The Neo-Musicology of Non-Musicological Musics

MARIN MARIAN

„CONSTANTIN BRĂILOIU” INSTITUTE FOR ETNOGRAPHY AND FOLKLORE

ABSTRACT: Subject to national/nationalist selections, exclusions and purisms, throughout the entire course of the 20th Century the Romanian musicologies had ignored the musics of some religious minorities –which, anyhow, made out of music a very important vehicle for spiritual enrichment, for moral and social emancipation, for and survival and progress. The „Neo”-musicology that is suggested here is actually almost the same musicology/ethnomusicology (from Romania and anywhere else). Only that the liberation from the limitations, restrictions and rejections/idiosyncrasies of the past, the respect and interest in the musics previously non-musicological (in the sense that the official, mainstream, professed musicologies considered them undignified, unworthy of academic interest), hence the advanced degree of empathy and humanism that can be acquired only be the contemporary decades... they all make a difference.

KEYWORDS: MUSICS, ETHNOLOGIES, SUBJECTIVITIES, POLITICS

BY THE VOLUME Muzicologii, etnologii, subiectivități, politici1 [Musics, Ethnologies, Subjectivities, Politics] I launched – and the demonstration was reiterated more or less obviously, directly, demonstratively or ostentatiously inside that book – the idea that we should (ought to or at least it would be worthy to) speak not only about musicology (and almost about all the other human studies), at singular, but about musicologies (ethnologies, anthropologies, etc), meaning at plural forms. Inasmuch as it was desired (and it’s still desired) homogeneity to exist, unitary consolidation and unique constitution (at any level and within any field), there has always been plurality, a plurality that deserves encouragement (and not only plurality, but pluralism too). Also by the innocent and tolerant syntagm „everyone does whatever he/she can” (plus the honorable adding, „at his/her better”, and most honorably, „at his/her best”) one presumes and it indicates the fact that, also quality-wise, not just quantity-wise, there is no homogeneity, unique standard and style, „egalitarian”, synonimical and interchangeable forms and structures of academic performance, there is no singular and unidirectional vector, there is no consonance of simple, mimetic (if not mere banal, handy) harmonies. There exists content and cognitive/gnoseologic heterogeneities, hence there is value, intellectual, structural or quality pluralism. As a consequence, musicology is not one (only) and good, solo and singularly, or only generating cuts and multiplications and autonomisations of branches/subdisciplines. There always has been and still are musicologies and ‘musicologies’, in time also its branches, its conceptual subdivisions and autonomisations becoming again of various, plural categories, genres, styles, paradigms. Musicology is not just autonomous; it lives also in accordance with the contribution of one or another from musicologists, schools/groups; musicology „has” to also enjoy originality, inner diversity, plural alternatives. The pluralization of the term, thus, is natural (absolutely not subversive, in the contrary, creative). Of course, the term neomusicology is, on these pages, rather suggestive/indicative, metaphorical. Intending to draw attention, in the same time to argue with the traditional, historical musicology (and especially with the communist one), for the fact that they ignored some dimensions of music itself, more exactly some musics (repertoires, human activities and communities) for which „it was not found” a curious, interested, tolerant, empathic, applied or associable professionally-academic musicology.

1 Marian-Bălașa 2011 (unfortunately, read quickly, the volume’s title was wrongly taken by a few colleagues; the plural of the first nouns did not refer to musicologists and ethnologists as pysicial persons and historical contributions, actually pluralizing the named academic disciplinespluralul primelor substantive nu se referea nicidecum la muzicologi și etnologi ca persoane fizice și contribuții istorice, în realitate pluralizând disciplinele academice numite).

Proceedings of the „George Enescu“ International Musicology Symposium Proceedings of the „George Enescu” International Musicology Symposium However, the sense of the term is not totally or exclusively metaphoric, also having a motivational, inspirational role, determining the consciousness and aspiration towards expansions, upliftings. If we will get to realize that, though, the „classical”, traditional, conservative, major and dominant has been, to Romanians, heavily conditioned by the imperatives typical to elitist, purist, nationalist, selective and authoritarian imperatives, if we will get to acknowledge that some kind of metanoia (conversion), a freeing up from the superiorities, materialisms (I did insist at length: factological/historical-positivist and not at all „dialectical”) and the ideologically imbued mystifications – determinants which had dominated the musicologies since the interwar times until the presumed fall of the communist system – then there could certainly be sensed a desformalism and desossification, an elegance and an „ulterior life”, with a more smiling „sun” – hence (at least an impression of) a new musicology – on the Romanian soil. More or less poetical, what I am suggesting now is the idea of a more hospitable, this amplified, humanism, of an empathy or at least professional interest to also be open before the musical repertoires that, for many decades, remained under political lids, namely the musics of marginalized Christian minorities. As „neo”-(musicology) it also could look-like the implicit reconsideration and adapting of the theory, methodology, terminology and conceptualizing, the new breath of the formalism, fixations, complexes and clichés lack, of the departure from the wooden, repetitive, excessively unnuanced phrases, by which the systematic musicology academism and of the analytic ethnomusicology have trained/programmed the professional mind. In what ethnomusicology is concerned, at least „today” it is to be consigned (meaning put down within the historical dated index) the apocalyptical fetish of exhaustive fieldwork collections, of the Corpuses which present „everything” (though they did it „anthological” only, very selective, by „the most representative” variants), of the „typological” transcriptions and analyses (that proved nothing beyond the operations of being done), etc. On the occasion of a last big international Symposium hosted by Bucharest (UNMB: September 2-4, 2019), I organized two panels on a theme that integrates within the present plead, talking at that time about „unofficial, clandestine, sectarian, forbidden, prosecuted” musics. Thus, speaking about the musics of an entire century (the anterior one) which belonged or at least were characteristic to those minor religious communities that contravened to the dominant religious and political systems. For all such minor denominations and musics there was no place – during a century long – in the official, dominant, major musicologies, which means that they themselves had considered those musical repertoires unworthy or underserving, henceforth the present verbalization: nonmusicological (musics). Which means musics ignored and excluded by the (Romanian) musicologies of the 20th Century. Despite their non-musicological status, we talk about musics that, in the shadow of the noble symphonism, turning their back towards the proudish folklore (rural and urban, peasant-agrarian or professional fiddling), have still survived and flourished in manners full of human, social, cultural, political, spiritual and strictly artistically meanings. We talk about the musics of the modern Christian cults and denominations, of the forbidden, marginalized and prosecuted movements and communities. „Minor” musics, of exalted amateurism, yet musics which, among Romanians, in Enescu’s Century and in Brăiloiu’s Century2 have evolved/diversified more and more, had their „stages” and their own, discrete, often illegal and „subterranean” musical life, musics of interference between pure symphonism and anonymous romance, with choirs, vocal soloists, fanfares, harmoniums and organs, symphonic-type orchestras or, over last communism decades, pop-rock-type bands, accumulating more and more German-English protestant hymns as well as songs on lyrics and melodies originally Romanian. Throughout the 20th Century the sectarian, protestant and neoprotestant musical-poetic composition was massive, still remaining strange to the Romanian musicological mainstream. In a recently published volume (Dobrincu, 2018), Dorin Dobrincu makes a minute (impressively long/comprehensive) historiography of Romanian Evangelicals movements, growth, and social-political suffering (Dobrincu, 2018); whereas Vilmos Kis-Juhàsz and Iulian Teodorescu (KisJuhàsz & Teodorescu, 2018) identify all the hymns and communal songs, as well as a cappella choirs and vocal-instrumental (re)arranged pieces, that were taken by evangelicals from ancient (gregorian or byzantine) sources, from early protestant composers, from neoprotestant – european and north-american – communities, as well as from further/modern-times composers (such as those of the Oastea Domnului orthodox-pietistic movement/representatives). Myself, I sketched over there (same volume) (MarianBălașa, 2018) a selective and critical history, a survey based on several conceptual themes, all striving to demonstrate the essential role of music-and-poetry creation (plus music singing and performing) for the benefit of social and psychological survival and thriving, as well as for the process of identity developing and strengthening. As we all know, and it is well documented/documentable, for almost the entire length of the 20th century the neoprotestant communities in Romania were minorities of social and political devaluation/despise; they were treated with distance and suspicion by dominant population and state

2 Which means to the historians, theorists and critics of the Romanian art-music, respectively to the Romanian ethnomusicologists.

Vol . XX, 2021 Vol. XX, 2021 politics, were surveilled, controlled, marginalized, belittled. Among consequences: the less/humbler public space and affirmation, the more/greater musical creativity and development. My major task, in this musicological endeavor, is to see and prove that music (sung poetry and music played organologicly), were much more than identity expression/affiliation and devotional performance. Apart from or beyond all that communities themselves have conceptualized and communicated/confessed about the meanings and place of their specific religious musics (inside their religious performances and private lives), their musics were a tool for personal/individual and social resistance/survival, growth, emancipation, self-bettering, as well as mental and cultural development (personally/individually and socially speaking). In this respect, there are numerous avenues, topics and paths to elaborate on this major point/idea, and, as said, the small text in that volume is indicative for many other analytical, supporting cases. For the time being, and on this particular occasion, I am proposing to your reflection a different and complimentary topic, namely what I would call the ecumenical processes, meaning/discussing the twists, developments, migrations, borrowings and – more or less overt and conscious – collaboration among various communities in the field of music/singing creation/composition and appropriation. It is true that, in parallel with the musical goods circulation (among communities), there was also a transfer – through spiritual conversion and social-administrative affiliation – of people (from one denomination to other). But let us not go astray by looking at and talking about this aspect; let us be musicologists (or musical anthropologists) only, focusing on music and its virtues only. Because, in the accounts of a history of cultural values, inventorying historical data and time-wasting within political/institutional views and competing (side-taking) debates, it’s way too common/banal, shipwrecking. Why and how people shifted – from sheer/fundamental Orthodoxy, such as Dumitru Cornilescu, or from Oastea Domnului, such as Nicolae Moldoveanu – to neoprotestantism, is less relevant hereby, only because we cannot see and demonstrate that music itself was a major motive for conversion. Yet, there were cases of personal/individual conversion in which music played a major role, was The main factor.3 In this sense, it is very relevant the fact that a contemporary Anglican musician, composer and conductor, is capable of settling down in Romania and joining the Baptist community, only to get dissatisfied with his new co-religionars because these modern fellows cannot accept his claims to more musical space, order, structure and participation within the religious service; in the end, quitting the Baptists and converting into local Orthodoxy, because only in its liturgical forms he found the musical infatuation/effusion that satisfied his religious concept and sensitivity. However, coming back into history, allow me to remind you of the radically different and apparently competing sonic-acoustic atmosphere that divided the Romanian society once the neoprotestant communities appeared and manifested themselves inside the massive folk music and orthodox liturgical reception, performance and consumption of the majorities. The Western hymns and sonic influences (German-British-North American) were alien to Muntenian Romanians, and if choral harmonic singing and brass bands did already have some popularity in the Austro-Hungarian Transylvania and Northern Moldova, the proliferation of those forms among the neoprotestants was seen by the major, orthodox populations as inflammatory, „colonial/imperialistic”, attacking (actually, divorcing from) the national/traditional, folk and orthodox way of life, i.e. identity. To unfriendly listeners, the new musics were revolting/repealing, to converts, they were appealing, nourishing, demonstrative, proselytizing. And the more the musical sensitivity of commoners became familiar/accustomed with the Western forms and genres, the better the musical styles and forms of the western influenced/inspired neoprotestants musics were accepted, often borrowed, by the religious majorities. The Oastea Domnului movement was – among many other things – also a sort of counterreform, and founder-priest Valerian Trifa also understood that his ostași4 need to make out of music a powerful tool for persuasion and intimate enthusiasm, i.e. devotion/piety, and growth. Initially, their specific publications (such as the popular magazine „Lumina Satelor”) promoted the Dimitrie Cunțan’s musical editing and transcription of the orthodox liturgy (songs, hymns, responses and all the usual vocal church music). Then, as the movement evolved and more poets and musicians got involved, devotional/paraliturgical repertoires, of original poetry and music pieces, were composed and disseminated5. With less folkloric melismas, at times in western tonal and rhythmic/metric systems, still (slightly) closer to the folklore forms (and mainly romance-like tunes), representatives of the Oastea Domnului were very prolific in terms of melo-poetic repertoires. Only that, once they were persecuted

3 See the memorial/autobiographic book by Gh. Boeriu (Boeru–Boeru Ander 2016), in which the author based his conversion (from common Orthodoxy to fascism/legionarism and to evangelical christianity), as well as life survival, to music/vocal singing only. 4 Hereby I translate their own calling as „soldiers” and „soldering songs”. 5 See details such as with the recent page https://oasteadomnului.ro/noutati-editoriale-sa-cantam-domnului-vol-ii.

Proceedings of the „George Enescu“ International Musicology Symposium Proceedings of the „George Enescu” International Musicology Symposium by both State and Official Church, they went socially and culturally underground, and their production circulated discreetly, mostly anonymous. Yet, they multiplied, and often were appropriated by common orthodox devotees as pricesne, ignoring (or not) their „sectarian” origin. For instance, a twenty years old volume of pricesne from Maramureș, collected and published by a young folklorist (Băncescu, 2000), were mostly cântece ostășești (soldering songs), that were created by the orthodox pietists belonging to the clandestine Oastea Domnului and disseminated also by the forbidden (clandestinely active) GreekCatholics in the entire Transylvania and especially into Maramureș, eventually to penetrate within the uniformized community of orthodox proper and ex-Catholics that were converted by force to the historical Orthodoxy (often formally calling themselves orthodox, yet using the religious services of covert/illegal Uniate/Greek-Catholic priest that continue to secretly activated as such). As with the case above cited, folklorists (ethnomusicologists included) continued to either ignore the non-Orthodox origin of songs – such as those for pilgrimage (which during the communist period were sung by Orthodox people in Transylvania, but were of a clear Catholic origin, just translated into Romanian by the Greek-Catholics and performed as such for over two centuries). Whereas in what the Oastea Domnului repertoires were concerned, field collectors of the last eight decades met them almost everywhere in Transylvania, simply refusing to pay attention to their existence, refusing to record and archive them6 . Just in a parenthesis, I will signal an anecdotal case I stumbled upon in 2018 in Blaj. The GreekCatholic Cathedral there, forcefully converted to Orthodoxy in 1948, regained his stature and status of (Greek-)Catholic main headquarters in 1991. From the modern carillon in his main tower the day and religious hours are marked by a modern song, which is a half-romance/half-march, of a source that it is not of a Western-Catholic origin, rather, I presume, is a „soldering” inspired one (cântare ostășească). I hope someone will either doubt of me being right, or verify my provocative proposition, as to bring forth exact data. As for the neoprotestants, the songs by „soldering” poets such as Trăian Dorz and Costache Ioanid, set on music by composer Nicolae/Niculiță Moldoveanu, were already in their repertoires during the WW2 and especially under the communist ban. And, as already mentioned, after the formal eradication of Greek-Catholicism, those remaining faithful, in clandestine (as Greek-Catholics), also took them over and made them theirs. After 1990, the recuperation of the Oastea Domnului musical production and heritage entered back into the musical sensitivity and acceptance of common (nonschismatic/sectarian) Orthodox people, and there are more and more Orthodox churches in which the devotees overtly inserted inside the church program (sometimes before and after the sermon), programs of devotional vocal songs or choir songs that are to be found in the books authored and published by the Oastea Domnului Association. In a concluding phrase, I resume the major point of this presentation: here, with music among minor, oppressed, alternative or counter-cultural and often (or to some extent) clandestine religious communities, we see music as a major, vital life dimension, as creating culture, as solid, strengthening and pillar and motor for inner development. Technically, is to be talked about the musical culture of intimate devotions, of musical pietism. Which, in the recent Romanian history, can be traced and analyzed under the concepts of Orthodox dynamism, Uniate/Greek-Catholic clandestine, and neoprotestant expansion. To all these, one concept more is to be added, as to explain the complex dynamics of the music’s role and effects; in this context, the concept of applied (or performed) ecumenism. Because the folklore-like circulation, appropriation and dissemination of musical forms (songs and instrumental ensembles) among various denominations, cults, and religious communities was a consistent form/path for ecumenism. And in this respect, I will present just one (and last) case more. It is about the poet Ioan Alexandru (1941-2000), a layman and Orthodox proper, who suffered a profound religious turnover and devoted his life to religious thinking, teaching and preaching. In his poetry writing, as in his academic/university teaching, he professed unrestricted Cristian symbolism and pedagogy. Since the 1970s, at the University of Bucharest, when delivering lectures, classes and courses on Romanian old literature, he used to talk to students mostly about sacred writings (mainly the Bible), when teaching Jewish culture he presented only Old Testament and Mosaic writings, when talking freely to people he always rather preached. Despite his Securitate close watch, in the 1980s he would visit and speak in churches of any denomination, professing ecumenism at all levels. He was the only intellectual

6 See Teodoreanu 1993, who who mentions the existence of „de oaste” songs – romances/romanced – without identifying them, then specifying that such songs (mistakingly calling them „cântecele de armată,”, instead songs of the Lord’s Army soldering/ostășești songs) are „lipsite de un interes folcloric deosebit” (laking any special folkloristic interest) – p. 205; he however, signals some identification number in the Arhive of the Institute of Ethngraphy and Folklore (p. 206), again, then, denying their worth of any scholarly inteerest and importance, forwarding also an „academic” excuse: „Cântecele religioase culese de Gh. Cernea [Cântări religioase din regiunea Cohalmului, jud. Târnava Mare], ca și cântecele de oaste [„cântecele care se cântă la întrunirile organizației ortodoxe Oastea Domnului” – he says in the footnote], sunt lipsite de specific local”. Briefly resumed: either published, or circulating orally, the Oaste songs were lacking „local specificity”, hence folkloristic obliteration.

Vol . XX, 2021 Vol. XX, 2021 to write about Trăian Dorz, the Oastea Domnului greatest poet, in the communist press (presenting him as a „peasant poet”). Ioan Alexandru’s poetry volumes were immensely popular, especially among neoprotestants, because of their profound Christian symbolism. Many of you can remember him as the one who during the 1989 Revolution days carried either an large icon or a cross in the streets, then in the Parliament, where he would call for religious piety and political attitude with a voice stronger than any priest’s one. The prayer group he founded in the Parliament (gathering Orthodox priests and evangelical reverends that were members of the Parliament) died out together with his own passing away. I wanted to draw your attention upon Ioan Alexandru’s rare human profile also because his poems, so much religious, until 1990 were also sophisticated, less accessible to everyone, reason why within the neoprotestants gatherings they could very rarely find place for recitation, hence no composing/singing opportunities (neither for solo nor for communal singing). Because of expressing his (mystical) religiousness too coded/subtly, Alexandru was rarely set on music. During communism, only the pop singer Dan Andrei Aldea turned Lumină lină into a slow-rock song (of clear, vibratoless vocalism, setting the leimotivic „Lumină lină, lini lumini” on an emotionally effective reverse-chromatism formula). After 1990, only Tudor Gheorghe made of the same poem a vocal-symphonic piece. Whereas Teodor Caciora, a baptist composer in Oradea set on chamber music (of modern art music style) a suite for voice and piano on three hymns by the late Ioan Alexandru7 .

BIBLIOGRAPHY: ***. (2017). Orthdodox Christian Revival Movements in Eastern Europe. (A. Djurić Milovanović, & R. Radić, Eds.) Cham, Palgrave Macmillan/ Springer International AG. Ašković, D. (2017). The Prayer Chanting of the God Worshipper Movement. In A. D. Milovanović, & R. Radić (Eds.), Orthdodox Christian Revival Movements in Eastern Europe (pp. 191-212). Cham: Palgrave Macmillan/Springer International AG. Băncescu, I. (2000). Cântările religioase din Maramureş. Text şi context. Târgovişte: Ed. Macarie. Boeru, G., & Boeru-Ander, G. (2016). Muzică, suferință, credință. București: Ed. Muzicală. Caciora, T. (2011). Trei cântece pentru tenor şi pian pe versuri de Ioan Alexandru (Bucium, Izvorul, Mulţumire). Oradea: Ed. Artes. Constantineanu, C. (2017). The Romanian Lord’s Army: a Case Study in Eastern Orthodox Church Renewal,. In A. D. Milovanović, & R. Radić (Eds.), Orthdodox Christian Revival Movements in Eastern Europe (pp. 231-259). Cham: Palgrave Macmillan/Springer International AG. Dobrincu, D. (2018). Omul evanghelic. O explorare a comunităţilor protestante româneşti. (D. Mănăstireanu, Ed.) Iași: Ed. Polirom. Dobrincu, D. (2018). Sub puterea Cezarului. O istorie politică a evanghelicilor din România (a doua jumătate a secolului al 19-lea – 1989). In D. Dobrincu, & M. Dănuț (Ed.), Omul evanghelic. O explorare a comunităţilor protestante româneşti (pp. 37-243). Iași: Ed. Polirom. Kis-Juhàsz, V., & Teodorescu, I. (2018). Bazele închinării evanghelice – cazul evanghelicilor din România. In D. Dobrincu, & D. Mănăstireanu (Ed.), Omul evanghelic. O explorare a comunităţilor protestante româneşti (pp. 720750). Iași: Ed. Polirom. Marian-Bălașa, M. (2018). Muzica în cadrul bisericilor minore – funcţii, identităţi şi roluri socioculturale. In D. Dobrincu, & D. Mănăstireanu, Omul evanghelic. O explorare a comunităţilor protestante româneşti (pp. 705-719). Iași: Ed. Polirom. Teodoreanu, N. (1993). O cercetare etnomuzicologică în satul Paloș, județul Brașov. Anuarul IEF, 4, pp. 197-211.

7 Caciora 2011. For the international conference held in September 2019 in Bucharest (and during which I introduced the theme that makes the core of this text), T. Caciora provided us with a recording of his musical suite. Alas, not only the recording was poor, but also the conception and performance, which were of an unrefrained operatic vocal trembling-vibrato, making the textual poem unintelligible. Perhaps it was such a musical treatment that disappointed Ioan Alexandru’s wife, who refused Iulian Teodorescu (another contemporary evangelical composer) the right to use musically the poet’s lyrics. This refusal was confessed by Teodorescu himself, who on that very occasion informed the entire audience of his composition intention and the received negative answer.

RICHARD WAGNER'S LOHENGRIN AND ITS RELIGIOUS-SOCIOLOGICAL ENVIRONMENT

HELMUT LOOS

INSTITUT FÜR MUSIKWISSENSCHAFT, LEIPZIG

ABSTRACT: The study reveals some of the interferences between religious, social, historical, political, philosophical and musical aspects in Germany (more specifically, in Dresden) and Wagnerian thinking. There are presented many examples on Wagner's attempts to approach the religious theme in his work creation. Also, his role as a pioneer is outlined, considering the development of the musical language he created by unifying the traditional musical rhetoric with the symphonic achievements of the motivational-thematic work.

