translations from Willy Melnikov, cryptophony, theremin, interpretation of timbre
Li Zichu, Nadezhda V. Medvedeva THE ISSUE OF THE PERCUSSION INSTRUMENTS CLASSIFICATION |
Abstract: The article considers the issue of the percussion instruments classification, the Hornbostel-Sachs system criteria, by the presence/absence of a certain pitch, by the method of sound production. Special attention is given to the connection of any classification with the values of the corresponding historical epoch. A hypothesis about the preference of a particular classification in connection with its practical purposes is put forward.
Keywords: percussion instruments, Hornbostel-Sachs, idiophones, membranophones, Dewey classification, pitch, sound production methods
Danila V. Lyubimov CHOREOGRAPHIC POEM BY K. S. URALSKY TO THE MUSIC OF S. V. RACHMANINOFF’S SECOND PIANO CONCERTO |
Abstract: The article is devoted to the problem of plastic interpretation of S. V. Rachmaninoff’s Second Piano Concerto by the Russian choreographer K. S. Uralsky.
Keywords: S. V. Rachmaninoff, Second Piano Concerto (c-moll, op. 18), symphonic poem, K. S. Uralsky, ballet, choreographic poem
Anna G. Chupova THE CONCEPT OF THE WINDOW FORM AND ITS REPRESENTATION IN THE OEUVRE OF SALVATORE SCIARRINO |
Abstract: Salvatore Sciarrino (b. 1947) is one of the most significant and original Western European composers of contemporary academic music, the author of the musical and aesthetic concept, which was reflected in his lecture cycle Le figure della musica da Beethoven a oggi (1998). In his work, Sciarrino considers five types of sound figures – accumulation, multiplication, little bang, genetic transformation, and window form. The subject of the article was the figure la forma a finestre / window form, its conceptual content and representation in the oeuvre of Sciarrino. The works written by the composer in the 1980s - 2000s - Efebo con radio, Allegoria della notte, Cadenzario, Macbeth – were used for writing this article.
Sciarrino uses the term window form as a computer windows metaphor, giving a wide range of analogies to conceptualize this figure. La forma a finestre is a space-time rift that allows for opening the multidimensionality of time and space dimensions. The article discusses the criteria for figure identification and the effects caused by it. The author highlights such features as the existence of the sound matter layers in a composition separated from each other; fragmentation conditioned by the window frame; the recurrence of the sound image; the strategy of discontinuity and continuity shaped by the previous features; distortion and abrasion of the sound objects. The comparison of the windows of a single layer and two adjacent ones makes it possible to detect different forms of the passage of time. As a part of the work, the issues of classification of the window forms are also touched upon.
Keywords: music of the 20th‒21st centuries, Salvatore Sciarrino, figure, window form, la forma a finestre
Maria V. Kozak THE BIOGRAPHY OF AVENIR DE MONFRED AND THE CURRENT TRENDS IN RUSSIAN BIOGRAPHY |
Abstract: The article presents new information about the biography of Avenir de Monfred (1903–1974) from the 1950–1970 foreign press items stored in the composer's personal archive (USA). The contradictions of the composer's biography that arose when comparing archival documents from the time of his studies at the Petrograd Conservatory (1913–1923) and biographical data published in foreign articles and reviews are considered.
Keywords: A. H. de Monfred, biography, Petrograd Conservatory, A. K. Glazunov, M. A. Osorgin, Russian Abroad, NDM the principle of relative music