KEYWORDS: WAGNER, LOHENGRIN, RELIGION, SOCIOLOGY

IN HIS LOHENGRIN, composed in Marienbad in 1845, Wagner created an almost striking apotheosis of Christianity in its victory over paganism, embodied by Lohengrin and Ortrud. This was in keeping not only with the guiding conviction of traditional denominations for centuries, but also with rationalist Protestant theology, which towards the end of the 18th century absorbed the perfectionism of the classical period and saw the spread of Christianity as a process of perfection. Wagner grew up in Dresden in this tradition and was socialised into a pronounced theatre composer who understood his compositions as musical language based on the tradition of musical rhetoric. As extensively as Wagner literature always discusses the progressive, socialist to anarchist influences on Wagner, the religious-sociological environment of his socialisation is usually not taken into account. The demonstrably important early childhood imprint on a personality, especially in religious terms, is not given enough attention. Richard Wagner grew up in Dresden in a diverse religious society in which the church was responsible for large areas of education. As is well known, the court had been Catholic since 1697, while the population continued to adhere to the Evangelical Lutheran faith. The king thus left his function as summus episcopus with episcopal rights and the church leadership passed to the church council and the Oberkonsistorium. The chief court preacher thus assumed the most important leadership position in the church.

In the Saxon Regional Church, Pietism found little resonance (with the exception of the Herrnhut Brethren congregation); rather, the revival movement led here to a moderate Neo-Lutheranism in demarcation from theological rationalism. In Dresden, Franz Volkmar Reinhard (1753-1812) served as high court preacher from 1792-1812; he was one of the early representatives of this doctrine. The work of Carl Christian Tittmann (1744-1820) as Oberconsistorialrath, pastor and superintendent in Dresden lasted until 1820. In his writing „Christian Morals” he confesses in the third edition of 1794:

In the main, however, it has become important to me to lead everything back to Jesus and to show how he is also the center of morality, to which everything leads back and must be led back, if it is to be Christian morality. And in doing so, he emphasises a balanced position between enlightened eudaemonism and Kantian moralism: It is evident that Christian morality is equally far removed from the limp indulgence of a frivolous philosophy and the excessive severity of an overstretched and reasoning philosophy, that it is in the middle between the two, and, by attacking man from all sides and seeking to interest him in the good by motives of all kinds, is in its motives as well as in its precepts more suited to the powers and needs of human nature at all times and can work more wisdom and virtue and happiness than any other.

Johann Georg Rosenmüller (1736-1815) advocated a more rationalist theology in Leipzig from 1785-1815. Later, neo-Lutheranism spread here as well. The co-founders of the „Erlangen School” Adolf Harless and Konrad Hofmann found their followers in Leipzig, and the professors Karl Friedrich August Kahnis, Christoph Ernst Luthardt and Franz Delitzsch worked here from the middle of the century as the so-called „Lutheran triumvirate”. In Dresden, the moderate direction prevailed to such an extent that the Old Lutheran Johann Gottfried Scheibel (1783-1843) was accepted as a lecturer at the teachers' seminary after his suspension by the Uniate Protestant Church in Prussia in 1832 (no doubt also due to neoLutheran anti-Unionism). The conciliatory atmosphere of Saxon Lutheranism apparently did not weigh on Richard Wagner's ideal of a „gospel of love”, of which he wrote in letters to Ludwig II, just as he was sympathetic to religion throughout his life. He grew up in an environment in which Christianity formed the selfevident basis of daily life and shaped state structures. It is difficult to assess to what extent the Catholicism of the court had an influence on him even in his younger years. After all, his stepfather was a court actor, so whether he visited the Catholic court church with Richard and listened to the church music there, which was considered an important cultural event, remains to be seen. The revolutionary unrest in Leipzig in 1830 represented an exceptional situation in which Wagner's participation challenged him to critically examine the existing conditions. All in all, the situation in the cities outside Saxony where Wagner stayed after his time in Leipzig differed only gradually from the one described. Even Riga was predominantly Protestant-Lutheran and German-speaking at the time (German was the official language). Wagner came to Paris in a Catholic city whose socially critical generation of the 1830s was influenced by François-René de Chateaubriand (Chateaubriand, 1802). Victor Hugo raved about him. Wagner came into contact with the ideas of Alphonse de Lamartine, Félicité de Lamennais and Pierre-Joseph Proudhon, all of whom derived their social or socialist ideas more or less from the notion of a romantic primal Christianity. Even Proudhon famously distanced himself from Karl Marx because he rejected revolutionary violence. Since his return to Dresden (1842), Wagner’s deepened his engagement with the revolutionary ideas of the time. Above all, he maintained a lively exchange with August Röckel, who had been his music director since 1843. Röckel was Catholic and enthusiastic about the ideas of Lamennais as well as Robert Owen and Wilhelm Weitling, who saw in Jesus a prophet of liberation through communism. Röckel had little understanding for Ludwig Feuerbach, whose critique of religion may have been communicated to Wagner conversationally first by Samuel Lehrs in Paris in 1841, then, according to his own testimony, by a German Catholic preacher named Metzdorff in Dresden (he did not read it himself until 1849). Wagner was not preoccupied with the internal religious battles about the German Catholic priest Johannes Ronge in connection with the pilgrimage to Trier in 1844, but he did take note of David Friedrich Strauss and his contribution to research on the life of Jesus. As important as Wagner's participation in the intellectual-historical debates of the time were, he lived within the old structures as Court Kapellmeister and fulfilled the traditional duties, at least in the early years. For Wagner, too, the most important task of the court orchestra at this time was not opera performances but, according to the old tradition, its church music service in the court church. In 2013, Günter Ottenberg has pointed out with great merit (which had not been noted until then) that Christian Albert Schiffner has documented numerous engagements of Wagner in the Hofkirche since 2 February 1843, including in 1844 the direction of concert liturgical music by Carl Gottlieb Reissiger, Johann Gottlieb Naumann, Joseph Schuster, Francesco Morlacchi and Carl Maria von Weber, i.e. a specifically „Dresden” programme. Finally, however, Wagner committed himself in the spirit of Cecilianism to the „incomparable masterpieces of Italian church music” that had been shaped „by the Christian spirit”, i.e. to a cappella music (to be performed without instruments according to the understanding of the time). Just as he denounced the decline of Italian opera music, which had gone hand in hand with „the decay of the church” and no longer had anything to do with „the inexpressibly expressive depth of the Italian church music of earlier centuries”, Wagner wanted to restore to the church music of the Catholic Court Church in Dresden „the almost completely lost dignity of religious sublimity and intimacy” by proposing that it be entirely restored to a cappella music in the „pure church style” after the model of Palestrina. However, he did not make this suggestion until 1849 and apparently saw in the orchestra's liberation from strenuous church service an opportune opportunity to harness its instrumentalists more strongly for the stage. A general aggravation of the situation in Saxony, both politically and religiously, can be seen in 1843/44. At this time, Wagner's worldview began to change from a traditionally self-evident, basic Christian understanding to atheism. In his historical-mythological treatise Die Wibelungen (The Wibelungs) of late summer 1848, he not only identified the Grail with the Nibelungen hoard, he also equated Siegfried with Christ according to the alleged conception of Emperor Frederick I (Barbarossa). This corresponded with the first drafts of the Ring of the Nibelung, and in the spring of 1849, Wagner designed a social revolutionary drama Jesus of Nazareth according to the ideas of a propertyless original

Vol . XX, 2021 Vol. XX, 2021 Christianity. The fact that Wagner then rejected this draft in favour of his Siegfried meant a complete turn from the Christian to the Germanic circle of myths. In his Lohengrin, on the other hand, composed in Marienbad in 1845, Wagner created an almost striking apotheosis of Christianity in its victory over paganism, embodied by Lohengrin and Ortrud. This was in keeping not only with the guiding conviction of traditional denominations for centuries, but also with rationalist Protestant theology, which towards the end of the 18th century embraced the perfectionism of the classical period and saw the spread of Christianity as a process of perfection. When Wagner asked Franz Liszt to perform Lohengrin, he met with an open door, for Liszt, according to his entire socialisation, was a convinced and deeply devout Christian of Franciscan character. His enthusiasm for Weimar Classicism stemmed from a time when it was by no means clear from a socio-political point of view that the Classical period's enthusiasm for antiquity and its devaluation of the Middle Ages represented a radical antithesis to Christianity. In Weimar, according to Liszt's conception and under his direction, the inauguration of the Herder Monument was to take place one year after the centenary of Goethe's birth on 28 August 1849 with one of the three world premieres of Robert Schumann's Scenes from Goethe's Faust, and thus the celebration of a Protestant clergyman in front of his church. The dedication of the monument took place on Herder's birthday on 25 August 1850, and on the evening before, a festive performance of the choruses to Herder's Entfesseltem Prometheus by Franz Liszt was heard in the Court Theatre. Liszt had also planned a performance of Handel's Messiah in Herder's translation, which did not materialise. The celebration continued until Goethe's birthday on 28 August, when Liszt conducted the premiere of Lohengrin. The entire planning of the monument and its dedication celebrations reveal cultural-political differences in the motivation of the event. Liszt's conception was clearly Christian. Herder's Prometheus, in stark contrast to Goethe's famous ode, clearly possesses the traits of a tolerator of Christological character, which also correspond to Wagner's Lohengrin and its personally tragic ending. In his major essay on Wagner's Lohengrin and its premiere „on the occasion of the Herder and Goethe festivals in 1850”, Liszt's religious attitude comes up in his assessment of Herder when it comes to the location of the monument. Its location in front of the church was controversial at the time and was in line with an assessment by Herder that Liszt formulated as follows:

We do not want to examine here to what extent this thinker bore witness to unquestionable orthodoxy, he who loved Christianity as the mildest of all doctrines of faith and admired the Roman Church as the firmest of all governments, which might almost lead us to the conclusion that he was close to being more Catholic than Christian. However, Liszt also showed understanding for the opposing party, which he, however, provided with a justification of his own provenance:

…but we cannot but confess that that part of the park which faces one of the most beautiful streets in the city, and where those who disagree with the present site wished to see the statue erected, seemed to us much more advantageous for its moral and material effect. [...] Moreover, in a picturesque and natural setting, in harmony with the idyllic sense of Herder and his so pure inclinations for the scenes of a laughing nature, the statue would not have excited that sad feeling which is aroused by the constant contrast between a church built centuries ago with such humble and warm faith and the shining monument erected in honour of one of its servants, who sought only another myth on the same altars on which, according to the faith of worshipping and hoping peoples, God himself descended. From his point of view, Liszt thus came to an all-round positive assessment of the final monologue of Lohengrin:

In the [narration] of Lohengrin [...], as he continues in the narrative, an inexpressibly bright day dawns. A solemn calm takes possession of the soul, as if an unearthly, mystical brightness were spreading further and further and shining ever more vividly and irresistibly. Every note here sounds like a sigh of happiness as it describes the place where neither evil nor pain, neither death nor corruption have access, the place where holiness is called to enjoy all the fullness of ineffable heavenly bliss, where the soul of the elect revels in superhuman delights bestowed by the sight of God.

Proceedings of the „George Enescu“ International Musicology Symposium Proceedings of the „George Enescu” International Musicology Symposium There is no mistaking the idea of heavenly paradise behind Liszt's words, which Lohengrin awaits despite the personal tragedy of love with Elsa. The fact that Wagner agreed with Liszt's remarks against Stahr suggests the fascination that Christian ideas and ceremonies had for him, even if at the same time he was already putting them into perspective again. Although Liszt said in view of Lohengrin, „Wagner is really too much of a poet to want to translate philosophy into action in his dramas”, his personal imprint still came through again later with the recourse to the Arthurian legend in Parsifal, which contributed not least to the break with Friedrich Nietzsche. The stage festival Parsifal presents a world of its own, detached from history and traditional religion, in which redemption comes from man, contrary to Christian understanding. This atheistic trait of Parsifal is not present in Lohengrin; the Godstriker is to be understood as an envoy.

Wagner's decision not to compose a Jesus of Nazareth after his Lohengrin, but to turn to the Germanic saga world, corresponded to a socio-politically developing dominance of enlightened thought in the sense of modernity with a national orientation (the latter clearly recognisable in Die Meistersinger). Wagner did not trigger this movement, but rather followed it and thus chose a subject matter favourable to the zeitgeist for his later success. The fact that he oscillated between different currents of the time with his comments on the works allowed the audience, gripped by his musical language, to adapt the works to their respective world views. Wagner served the socio-political trends of his time with material that corresponded to them. He became a trend-setter in the shaping of his musical language by uniting traditional musical rhetoric with the symphonic achievements of motivicthematic work. Wagner's Lohengrin thus proves to be a work at the height and turning point of his development, both musically from the motif of memory to the leitmotif, and religious-sociologically from Christianity to atheism.

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Chateaubriand, F.-R. d. (1802). Le Génie du Christianisme. Paris: Migneret.

SECTION 5: STUDENTS’ MUSICOLOGICAL RESEARCH

TŌRU TAKEMITSU – THE ZEN POET OF MUSIC FROM THE LAND OF THE RISING SUN.

PERCEPTION OF TIME IN JAPANESE MUSICAL CULTURE

IOANA BÎGU

NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF MUSIC, BUCHAREST

ABSTRACT: The 20th century was one of the darkest centuries, with tragic events such as the two world wars that left their mark on humanity. These events could not leave musical thinking unaffected. Composers of the last century chose therefore to reflect in their works the unhappy reality that confronted them, using a very different musical language. However, one of the composers of the time, Tōru Takemitsu, does not affiliate himself with the thematic trends of his time, but rather chooses to borrow only the musical language from his contemporaries in the West. This involved approaching music from a perspective that emphasized timbrality, texture, and the spaciousness of sounds. Therefore, the renowned Japanese composer does not always aim for his music to be under the patronage of external events, but rather wants the music he composes to live through the richness and expressiveness of each sound within the piece, which has its own identity. One of the characteristics that inspires Takemitsu's music and makes it original in its approach is the concept of ma, relating to time and space, taken from Japanese philosophy.

KEYWORDS: TAKEMITSU, JAPAN, ORIENT, OCCIDENT

„I have never doubted that the love of art is the love of unreality.” Tōru Takemitsu (Takemitsu, Confronting silence, 1995, p. 15)

LIFE AND CREATION HIGHLIGHTS

TŌRU Takemitsu is considered the most important Japanese composer who has contributed significantly to the international popularity of his country's music. He was born in 1930 and graduated from Keika High School in Tokyo in 1949, but in 1944 he had to interrupt his high school studies because of his military service. He was mainly self-taught but mentions that he studied composition under the guidance of Yasuji Kiyose (Yoko Narazaki, Masakata Kanazawa). Early in his creative period, Takemitsu tried to shape his compositional style in line with Western music, moving away from traditional Japanese music that reminded him of the war and the bitter time he experienced while in the army. The first composers who inspired Takemitsu and influenced his creation were Debussy and Messiaen, from whom he took various elements that were to become representative of the musical language he used. Debussy inspired Takemitsu in terms of orchestration and the way he created the play of sound colours, shadows and contrast. From Messiaen, in Lento in due movimenti – Takemitsu’s first work to be performed in public – he takes the technique of superimposing modal melodies on a chromatic sound background, showing a remarkable sensitivity to timbre and registration. He also takes up the idea of a piece without a specific meter. The work was not received positively by the public, but among the listeners were two appreciative supporters who were later friends of Takemitsu, those with whom he founded Jikken Kōbō in 1951 – a group that organized a series of experimental workshops combining various art forms that departed from Japanese tradition, affiliating themselves with contemporary influences coming from the West (Yoko Narazaki, Kanazawa Masakata, 2001).

A philosophical concept of these multimedia exhibitions is that they are organic, that all the elements that appear in the show coexist and lose their meaning if they are removed from the whole. These workshop presentations included moments in which pieces by members of the group were performed alongside works by established composers such as Messiaen, Satie, Bartók, Copland, Barber,

Proceedings of the „George Enescu“ International Musicology Symposium Proceedings of the „George Enescu” International Musicology Symposium suggesting thus a strong affinity for French and American contemporary music (Takemitsu, Confronting silence, 1995, p. 11). The experience was beneficial to Takemitsu's development, as joining the group subsequently brought him many awards and nominations as a composer. Around the same time, Takemitsu encountered Pierre Schaeffer's experimental musique concrète and enthusiastically explored the sonic possibilities this genre generated. A memorable event occurred in 1959. Igor Stravinsky is invited to Japan, where he asks employees of NHK (Japan Broadcasting Corporation) to show him recordings of works by the leading Japanese composers of the time. Although NHK had not intended to show Stravinsky any of Takemitsu's compositions, by mistake a version of the Recviem composed in 1957 slipped through the tapes. Asked if there was a piece that caught his attention, the Russian composer mentioned Takemitsu's name and described Takemitsu's work as „sincere” and „passionate” (Burt, 2001, p. 71). As a result, the Japanese composer received an important commission to write The Dorian Horizon (1966). In 1964, Takemitsu’s meeting with John Cage would change his perception of how to approach his own music, but not only in terms of taking on some of the American composer's techniques. Rather, his contact with John Cage brought him a revelation of the expressive potential of Japanese music, together with the traditional instruments and philosophy that are undeniably reflected in the music and influence its development. As Takemitsu himself relates, he reconnects with his own native values, which he had previously ignored: „For a long period I struggled to avoid being «Japanese», to avoid «Japanese» qualities. It was largely through my contact with John Cage that I came to recognize the value of my own tradition.” (Takemitsu, Contemporary Music in Japan, 1989, p. 3). During this period of (re)discovering the richness and value of the music of his homeland, Takemitsu composed his first concert for traditional Japanese instruments: Eclipse (1966) for biwa (Japanese lute-like instrument) and shakuhachi (Japanese wind instrument). Commissioned by the New York PO, he writes November Steps, a concert for the above instruments, in which he seeks to emphasize the difference between the sounds of Japanese instruments and those of European orchestral instruments. However, certain similarities do appear: the sound of the plectrum striking the biwa strings resembles the percussive sound made by the string section, through certain techniques such as lightly striking the body of the instrument; also, the chromatic clusters, combined with the glissandos of the orchestra, convey the strength and suppleness with which the air flows through the air column of the shakuhachi instrument (Yoko Narazaki, Kanazawa Masakata, 2001). In the 1970s, the Japanese composer turned his attention to new techniques that would allow him to differentiate more strongly between timbres and harmonic structures. In Garden Rain, his first piece for brass instruments, he aims to emphasise the spatialisation of sounds rather than highlight harmonic colour. It is also in this decade that he defines his concept of musical form, resonating with a kind of continuous structure, a succession of scenes that unfold without interruption. He compares this image to „the relationship between a garden and a person walking through it” (Yoko Narazaki, Kanazawa Masakata, 2001). He projects this metaphor of musical form onto Quatrain for clarinet, violin, cello, piano and orchestra. In another piece, A Flock Descends into the Pentagonal Garden, he takes a different view, preferring this time to relate to the sonorous „garden” from a distance. In music, this is suggested by the theme of the oboe (the flock), with a sinuous melodic contour that seems to differ from the static harmonies of the orchestra (the garden). After 1980, Takemitsu moves towards a more tonal idiom, stating that in a work for violin and orchestra such as Far Calls. Coming, far!, he wanted to illustrate „a sea of tonality”. The main musical motif in the piece is built on the sounds e♭-e-a-c♯-f-a♭,e♭is read in German as es („s” in English) –hence the pun s-e-a (sea). Throughout the piece, this motif appears transformed, inverted, and will be used by the composer in other works. Other scores from this period that have a subject that refers to the aquatic theme are A Way, A Lone for string quartet (1981), and Riverrun for piano and orchestra (1984) (Yoko Narazaki, Kanazawa Masakata, 2001). In addition to concert music, Takemitsu also composed film music, which often gave him greater freedom of expression. At first glance, this statement seems at odds with reality, as the music must fit the action of the film, be suggestive and highlight certain ideas present in the film, and this could draw a clear path from which the composer cannot deviate. However, Takemitsu states that the freedom he enjoys when composing for film comes from the fact that he can dispense with certain procedures present in concert music, such as techniques for developing the material (Siddons, 2001, p. 10). Among the films for which Tōru Takemitsu wrote music are Nostalghia (1983), Ran (1985), Rikyu (1989).

To really get inside Tōru Takemitsu's permanently vivid music and see how traditional Japanese aesthetic values shaped his output, it is necessary to know his philosophy on music, nature, and sounds. Takemitsu firmly believes that a lifestyle that is not in harmony with nature is frightening, and that it is necessary throughout life to try to establish a balance with it, because, in his opinion, „art originates in harmony with nature and will end in it” (Takemitsu, Confronting silence, 1995, p. 15). He does not understand „harmony” as an artificial, human-defined balance, but rather as transcending functionalism. The composer makes a remark about expressiveness in art, arguing that each person who appreciates art has the freedom to understand and discover it according to his or her own rules. However, for Takemitsu, the term „expressiveness” has an apparent detachment from art, because he is aware that our attempt to give life to art, to make it alive, ultimately makes it unnatural, artificial, no matter how loyal we are to it and how hard we try to portray what we perceive as real. From this point of view, the composer has no doubt that our love of art conceals a love of unreality (Takemitsu, Confronting silence, 1995, p. 15). Although he considers music and nature to be parts of the same whole, he does not compose music to describe natural landscapes, even though these places devoid of people sometimes leave a strong impression on him. On the other hand, because of the Japanese respect for nature and its beauty, he believes that the sounds of nature and those of music are very similar (Kikkawa, 1987, p. 86). This is, in other words, a perception that highlights the intrinsic quality of sound. Takemitsu's music gives sounds the privilege of not being shackled by the canons of some Western music, which stifle musical expression by having too strict, even mathematical, structures. When sounds are conditioned by this approach, and when they exist only in the shadow of the concept that should define them, music suffers. From this point of view, Takemitsu leaves the sounds freer, giving them the opportunity to „breathe” (Takemitsu, Confronting silence, 1995, p. 16). The real legacy that Tōru Takemitsu has left us through his creation is not limited to the instruments used, the way he conceives certain harmonies or displays colourful sound tapestries. The expressiveness of his work is underpinned by a strong philosophy that is the basis of many of his seminal works. This is the collective Japanese cultural perception of the term ma, which denotes a singular entity related to space-time, a void that isn’t empty, an absence that suggests rather a presence, a boundless energy present between two things that have an apparent distance between them. To illustrate this concept, the composer returns to his image of the garden, imagining himself as a gardener walking in a “sound garden” when listening to his music, enjoying its various textures, shapes, and colours. This approach to sound creates a timeless effect and gives the listener the impression that time loses its meaning and becomes distorted. Some notable works that induce this feeling are Piano Distance (1961); Quatrain for clarinet, cello violin, piano and orchestra (1975); Far Calls. Coming, far! for violin and orchestra (1980); Riverrun for piano and orchestra (1984); From me flows what you call time for five percussionists and orchestra (1990).

GARDEN RAIN

The metaphor of the sound garden is also explored in Garden Rain, a piece for brass ensemble composed in 1974, inspired by a haiku written by an 11-year-old schoolgirl in Australia: Hours are leaves of life./ And I am their gardener./ Each hour falls down slowly. This is one of the programmatic works that incorporates the musical motif referring to the aquatic theme –„es-e-a” (s-e-a) - anticipating Takemitsu's later predilection for pieces inspired by the aquatic world, musics – or gardens – floating on the „sea of tonality” (Takemitsu, Confronting silence, 1995, p. 92), as he likes to define his quasi-tonal period.

Ex. No. 1: Tōru Takemitsu, Garden Rain, bars 1-3

Proceedings of the „George Enescu“ International Musicology Symposium Proceedings of the „George Enescu” International Musicology Symposium The way the musical phrasing is carried out, the static harmonies, the repeated rests that are elevated to the level of a gesture (more like active rests), the indications for expression (dying away) and tempo (nearly stationary – quoting, not incidentally, John Cage), convincingly illustrate Takemitsu's use of the metaphor of the „sound garden”, which describes the way those born into Japanese culture perceive time. Through the philosophy of ma, the composer explores and harnesses that energy present between two gaps, i.e. between those active rests, which are not meant to be interruptions, but rather oases of „silent stillness” in which the listener can admire the various colours within the sounds. Garden Rain is designed for two groups of five instruments, the first group consisting of two trumpets in C, a horn in F, a trombone, and a tuba. The second group comprises two trumpets in C, two trombones and a bass trombone. These two groups are placed on stage at different heights, with one group at the top of the stage and the other at the bottom. The piece is written in sonata form. The first theme runs up to bar 22, and the second theme begins in bar 23. The development begins at bar 33, where the tempo indication is Breathe. The recapitulation is at bar 110, and the coda begins at bar 133. The boxed numbers that appear above the staves in the score are subjective indications of duration, telling the performer how long to sustain the harmony or melody in a particular measure. Takemitsu intentionally specifies that those numbers do not indicate exactly how many seconds a particular measure should take, but rather serve as an approximate guide for the performer. The exposition has material constructed predominantly from simple modal structures, such as oligochords, pentachords, pentatones (he uses the Japanese pentatonic kumoi), which are organized in a homophonic texture, which enhances the static character. The resting measures that appear between chordal expositions are precisely intended to integrate the active rests, which also give a sense of homogeneity, continuity, and timelessness. Takemitsu intentionally gave subjective indications of duration, as he wanted the effect to be more like that of a shō (Japanese wind instrument with organ-like pipes). The sound of this instrument is thought to be formed more in relation to the performer's breathing and naturalness in sustaining it, rather than to strict predetermined durations (Burt, 2001, p. 167). The piece begins with the first group of instruments supporting the harmony of the first theme or a pedal, which gradually changes. The harmony is predominantly diatonic, but some instruments descend in minor seconds, while others remain, giving the impression of slipping into a chromaticism of material. At bar 16 the second group of instruments appears. The two trumpets and the first trombone of the second group play a canon (in prime and retrograde form), while the second trombone and the bass trombone each have a pedal. This intervention of the second group anticipates an abrupt surge of the first group towards a moment of chaos, in contrast to the equilibrium of the previous (bar 17). After this brief exit from the atmosphere of the section, the gradually changing harmonic path returns. At bar 20, on trumpet 1 of the first group, the s-e-a motif appears, only it is transposed to the notes a♭- a - d. At bar 23 the second theme appears, with an agitated and incisive character, the trumpets having strongly chromatic material superimposed over pedals formed of second and third chords. This temporary turmoil can be likened to the spontaneity of a gust returning to its previous state of stillness. At the same time, by physically placing the two ensembles at different heights on the stage, Takemitsu creates the impression of spaciousness, and the pedals stand out in the foreground with their indication of dynamics crescendo gradually and molto.

Ex. No. 2: Motif (e)s-e-a, transposed on a♭-a-d.

The development (bar 33) begins with a perpetuum mobile performed by trumpets and horns (small trombone interventions occur), which is built on a major tetrachord (E♭-F-G-A♭). As the tension builds, the material begins to become increasingly chromatic and a new wave of energy builds up, but then recedes. In bars 71-72, two trombones from the second group are gradually introduced, playing pedals together with the horn, while the trumpets „pendulate with seconds”; then those who had the pedal take over the infra-melody, and the others hold long notes. The two trombones have dynamics indications oscillating between ppp and p, again suggesting the idea of waves. More and more instruments are introduced, and the interval suggesting this pendulum turns into a third, again a suggestion of rippling water. From bar 86 to 109, trombones, horn and tuba play the role of accompaniment, being in isorhythm, while the trumpets have a polyphonic writing. From bar 93 to 109 two planes appear: that of the pairs of trumpets in isorhythm, and that of the remaining instruments, also in isorhythm. At bar 110 is the recapitulation, which begins with the second theme. A chord reminiscent of the first theme is inserted in the second measure of the recapitulation. From bar 115 onwards, the

Vol . XX, 2021 Vol. XX, 2021 instruments use the mute, which gives this canon, which appears in the recapitulation, a darker and more withdrawn sonority. In the coda, some chords are similar to those in the beginning of the work are repeated, with the indication that some instruments use the mute for a softer sound, while others dispense with the mute but keep the sonority as low as possible. The work Garden Rain has a free, airy character in its harmonies, texture and pauses, but it is not without vitality, as the intervening changes bring different waves of tension that give the piece diversity.

TIME IN JAPANESE CULTURE

In Tōru Takemitsu's music, a unique element is the rest, used as a musical element, not playing a passive role, as is generally the case in Western music. In the moments of rests, which arise naturally from the fading out of the intensity of a sound after it has been attacked, the listener can notice various other colours within it and appreciate the stillness that gradually takes over the place, without the sound having any tangible and determinable finality. The moment when the sound fades out represents the ma. This effect is explored in the piano piece Pause Ininterrompue, mainly following the sonority of the notes from the moment of attack until they dissipate, creating virtual rests in the piece, since, according to the concept of ma, rests do not really occur, because there is always that energy between two events, which have a „gap” between them. Another parameter that is directly influenced by Japanese culture is timbre. Those who have been brought up in the spirit of this culture have a native predilection for judging the beauty of a sound according to its timbre, which, as Takemitsu says, „represents the perception of the changes that occur within the sound” (Takemitsu, My Perception of Time in Traditional Japanese Music, 1987). In the piano piece Piano Distance, performers must bring sounds to life in a relevant way, guided by the indication with feeling. They have to consider that in the absence of other indications in the score they must bring out the most appropriate qualities of the sounds in question, each of which is an object of its own beauty. In the score, note values are written that correspond to the actual time in which a sound played on the piano is heard, according to dynamics and mode of attack, thus integrating the natural resonance of the instrument into the composition. The emphasis is not on the movement of the sounds or their sequence, but rather on their quality, suggesting another Japanese concept enunciated by Takemitsu: „the philosophy of single-note satisfaction” (Takemitsu, My Perception of Time in Traditional Japanese Music, 1987). In both Pause Ininterrompue and Piano Distance, there are some bar lines delimitating threesecond units, to guide the performer through the piece, but they are not an element that influences the perception of the music, the feeling they leave being similar to that of performing a piece ad libitum. Moreover, certain sounds extend beyond the so-called bar line, making it even harder to detect the accented beat. Unlike Westerners, who relate to time as an axis, or as a river, which clearly suggests movement, Easterners have a more interesting view of time, comparing it to „a placid, silent pool within which ripples come and go” (Northrop, 1946, pp. 376-383). Although it looks like a static image, it is not devoid of vitality, as the waves that roll through it give it diversity and movement. Yet they do not disturb its boundless calm.

CONCLUSIONS

Tōru Takemitsu remains a relevant Japanese composer who has managed to translate philosophy into music in a poetic way, relating to the beauty of nature around him and innovating with his original approach to sound material. His contribution to the world music repertoire is significant both because of his approach to the concept of ma, which he illustrated so beautifully through sound, and because of his creativity in combining traditional Japanese instruments with those of the West, achieving a kind of blending of tradition and modernity. Composer Peter Lieberson described him as noble, mysterious, inquisitive and enchanting, and said that he left the impression of „a man who lived his life like a traditional Zen poet” (Lieberson, 1997). Lieberson composed a piece for Takemitsu, The Ocean Without East or West, a title which comes, he says, „from a line Tōru wrote on the postcard Peter Serkin received a few days after Tōru's death. This had the inscription on it: «I am enjoying swimming in the Ocean that has no West and no East».” (Lieberson, 1997).

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Burt, P. (2001). The Music of Tōru Takemitsu. New York: Cambridge University Press. Kikkawa, E. (1987). The Musical Sense of the Japanese. Contemporary Music Review, 86.

Proceedings of the „George Enescu“ International Musicology Symposium Proceedings of the „George Enescu” International Musicology Symposium Lieberson, P. (1997). The Ocean that has No West and No East. Retrieved April 10, 2021, from https://www.wisemusicclassical.com/work/30179/The-Ocean-that-has-No-West-and-No-East--Peter-Lieberson Northrop, F. S. (1946). The Meeting of East and West. New York: Macmillan Company. Siddons, J. (2001). Tōru Takemitsu - A Bio-biography. Westport: Greenwood Press. Takemitsu, T. (1987). My Perception of Time in Traditional Japanese Music. Contemporary Music Review, 10. Takemitsu, T. (1989). Contemporary Music in Japan. Perspectives of New Music, 3. Takemitsu, T. (1995). Confronting silence. Berkeley: Scarecrow Press. Yoko Narazaki, Kanazawa Masakata. (2001). Takemitsu, Toru. In D. L. Root, The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians (pp. 22-25). Oxford: Oxford University Press. Yoko Narazaki, Masakata Kanazawa. (n.d.). Tōru Takemitsu. Retrieved April 10, 2021, from https://doi.org/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.article.27403

SIMILARITIES BETWEEN THE UNIVERSE OF WAGNERIAN OPERAS AND THAT OF THOMAS MANN'S STORIES. FROM MUSIC TO LITERARY FICTION

ANA-MARIA CAZACU

NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF MUSIC, BUCHAREST

ABSTRACT: The present study is part of the research entitled „Interferences between music and literature – The case of Thomas Mann”. It proposes a brief analysis of several stories belonging to the writer Thomas Mann. The approach refers to a series of premises focused on highlighting possible findings of Wagnerian compositional visions in the development of literary fictions that are strongly anchored in the tendency to update various myths in the context of modern culture. Thus, by referring to short stories such as Tristan, Death in Venice, Tonio Kröger or the Wälsungi Lineage, it will be demonstrated, as far as possible, that if Wagner was regarded as „our greatest musical miniaturist” and a complete connoisseur of „speech to all the cowardices of modern man”, the figure of Thomas Mann is associated with that of the writer-psychologist, a fine analyst and a harsh critic of his time, who turned his writings into true frescoes of society.

KEYWORDS: MANN, WAGNER, TRISTAN, ISOLDA

WHEN trying to place Thomas Mann's writings in the European socio-cultural context, we notice both an orientation towards certain aesthetic tendencies accepted as classics, as well as an approach to a series of paradigms specific to the first half of the twentieth century. His novels and short stories stand out, at first sight, by taking over and recontextualizing literary techniques such as elaborate descriptions of details, characterization of characters through caricature images, or orientation of literary perspectives to the realm of naturalism, especially to analyse how certain pathological conditions influence the destiny of some of the characters (Petrovai, 2018). Considered one of „the most torn artists of the twentieth century” (Mann, Povestiri, 2008, p. 841), Mann will bring his work to the realm of relentless dramas of existence, starting from the assumption that „a masterpiece is always carried along as a whole, and even aesthetic philosophy claims that the works of the word and of music, unlike visual arts, depend on time and its flow, they also tend to be whole at any moment. In the beginning live both the middle and the end, the present is imbued with the past, and even total focus on the past mirrors the concern for the future” (Mann, Cum am scris Doctor Faustus, 1995, p. 707). Music thus becomes a paradigm of the times, but also an embodiment of art which, often subordinated to the theological dimension, adopts the orientation of the mystical side towards a deep rooted present connotation, where modern man „inherits and radicalizes the polarities of previous centuries” (Braga, 2006) and thus, in order to integrate into his own existence both aspects of rational thought and concepts anchored in the utopian sphere, tends to become part of an art and prisoner of it, often seen as one of the obstacles of the human being on the way to Paradise (Micu, 2007, p. 39). From this point of view, Thomas Mann's short stories and novels can also be seen in relation to a tendency to define his characters through a fine psychological analysis, made with a detailed description of feelings, which bring them, somewhat, closer to the Proustian style, where certain aspects on the destiny of culture and society are illustrated by appeals to metaphors and symbols (Micu, 2007, p. 29). At the same time, Thomas Mann's writings fit into a stylistic paradigm close to the Russian literature, especially Dostoievski, based on actions in which the characters are defined in terms of dialogues (Petrovai, 2018). A third typology of Mann's characters approaches the sphere of expressionist literature, whose main representatives Franz Kafka and James Joyce, often suggest complex characters, who become, on the one hand, witnesses of a social context split between the existential becoming and the struggle for survival, and on the other hand, prototypes for a world dominated by fear and

Proceedings of the „George Enescu“ International Musicology Symposium Proceedings of the „George Enescu” International Musicology Symposium permanently anchored in the present trends to find unexpected valences in the past, while the future is projected as a consequence of the decay of the present (Petrovai, 2018). At the same time, we note that Mann's entire creation stands out as an embodiment of a musical journey, as he himself confesses: „I have always loved music with passion, it has always been close to me, it has stimulated me enormously, it has been a great teaching for my art (...). I always looked at my talent as a kind of transposed musical vocation. As a storyteller, I used its techniques, in my attempts to criticism I described its transformations. (...). In music, the German-romantic element has always been the closest to me (...). I keep an old and determined sympathy for Tchaikovsky, from whom, before my eyes unfold a modern trend, as modern as Stravinsky, whose art deeply concerns me” (Micu, 2007, p. 56).

Of all stylistic-aesthetic directions illustrated above, one can grasp a certain connection between Thomas Mann's writings and a series of sound paradigms. The most representative is the closeness to the typology of works of the German romantic composer Richard Wagner, Thomas Mann mainly refers to explore and exploit the universe of metaphor. In Wagner's personality, Mann sees, on the one hand, the figure of a „discoverer of the myth for opera, as the saviour of opera through myth” (Mann, Pătimirile și măreția lui Richard Wagner, 2013, p. 57) and on the other hand of a composer who "did not want to write dramas, but musical dramas, to depict not only the actions and thoughts of the characters, but to express especially their emotions and thus give us the essence of their soul" (Mann, Pătimirile și măreția lui Richard Wagner, 2013, p. 59). Mann thus, admits „the passion for Wagner's charming opera, that accompanied me, from the moment I discovered it and I tried to grasp its meaning, to understand it, fascinating and shaping me, and I will never forget how much I owe it, as well as I will never forget the hours of deep, lonely happiness (...), hours when my soul and mind rejoiced, hours when I explored the magnificent meanings that only this art can offer” (Mann, Pătimirile și măreția lui Richard Wagner, 2013, p. 19). This fact is demonstrated in each of his stories and novels, which take from Wagner the power to define themselves as dimensions of a highly individualized stylistic world, as „flawless steps and stages of the unity of creation always closed in itself, of a project that emerges as a life plan” (Mann, Pătimirile și măreția lui Richard Wagner, 2013, pg. 34, 36). Starting from this assumption, we can see that Mann's stories and novels tend to reflect his concern related to the universe of Wagnerian works in order to explore and exploit the dimension of metaphor. Through this, the character of the writer can be associated with that of an „admirer of harmonies” who, „eager to multiply the consonants of life” (Ianoși, 2002, p. 133), leads his creation to the „sphere of expression, of the flow of feelings and musical dialectics” (Ianoși, 2002, p. 29). The new vision is highlighted in a series of short stories and novels that relate to Wagner's operas, to illustrate states of social and moral decadence, defining in this respect being the novel Buddenbrooks – where certain leitmotifs in the Wagnerian Tetralogy are seen in the context of a story „about giving up love in the service of power and wealth” (Micu, 2007, p. 56) – and the short stories Tristan and The Blood of the Walsungs, in which ideas from operas such as Tristan and Isolde and Walkiria „bring forth truths of the context of Mann's art, where suffering or distortions of family ties seem to prevail as constant phenomena” (Micu, 2007, pg. 56-57). Thus, the characterological typologies of the characters proposed by the German writer tend to migrate from one writing to another and extend, consequently, from one identical context to another, „the irreconcilable conflict between art and life” (Mann, Povestiri, 2008, p. 853) being updated through a split of the spirit between a natural, purely existential state, a dreamlike dimension, strongly anchored in the metaphysical and a tendency to access the cultural, through a permanent state of longing for the transcendent doubled by a need for rational knowledge (Balint, 2018, p. 53). Mixing literary ideas with those anchored in the art of sounds, Mann lays a strong emphasis on his own themes and characters. There are permanent oscillations between archetypes subordinated to universal truths-life-death, disease-health, aristocracy-simplicity, with nuances of ascetism-which, if in music could be understood through phrasing, accents rhythmic-melodic profiles, here they are distinguished by symbols and leitmotifs often emphasized by the ironic side of the narrative (Bolduc, 1983). As a result, like Wagner, Mann aspires to identify himself with the psychologist writer, even through leitmotifs, „magical formulas sometimes used in the old opera, which gradually become part of a deep and skilful system by which the art of sounds become an instrument of allusions, introspections and psychological revelations” (Mann, Pătimirile și măreția lui Richard Wagner, 2013, p. 14). At the same time, many of the stories emerge from events, experiences and feelings often present obsessively in the writer's life, about which it is known that, like some of his heroes, „he himself had witnessed the Wagnerian opera performances being gripped by their dangerous spell, had had many of the conversations transfigured into the imaginary, through marriage had become part of an illustrious and rich Munich family, poetized and mocked at, had estranged himself from former friends and had visited tuberculosis sanatoriums, saving himself from the real disease, thoroughly describing it” (Ianoși, 2002, p. 227).

It is worth to also consider the connection that Mann draws in his short story Tristan (1903), which inspired by the Wagnerian opera Tristan and Isolde, associated with the legend of „a medieval world long forgotten and never more up-to-date by its subject” (Micu, 2007, p. 60), suggests the orientation if the initial theme – love and desire for death, which transcends early existence and confers spiritual wealth – in the realm of a spiritually impoverished world and a live that is both obsessive and transient. If in his operas Wagner replaces the specific arias of the Italian compositional style with simple melodic motifs, becoming in Nietzsche's vision „our greatest musical miniaturist, able to accumulate in the smallest space an infinity of meanings and nuances” (Micu, 2007, p. 61), the nonconformism of Mann's stories reflect a preoccupation with the meticulous analysis of the psychology of heroes and the contexts of situations often rendered through the indirect free style of the inner monologue, the appeal to irony, to bring historical distance to consciousness and create a game with „pre-existing forms and themes” , anchored in both traditional values and the tragic dimension of modernity (Mann, Povestiri, 2008, pg. 854-855). In the same time, if the beginning of Wagner's opera is suggested by a prelude based on „a miracle of long, passionate and continuous melody” derived from two adjacent motifs that are at the same time distinct in structure (Ex. no. 1), Mann's short story highlights, in turn, the insight of two motifs, associated with the images of two characters: Detlev Spinell, a strange and eccentric writer and Gabriele Klöterjahn, who claims to have connections with art, even though the fact that she was born in Bremen. They seem to turn the archetypal love between Tristan and Isolde into a burlesque fugitive love between „a mime, a braggart, a sentimental artistic crook and a naive being, „a victim of sentimental artists or pseudo-artists” (Ianoși, 2002, p. 233).

Ex. No.1: Prelude from Tristan and Isolde (mm. 1-3)

Following the course of the action, we can see that the resemblance between Wagner's opera and Mann's story is based on a series of common stylistic landmarks (Schnitman, 1971). Thus, if Wagner uses musical motifs to characterize the typologies of the characters, Mann suggests a series of leitmotifs, the story suggesting from the beginning, a focus on the male character, fact emphasized by the shortening of title of Wagner's opera. From Mann's saying, he does not seem to suffer from a physical disease but rather from an existential stasis, easily curable by entering an „empiredominated universe, whose clarity and harshness, cold simplicity and reserved severity confers attitude and dignity, purification and inner restauration” (Mann, Povestiri, 2008, pg. 170-207; 179). The sanatorium where the protagonists are hospitalised also bears a suggestive name, Einfried, Mann hinting at Wagner's villa in Bayreuth (Wahnfried), but also at the image of the sanatorium as a place of solitude, or as a metaphor for the ship Tristan and Isolde were travelling to the king Marke. The one who runs the sanatorium, „a man that science estranged from others, suggesting him a calm and intolerant pessimism” (Mann, Povestiri, 2008, p. 170), bears a symbolic name, Leander, which highlights Mann's concern for myth, that of the legend about Hero and Leander, similar to the medieval motif of love between Tristan and Isolde (Mann, Povestiri, 2008, p. 811). Also if Wagner's operas proved that „without music, entire life would be nothing but a great wandering” (Micu, 2007, p. 66), Mann develops in his writings the idea of the ability to „awaken time” and „to awaken us to enjoy time to the fullest” (Micu, 2007, p. 63). In this context, Gabriele's childhood memories of musical life tend to play a much stronger role now, in adulthood, especially since this was forbidden to her at the sanatorium. It us the moment when Gabriele gets trapped in a game of death so as not to „let beauty fade away and die, before it could speak” (Mann, Povestiri, 2008, p. 191) through music. On the sound of Chopin's Nocturnes, the one in E Flat Major (Op.9, no.2), highlighted its virtuosity, „the firm and velvety touch, the sense full of nervousness for the different shades of sounds and the joy for the rhythmic mobility led to the fantastic” (Mann, Povestiri, 2008, p. 192), Gabriele

Proceedings of the „George Enescu“ International Musicology Symposium Proceedings of the „George Enescu” International Musicology Symposium enters, along with Mr. Spinel, in the mysterious universe of a score, whose title is not mentioned. From Spinell's remarks, the work seems to approach the universe of the Wagnerian opera Tristan and Isolde even through the sound illustration of two motives, longing and death, „two forces, two ecstatic beings, longing in suffering and happiness one after another embraced in their ecstatic and crazy thirst for eternal and absolute” (Mann, Povestiri, 2008, p. 193). The action of the short story begins with an exposition that lasts until the preparations for the sleigh ride (chapters 1-7) and is based on highlighting the context and the characters of the story, while the central section culminates with this walk, which heralded by the piano performance of the lyrical duet in the Wagnerian opera (chapters 8-9), determines a focus of the narrative voice on the psychological side of the characters. Spinell and Gabriele become, like the heroes of Wagnerian opera, the protagonists of a „legendary mystery” , of „a secret duet that brought them both together in the nameless hope of death in the name of love in the endless inseparable embrace within the wonderful empire of night” (Mann, Povestiri, 2008, p. 194). Both creations conclude in the death of the protagonists, but in different contexts. In both cases they are anticipated by the scene of a confrontation between two male entities: the duel between Tristan and Melot, king's Marke faithful servant, can thus be associated with the letter and dialogue between Spinell and Herr Klöterjahn, the latter being reproached for his rude nature and lack of sensitivity for Gabriele's shy beauty and dreamy will, whose aim was to obtain a new status through marriage, that of a „wife, housewife and mother”, governed by „banality, life and ugliness" (Mann, Povestiri, 2008, p. 200).

In the Wagnerian opera Tristan dies at Isolde's feet, being fully convinced by the existence of a love meant to find its fulfillment beyond death, and Isolde, „singing the supreme hymn of love, falls lifeless next to Tristan” (Constantinescu, 2008, p. 477). In Mann's story, Spinell's apparent death occurs both after Gabriela's (for whom love seems to be a transient feeling, suggested only when interpreting fragments from the Wagnerian opera), as well as in the dispute with her devoted husband. Thus, it acquires a meaning close to the loss of identity, in the context of a world „full of irritating naivety, of what I call unconscious fellows” (Mann, Povestiri, 2008, p. 200). His death can thus be associated with a tendency of inner refuge, to escape from light: „Mr. Spinell did not see the sun; his path led him in such a way that the sun remained covered and hidden for him. He was walking with his head bowed, humming a fragment of a song, a sound that rose fearfully and melancholically, the reason for longing...” (Mann, Povestiri, 2008, p. 206). Also: if Tristan dies in Isolde's arms, Spinell is chased in his run by the cheerful shouts of little Anton Kloterjahn, a child dressed in white, with puffy cheeks, „with a cheerful and undisturbed look” (Mann, Povestiri, 2008, p. 206). In Mann's story we notice constant descriptions of narrative details, associated both with a thorough analysis of characters and a framework anchored in symbolic connotations. Eloquent examples can be found in the central section of the short story, considered in this context as a lyrical pseudo-duet of the protagonists, starting from certain ideas oriented towards the context of the opera Tristan and Isolde. It is the moment when the narrative perspective of the story tends to be oriented towards another archetypal dimension, associated with the combination between art, disease, and death. Starting from the assumption that „art is a slippery and cursed realm” (Ianoși, 2002, p. 233) and the artist's image overlaps with the defining one for a cold, prodigious, unnatural being, often wandering, estranged „in a careless crowd” (Ianoși, 2002, p. 233), Mann finds hidden similarities between illness and a possible antidote to overcoming the human condition. Thus, Gabriele, a new sanatorium patient, weakened by the birth of her son and prone to tuberculosis, becomes the prisoner of a spiritual game. Together with Detlev Spinell, the „serpent that leads Eve into temptation, the siren voice that calls for perdition or the venomous that saves himself from death by a life surrogate that becomes art surrogate” (Ianoși, 2002, p. 233), she tends to return in a time associated with an absolute state of mind back in her childhood, when she used to accompany her father, a merchant from Bremen and a violinist, „an artist to a greater extent than others who call themselves so and live out the glory” (Mann, Povestiri, 2008, p. 184). All these elements place the story in a philosophical dialectic where art and the state of musicality are distinguished as existence paradigms and beauty can acquire meanings close to a morbid state (Ianoși, 2002, p. 232). The main scene – associated with the moment when Gabriele plays one of Chopin's Nocturnes on the piano and scenes from the Wagnerian musical drama focused on the forbidden and fatal love between Tristan and Isolde – brings forth a transformation of the male character, who now became an embodiment of the Mephistophelean spirit, which „prefers to be a captive for beauty and art” (Ianoși, 2002, p. 233) and devilishly forces its victim to an uplifting effort paid even with life. Wagner and Mann both refer to the mythical dimension of the night, setting the meeting of the two characters in a cold winter night, an image associated with the detachment of action from a transcendental love. From this perspective, the short story also highlights Mann's tendency to distort love (in both cases forbidden) between the two characters: if Wagner's love declarations are full of passion, Mann's characters have reserved attitudes, close to the context of a platonic love. Thus, it can be noticed that both in the opera and in the short story, the night stands out as a symbol of love and death.

Vol . XX, 2021 Vol. XX, 2021 Mann sees in Tristan and Isolde a „praise to death”, a „sublime, devastating, morbid work, with magic filled with the most dangerous and noble mysteries of romanticism” (Mann, Pătimirile și măreția lui Richard Wagner, 2013, p. 52), starting from the assumption that „the one who glares with love the night of death and its sweet mystery has no other desire in the deceitful light than the longing for the holy night which is true and eternal and makes two souls become one... (Mann, Povestiri, 2008, p. 193). In both Wagner's opera and Mann's story, the disposition of the literary plan is noticed starting from the contrasting image of the three characters. Thus, in the short story Tristan, we notice that the central figures are Detlev Spinell, main character and prototype of the romantic hero, whose love for Gabriele resembles the one between Tristan and Isolde. The connection between the two is highlighted by resemblances in the artistic field (Spinell's image that convinces Gabriele to play the piano, to return to childhood). At the opposite side is Herr Klöterjahn who, like king Marke, seems to embody the image of a pragmatic and strong husband, deeply anchored in the social and material dimension of existence. Like Isolde, Gabriele is described as a fairy tale heroine, a delicate, elegant being and at the same time resembling angels, as suggested by the assigned name. But just as the Wagnerian heroine cannot stop her strange emotion and love for Tristan, neither can Gabriele overlook the intensity of Spinell's devotion at the sanatorium, nor can she control her passion for music, despite the fact that this strong emotion may endanger her health. Mann's images of Spinell and Gabriele sharply contrast the portraits of Wagner's idealized characters. Gabriele, despite her beauty and inspired spirituality, is affected by her health and conventional attitudes. She is a bourgeois, delicate housewife, without physical endurance, without Isolde's vital and passionate force, while Spinell is initially depicted as the embodiment of a romantic hero-an „imposing stature, well dressed and fashionable, with a black frock-coat and a long waist coat with colourful dots” (Mann, Povestiri, 2008, p. 176). At the same time Mann assigns this portrait a series of less graceful details: „He looked very strange, with a sullen, round, wild and childish face His gleaming brown eyes were gentle, his nose was a little flat and too fleshy. He had large, decayed teeth and sparsely sized feeet” (Mann, Povestiri, 2008, p. 176). Under the same contrasting portrayal, Mann will refer to Spinell's artistic nature, an eccentric intellectual, an unsociable nature”, who did not seek to approach any soul and who only rarely was in a friendly mood, and this, whenever he was overwhelmed by an aesthetic zeal, when the sight of something beautiful, the harmony of two colours, a vessel of a noble shape, the mountains laminated by the setting sun, were snatching exclamations of admiration, uttered aloud” (Mann, Povestiri, 2008, p. 176). As the action unfolds, we are told that, while he cherishes music and decodes its most mysterious meanings, Spinell cannot even create it nor interpret it: „such things seldom meet together” (Mann, Povestiri, 2008, p. 194). The unravelling of the short story brings forth a third hypostasis of the character, this time becoming one of the world's saviours, be it embodied by the presence of the female character who dies „but does not perish in vulgarity but rises from the abyss of humiliation and dies proud and happy under the deadly kiss of beauty” (Mann, Povestiri, 2008, p. 201).

Mann's concern with transposing the content of Tristan and Isolde's opera into his writings seems to be constant, as evidenced by a series of exhaustive considerations gathered in a series of unfinished stories. We thus mention the story of Tristan and Isolde, that places love between the two medieval characters in a paradigm closer rather to a Shakespearean dramatic context. „Tristan and Isolde are celebrities if their time and have long learned much about each other from people's sayings. Tristan is for Isolde the ideal man, without her ever having seen him and she is for him the embodiment of her dreams of feminine grace and nobility” (Mann, Povestiri, 2008, pg. 523-530; 523). Although the destinies of the two protagonists seem to be united by unseen ties, as each „bears in their heart the image of the other, and their thoughts encounter each other beyond distance” (Mann, Povestiri, 2008, p. 523), a proper approach seem to be impossible, considering the ancient rivalry between Ireland (Isolde's land) and Cornwall (the kingdom Tristan belongs to). As the action unfolds, Tristan claims to be the one who „wants to establish peace between the two countries, which have done so much harm to each other through hatred and war” (Mann, Povestiri, 2008, p. 524) and that is why he agrees to go to Ireland, where he will propose Isolde for his uncle, king Marke. Arriving at the Irish court, Tristan makes a pleasant impression, „both in words and in his being” (Mann, Povestiri, 2008, p. 525), all appreciating his lofty spirit, common sense, his knowledge, and talent. The love between the two rises when Tristan becomes Isolde's teacher, teaching her music and foreign languages lessons apprenticing her in „the art of beautiful manners” (Mann, Povestiri, 2008, p. 525).The wedding between Isolde and Marke – looked upon by the bride's parents with „surprise, anger, joy and parsimony” (Mann, Povestiri, 2008, p. 525) also attracts a conflict between uncle and nephew, the latter having „a free way to Isolde's chamber” , thus becoming the protagonist of an „unhappy happiness” (Mann, Povestiri, 2008, p. 526). The two lovers are separated,

Proceedings of the „George Enescu“ International Musicology Symposium Proceedings of the „George Enescu” International Musicology Symposium and Tristan becomes a wanderer around the world, „being the hero of many adventures” (Mann, Povestiri, 2008, p. 527) that culminate with his stay in the Arundel dukedom. Here he will meet Isolde the One-with-white-hands, with whom he seems to fall in love, composing songs (in which the name Isolde always appears), telling her fairy tales, singing and writing with her. Their wedding will be perceived as a fraternal bond, because „in Tristan's soul there is a struggle for his devotion for the Irish Isolde, whose memory convolves his heart in a spell from which he hopes to heal later” (Mann, Povestiri, 2008, p. 528). Overwhelmed by desire, Tristan falls into despair, the outcome being tragic. Wounded in battle, having no chance to heal, the protagonist asks his brotherin-law to go to Ireland and bring Isolde. A new mark is established to confirm or to deny her presence, by lifting a white or black cloth (Mann, Povestiri, 2008, pg. 528-529). The dialogue between the two is heard by Isolde, the One-with-white-hands, „the gentle, little one, who now becomes an untamed cat who now swears to revenge, but still pretends to be a loving and devoted wife” (Mann, Povestiri, 2008, p. 529). Cunningly, she notified Tristan that the cloth is black, which causes the death of the hero, and then that of the Irish Isolde, who once arrived, „hears all over the streets cries of pain and wailings, as well as funeral cathedral and chapel bells” (Mann, Povestiri, 2008, p. 529). Upon hearing the news, the attitude of the princess, whose beauty and dignity astonishes all, is overshadowed by pain, culminating with the moment when, with a „broken heart, she collapses near the coffin, dead” (Mann, Povestiri, 2008, p. 529).

Seen as bridges over time, Thomas Mann's stories transpose a series of mythical and mystical aspects in the context of the twentieth century mentality. Indirectly Mann becomes a vehement critic of his time, bringing his contribution in establishing the position of art in society through a broad vision, constantly oscillating between a clear spirit and fantastic atmosphere. Gradually, the two paradigms, come together harmoniously, in a broad literary context, endowed with biblical, mythological, historical, or philosophical values, deeply rooted in modern culture, where art and music become embodiment of a split existence between the absolute manifestation of talent and a state of suffering, seen as a landmark of the implacable destiny. Consequently, Mann's heroes constantly tend to distinguish themselves as archetypal characters anchored both in the values of the past and in the revolutionary spirit of the present, witnessing a reality in which the state of social decline attracts an implicit moral and spiritual decay. Whether detached from the Faustian myth, from the author's intention to demonstrate that the „German spirit is metaphysical” (Mann, Cum am scris Doctor Faustus, 1995, p. 705), or the need to illustrate through fiction „the crisis of the bourgeois culture” (Mann, Cum am scris Doctor Faustus, 1995, p. 705), Thomas Mann's stories and novels often offer extensive references to various musical phenomena, which become metaphors of the same world under a permanent reversal of ideals and paradigms of the past. Thus, Mann highlights a series of contexts in which music, viewed in certain philosophical conceptions as a form of imitation of nature, supposes, at the same time, a way in which the human being asserts his permanent existence „in mystery and revelation” (Blaga, 1969) and becomes a messenger of the world he lives in. At the same time, the destiny of each characters tends to assert itself from the perspective of an initiating journey, during which „the heroes do not wander” (Micu, 2007, p. 28), but try to move towards a deeper dimension of existence. Thus, a permanent oscillation between universally valid ideas and truths is suggested, anchored mainly in the author's need to define himself as a free spirit, who „at maturity seemed to have felt better in the company of musicians, composers and conductors than that of writers” (Mann, Povestiri, 2008, p. 844). Thus, beyond personal experiences associated with historical events and „the compulsion to live in exile” (Mann, Povestiri, 2008, p. 845), Thomas Mann distinguishes himself from the writer who, deeply connected to the dignified spirit of Nordic culture and aware of the purpose of his art (Mann, Povestiri, 2008, p. 838), „chose his themes according to the imperatives of his time and made remarkable efforts to make his writings a coherent work” (Mann, Povestiri, 2008, p. 838).

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Balint, G. (2018). Privirea estetică. Bucharest: Editura Muzicală. Blaga, L. (1969). Geneza metaforei și sensul culturii. Bucharest: Editura Literaturii Universale. Bolduc, S. A. (1983). A Study of Intertextuality: Thomas Mann's "Tristan" and Richard Wagner's "Tristan und Isolde". Rocky Mountain Review of Language and Literature Vol. 37, No. 1/2 (pg. 82-90). Rocky Mountain Modern Langua. Braga, C. (2006). Thomas Mann. Ruptura faustică dintre suflet și spirit”. În De la arhetip la anarhetip (p. 213). Iași: Polirom.

Constantinescu, G. (2008). Splendorile operei. Bucharest: Editura Didactică și Pedagogică. Ianoși, I. (2002). Thomas Mann. Temă cu Variațiuni. Bucharest: Editura Trei. Mann, T. (1995). Cum am scris Doctor Faustus. În Doctor Faustus (p. 707). Bucharest: Editura Rao. Mann, T. (2008). Povestiri. Bucharest: Editura Rao. Mann, T. (2013). Pătimirile și măreția lui Richard Wagner. Bucharest: Editura Humanitas. Micu, I. (2007). Thomas Mann. Istoria unei partituri literare. Cluj Napoca: Casa Cărții de Știință. Petrovai, G. (2018, march 30). „Destinul artistului in societate, temă de referință în opera lui Thomas Mann”. Retrieved from https://ziarulnatiunea.ro/2018/03/30/destinul-artistului-in-societate-tema-de-referinta-in-opera-luithomas-mann/ Schnitman, S. (1971, April). Musical Motives in Thomas Mann's Tristan. MLN, Vol. 86, No. 3, German Issue, pg. 399-414.

PARADIGMS AND SIMILARITIES IN THE CHORAL CREATION OF TIMOTEI POPOVICI AND MARȚIAN NEGREA

TEODORA CONSTANTINESCU

NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF MUSIC BUCHAREST

ABSTRACT: In the study „Paradigms and similarities in the choral creation of Timotei Popovici and Marțian Negrea” I want to highlight the elements that have been transferred from teacher Timotei Popovici to the choral creation of Marțian Negrea. Timotei Popovici was Marțian Negrea's music teacher at the Andreian Seminary in Sibiu and played an important role in his formation as a musician. I proposed to structure the study in several points, including a brief analysis of the writing, musical syntax, rhythm, metrics and dynamics, continuing with elements related to aesthetics, the processing and use of the folkloric element, as well as other stylistic features found in secular songs, religious music and carols composed by the two.

KEYWORDS: POPOVICI, NEGREA, CHORAL MUSIC

A PROMINENT FIGURE in Romanian musical life at the end of the 19th century and the first half of the 20th century, Timotei Popovici distinguished himself as a teacher, composer and conductor of numerous vocal ensembles. Born in Tincova, in the Banat region, he undertook a sustained research activity in the field of folklore, compiling one of the most important collections of carols. His credo was based on his knowledge of Romanian folklore, which he subsequently confirmed with each of his creations. He preserved and perpetuated Romanian traditions through the reworkings and harmonisations he created for various types of choral ensembles.

As a folklorist, Timotei Popovici aimed at harmonizing and processing folk songs for various choral groups, thus enhancing the Romanian folk melody. (Delu)

As a teacher, Timotei Popovici educated his students with great dedication, instilling in them his love for traditional Romanian song. He also made an important page of history through the children's songs he composed, managing to give them beauty and freshness through the simplicity and fluidity of the Romanian folk melody.

Many of Timotei Popovici's children's songs are still preserved today in the school repertoire, because the melodic simplicity and the popular intonation give most of the pieces the accessibility that is typical of the musical genre for children. He is rightly considered a classic of Romanian music for children. (Cosma, Romanian Musicians. Lexicon, 1989, p. 111)

Timotei Popovici benefited from a thorough musical training, first at the Romanian Orthodox Diocesan Seminary in Caransebeș - where he attended both the pedagogical section (1887-1890) and the theological section (1890-1893) - and later at the Conservatory in Iasi, with Eduard Caudella and Gavriil Musicescu as teachers. Since 1887, the composer from Banat has been intensely active in music and theology in Caransebeș, Iași, Lugoj, Brașov and Sibiu, where he was also a priest and teacher, composer and conductor of several choral ensembles including the Youth Choir of the Church of Brașovul-Vechi (1896-1899), the Choir of the Romanian Craftsmen's Meeting of Brașov (18971899), the Metropolitan Choir of Sibiu (1899-1945), the Romanian Sodal Choir of Sibiu (1910-1911) and others.a.

Priest and teacher at seminaries, primary schools, gymnasiums and normal schools, Timotei Popovici did not have the time necessary for large-scale composition, his role being rather that of missionary in the field of

Proceedings of the „George Enescu“ International Musicology Symposium Proceedings of the "George Enescu" International Musicology Symposium education, mass musical culture, patriotic spirit in the education of youth. (...) He wasted his time collecting folklore, struggling to publish his didactic works, collaborating in yearbooks and village calendars, working in various peasant societies in Banat, writing articles and reviews that appeared in obscure publications, convinced that musical education must start from school and amateur circles in order to be effective in adulthood. (Cosma, Romanian Musicians. Lexicon, 1989, p. 110)

Between 1899 and 1919, Timotei Popovici was a music teacher at the Andreian Seminary in Sibiu where, for four years, between 1910 and 1914, he had the young Marțian Negrea as a pupil. The study of vocal music and church singing with the teacher and theologian Timotei Popovici during that period would later be reflected in the choral work of the Siberian composer.

Between 1910 and 1914 Marțian Negrea attended the pedagogical section of the Andreian Seminary in Sibiu, where his music teacher was Timotei Popovici. (Dimoftache, 2003, p. 21)

Born in Vorumloc, in Sibiu county, Marțian Negrea was a good and talented child, who came into contact with music in his native Transylvanian village where traditions and customs were still alive. Singing was never absent from his family home, and little Marțian sang constantly, to the delight of his parents and the villagers.

As a child, Martian, with an angelic voice, read the Apostle and sang all the ecclesiastical songs, psalms, canticles, troparia, hymns, heraldics. He also sang from a whistle, or from a leaf, or with his voice, being listened to with emotion by all the people of the village, from children to the elderly. He was also a regular at the horă, where he learned the song of the lute players, the shout, the dance figures. (Dimoftache, 2003, p. 17)

Marțian Negrea began studying music at the Roman-Catholic Hungarian High School in Odorhei, then followed the pedagogical section of the Andreian Seminary in Sibiu, where he studied with Timotei Popovici, and later perfected his studies at the Academy of Music in Budapest and the Akademie für Musik und darstellende Kunst in Vienna. At the Andreian Seminary, he was a model pupil, showing a particular preuption for music and other subjects, in which he obtained very good grades. Part of the knowledge he acquired at the Andreian Seminary under the careful guidance of his music teacher has over time left its mark on Marțian Negrea's creative personality. In the Negrea family archive are preserved the testimonies of the school years at the Andreian Pedagogical Seminary of the Archdiocese of Sibiu with the grades Distinguished (in Church and Typical Songs, Vocal Music, Instrumental Music, Arithmetic and Geometry), Eminent, Good, Sufficient, as well as the teacher's diploma signed by Timotei Popovici. (Dimoftache, 2003, p. 24)

Devoted to national values, a keen observer, with a particular musical intelligence, Marțian Negrea has also worked on a series of folkloric themes for mixed choir, his predilection for folkloric quotations in the avant-garde musician's vision being found everywhere in his creation. In the volume Encounters with 20th century musicians signed by George Sbârcea, Marțian Negrea stresses the importance and uniqueness that national specificity gives to music:

Through it, everything is clarified, valorized and transformed into a kind of reflex. In its absence we are dealing with the paucity of colours and nuances of the formalist currents, with the absence of the elements of music's sensitive connection with life. The emotion expressed in music becomes accessible only when the creation is integrated into a popular language. (Sbârcea, 1984)

Both Marțian Negrea and Timotei Popovici were inspired for their works by the life of the village where they grew up, the picturesque atmosphere and the simplicity of life in the past. Although Negrea's mature choral works represent the sum of the knowledge he acquired during his studies with several personalities of musical life in Romania and abroad, they still preserve the spirituality and authentic beauty of Romanian folklore and the clarity and balance of his writing - a legacy from Timotei Popovici.

Vol . XX, 2021 Vol. XX, 2021 Marțian Negrea's music stands the test of time thanks to its sensitivity, spontaneity, clarity of message, varied colouring, but above all the professional rigour of each score. If it has been rightly said that music identifies with man, then (...) Negrea (...) cannot be separated for a moment from his native land (to which he has always returned by way of folklore, which he deciphered in his childhood and youth) and from the Transylvanian church where he began his basic studies. (Cosma, Romanian Musicians. Lexicon, 1989, p. 66)

We will now present a series of similarities and particularities that can be found in the choral creations of the two composers, taking into account several parameters that come together in the works under discussion, without, however, aiming at an exhaustive research of this subject, about which so much can still be discovered. As far as rhythm is concerned, the two composers have always preferred simplicity and homogeneity, expressiveness being generated by the alternation of nuances and tempo indications and not by the stringing together of musical durations. Nevertheless, there are many moments of isorhythmia in the choral works of the two that cannot be overlooked. They build up tension, become the focus of the work and lend a rich stylistic expressiveness, proving their mastery in devising a frenetic homogeneity, integrated into the work at just the right moment. For example, the first section of Marțian Negrea's declamatory Psalm 123 is based on this principle (Ex. 1).

The work begins with a motif unfolding on the arpeggio of F# minor, followed by the declamation of the whole chorus, inspired by the meaning of the words. (Dimoftache, 2003, p. 123)

Ex. No. 1

With the exception of the second measure, which creates tension by moving the tenor downward from the C# sound to B in the F# minor subdominant chord in the I inversion, the entire section exhibits isorhythms. At the same time, the Andante tranquillo indication and low key create the intimate, prayerful atmosphere necessary for this work. We also find isorhythmia towards the end of the work, when the tension has eased and the fiery words have fulfilled their purpose, in measures 5054 (Ex. 2).

Ex. No. 2

Originally published in 1937, in the Treatise on Musical Forms, Psalm 123 was composed on a text with a particular load, musically doubled in an exceptional way by the creative genius of Marțian Negrea, which made this work a permanent center of interest in the repertoires of choral ensembles in the country.

Proceedings of the „George Enescu“ International Musicology Symposium Proceedings of the "George Enescu" International Musicology Symposium Isorhythmia also predominates in another work by the Siberian composer, in the Love Song, Part III (Ex. 3). Marțian Negrea has made use of this simple technique, which gives clarity and clarity to the musical discourse, precisely in order to highlight the major role that the natural flow of words plays in a musical work.

Ex. No. 3

Timotei Popovici used isorhythmia mainly in his well-known and appreciated carols, in the end of the works La poarta lui Ștefan Vodă (Ex. no. 4), Domnul Iisus Hristos (Ex. no. 5), Praznic luminos (Ex. no. 6) and in some sections of Mândruțo, poale ciurate (Ex. no. 7).

Ex. No. 4

Ex. No. 5

Ex. No. 6

Ex. No. 7

The Sunday Axion presents isorhythmic sequences, which, as in Negrea's Psalm 123, induce the idea of ritual, of incantation specific to the state of prayer (Ex. 8).

Ex. No. 8

In religious works we find declamated text, the repetition of several syllables on the same note. For example, in Psalm 123, such a recitative is found in measures 4 and 42 (Ex. nos. 9 and 10).

Ex. No. 9

Ex. No. 10

Both composers place at the centre of the melody the word to which the music is subordinate. Polyphonic writing is found in both Timotei Popovici's and Marțian Negrea's works. We find the imitation in the works Ian' te scoală gazdă, where the soprano and tenor enter the canon, followed by the alto and bass in a descending quatrain (Ex. no. 11), while the second stanza of Psalm 123 is written polyphonically (Ex. no. 12).

Ex. No. 11

The disparate entries of the voices are included by both composers in their works, so that in La poarta lui Ștefan Vodă, Timotei Popovici gives voice to the bass, then to the soprano, and then the internal voices enter simultaneously. We find a similar debut in Marțian Negrea's Doarme firea legănată, where the soprano leads the way for the other voices, followed by the alto and tenor singing at the same time and then the bass in the second measure (Ex. no. 12).

Ex. No. 12

The two composers use homophony, especially Timotei Popovici in the works Axion duminical, Hațegană, Mândruțo, poale ciurate, in the carols Astăzi s-a născut Hristos, Praznic luminos, Îngerul vine or Linu-i râurelu-i linu. As for the assignment of the theme to a certain voice, Timotei Popovici generally gives the soprano primacy, as can be seen in the works Linu-i linu, Praznic luminos and Somnu mi-i. In many of his works, Marțian Negrea also gives the theme to sopranos, for example in Ia ieși mândră pân' la poarte, Foaie verde popâlnic or Ian' te scoală. In Păstorița, however, Marțian Negrea allows the other voices to shine, giving the work many expressive qualities. In this respect, he attaches particular importance to the bass part. The elements of dynamics and agogics are a central point of the aesthetic in the music of both composers, the phrases always being built on a chain of nuances to suit the natural flow of the spoken phrase. Likewise, the stanzas or sections of choral works are carefully enriched with indications of movement, which contributes fundamentally to their expressiveness. In terms of structure, Timotei Popovici focuses on accessibility, symmetry and balance, so that many of his works have strophic form, including La poarta lui Ștefan Vodă (6 stanzas), Linu-i râurelu-i lin (6 stanzas), Astăzi s-a născut Hristos (4 stanzas), Florile dalbe (4 stanzas) or Praznic luminos (4 stanzas). A more complex structure is present in Îngerul vine, a carol from Maramureș published in 1945. A keen observer, an eclectic musician with Impressionist influences, Marțian Negrea resorts to broader structures in keeping with the moods his creation suggests. Thus, Cântecul de dragoste (Love Song) presents a more complex form, a three-part lied with coda, while Păstorița (Little Shepherdess) is structured in four tableaux of distinct character and atmosphere, unified by a common theme. Probably the element that links the two composers most musically is the use of the folk quotation, the inspiration and processing of which is found in many of their works.

Like his colleagues of his generation, Mihail Jora and especially Sabin Drăgoi, Marțian Negrea, using the folkloric quotation, composed several

Vol . XX, 2021 Vol. XX, 2021 pieces, which are surpassing in beauty. Such are Cucule cu pană sură, Fire-a dracului Mărie, Pe drumul de la Cepari, Foaie verde popâlnic, Ia ieși mândro pân la poartă, respectively numbers 8, 9, 15, 16, 17 from the Choral Album op. 10. These choirs are based on proper songs, which belong to the parlando rubato system, as in the case of the choirs Cucule cu pana sură or Pe drumul de la Cepari, others work on game songs, the melody of the Banat dance, in Fire-a dracului Mărie - a unique choral piece of exceptional beauty, and game song, binary, with Banat dance latencies, in Foaie verde popâlnic. These last two choral pieces resemble each other, not only in the popular game song on which they are based, but also in the manner in which it is processed. (Dimoftache, 2003, pp. 127-128)

Păstorița, one of Marțian Negrea's best known and most sung works, concentrates in its structure the musical acquisitions of the composer's lifetime and his predilection for village life and customs. The text chosen for this work - George Coșbuc's poem - is a possible example of how to deal with the theme of transhumance, a true emblem for the Romanian people. In Negrea's work, the shepherdess, a potential female version of the ballad Miorița, has a sincere and tender dialogue with the personified sun, to whom the girl bears an ancestral love. Thus, the lyrics chosen are an excellent example of the folkloric influence that has followed the Siberian composer all his life. Also, in the last two bars of the third movement, in the soprano, Marțian Negrea offers a true spiritual legacy with a simple phrase, without the support of the other voices, which places the word "dor" at a higher octave than the previous sounds, on the sound of E2, in a leap that is as diaphanous as it is difficult to execute. (Ex. 13) Marțian Negrea shows an affinity for Coșbuc's poetry, using one of his writings in his Cântecul de dragoste. The Ipostazele Păstorița takes us into an idyllic atmosphere, full of calm, grace and naturalness, in the four paintings in which the work is structured.

An idyllic and reverie nuance, an emphasis on the descriptive and programmatic, brings Marțian Negrea's music even closer to his native village. (Cosma, Romanian Musicians. Lexicon, 1989, p. 66)

Ex. No. 13

However, this complex work is not only based on folkloric inspiration, but also on a series of techniques and influences acquired by Negrea during his creative work, as Veturia Dimoftache states: The speech is "in a narrative tone", without strong contrasts, in a calm, balanced, graceful atmosphere. The national note is dominant but not exclusive. The motives contain characteristics of popular song, but also Debussy influences. The harmony flows naturally from the melody, and sometimes, when it imposes itself as the pre-eminent element of the musical discourse, it has romantic glints and impressionistic reflections. Marțian Negrea's "Păstorița" is like Nicolae Grigorescu's "păstorița", an homage to the peace and beauty of the Romanian village. (Dimoftache, 2003, pp. 276277)

As far as Timotei Popovici is concerned, his work Hațegană shows a strong folkloric character, the name of the work designating a folk game from Transylvania in binary measure, which is danced in pairs in a rather fast tempo. The 'game' character is also present in the works Horă (for choir of equal voices), Mândruțo, poale ciurate and S-a dus cucul de pe-aici. Melody is a fundamental element in the work of both composers. In Marțian Negrea it is generated by harmony, while Timotei Popovici uses melody as an exhaustive expressive means, giving

Proceedings of the „George Enescu“ International Musicology Symposium Proceedings of the "George Enescu" International Musicology Symposium it versatility and placing it at the centre of his musical universe. Harmonisations for several voices, reworkings and arrangements of folk melodies often lead to a simple, clear and balanced harmony. In conclusion, we can say that both Marțian Negrea and Timotei Popovici managed to stand out for the beauty of their works, for the simplicity, expressiveness and ingenuity with which they managed to combine multiple techniques and ideas to obtain masterpieces. Marțian Negrea, as a disciple of Timotei Popovici, took over and developed his teacher's affinity for Romanian folklore, which he enriched and polished through the many musical acquisitions obtained through the study of personalities such as Zoltan Kodály, Eusebie Mandicevski or Franz Schmidt. Although there are many differences between the two in their approach to choral works, each of them has given the Romanian repertoire a series of emblematic pieces that bear a personal stamp. Timotei Popovici's and Marțian Negrea's visions of structure, rhythm, dynamics, themes and musical forms can also be found in the creations of other composers who have used Romanian folklore as an endless source of inspiration. By studying these aspects and understanding the source, it is very likely that we can extend this insight to all composers who have drawn inspiration from folkloric sources, revealing an ethos so exploited that it continues to reveal itself in new and novel ways.

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Bughici, D. (1978). Dictionary of musical forms and genres. Bucharest: Editura Muzicală. Cosma, V. (1989). Musicians from Romania. Lexicon (Vol. VII (N-O-Pip)) Bucharest: Editura Muzicală.

Cosma, V. (1989). Musicians from Romania. Lexicon (Vol. VIII (P-S)). București: Editura Muzicală. Delu, I. (no year). Preface. In T. Popovici, Choirs. Dimoftache, V. (2003). Martian Negrea. Iași: Novum. Negrea, M. (1921-1938). Album of mixed choirs, op. 10. Negrea, M. (1937). Ian gets you up. (Score). Negrea, M. (1959). Love song, mixed chorus, verses by George Coșbuc. Negrea, M. (1959). Păstorița, mixed chorus, verses by George Coșbuc. Popovici, T. (no year). Choirs. (T. Moisescu, Ed.) State Publishing House for Literature and Art. Sbârcea, G. (1984). Encounters with 20th century musicians. Bucharest: Editura Muzicală.

THE DISSONANCE-CONSONANCE RELATION IN WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART’S AND PASCAL BENTOIU’S VISION.

THE CASE OF THE SLOW INTRODUCTION IN THE STRING QUARTETS

VLAD-CRISTIAN GHINEA

NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF MUSIC, BUCHAREST

ABSTRACT: The dissonance-consonance relationship has known different hypostases throughout the ages, being influenced by the geographical space in which the composers were living and by the context in which their music was performed. Shortly after the emergence of the genre, the string quartet became an innovative space in which composers were able to experiment with various musical parameters (musical form, melody, rhythm, harmony etc.), and the development of musical discourse largely depended on the way that emphasized the dissonance-consonance relationship. In the present paper we analyzed two different views regarding the treatment of the tension-alleviation game in the slow introduction of the first part of two string quartets: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in the String Quartet K. 465, in C major, respectively Pascal Bentoiu in „Consonances” Quartet no. 2, op. 19.

KEYWORDS: BENTOIU, MOZART, CONSONANCE, DISSONANCE

IN THE LATE Baroque and the transition to Classicism, composers paid increasing attention to the dramatic construction of musical discourse, both in textual and instrumental music. Important figures after 1750 include Domenico Scarlatti, Johann Christian Bach, Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach and Wilhelm Friedemann Bach, in whose work new genres and patterns of musical architecture began to crystallise. These favoured the exploration of harmonic parameters (intensification of chromatic areas, novel harmonic inflections) against the background of the newly affirmed homophonic syntax, and the increasingly important role given to dynamics (especially through the work of Johann Stamitz in Mannheim) enriched the palette of compositional techniques. In parallel with the crystallisation of the sonata form, composers also turned their attention to a new chamber genre, the string quartet, combining elements from the sonata a quattro, the Italian symphony and the Austrian and South German symphonies of the mid-18th century. After 1760, the string quartet entered a new period of development, closely linked to the name of Joseph Haydn, one of the most important exponents of the Sturm und Drang movement. Experimentation with different configurations of form and harmony (both at the micro and macro levels) was a long-standing preoccupation of Haydn, who achieved a synthesis of „dramatic irregularity and large-scale symmetry” (Rosen, 1998, p. 112). In fact, Haydn played a particularly important role in positioning the string quartet among the central chamber genres, especially because of his way of involving the relations between musical media (Rosen, 1998, p. 120) in shaping a convincing dramatic path. Taking his cue from Johann Christian Bach's gallant and Italian style, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart chooses to follow the path of experimenting with musical parameters in the string quartet and begins to use the processes practiced by Haydn. The cycle of Viennese Quartets is an example of this, where numerous innovations can be identified in terms of form, in the sequence of parts, but also in the shaping of the thematic work (Berger, Cvartetul de coarde de la Haydn la Debussy, 1970, p. 39). A new stage in Mozart's work is marked by the baroque style of Johann Sebastian Bach and Georg Friedrich Händel, an influence resulted after studying the manuscripts in the library of Baron Gottfried van Swieten. After making transcriptions of the Well-Tempered Harpsichord for string quartets, Mozart began to experiment with integrating polyphonic syntax into the structure of sonata form, one of his earliest creations being the Quartet K.387 in G major (1782), whose final movement illustrates the fugue-sonata form. This quartet is the first in a series of six works dedicated to Joseph Haydn, in which rhythmic diversity and striking harmonic language (inspired by Bachian creation) are harmoniously combined with rigorous principles of sonata form (tonality, two contrasting themes) (Georgio Pestelli, transl. Eric Cross, 1984, p. 155).

Proceedings of the „George Enescu“ International Musicology Symposium Proceedings of the „George Enescu” International Musicology Symposium Also containing polyphonic moments in the developing passages, where the dynamic flow allows greater freedom of variational and harmonic order, the Quartet K. 465 in C major (the last of the set of six) caused much public discussion after its premiere (1785), especially due to the introduction, which contains bold dissonances and false relations. In fact, these aspects were at the origin of the name subsequently given to it: the Dissonance Quartet. The introduction combines polyphonic syntax and tonal instability from the first moments. Starting with the viola, the theme is taken up in turn by the 2nd violin and the 1st violin in a stretto-like construction, and the harmonic path has a descending chromatic pattern, starting at the key of A flat major, passing through G major, G minor, G flat major, F major and reaching F minor in bar 9.

The famous false relations of the viola-violin I pair appear in measures 1-2 (Ab - A) and 5-6 (Gb - G), but the harmonic path begins to become more stable from measure 10, when it modulates to E-flat major, and then settles on a pedal area of the dominant of C major (the key of the first theme of the Allegro). With the exception of the second violin, the other instruments (in the order viola, violin I, cello) successively take over the thematic statement, reaching relative homophony towards the end.

In addition to its polyphonic treatment, the melodic profile of the introduction has aroused the interest of musicologists because of a possible cyclicity linking two closely related works, the present work and the earlier quartet, K. 464 in A major (1785) (Berger, Ghid pentru muzică instrumentală de cameră, 1965, p. 74). The developmental opening of K. 464 uses very similar material (but lacks the false relations found in K. 465) to that of the dissonant introduction of K. 465, even respecting the order of the instruments' entries.

W.A. Mozart, String Quartet K. 465, in C major, first movement, bars 1-5

W.A. Mozart, String Quartet K. 465, in C major, first movement, bars 9-15

W.A. Mozart, String Quartet K. 464, in A major, fourth movement, bars 86-89 Classical music composers used dissonance more as a means of „colouring” the musical discourse, or it was emphasised at certain key moments (usually dramatic climaxes). From that stage, the tonal system went through several „steps on the way [...] to the extreme widening of its boundaries” (Vartolomei, 1974), with dissonance coming to play an essential role in the time of expressionism. The false relations found in Mozart's String Quartet in C major, K. 465 may today be mere specks of colour compared to certain 19th and 20th century works, with consonance and dissonance finally coming to

Vol . XX, 2021 Vol. XX, 2021 equal footing in atonal writing. The appearance of melodic profiles also undergoes substantial changes compared to the practices of classicism, and polymeter and polyrhythms become common procedures in 20th century opuses. All these elements can be found in many of the works of Romanian composers of the second half of the 20th century (whether modern moderates or radicals), who, although situated in an unfavourable social-political context, were able to encounter the compositional techniques used at the time in the West. In his own introduction to the first part (Adagio-Allegretto) of the „Consonances” Quartet No.2, Op.19, Pascal Bentoiu has brought back some of those Mozartian sonorities from the Quartet of the Dissonances, „cleansing” them of the initial dissonances and giving them a more consonant aspect. In the hall programme of the event where the Quartet was premiered (1973), Bentoiu said: „I wanted to check if it really can no longer be written tonally. So I wrote tonal”1. But Bentoiu's words must be seen in the light of the stages of tonal language up to that time, passing through modal tonality, Wagnerian chromaticism or the reconfiguration into the new dodecaphonic system cultivated by the second Viennese school. The consonant quartet depicts a (largely) modern tonal-modal language2 , where atypical chaining and resolutions of seventh, ninth or eleventh chords are frequent. Bentoiu also expresses a desire for „a renewed contact with the subtleties of consonance” (Bentoiu, 1973) in a time dominated by dissonance, where 18th century consonances can become „dissonances” for 20th century ears3 .

In the nine bars of the introduction (a modern version of Mozart's Dissonances), the Romanian composer „condenses [...] the entire harmonic (and eventually even melodic) essence of the work” (Vartolomei, 1974), illustrating through certain chordal structures and dissonances considered natural in the 1970s (e.g. diminished octaves): „The career of dissonance has reached such heights that even the first-year composition student thinks naturally in diminished octaves, augmented elevenths, minor ninths and overlapping semitones [...]” (Bentoiu, 1973).

Although the allusion to Mozart's work is obvious, Pascal Bentoiu keeps the polyphonic syntax only in the first two bars, and later he opts for an homophonic development. Mozart's false relations are now missing, their place taken by minor (seventh and ninth) and major chords. However, the composer reinforces the appearance of the first chord with a greater degree of dissonance (chordal structure in fourths, bar 5) by using a syncopation (while retaining a muted, piano-like nuance), followed by a dissonant contrary passage, which resolves into a minor fourth-sixth chord. Next (bar 7), another passage starts from the overlapping fifths, resulting in a diminished octave chord, and the end of the introduction

1 Pascal Bentoiu, in the concert programme of 20 June 1973 (the work was performed by the "Pro Arte" quartet, but without specifying the institution where the event took place). 2 Vartolomei, p.12: „The harmony of this work, far from being limited to the chaining of perfect chords, pigmented at times by sevenths or - at most - dominant ninths (as one might wrongly imagine at a certain point), frequently uses ninths and elevenths, and their resolution is by no means imposed by rigid scholastic rules”. 3 Bentoiu, concert programme: „I wrote the quartet looking to the future, but also with the strange feeling that nowadays perfect chords might prove - to some ears, at least - as irritating as a few false harmonic relationships were in Mozart's time”.

Proceedings of the „George Enescu“ International Musicology Symposium Proceedings of the „George Enescu” International Musicology Symposium is set on a structure often found in cadential sequences of classicism or romanticism: dominant seventh chord.

* In the almost 200 years between Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's Quartet of Dissonances and Pascal Bentoiu's Quartet of Consonances, the means that can be used to compose a musical work have undergone a gradual but very important change. With them, the dissonance-consonance relation has undergone different interpretations and reinterpretations depending on the geographical area in which the composers worked or the context, the environment in which the works were performed. Although they belong to composers who worked in completely different times and spaces, the examples analysed above contain common elements, linked to the harmonic parameter, which are used to the full to create an atmosphere of uncertainty. If Mozart's introduction shows a greater dynamic range, this is also determined by the construction of the musical discourse through polyphonic syntax. The role of the introduction in the architectural and dramatic configuration of both a part and the whole opus must also be considered. While the Mozartian Quartet does not further develop the ideas set out in the introduction, Pascal Bentoiu uses a generative cell (the first four notes of the introduction), „which lies at the heart of the composition” (Bentoiu, 1973), combining it with chordal structures found throughout the work. Shortly after the premiere, Pascal Bentoiu pondered the transformation of harmonic language over several eras, noting that the numerous „possibilities of constructing increasingly subtle synthetic judgments” could lead to the emergence of „relays of a delicate complexity that made the necessary play between tension and relaxation, between rest and instability, between consonance and dissonance infinitely more diverse” (Bentoiu, Gândirea muzicală, 1975, p. 125). His analysis also touches on the interplay between tension and relaxation, which is „the concretisation of specific thought processes, in no way inferior in complexity to those assumed by the great achievements of the human spirit through any of the other major lines of activity: philosophy, poetry, science” (Bentoiu, Gândirea muzicală, 1975, p. 125).

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Bentoiu, P. (1973). Programul de sală al concertului din 20 iunie 1973. Bentoiu, P. (1975). Gândirea muzicală. Bucharest: Editura Muzicală. Berger, W. G. (1965). Ghid pentru muzică instrumentală de cameră. Bucharest: Editura Muzicală a Uniunii Compozitorilor din Republica Socialistă România. Berger, W. G. (1970). Cvartetul de coarde de la Haydn la Debussy. Bucharest: Editura Muzicală a Uniunii Compozitorilor din Republica Socialistă România. Georgio Pestelli, transl. Eric Cross. (1984). The Age of Mozart and Beethoven. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Rosen, C. (1998). The Classical Style: Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven. New York: W. W. Norton & Company. Vartolomei, L. (1974). „Cvartetul Consonanţelor” de Pascal Bentoiu. Muzica nr. 1, p. 12.

IGOR STRAVINSKY AND MIHAIL JORA. RESEMBLANCES BETWEEN THE BALLETS PETRUSHKA AND LA PIAȚĂ

ANA-LUIZA HAN

NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF MUSIC, BUCHAREST

ABSTRACT: Igor Stravinsky stands out as an influential creator and through his constant innovations he gained the „revolutionary” label. On the other hand, Mihail Jora is well-known in the art of musical composition of the Romanian music history. Although the two of them have never met, their creations reveal many common points of interest, including their affinity to the ballet genre in composition. The study aims to identify some links between the two ballets mentioned in the title and to find parallels between the thinking process of the two great composers, provided through practical examples.

KEYWORDS: JORA, STRAVINSKY, BALLET, PETRUSHKA, LA PIAȚĂ

„There is a vitality, a life force, an energy, a quickening that is translated through you into action, and because there is only one of you in all time, this expression is unique. And if you block it, it will never exist through any other medium and will be lost.” Martha Graham (Popova)

THE FIRST decades of the 20th century had known a significant number of political and cultural events that were to have a profound influence on human thinking. The figure of the Russian composer Igor Stravinsky stands out in the diverse picture of modernity as that of an influential creator, capable of modifying the conventionality and at the same time revolutionize what had been known until then. Located at another geographical pole but synchronizing with the latest European music news, Mihail Jora is recognized in the local space as a well-known name in the art of musical composition. Although the two creators have never met, they have many common interests on their creative paths. An example on the axis of a possible spiritual or ideological meeting between Igor Stravinsky and Mihail Jora could be materialized in the attention shown by both to the ballet genre. Characterized by the synchronization of three elements – music, dance and the ability to tell a story – the interest that is channeled in music and defined by gestures becomes an important common feature, confirmed and deeply exploited in the creation of both musicians. In Stravinsky's case, the ballet genre is emancipated, revolutionized, gaining new value in the European music literature. Jora, on the other hand, brings to the Romanian space the first examples of the genre, giving extraordinary reference models to future generations of composers. In addition to the „vitalism”1 shown in the Western European composers from the desire to encourage the crude, direct expression related to the evocation of the archaic through the folk element in creation, Stravinsky and Jora have in common the naturality and the skill to detail the narrative with the help of musical art. Experiencing a language with certain valences from traditional music combined with various rhythmic patterns, polyrhythms and irregular rhythm, to which we can add the unique use of timbre in orchestration are common elements that link the creation of the two composers. The Dionysian aesthetics can also be identified as a common element for the vision of the two. As Stravinsky's Russian ballets made a massive impact on modern composition in the early twentieth century, in Romania, Mihail Jora is known as the composer who wrote the first „Romanian ballets”, thus becoming a promoter of this genre in his country. His compositional language balances the use of Western models combined with Romanian folklore tones. Mihail Jora's creation brings important

1 The word is mentioned in Dan Dediu's research and in his courses, Compositional Strategy and Currents, Styles, Languages at the University of Music in Bucharest.

Proceedings of the „George Enescu“ International Musicology Symposium Proceedings of the „George Enescu” International Musicology Symposium works in the Romanian lied and ballet repertoire, his music being an encouragement for the creators and a model for the new composition school in formation. On the other hand, the desire to incorporate the archaic into the composition in Stravinsky's case had an exciting course, characterized by radical changes. Here, folklore influences combine, as an ingeniously concentrated mixture, with elements chosen from both the cultured and the urban world. The Stravinskian language is known for its unusual elements of rhythm, characterized by syncopations, irregular beats, polyrhythms, and unexpected changes in tempo and measure. In the case of Mihail Jora we can discuss about a certain „stylization of the folk substance” (Popa, 2009, p. 103) that brings with it a unitary character of the work. Thus, direct quotations are replaced by an „imaginary folklore”2, which approaches reality in style. We can say that there is a unifying vision when it comes to appealing to traditional music material, an exciting source of compositional inspiration. However, in the case of Jora we notice a proper and authentic representation, almost a re-evaluation of the folklore in the direction of its assimilation and reinvention. In Stravinsky's works, however, at least in the early period, the quotations are direct, probably out of a desire to portray different affections and to incorporate the Russian spirit into the musical composition by direct, raw and acid intercalation. The development of Stravinsky’s own musical language, without the influence of his teacher Rimsky-Korsakov, by incorporating the expression of his Russian heritage in the context of musical modernism, is believed to have begun with the second ballet commissioned by choreographer Sergei Diaghilev, Petrushka (1911). Following the success of his first ballet The Firebird, the Petrushka ballet offers what Richard Taruskin describes as „Stravinsky's process of self-discovery” (Taruskin, 1996, p. 662) (Kenneth Gloag, 2003, pp. 79-97). This particular way of composing consists largely in adapting materials borrowed from Russian folklore, defined as a process that immediately suggests the idea of conjunction between past and present, but redefining this material generates a sense of distance from its original context. In Stravinsky's case, the folklore source is quoted directly, losing its original purpose. Mihail Jora was both interested and influenced by the choreographic events presented by Sergei Diaghilev under the auspices of the „Ballets Russes” and, at the same time, intrigued by the international success of Stravinsky's ballets. Therefore, between 1928 and 1966, the Romanian composer wrote the first Romanian compositions of the genre, six in number: La piață (1928), Demoazela Măriuța, Curtea veche, Când strugurii se coc, Întoarcerea din adâncuri and Hanul Dulcineea. Just by reading the titles we realize a certain intention of bringing a certain joviality and at the same time an idyllic atmosphere, into the compositions which enlivens the very substance, the essence of the Romanian tradition. Regarding the use of folklore melodic material in creation, we can see that this attitude is similar to Jora and Stravinsky, but the difference comes from the way the material is processed. The folk influences in the Petrushka ballet are various, but it is mainly the direct quotation of the songs that should be noticed. Also, the quote is wisely presented, the arrangements of these songs proving a rhythmicity specific to the Russian spirit; they are full of life and bring new accents to the writing and even polyphonic moments. Only later, in the mature Stravinskian style, we notice a certain synthesis of the folk element, similar to that of Jora's creation. Stravinsky cites pre-existing sources of various melodic inspiration in Petrushka, present in the urban, Parisian and Russian landscape, two waltzes by Joseph Lanner3, but also several Russian folk songs taken from his teacher’s, RimskyKorsakov, collection. For example, in Michel Fokine's4 original choreography, a group of drunken merrymakers stand out from the crowd, dancing after Stravinsky's adaptation of the popular song „Volochobniki Song”. The theme is brought up several times with a different rhythmic structure that induces the impression of a new idea every time (Taruskin, 1996, p. 697). Another example is found in the vigorous dance of the three dolls at the end of the first scene. It is based on two Russian folk songs: „A lime tree is in the field” and „Song for St. John's Eve”. The latter initially appears as a fragment, later being extended. This idea of starting with a fragment of a melody and extending until it is finally heard in its full form is found in Rimsky-Korsakov's compositions (Taruskin, 1996, pp. 707-709). The fourth and last scene of the ballet offers a return to the technique of quoting Russian melodies. Here Taruskin identified six specific borrowings (Taruskin, 1996, p. 697). Perhaps the most striking example is the song performed by Oboe in „The Nurses Dance”. Although there is a clear distinction between melody and accompaniment, Stravinsky surrounds the melody with an orchestral texture rich in detail and motion. As it was mentioned before, in the case of Jora's ballet, the folk material is not quoted directly, but stylized in its own way that contains certain elements of the local spirit. We focus on the ballet At the market for this comparison. Thus, the Bucharest slum becomes the source of inspiration, and he

2 Expression used in the case of George Enescu. It is essentially an own conceptualization from which results a new melodic material that is inspired by traditional music and / or suburban music. 3 Joseph Lanner (April 12, 1801-April 14, 1843) was an Austrian composer and conductor who distinguished himself by outstanding contributions to the genre of social dance music. 4 In 1909 he became the choreographer of Sergei Diaghilev's Parisian company „Ballets Russes”.

Vol . XX, 2021 Vol. XX, 2021 chooses to use descriptive musical details, specific to its universe to outline his characters. In the dancing moments – whether we mention the „Tema precupeților”, „Dansul oltenilor”, „Dansul chivuțelor” – the composer is heading towards a different spirit, an energizing attitude inspired by the Romanian traditional dance songs. Rhythm seems to be the defining element, combined with a simple melody and a tonal-modal conception specific to peasant music (Popa, 2009, p. 126). According to Florinela Popa's description: „in fact, the ballet La Piață contains both suburban and peasant music sources.” (Popa, 2009, p. 126). Therefore, Jora chooses to incorporate a certain oriental air for characters such as Chiva, the gypsies or the fiddlers. Sometimes the composer also uses quotes that bring direct stylistic allusions, the best example for this is the theme of the merchant from La Piață which is inspired by measures 29-30 from Petrushka – Scene 1. The presence of this similarity (at landmark 5 in Petrushka indicating a small group of tipsy merrymakers, prancing, passes by)” (Popa, 2009, p. 127). Stravinsky uses a clear quote to portray this group of cheerful people, „Volochobniki Song”, and his presence in the score is frequent, intersecting with other sound characters. It is interesting that Jora appeals to the almost the same leitmotif repetition in the appearance of the merchant's theme. Returning to the Stravinskian work, the subject of the Petrushka5 ballet is also full of color, with a lot of suspense and dressed in a festive atmosphere. The ballet stage is divided into four scenes, the first and last taking place in a public space, in the Admiralty Square in Saint Petersburg, around 1830, the middle scenes are set in a totally different setting, indoors, focusing on the profile of individual characters. The ballet opens and closes with a musical frame – a crowded scene where we find a kaleidoscopic panorama, the main character seeming to be a collective one. Stravinsky slightly changes the center of the action, the events combining lightly, as if a film script had been thought of. Thus, the passages are cut and joined, and the rhythmic patterns support each other. In the first scene from Petrushka we notice an effervescent, festive atmosphere, where various characters are presented such as: salesmen, dancers and musicians, drunks, simple people but also a magician with his three puppets, who will take over the narration in the following scenes. Finally, the solo flute brings the three puppets to life, the stage closing in a brilliant Russian dance, which later became emblematic. The two middle scenes are placed in a more intimate setting, with Stravinsky relying less on the full orchestra, compared to the previous scene. In the first moments of these scenes, the attention is directed to the Petrushka puppet. Here a diverse psychological portrait crystallizes, the character being invested with intense thoughts and feelings (generated both by low self-esteem and despair caused by the inability to win the ballerina's heart). The fourth and final scene returns to the festive atmosphere. The orchestra introduces a chain of colorful dances while a series of seemingly unrelated characters come and go from the stage as the snow begins to fall in the evening. In comparison, the choreographic painting La piață, opus 10 (1928) has been a success since its premiere in 1932 on the stage of the Romanian Opera Theatre. The music of the ballet proves highly evocative, the symbiosis of subject and sound may be due to Jora's personal approach to writing the libretto of his own musical composition. This multilayered mastery is a clear example of his ability to weave a clear and pleasant musical story for the listener/viewer to follow. Cella Dellavrancea's allusion that „the libretto is reminiscent of the Russian novelist Gogol” (Popa, 2009, p. 103) is suggestive of the connection between Stravinsky and Jora. The Russian spirit seems to be intertwined with the story in which the main character is a collective, complex and exciting one. The square is „captured in its specific dynamism over the course of half an hour: between 5 and 5:30 in the morning.” (Popa, 2009, p. 103). The libretto is built on a love plot where the florist Chiva uses her personal charm to get what she wants: the Plutonier's heart and colourful beret. From the point of view of compositional scheme, such as the use of harmonic combinations, musical form, rhythmic form and the procedures used in the strategy of the whole, we can draw possible parallels between Petrushka and La piață. As musicologist Florinela Popa reminds us: „there are enough arguments to consider the ballet La piață a Romanian replica of Stravinsky's «barbaric style»” (Popa, 2009, p. 125). The chosen orchestration is somewhat similar, but the most significant aspect is the importance given to the musical timbre in characterising the moments and characters. Stravinsky's work is written for a large orchestra, including a bold array of percussion instruments, while of course the piano plays an important role. The remarkable expressiveness of the orchestration brings with it the characterisation of the characters. For example, in La piață we can speak of the onomatopoeic rendering of the traveling salesmans „advertisements” on horns or the tinsmiths' cries on three trumpets in semitone (Popa, 2009, p. 211). In the first tableau of Petrushka the beats of the two drummers summoning the crowd are incorporated into the score. The magician appears at once with mystical moans from the bassoon and contrabassoon and when he manages to get the crowd's attention, he summons the three puppets with a

5 The Petruchka ballet tells the story of three puppets brought to life by a magician during the Shrovetide fair (1830) in St. Petersburg, Russia.

Proceedings of the „George Enescu“ International Musicology Symposium Proceedings of the „George Enescu” International Musicology Symposium melody on the flute that seems to be improvised. The puppet theatre curtain rises to reveal three puppets hanging on the wall: The Moor, The Ballerina and Petrushka. When the Magician touches them with his flute (there is a clink), the three come to life. This moment can be paralleled with the striking of the clock (harp, piano, celeste), announcing the awakening to life and the beginning of a new day in La Piață.

Regarding the harmonic language, we can observe similarities between the two scores, represented by a diverse chordal system that participates in the unification of the tonal system with the modal system, finding on these coordinates various polytonal solutions. Also, the use of ostinato procedures and polychords are common to both composers. To mark off the insolence of one of the puppets, Stravinsky used an unusual combination of an F-sharp major arpeggio and a C-major arpeggio (in Scene 2 and Scene 4). This tactic is recognized as the „Petrushka chord” and is an important example of the first use of polytonality in modern music. The presence of polytonality, which influenced the course of European music, seems to have inspired Jora in his compositional approach. A concrete example of this could be the scene of the „chasing of the reveller out of the inn” , where the intention of polytonality, more specifically the bitonality of the Ab7/ A (elliptic of third) (Popa, 2009, p. 106) chord, is clearly present. It is important to note that in Mihail Jora's music the harmonic coordination is conceived as the main means of expression, whereas for Stravinsky the rhythmic parameter is often brought to the fore, neglecting harmony. We can also observe similar compositional strategies, where we notice a common method of accumulation and combinatorics. Themes are frequently brought in simultaneously, with previous motifs being recalled. Rhythm emerges as an extremely important expressive factor for the ballet genre, mirrored by the diversity of dances present in both works described so far. In conclusion, the vitality and energy, specific to the dance genres, are expressed in the works of the two composers by specific means, as if there is a sinuous, yet organic path that has managed to emerge easily. There are parallels that transcend purely musical boundaries, which can confirm certain similarities in their thread of ideas. All this is also due to a modernist spirit of the time combined with tradition. We find definite links between Stravinsky's world and Jora's, harmonic procedures, striking rhythms, musical characters, all combined in a highly expressive manner, as if Stravinsky and Jora shared a unique bond that transcends the limits of existence.

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

***. (1971). Igor Stravinsky: An ‘Inirentor of Music’ Whose Works Created a Revolution. Retrieved from New York Times 48 : https://www.nytimes.com/1971/04/07/archives/igor-stravinsky-an-inventor-of-music-whoseworks-created-a.html Hallquist, R. N. (1979). Stravinsky and the Transcriptional Process: an Analytical and Historical Study of Petrushka. Retrieved March 2021, 05, from UNT Digital Library: https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc500654/m2/1/high_res_d/1002783576-Hallquist.pdf. Huizenga, T. (2011, June 13 ). Stravinsky's 'Petrushka' At 100: A Composer Finds His Voice. Retrieved March 31, 2021, from https://www.npr.org/sections/deceptivecadence/2011/06/13/137154534/stravinskys-petrushka-at-100a-composer-finds-his-voice Huscher, P. (n.d.). Program Notes, Igor Stravinsky, Petrushka. Retrieved March 31, 2021, from https://cso.org/uploadedFiles/1_Tickets_and_Events/Program_Notes/ProgramNotes_Stravinsky_Petrushka.pdf Joseph, C. M. (2001). Stravinsky Inside Out. New Haven and London: Yale University Press. Kenneth Gloag. (2003). Russian rites: Petrushka, The Rite of Spring. In e. Johnathan Cross, The Cambridge Companion to Stravinsky (pp. 79-97). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Popa, F. (2009). Mihail Jora, un modern european. Bucharest: Editura Muzicală. Popova, M. (n.d.). Martha Graham on the Life-Force of Creativity and the Divine Dissatisfaction of Being an Artist. Retrieved March 2021, 21, from https://www.brainpickings.org/2015/10/02/martha-graham-creativity-divinedissatisfaction/ Robinson, D. (2014, October 30). Stravinsky: Petrushka. Retrieved March 31, 2021, from https://derricksblog.wordpress.com/2014/10/30/stravinsky-petrushka/ Schonberg, H. C. (2008). Viețile marilor compozitori. Bucharest: Editura Lider. Sternfeld, F. W. (1945). Some Russian Folk Songs in Stravinsky's Petrouchka. In M. L. Association, Notes, Second Series (pp. 95-107). http://www.jstor.org/stable/890385.

Vol . XX, 2021 Vol. XX, 2021 Taruskin, R. (1996). Stravinsky and the Russian Traditions: A Biography of the Works Through Mavra, Vol. I. Berkeley: University of California Press. Vancea, Z. (1968). Creația muzicală românească în sec XIX-XX. Vol. I. Bucharest: Editura Muzicală. Wu, M. (2019). Dance with Petrushka: The Ballets Russes, Russia, and Modernity. Open Journal of Social Sciences 7 (8), 81-96. doi:10.4236/jss.2019.78007

THINKING THE ENESCU MUSEUM’S HERITAGE AS A DIGITAL PLATFORM FROM A SOCIO-SEMIOTIC PERSPECTIVE

DOINA-MARIA MAREGGINI

UNIVERSITY OF MODENA AND REGGIO EMILIA

ABSTRACT: The initial design of a possible website will be discussed in a transdisciplinary perspective. Some of the questions considered are: - how a heritage institution could offer its collection through interface development? - can texts be converted in a different format and translated into metadata? - how metadata could lead to the creation of a heterogenous rhizomatic ecosystem? - can a socio-semiotic focus create narrative paths for the „Model Readers”, as designed by Umberto Eco? These are some of the tools to realize a dynamic digital platform that not only conserves but also offers access to knowledge.

KEYWORDS: HERITAGE, DIGITAL PLATFORM, PRESERVATION

ENESCU AND ZAVATTINI: FAR IN HISTORY, CLOSE IN PRESERVATION1

WE ARE perhaps finally emerging from a critical emergency, which has put the entire art industry to the test. The world's cultural heritage, as well as most economic sectors, has been brought down, forced to face what could be defined as one of the most important crises of recent decades. Even today, it is still impossible to quantify the extent of the consequences, although promising signs of recovery are being seen. Among these, the awareness that, now more than ever, distances are to be shortened, if not eliminated altogether. Most museums remained closed, unable to accommodate tourists or researchers because physical travel was simply denied. With a few exceptions, as those who managed to convert to virtual and/or digital in a very short time, the works kept within the physical walls of the museums did not see the light of day for months. Archive in person, those in which the documents, papers and originals of individual authors are preserved, have also suffered. As scholars and researchers, we need to browse through unpublished documents to advance our analyses and, unable to get to the premises, the need to have access to the archives without space or time limitations has become more and more evident. This realization came about while a team of researchers was proceeding with studies inside an in-person archive: Mauro Salvador, PhD in Cultures of Communication at the Catholic University of Milan, who studies the declinations of the videogame and its relationship with other forms of communication, now contract professor at the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia and the University of Bologna; Nicola Dusi, researcher of Media Semiotics, teaches at the Department of Communication and Economics at the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia. He also deals with theory and analysis of cinema, television seriality, digital media and the translation relations between arts and media; Maria Doina Mareggini, PhD student at the Marco Biagi Foundation, Department of Economics, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, who is studying the evolution of the representation of the „female world” and „work” in Italian cinematography with a socio-semiotic approach. Converging these skills, we set ourselves the goal of create what is still an articulated idea, that is, the digitization of a section of the Cesare Zavattini Archive, namely the neo-realist film subjects

1 Please keep in mind that in this paper all the citations have been translated from the author. There are originally written mostly in Italian.

Proceedings of the „George Enescu“ International Musicology Symposium Proceedings of the „George Enescu” International Musicology Symposium written by the screenwriter but never realized, kept in the Panizzi Municipal Library in Reggio Emilia, his hometown. So, what are the common points between the George Enescu Museum and the Zavattini Archives? On one hand we have a permanent collection, divided into three rooms (scopribucarest.com), housed inside the Palatul Cantacuzino și Casa Memorială „George Enescu” (georgeenescu.ro) building. A permanent collection that includes „displaying photographs, manuscripts, various documents, diplomas, medals, drawings, sculptures, musical instruments, costumes, furniture, decorative art, personal objects, a casting of the artist's hands and his mortuary mask” (georgeenescu.ro/en). On the other hand, we have an archive of people whose structure is complex, composed of 16 series and 73 subseries. This documentation is also heterogeneous: in addition to his personal collections, his private library and thousands of original papers, typewritten and partly handwritten, there are DVDs, posters, photo envelopes, books, photographs, sound and video recordings, and comics owned by the artist (www.cesarezavattini.it). Both are considered outstanding personalities, multifaceted artists, well-rounded, broadminded, indispensable to the artistic heritage of their country. Enescu, the most important Romanian musician, was a composer, violinist, teacher, pianist, conductor. Zavattini, one of the most relevant figures of the Italian neo-realism cinema, was a journalist, writer, scriptwriter, cartoonist, narrator especially humorous, experimenting also the world of theater and radio. Since 1958, the prestigious George Enescu International Festival (www.festivalenescu.ro) has been established in Romania. The festival is considered the most important musical event in Eastern Europe, an international competition of classical music in memory of the Romanian composer Enescu. In Italy, there is the Cesare Zavattini Prize (premiozavattini.it), an initiative promoted by the Fondazione Archivio Audiovisivo del Movimento Operaio e Democratico (www.aamod.it) (Audiovisual Foundation of the Workers' and Democratic Movement), an award for young video-makers for short documentary films that reuse archival film material. The Italian and Romanian mission is shared: „preserve and promote the cultural heritage” (www.georgeenescu.ro), to protect what has been left by the two talents and to raise awareness as much as possible about the knowledge and study of these famous figures. At the same time, however, it is correct to point out that we are talking about two specific, niche subjects, to which the right value is given almost exclusively by the precise, cultured public that wants to deepen certain aspects, and therefore already knows what to consult. Moreover, especially for the Cesare Zavattini Archives, if you do not go there in person, it is very complex, if not impossible, to view the materials. It is imperative to follow a certain procedure, which is not wrong, but rather not fluid and static, especially if we think of the dynamism of today's online archives, which are digitally accessible. How can we overcome these limits, which are common to the two international situations? The idea proposed here, in a generic key, is a part of the work that is currently being carried out at the Zavattini Archives2. It should not be considered a case study to be taken as an example and to be replicated as it is, but rather a reasoning that is still in progress, whose theoretical bases can be useful, reconsidered and applied to more realities, thus creating an interdisciplinary link between two realities that are not so far apart.

A DIGITAL PLATFORM AS AN ONLINE ARCHIVE

How can we create a digital platform that can enhance the value of a cultural heritage that is now physically preserved in an archive? We began to think about the possibility of creating a digital platform, whose skeleton reflects the theories of platforming design and game design, whose content structure is organized according to central themes of semiotics, the general science of signs. In this way, we would respond to the need to widen the accessibility of the archives not only to all those users who are interested but unable to physically present themselves (for whatever reason), but also to all those users who would meet these materials in a casual way. The online hooking up of an audience that arrives at ours content accidentally, or through links suggested by the search engine itself, even if it's not the best way to „publicize” one's own offer, is nevertheless a potential increase in the user base that physically, in the archives, it's difficult to assume would happen – one person does not find himself by mistake inside an archive. Certainly, we are talking about digitizing paper texts, but what we want to accomplish is a more complex and articulated work than the simple upload of single digitized materials in PDF format. We do not just want to make documents available online decontextualized from their frame of belonging, rather we want to accompany the user in a semi-guided path, within which he can manage both to move

2 We want to create is a transmedia knowledge ecosystem that connects physical archives, online publications, and author monographs

Vol . XX, 2021 Vol. XX, 2021 independently and to follow a track in case he finds himself lost and/ or in an environment which he is not familiar with. This is the reason why we are talking about a platform and not of a digital archive, because what we want to publish online is not a mere copy of the archives but a re-organization of the documents, therefore the same contents distributed and structured in a different way. The proposal we are putting forward here is still a work in progress, reasoned on a conceptual level, meticulously thought out in theoretical terms, a reflection that continues to improve every time we consult with a new expert in the field. This is to make sure that we get to the final stage of implementation without further changes to be made, since once we start it will be difficult to go back. It is of fundamental importance to underline that our work does not pretend to supersede or replace the studies and research carried out by archivists, since our competencies are not historical, nor is it our intention to propose a different cataloguing from of the papers in the physical archives, which already exists. The challenge of creating a digital platform is twofold. On the one hand, we are awakening what is now a „dormant” cultural heritage, a niche, difficult to access. Consequentially, knowledge about the archives is enriched, maintaining its integrity and preserving both its overall vision, as an archive of people, and its heterogeneous nature, attentive to the single document, giving life to papers and manuscripts that, otherwise, would continue to remain in the shadows. On the other hand, the paper material is preserved from deterioration. In fact, removed from its folders only to create its digital version, and using it from that moment on, we expose the original as little as possible to corrosive agents, we limit the likelihood of damage, even accidental, while preserving identity and integrity of the documents.

WHY PLATFORM DESIGN IS GAME DESIGN?

We strongly believe in the potential of an interdisciplinary approach. When you find common points in different disciplines, which at first glance seem distant, you identify and then discover interesting intersections, unexplored, that hide knowledge and innovation, roads that if followed can lead to new studies, thus contributing to the world of research. Here is that platform design and game design share some aspects that concern and describe the user experience. Reasoning about theoretical design is a work in progress and an article has been written about it, currently under revision, that will be published in the class A journal „Cinergie – Il Cinema e le altre Arti” (cinergie.unibo.it) by the end of the year. A work written by eight hands, by me (www.fmb.unimore.it), professors Nicola Dusi (personale.unimore.it) and Mauro Salvador (personale.unimore.it) and Dr. Antonella Capalbi3. The article is entitled „A Website for Cesare Zavattini's Work. Digitizing and Dynamizing a Personal Audiovisual Archive”4 and each author contributed at least one in-depth paragraph. Specifically, Capalbi opened the article by outlining the theories of platforming design that, translated and applied to our idea of a digital archive, allow us to create the platform that best meets our needs, taking into account all the problems related to the engagement of the contemporary user. Salvador isolated some typical game design strategies that, even if adapted to a different context, prove to be effective for the correct functioning of the digital version of the archive. Dusi, with a semiotic approach, compared other person archives that were taken as examples. These turned out to be interesting, graphically reflecting what we would like to achieve, which we are currently hypothesizing at a theoretical level. Finally, Mareggini’s paragraph discusses the actual digitization work. Going over briefly5 what has been written by Dr. Antonella Capalbi and Professor Mauro Salvador, we can see how the concept of „collaboration” is rethought both from the point of view of the user experience itself, as in some online games, and from the point of view of the production of different types of content, as in platforms, arriving at a collective experience. So, the dynamics change, the platform model reasons and moves horizontally, responding to an information architecture that is no longer top-down: creators and users of content are connected, so that the same user can be both author and recipient of the digital object, therefore a „prosumer” (Toffler, 1980), whose role within the platform is active. The main reason why we continue to insist on creating a platform and not just a website lies in the fact that the platform, by its very nature, lives thanks to data, data that can be processed in real time (www.intesa.it), which allows the user experience to be personalized. In this way, thanks to the

3 Currently research fellow at the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia 4 Group composed of A. Capalbi, N. Dusi, M. D. Mareggini and M. Salvador, who wrote an article of theoretical reasoning on the still ongoing digitization project of the Cesare Zavattini Archive. The article is currently under revision and will be published by the end of the year in the Italian journal Cinergie. Il cinema e le arti (https://cinergie.unibo.it/) 5 What reported wants to be a think with different terms what the authors have, of own hand, written and studied for the realization of the article

Proceedings of the „George Enescu“ International Musicology Symposium Proceedings of the „George Enescu” International Musicology Symposium information that describes and accompanies the online navigation of each user - think of the recent and famous cookies - it is possible to ensure that the experience is as personal as possible, that it reflects the interests and actions of the real person behind the string of code that represents it. It is plausible to think that different people would behave differently inside a museum or an archive: those who decide to explore one work rather than another; those who follow the classic route; those who jump from one point to another; those who enter because they are interested in a single installation; those who want to enjoy the experience as such. Let's now imagine that the museum, or archive itself, already has this information and is aware of each visitor's preferences before they even enter the space. From the point of view of the consumer of this experience, the highest pleasure would be achieved, because he would only find in front of him what interests him. However, this situation can be achieved in digital format, online, with a platform, organizing the user's „visit” on the metadata that represent and narrate him. In this way, we arrive at the construction of a dynamic environment within which an archive communicates, transmits and allows the creation of knowledge that continues to increase as time goes on, through the manipulation of its own documents thanks to the III F technology, an „innovative standard for the description and distribution of images and metadata through the Web” (www.culturadigitale.it) that allows the addition of modification levels to existing files by means of notes or comments. This technology is very useful for those complex and interesting documents that for research reasons need to be displayed on multiple levels. Very interesting is the possibility of retracing the history of annotations, going back as far as the scanned original, stripped of any notes made digitally by those who worked on those papers. On the one hand, this method of work allows the user who is interested and motivated to study and carry out research on archival materials, to leave a trace of his work. On the other hand, it allows the accidental user to move more consciously among papers that, even if they are not self-explanatory, are studded with notes and comments that help contextualize the individual object. We arrive at the paradigm of collaborative individualism, understood as the strategy of individuals to „work together with others towards a common vision and mission” that at the same time manage to express „their emancipation, their freedom from groups, organizations and social institutions” (Limerick D., 1993). If it is deemed appropriate, it is possible to imagine different paths for as many different types of users. A specific proposal, the one that in the realization of our platform we would like to realize, is the hypothesis of three uses: a navigation through metadata; a second more precise one for the school system, with educational objectives; a last navigation that is suggested starting from how other users, usually, move within the digital environment.

HOW TO ACHIEVE DOCUMENT DIGITIZATION

What is reported in this paragraph is the working method that the team composed of Dusi, Salvador and Mareggini is currently following to get closer to the implementation of the digitized materials of the Zavattini Archive on a platform. Although the examples given are specifically related to this work, it is the theoretical background proposed that should be taken into consideration and treated as potentially applicable to the papers preserved in the museum dedicated to George Enescu. The reading is to be done in a critical and provocative key, to understand how much of what here is proposed is practicable in another reality. In the perspective of transmedia convergence, as Jenkins says, we are learning „to accelerate the flow of content through the channels of reception in order to increase opportunities for revenue, expand markets and strengthen consumer loyalty” (Jenkins, 2007). Of course, in our case, it's not a question of economic revenue, but of gain in terms of new lines of research that can be pursued thanks to the diffusion and the availability of access to the archives to an exponentially higher number of scholars. To get to the publication of the archives in digital format, it is best to first clarify which contents are to be digitized, that they have been studied and catalogued. In fact, an in-depth study of the film subjects has already been carried out, a critical reading of each folder that allowed us to create a technical, summary sheet that contains the main characteristics of each subject, individual peculiarities and possible criticalities, location, title, the description of the folder, the year of production, the author, the possible name of the person who commissioned the work, the division that was made of the single papers as well as their numbering, the presence or not of handwritten notes and/or revisions, the presence of variants of the subject, the possible publication and/or citation of that subject. At the end of this first reading, the entire analysis was translated into a database. The organization of the database is done by attempting to collect and systematize, then in a sense translate, the information as metadata, „filed in accordance with international archiving standards ISAD-G” (Simone), amplifying the „traditional practices of bibliographic cataloging in an electronic environment” (Day).

Vol . XX, 2021 Vol. XX, 2021 From a semiotic point of view, it is very important for us to talk about «translation» because, as argued by Dusi, we can think of database metadata as „fragments [...] built from invariants, a set of figural elements, as well as singularly value, narrative, thematic, figurative, discursive or enunciational elements that derived texts will have to put back into play in order to keep recognizable their intermedial relationship and their translation operation” (Nicola, 2015, pg. 207-208). This is exactly what we are doing: constituent elements of a text, not mutable, that translated semiotically change their format, or „material support” (Nicola, 2015, p. 255). While remaining consistent in their meaning, and therefore recognizable regardless of the medium, the information transforms and adapts to the characteristics of the medium that hosts it. A translation of information occurs when: - the support changes, from paper to digital; - the form changes, from archive to platform; - the structure changes, from cardboard folders containing sheets of paper to metadata, which is imperceptible by nature. Starting from this database, which has become the point of reference for the theoretical reasoning around the archives, the work of digitalization begins. Following the chronological order in which the original subjects were written, each paper is being scanned, respecting the subdivision of the materials that was previously made by the archivists of the library. As previously mentioned, our work does not consider the historical-cultural organization of the materials and does not want to affect this. The last step of the work is to get to the computer implementation of the narrative-experiential design that we imagine the user should experience when he arrives on the platform and navigates it. Respecting the indications given in the database, we are proceeding with the scanning. Even though at the beginning we took the path of a digitization carried out thanks to tools that were already at our disposal, we soon decided to invest in the purchase of a professional scanner that would allow an acceleration of the work, making everything smoother and more efficient, also drastically increasing the quality of the digital version. In this phase, we had the support and the constant confrontation with the DHMoRe (www.dhmore.unimore.it) center, that is the Interdepartmental Center on Digital Humanities of the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, an interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary model that links the humanistic and technological competences within the university with the cultural institutes of the territory, enhancing the archival patrimony from the point of view of development (www.youtube.com) and research, making cultural assets more open, diffuse and accessible. Scanning does not transform the text into an image but produces an OCR6 version of the original; no matter how advanced the tool used is, the operation is neither immediate nor automatic. Take, for example, the case of a text containing images, some unrecognized symbols, or simply the author's handwritten notes: the machine will recognize shapes rather than letters or numbers, because the original is not clean. The digital version is not definitive, it needs the intervention of man who performs a work of „re-digitation, through the keyboard by an operator, with the original or a copy in hand” (Ridi, 2004, pg. 273-344). In order to respect the constraints and the agreements made with the Panizzi Library and the Cesare Zavattini Archives, there are three steps to be taken to preserve the ownership of the papers: - from a visual point of view, everything that will be translated into digital format will have the watermarked logos of the institutions that are responsible for their preservation; - from a structural point of view, it will not be possible to download materials, as it is forbidden to privately possess these documents locally on one's own computer; from a content point of view, especially if there are more than one variant of the same object in the archives, the decision of which variant is best made public online is up to the researchers. A choise based on theoretical studies regarding the author, possibly even going so far as to compare the archival materials with works made in the same historical period.

WHY THE SEMIOTIC APPROACH?

What we are going to explain in this paragraph comes from one research that was done on the digital archives of people currently available online. Three were the ones that caught our attention: CristaldiFilm (www.cristaldifilm.com); the Michelangelo Antonioni Archives (archivioantonioni.it); the Chaplin Archives (charliechaplinarchive.org). Of these web spaces, we appreciated the organization of the documents, the chronological criteria respected, the consideration of the archives as an integral and cohesive unit, the preservation of the physical archives, the design choices, the thematic paths and much

6 Optical Character Recognition (OCR) is also known as text recognition and is a technology that allows you to convert different types of documents, such as scanned documents, PDF files or digital photos, into editable and searchable data. - https://pdf.abbyy.com/it/learning-center/what-is-ocr/

Proceedings of the „George Enescu“ International Musicology Symposium Proceedings of the „George Enescu” International Musicology Symposium more. Starting from these and from our own expertise, we asked ourselves how and to what extent we could use semiotics, evaluating which of its instruments could be useful to us and for which purposes. Why, then, is the OCR version of the scan important? Because in this way, every scanned paper is interrogable. By studying archival materials, in fact, it is possible to summarize them through keywords, tags that describe the folder that contains the entire object. This technique of content condensation is also applicable to the single paper. To give an example, using the tag „love”, it is possible to search inside the archives for all the documents in which that topic is dealt with, but also to ask in which pages of a single film subject that same topic is discussed. Therefore, coherent and discordant traits that, at the same time, keep together both the single work and the work in relation to the archives. It is not obvious to move within a semiotically understood text, that is, „a chain of utterances linked by coherence constraints, groups of utterances issued simultaneously on the basis of several semiotic systems” (Eco, 1984, p. 64). Especially in cases where a text is substantial, such as an orchestral work composed by Enescu, one can structure the search not by keywords but by rhythmic figures, cadences, changes of key, speed, intention, etc. This is a ploy that can be used in the context of a semiotic text. This is a useful trick in the field of research that works by thematic isotopies (Greimas, 1966), a term that derives from physical chemistry and indicates the existence of elementary substances, within a body, that „are identical to each other for all chemical and physical properties but differ in the value of atomic weight”7. In the semiotic discipline it means to search for recurrences of semic categories that, inside a text, assure cohesion and coherence of the statements, homogeneous inside and heterogeneous from the rest of the text. Returning to the previous example, searching within a musical composition for a specific element (rhythmic, melodic or harmonic), it is clear that from a structural point of view, therefore of «content», the figure that we encounter is the same, but its declination, therefore its „expression”8, can also occur in very different ways (think of the changes in pitch, notes, speed, etc.). This allows us to interrogate an archive intra-work and inter-work, looking for the same isotopy within a single object, text, and/or within the entire archives, thus having an overall vision that alternates with a focus and attention to details, two points of view that can be compared and in dialogue with each other.

We often return complex concepts to a seed pair, a term whose meaning is exhausted by its opposite, in order to use the tools of structural semiotics, including the semiotic square (Traini, 2006), a logical representation of the relationships of a semantic category. With an example, using the term „man”, you can build a square that rotates around the poles „man” , „woman” , „not-man” , „not-woman” that shows the relationships of contrariety, contradiction and implication around which you can semantically assemble an entire narrative universe. With an overall view, the whole presented research is working on the „online” and „offline” articulation, organizing the narration of the experience that the user lives by navigating the digital platform rather than the physical archive. In semiotic terms, the user is understood as an „attante” (Greimas A. J., 1974) as a „structural function” (Rondolino & Tomasi, 2018) that can take on a different value depending on where it is in the attentional model that provides six functions: „an addressee assigns to a hero subject the task of conquering a certain object from which a recipient will benefit. During his action, the subject will encounter elements that will facilitate the task, adjuvants, and others that will hinder it, opponents” (Rondolino & Tomasi, 2018). The interesting aspect is that these functions at the structural level do not necessarily correspond to a single actor or to six different physical persons. In a way, the process of a user can be explained in different terms by crossing the guidelines of user experience design: a subject, the user, thanks to the addressee, the reason that instructs the subject to carry out the action, wants to connect with its object of value, to leaf through the papers of an archive, unable to physically go to the place of interest, opponent, has the digital platform as an adjuvant. Also from a UXD point of view must be clear what are the reasons why a user arrives on the platform and what virtual spaces he will explore. These are thought of semiotically, imagining as many narrative paths as there are attitudinal models. Recalling the studies of Eco, a world-renowned Italian semiologist, in this case it is a matter of planning what kind of „Model Reader” (Eco, Lector in fabula. La cooperazione interpretativa nei testi narrativi, 1983) we expect to arrive. Let's transfer his definition to the online world, assuming a model-user, which its concept does not change. We have a text, a text that by its definition does not exist until there is an addressee to actualize it; it is the author's task to put in place textual strategies that allow the text to come to life when it is used by a reader, but it is not certain that the latter has the appropriate skills to decode the text correctly. Here is that the Model Reader can interpret the text as the author has thought, the text, in fact, activates in the readers mental representations collectively shared, which Eco calls „encyclopedias”. It is for this reason that we have opted for the III F technology: on the one hand it expects the model user to be a researcher, who works

7 Definition taken from https://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/isotopismo-o-isotopia_%28Enciclopedia-Italiana%29/ 8 In linguistics, language is divided into plan of expression and plan of content. Hjelmslev, Louis. (2018). La stratificazione del linguaggio, a cura di Cosimo Caputo, Pensa Multimedia

Vol . XX, 2021 Vol. XX, 2021 and studies the materials, whose decoding of the contents will be correct because the reference encyclopedia for reader and author is the same. On the other hand, in the case where the user is an ordinary subject, it expects the user to avoid the occurrence of an „aberrant decoding” (Eco, Trattato di semiotica generale, 1975) by semi-guiding the paths of the platform. It is interesting to note how the distinction of users' competence and the differentiation of navigation does not make us fall into one of the most problematic and controversial aspects of the web as we know it in recent years: its hyper-personalization, which goes against its pretended quality of democratic environment. The web design is trapping the user inside a „bubble” (Pariser, 2011) of an invisible nature, that the user does not even see because the boundaries of this bubble-filter are the „preferences” (Lorusso, 2018) and interests of the individual. As Pariser rightly criticizes, the web has created a space that has given rise to an increasingly critical individuality to the point where each user is surrounded by his own bubble and lives his online experience in a unique way, in fact „new generation filters establish the things we like – based on what we do or what interests people like us – and then extrapolate the information. They can make predictions, to continually create and refine a theory about who we are, what we will do, and what we would like. Taken together, they create a universe of information specific to each of us, a filter bubble, that alters the way we meet ideas and information” (Pariser, 2011). Lorusso also insists on paying close attention to the keyword „preference”. In fact, „what corresponds to my preferences is right for me, adequate to my personality. But this has nothing to do with relevance, correctness, social significance. And when facts, news, relevant events begin to be defined on «preferences», the distortion of reality becomes a highly probable risk” (Lorusso, 2018, pg. 14-15).

To put toghert everything that has been exposed so far, the architecture of the contents will follow the rhizomatic form, a term originated in botany, whose meaning has been metaphorically translated into various fields, including semiotics. „The rhizome itself has very different forms, from the branched surface extension in all senses to the solidifications in bulbs and tubers”. The single work is a conceptual node around which knowledge can be constructed, knowledge that is enriched the moment a knot connects to at least one other node of the same rhizome, with which it shares isotopies of some kind, which therefore respect a certain coherence. It should be observed that knowledge does not only increase with the increase of relationships between conceptual nodes, but it is also generated within the single conceptual node, of which it is possible to identify characteristics and details that can be exploited as real links, allowing to build as many narrative paths. A narrative ecosystem is born, within which coexist plots, narrative threads and heterogeneous attitudinal paths, a rhizomatic system of references, a semantic cloud.

CONCLUSIONS

With this work, we have tried to expose some of the difficulties that can be encountered in trying to get out of a static archive and imagine it as dynamic, giving an account of a process that we have decided to undertake, not by solving problems, but by posing theoretical problems to open towards a semantic discourse, first, that will become pragmatic later. Whether it is the Zavattini archive or the Enescu fund, it is correct to think of the future, of how information becomes talkable among itself, translating and adapting itself as syncretic texts9, how it can be linked independently of the supports of the information itself, of the limits linked to space-time access and of the in-depth knowledge of the individual.

BIBLIOGRAPHY: archivioantonioni.it. (fără an). Preluat de pe https://www.archivioantonioni.it/ charliechaplinarchive.org. (fără an). Preluat de pe http://www.charliechaplinarchive.org/it cinergie.unibo.it. (fără an). Preluat de pe https://cinergie.unibo.it/ D., I., & P., B. (2017). Le nuove opportunità per il go-to market e il ruolo della customer experience. Day, M. (fără an). Issues and Approaches to Preservation Metadata. Proceedings from the Joint RLG and NPO. Bucharest. Deleuze, G., & Guattari, F. (2003). Millepiani. Castelvecchi. Eco, U. (1975). Trattato di semiotica generale. Milano: Bompiani. Eco, U. (1983). Lector in fabula. La cooperazione interpretativa nei testi narrativi. Milano: Bompiani. Eco, U. (1984). Semiotica e filosofia del linguaggio. Torino: Einaudi.

9 By syncretic text we mean a text in which a plurality of languages coexists, where the content is transmitted in different ways Syncrétiques, sémiotiques in A.J. Greimas, J. Courtés, Sémiotique. Dictionnaire raisonné de la théorie du langage, 2° vol., 1986

Proceedings of the „George Enescu“ International Musicology Symposium Proceedings of the „George Enescu” International Musicology Symposium georgeenescu.ro. (fără an). Preluat pe July 2021, de pe https://www.georgeenescu.ro/sectiilemuzeului_doc_23_palatul-cantacuzino_pg_0.htm georgeenescu.ro/en. (fără an). Preluat pe July 2021, de pe https://www.georgeenescu.ro/en/georgeenescu-roen_doc_14_historical-overview_pg_0.htm Greimas, A. J. (1966). Semantica strutturale. Milano: Bompiani. Greimas, A. J. (1974). Del senso. Milano: Bompiani. Greimas, A., & Courtés, J. (1986). Syncrétiques, sémiotiques. În A. Greimas, Sémiotique. Dictionnaire raisonné de la théorie du langage vol. 2. Guarascio, D., & Sacchi, S. (2018). Digital Platform in Italy. An Analysis of Economic and Employment Trends. INAP Policy brief. Preluat de pe oa.inapp.org: https://oa.inapp.org/xmlui/handle/123456789/197 Hjelmslev, L. (2018). La stratificazione del linguaggio, a cura di Cosimo Caputo. Pensa Multimedia. Jenkins, H. (2007). Cultura convergente. (A. M. Cultura convergente, Trad.) Milano: Apogeo. Limerick D., C. B. (1993). Chatswood. Business & Professional Publishing. Preluat de pe Collaborative Individualism and the End of the Corporate Citizen: https://www.minessence.net/Articles/CollaborativeIndividualism.PDF Lorusso, A. M. (2018). Postverità. Fra reality tv, sociale media e storytelling. Roma-Bari: Laterza. Nicola, D. (2015). Contromisure. Trasposizioni e intermedialità. Milano: Mimesis. Parikka, J. (2011). Media Archaeology: Approaches, Applications, and Implications. Berkeley: University of California Press. Pariser, E. (2011). Il Filtro. Quello che internet ci nasconde. Milano: il Saggiatore. pdf.abbyy.com/. (fără an). Preluat de pe https://pdf.abbyy.com/it/learning-center/what-is-ocr/ personale.unimore.it. (fără an). Preluat de pe http://personale.unimore.it/rubrica/dettaglio/dusinm personale.unimore.it. (fără an). Preluat de pe http://personale.unimore.it/rubrica/dettaglio/msalvador premiozavattini.it. (fără an). Preluat de pe https://premiozavattini.it/ Ridi, R. (2004). La biblioteca digitale: definizioni, ingredienti e problematiche. BOLLETTINO AIB, no. 3, pg. 273344. Rondolino, G., & Tomasi, D. (2018). Manuale del film. Linguaggio, racconto, analisi. Torino: Utet Università. scopribucarest.com. (fără an). Preluat pe July 2021, de pe https://www.scopribucarest.com/museo-george-enescu Simone, M. (fără an). Atti del XIX Congresso. Archivi digitali del Novecento: il progetto «Carte d’autore online» in L’italianistica oggi: ricerca e didattica. Toffler, A. (1980). The Third Wave. New York: Morrow. Traini, S. (2006). Le due vie della semiotica. Milano: Strumenti Bompiani. Van, D. J., Poell, T., & de Waal, M. (2018). The Platform Society. Public Values in a Connective World. Oxford: Oxford University Press. www.aamod.it. (fără an). Preluat de pe https://www.aamod.it/ www.bibnat.ro. (fără an). Preluat de pe https://www.bibnat.ro/Manuscripts-s69-en.htm www.cesarezavattini.it. (fără an). Preluat pe July 2021, de pe http://www.cesarezavattini.it/Sezione.jsp?idSezione=39 www.cristaldifilm.com. (fără an). Preluat de pe https://www.cristaldifilm.com/ www.culturadigitale.it. (fără an). Preluat de pe https://www.culturadigitale.it/biblioteca-digitale/461/un-aiuto-nellaricostruzione-virtuale-dei-manoscritti-frammentati-e-dispersi-dalla-tecnologia-iiif/ www.dhmore.unimore.it. (fără an). Preluat de pe https://www.dhmore.unimore.it/ www.festivalenescu.ro. (fără an). Preluat pe July 2021, de pe https://www.festivalenescu.ro/ www.fmb.unimore.it. (fără an). Preluat de pe https://www.fmb.unimore.it/dottorato/dottorandi-etutor/?seleziona=maria-doina-mareggini www.georgeenescu.ro. (fără an). Preluat de pe https://www.georgeenescu.ro/en/ www.intesa.it. (fără an). Preluat de pe https://www.intesa.it/piattaforme-digitali-cosa-sono-e-a-cosa-servono/ www.naxos.com. (fără an). Preluat de pe https://www.naxos.com/person/George_Enescu_26030/26030.htm www.youtube.com. (fără an). Preluat de pe https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ddjiYcj0uxs

SYMBOLISM AND THE PRESENCE OF THE SPHINX IN ART

SARAH RIZESCU

NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF MUSIC, BUCHAREST

ABSTRACT: In the present study I set out to detail how the Sphinx is perceived in other cultures and how it was included in the arts. I want to bring to the fore both the legends that were created with the appearance of this mysterious character, and the imagination of the artists who dedicated certain works to the myth of Oedipus. I will also talk about his presence in the opera “Oedipus” by George Enescu, explaining the connotations given to him by the composer of this being, and at the end I will focus on some of the most famous performers who played the role of the Sphinx.

KEYWORDS: SPHINX, ARTS, ANTIQUITY

IN THE MYTHOLOGY of ancient peoples, the sphinx is known as a fabulous monster with the head of a man or various animals (aries, bird etc.), with the body of a lion and the wings of an eagle (Gellner, 2021). As etymology, the word “sphinx” comes from the Greek “sphíngō” (σφíνγō), meaning “to squeeze” or “to strangle”. On the other hand, in Egyptian culture it is known as “shepsepankh” , which would translate as “living image”, referring to the wonderful Statue of Giza (Rodriguez, 2019). There are several types of sphinxes, each with a legend with a certain symbolism: In ancient Egypt, the famous statue of the Great Sphinx was built at Giza near the royal tombs. It has the appearance of a seated lion with a human head and a royal helmet above its head. The Egyptian Sphinx symbolises the power and supremacy of the ancient pharaohs who ruled throughout history. Returning to the statue itself, it dates back to the time of Pharaoh Khafre and there are several theories as to why it was built: the first is that it was built by the king’s older brother to commemorate their father, Khufu. Certain aspects (the fact that the statue looks more like their father than Khafre) have led to speculation that Khufu himself built the Great Sphinx (Tikkanen, 2017). Mark Lehner, professor of Oriental languages at the University of Chicago, floats another theory that the miraculous statue was built during Khafre’s reign. Lehner says that the syllable “Khaf” is carved between the Sphin’x front legs, proving the pharaoh’s contribution in bulding it. However, this argument is not very tangible, as the names of the pharaoh’s were written in closed cartouches and the inscription is not quite clear. At the same time, there are scholars who date the Great Sphinx to before the reign of this pharaoh. For example, John Anthony West claims that the statue is much older than it is said to be. Egypt’s climate is known to be arid and yet the american scientist has found evidence of erosion caused by water. He concluded that they were not caused by a flood, but by rain, as the lower part of the Sphinx shows no sign of erosion, only on the body. According to West, 12 000 years ago it rained on the great statue (oocities, 2009). In Greek mythology the Sphinx is not perceived as a fantastic creature (they generally had eagle wings and claws). The Greek Sphinx had the body of a lion, the head of a woman and a tail resembling a snake. Unlike the Egyptian Sphinx, the Grekk Sphinx signifies a destructive vanity, as it has murderous thoughts (Enigmatica, 2021). This is the origin of the famous legend of the creature from Thebes, who was summoned by a deity to Boeotia to bring terror upon the residents of the city. So the Sphinx moved in a cave on Mount Phicium and asked passers-by to answer a riddle: “What animal walks on four legs in the morning, two at noon, and three in the evening?” Many tried to solve the mistery, but failed. Even worse, those who gave a wrong answer were immediately killed, as the creature devoured them (Greek Legends and Myths, fără an). The hero of this story is Oedipus, who uncovers the mistery and gives a very simple answer: man. “He is the one who crawls on all fours in infancy, walks on two feet when grown, and leans on a staff in old age.” (Rodriguez, 2019). In rage, the Sphinx threw himself off the side of the mountain and collapsed, taking his own life (Greek Legends and Myths, fără an). Perhaps due to Egyptian influence the Sphinx became known in Asia, but it was not given a clear enough meaning. In terms of construction, it had wings attached to its body. In the 15th century BC. the Sphinx began to appear on seals, ivories or on metal objects, but as a female figure, often associated with a lion (Rodriguez, 2019). For example, Tibetan sculptors made a Sphinx with a bizzare

Proceedings of the „George Enescu“ International Musicology Symposium Proceedings of the „George Enescu” International Musicology Symposium appearance: half of its body was feline that was signifying strength and the other half was female. The head was representing the face of a man that was symbolising intelligence and knowledge. In addition to these things, the Tibetan Sphinx was also an emblem of fatality (Enigmatica, 2021). In Romania we also have a Sphinx that formed in a long time to its actual shape. The Sphinx of Bucegi is a cause of a wind erosion and represents a block of stone roughly similar in size to the statue of Giza. It is associated with a spiritual being who protects the surroundings with his powers (Descoperă locuri, fără an). People were so fascinated by this wonder of nature, that in 1900 someone even thought to take a photo of the megalith, back in the days when photography was in its infancy and buying a camera was quite expensive. Apart from the one in Bucegi Plateau, there are other megalith formations in our country which, over time, acquired the appearance of sphinxes: the Sphinx of Stânișoara in Vâlcea county, the Sphinx of Topleț in Banat, the Sphinx of the Măcinului Mountains in Tulcea, the Sphinx of “Solomon’s Stones” in Brașov (Turist de Romania, 2012). Below I have compiled a list of statues that have survived through the time: Statue of the Great Sphinx of Tanis at the Louvre Museum in Paris (Figure 1) Statues of the Sphinxes in the Belvedere Palace Garden in Vienna (Figure 2) The Sphinx Statue of the Embankment of London The Sphinx of August statue at the National Museum of Archaeology in Madrid Statue of the Sphinx in Piazza del Popolo, Rome Statue of the Sphinx on the Island of Capri, Italy Sphinx on the building of Colței Street (Bucharest) The two Sphinxes on Iulia Hașdeu’s grave (Figure 3) Statue of Sphinx of Naxos at the Archaeological Museum of Delphi, Greece The Quai with Sphinxes in Sankt-Petersburg, Russia Sphinx statue in Zadar, Croatia – the largest Sphinx statue in Europe (Ancient Code Team,

2016)

Sphinx statue in front of the Hungarian State Opera in Budapest

Figure 1 Figure 2

Figure 3

The Sphinx appears in many paintings from different eras (Cosma M. , Oedip and the Arts, 2011): Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres: Œdipe explique l’énigme du Sphinx (Figure 4)

Gustave Moreau: Œdipe et le Sphinx Gustave Moreau: Œdipe voyageur Francis Bacon: Oedipe and the Sphinx – after Ingres (Figure 5) Annie Cassez: Oedipe and the sphinx Alfred Courmes: Oedipe and the Sphinx (Figure 6) Francois Xavier Fabre: Oedipe and Sphinx

Figure 4

Figure 5

Figure 6

In literature and theatre: Edgar Allan Poe: “The Sphinx” – a short horror story (Biblioklept, 2015) Ralph Waldo Emerson: “The Sphinx” – poem (Library of America, n.d.) Anna Garréta: “Sphinx” – novel (Ramadan, 2015)

Proceedings of the „George Enescu“ International Musicology Symposium Proceedings of the „George Enescu” International Musicology Symposium Constantin Obadă: “The Sphinx Whistles in the Wilderness! “ – poetry (Right Words, 2021) Sophocles: Oedipus Rex (Storr, n.d.) Eugenio Deriada: The Riddle of the Sphinx (Lunes, 2015)

We should not be surprised of the fact that the Sphinx has also interfered with the seven art, since the character appeared in different movies: The Sphinx, directed by Phil Rosen, 1933 (IMDb, 2004) The Dacians, directed by Sergiu Nicolaescu, 1967 (***, Dacii, 2005) Șaptecai’s Outlaws, directed by Dinu Cocea, 1971 (IMDb, 2016) Sphinx Genesis, short film directed by Christian Pichler (Pichler, n.d.) The Misteries of the Sphinx in the Carpathians, a documentary film by Oana Ghiocel and Robert Schoch, 2020 (Ghiocel, 2019)

Because of its wealth of mysteries and meanings, we can also find him in music, in various operas such as Oedipus à Colonne by Antonio Sacchini (1786), Edipo Re by Ruggiero Leoncavallo (1920), the opera-oratorio Oedipus Rex by Igor Stravinsky (1927), the one-act musical-choreographic drama Oedipus by Harry Partch (1952) and even an opera-parody by Peter Schickle under the pseudonym “P. D. Q. Bach” (Cosma M. , Oedipe - Libret , 2007). Another example is the opera by Mark-Anthony Turnage, Greek, which is in fact an update of the Oedipus myth. The confrontation with the Sphinx is an interesting part of he opera because no one can imagine how such a creature can sing, so the composers must be quite creative here. In this case, Turnage represented the Sphinx by two women who often sang together, but it’s very interesting how he managed to do this part: one of them had to be the echo of the other. In the staging I’m reffering to, the actresses held cardboard cutouts in their hand like masks in order to show how the Sphinx might have been seen through the eyes of Oedipus (Stearns, 2018). In Romania we had a rock band back in the 70’s called “Sphinx” and it was one of the most famous rock bands – besides Phoenix – of that period. Octav Zemlicka, the band’s guitarist and lead singer, was the one who came up with the idea, so the band formed in 1963. They were first heard on the radio three years later with the song I Love Music and the eponymous song, Sphinx. Basically, they played covers of various songs by The Beattles, Jimi Hendrix, The Doors and in 1972 they recorded their first single disc – Șir de cocori – that is said to be inspired by an arrangement of a lied by George Enescu (***, Sfinx (band), 2020). In the 90’s a band split off from the original grup and called themselves “Sphinx experience”, whose album Sfixtambul was successful at that time (***, Sfinx Experience, 2021). George Enescu was fascinated not so much by the appearance of the Sphinx, but by the meaning of this character. The myth of Oedipus was a challenge for him, because he wanted to have an “Oedipus of his own” after watching Sofocles’ Oedipus Rex, starring Mounet-Sully, which impressed George Enescu with her delightful performance (Falcan, n.d.). On the one hand, the Sphinx itself has no particular symbol because it is a monster and eventually the hero of the story defeats him (how every villain in a legend ends up). On the other hand, his riddle is full of meaning: it describes something almost impossible, an animal whose limbs change in number, this thing depending of the time of day, but metaphorically, it makes sense. The riddle is a good example of “the part equals the whole”, Oedipus being both king and tyran, but also saviour and scapegoat. Thus, he becomes with no intention his mother’s husband and his children’s brother (Turner, 2020).

According to Edmont Fleg’s libretto, the Sphinx asks the question “What is stronger than destiny?”. The answer remaines the same, man, but the context and the weight of the statement changes. This philosophical approach underlines the humanist values promoted by Fleg, back in the time when philosophy was strongly influenced by the French sages of the previous generation. At this point we can talk about Descartes and Rousseau, who highlighted the importance of man and the control he has over his own life (Ponder, 2009). From a musical point of view, we can consider that the scene in which the Sphinx appears is an essence of the whole score. To highlight the creature’s dominance over the city of Thebes, the composer uses exotic compositional techniques and approaches – for example, the Turkish-influenced percussion and orchestration of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony. Moreover, these features of Oedipus’ music play an important role in the connection with Romanian folklore (Ponder, 2009). I have further searched the long list of performances of Enescu’s Oedipus for the names of the performers who played this role. I discovered the following (Cosma V. , 2004): Jeanne Montfort – Opera Garnier in Paris, 1936 (opera premiere) Micheline Cortois – La Monnaie Theatre in Brussels, 1956 Zenaida Pally – Bucharest National Opera, 1958 (national premiere) Zenaida Pally – Saarbrücken Opera, 1971

Zenaida Pally – Stockholm Philharmonic Mihaela Botez – Iași Romanian Opera, 1975 Irena Slifarska – Warsaw Grand Theatre, 1978 Adina Iurașcu – Cluj-Napoca Philharmonic Choir and Orchestra Galina Pandowa – Weimar Opera, 1984 Ecaterina Țuțu – Bucharest National Opera, 1991 Lia Kahler – Kassel Opera, 1992 Helga Wagner – Vienna Opera Theatre (Wiener Operbühne Orchestra and Budapest Philharmonic Choir), 1993 Ana Oros – Cluj-Napoca Romanian Opera, 1995 Lucia Cicoară – Bucharest National Opera, 1995 Kaja Borris – Deutsche Oper Berlin, 1996 Jane Hanschel – Concert in Amsterdam (Philharmonic Orchestra of the Dutch Broadcasting Corporation and Choir of the Romanian Opera of Cluj-Napoca), 1996 Marjana Lipovsek – Vienna State Opera, 1997 Marjana Lipovsek – Bucharest National Opera, 2001 Catherine Wyn-Rogers – Edinburgh Festival Concert with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, 2002 Laura Nykänen – Concert in Barcelona (Orquesta Simfonica de Barcelona, Cor del Gran Teatre del Liceu, Madrigal Choir), 2003 Daniela Denschlag – Bucharest National Opera, 2003 Cinzia De Mola – Teatro Lirico of Cagliari, 2005 Stephanie Chigas – Concert at the University of Illinois, Urbana Champaign, 2005 Elena Rosca – Iași Romanian Opera, 2005 Sonja Borowski-Tudor – Bielefeld Opera Theatre, 2006 Marie-Nicole Lemieux – Théâtre National du Capitole, Toulouse, 2008 Marie-Nicole Lemieux and Natascha Petrinsky – La Monnaie Theatre, Brussels, 2011 Sorana Negrea – Bucharest National Opera, 2011 Marie-Nicole Lemieux and Natascha Petrinsky – Teatro Colon, Buenos Aires, 2012 Katharina Magiera – Frankfurt Opera, 2013 Andrada Rosu – Bucharest National Opera, 2015 Marie-Nicole Lemieux – London Opera House, 2016 Christel Lötzsch – Gera Theatre, Thuringia/Germany, 2018 Violeta Urmana – Danish National Opera, Amsterdam, 2018 Julian Stephan – Altenburger Theatre, Thuringia, 2019 Ève-Maud Hubeaux – Salzburg Festival, 2019 Katarina Bradić – Berlin Komische Oper, 2021 Clémentine Margaine – Paris Bastille Opera, 2021

I have chosen as examples some of the names above, belonging to well-known musicians, three from Romania and three from abroad, who have relevant international careers. Zenaida Pally Lucia Cicoară Sorana Negrea Marjana Lipovsek Daniela Denschlag Katarina Bradić About Zenaida Pally we can retain the following biographical and career data: she was born in the Republic of Moldavia and studied painting at the Academy of Fine Arts in Bucharest. When she enrolled at the Conservatory, she began her musical studies in the singing department with Elena Saghin. In 1945 the mezzo-soprano became a soloist of the Bucharest National Opera, where she achieved great success with the roles of Amneris (Aida), Carmen (Carmen), Dalila (Samson and Dalila), Eboli (Don Carlo), Sphinx (Oedipus), etc. She was also a permanent collaborator of the George Enescu Philharmonic, being invited to give concerts and performances with several opera houses (Ichim, 2019).

Wherever she sang, she represented with honour the name of the Romanian country, achieving remarkable successes in important cultural centres. Thanks to her undeniable talent, she conquered even the most demanding audience, always astonishing with her impeccable performance. In addition to a rich opera repertoire, the mezzo-soprano has also performed vocal-symphonic works, such as Giovanni Battista Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater, Ludwig van Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, Giuseppe Verdi’s Requiem, as well as Lieder by pre-classical and contemporary composers (S., 2009). The artist was also known abroad, being requested by different important cultural institutions such as Théâtre Royale de la Monnaie (Belgium), Belgrade National Opera, Paris Opera, Teatro Politeama Greco (Italy), etc. (Ichim, 2019). She remains to this day one of the most appreciated Romanian artists who performed at the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow. The series of performers who played the role of the Sphinx continues with mezzo-soprano Lucia Cicoară. She has been passionate about music since childhood, when as a soloist in the church of Buziaș, her hometown, she was accompanied by her father on the organ. A few years later she attended the Faculty of Music in Brasov and the Academy of Music in Cluj-Napoca, at the directing department. In 1978 she debuted with the role of Azucena in Verdi's Il trovatore (The troubadour) at the Nae Leonard Music Theatre in Galați. She collaborated with various conductors such as Cornel Trăilescu, Leonard Dumitriu, Constantin Petrovici etc. For 20 years she was a soloist of the Bucharest National Opera, during which time she excelled in her career. The awards she received during these years are the proof of her brilliant career: Golden Trophy, Phenian 1997, “Role of the Year” Award offered by “Actualitatea Muzicală” magazine in 1999, National Order of Merit in the rank of Knight in 2002, 2nd Prize at Caltaniseta in 1994 (Bucovu, 2013).

Sorana Negrea was born in Ploiești, where she studied piano and classical canto, and after completing her master’s degree at the National University of Music in Bucharest she became a soloist at the Bucharest National Opera. Throughout her career she has performed numerous concerts and recitals and has also received various awards through participation in competitions. She has collaborated with several philharmonics in the country (Pitești, Ploiești, Bacău, Bucharest) and with conductors such as Adrian Morar, Christian Badea, Tiberiu Soare, Iurie Florea etc. Among the roles she has played are Maddalena in Rigoletto and Fenena in Nabucco by Verdi, Olga in Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin, Tisbe in Rossini’s La Cenerentola (Cinderella), Suzuki in Puccini’s Madama Butterfly, Carmen and Mercédès in Bizet's Carmen (George Enescu Festival, n.d.).

Contralta Marjana Lipovsek was born in Slovenia and initially studied piano in Ljubljana. She continued her musical studies at the Graz Conservatory, this time at the singing department, and after finishing them she was called to the Vienna State Opera. In this city she began her stage experience by playing small roles in various performances. At the Hamburg State Opera she defined herself as an alto in roles such as Oktavian in Der Rosenkavalier by Richard Strauss, Dorabella in Così fan tutte by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Marina in Boris Godunov by Modest Mussorgsky and Ulrica in Un ballo in maschera by Giuseppe Verdi (Oron, Marjana Lipovšek (Contralto), 2004).

At the Bregenz Festival in Austria, she gave her first performance as Dalila in Camille SaintSaëns’ Samson and Delilah. The performance brought her remarkable success, so much that she was called to play the same role at the Vienna State Opera and the Paris Opera. She soon went on to perform on the stages of major cultural institutions – Chicago Lyric Opera, Zurich Opera House, Bavarian State Opera in Munich, La Scala Opera House in Milan etc. – each time impressing with her dedication to each role and her impeccable performance. Marjana Lipovsek has also paid particular attention to concerts and recordings, with a vast repertoire (from pre-classical to contemporary pieces). She has collaborated with significant orchestral ensembles such as the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, the New York Philharmonic, the Dresden State Orchestra (Germany), the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra in Amsterdam and with outstanding conductors such as Daniel Barenboim, Sir Andrew Davis, Bernard Haitink, etc. She wanted to pass on her love of singing to the younger generation, so she organised masterclasses in Austria and abroad, and in the summer of 2010 she was the artistic director of the Young Singers Project at the Salzburg Festival (Hughes, 2012). Mezzo-soprano Daniela Denschlag was born in Worms, Germany and initially studied biology but eventually she chosed the path of music. She began her studies at the University of Music and Arts in Mannheim and, in order to define her vocal technique, attended masterclasses organised by Anna Reynolds, Christa Ludwig and Daniel Ferro. She made her debut at the 1997 Heidelberg Castle Festival as the third fairy in Antonín Dvořák’s opera Rusalka, and subsequently performed at the Mannheim National Theatre and the Baden-Baden Theatre in Germany in Maurice Ravel’s opera L'enfant et les sortilèges (Oron, Daniela Denschlag , 2006).

Between 2002 and 2008 she was a member of the Vienna State Opera, making her stage debut in roles such as Page (Salome, Richard Strauss), Annina (Der Rosenkavalier, Richard Strauss), Sphinx (Oedipus, George Enescu), Brangäne (Tristan and Isolde, Richard Wagner) etc. Her talent has also been noticed by other cultural houses, so she has been invited to sing at the Lyon National Opera, in Philadephia, the Stuttgart State Opera, the Hamburg State Opera and the Baden-Baden Opera Festival (Oron, Daniela Denschlag , 2006). She has also used her vocal technique in solo moments, singing several Mahler symphonies in Berlin, Vienna, Darmstadt, even at the Salzburg Festival. In a concert with the Vienna Philharmonic, she appears as Brigitte in Erich Wolfgang Korngold’s Die tote Stadt (The Dead City). The mezzosoprano also performed with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra in Arnold Schönberg’s Gurre-Lieder with Zubin Mehta as conductor (George Enescu Festival, n.d.). Katarina Bradić is a Serbian-born mezzo-soprano who has enjoyed an international reputation since 2009, when she became a member of the Flemish Opera in Belgium. Here she debuted with roles such as Olga in Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin, Suzuki in Puccin’'s Madama Butterfly and Medea in Francesco Cavalli’s Jason. It wasn't long before she became one of the most requested mezzo-sopranos by major opera houses, for example, Berlin State Opera, Teatro Real in Madrid, Oslo Opera, Deutsche Oper am Rhein. She has also made her debut at festivals: the Glyndebourne Festival as Ursula in Béatrice et Bénédict (Hector Berlioz), the Aix-en-Provence Festival where she played Bradamante in Alcina (Handel), and even at the BBC Awards where she sang Richard Strauss’ Elektra (Helmut Fischer Artists International, 2017).

The mezzo-soprano also excels on the concert stage, with a flourishing career as a soloist. She has performed Mozart’s Requiem in various cities in Russia, as well as at the Berlin Philharmonic, Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony in Tbilisi, Georgia and, recently, Bach’s Christmas Oratorio, Mahler’s Kindertotenlieder in Lisbon (Oron, Katarina Bradić, 2015). In conclusion, we may say that the Sphinx is a character full of symbols and has inspired many artists - from sculptors, to musicians, painters and so on. In his work, George Enescu gives it profound meanings, which can be seen in the special music and ingenious solutions given to the role of the Sphinx.

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