ISSN 2344–200X ISSN-L 2344–200X

TRANSILVANIA UNIVERSITY OF BRAŞOV

BULLETIN OF THE

TRANSILVANIA UNIVERSITY OF

BRAŞOV

VOL. 12 (61) NO.1 – 2019

SERIES VIII PERFORMING ARTS

Published by Transilvania University Press

Braşov, Romania

2019

EDITORIAL BOARD Editor-in-Chief Mariela PAVALACHE-ILIE, Transilvania University of Brasov, Romania Senior editor: Madalina RUCSANDA, Transilvania University of Brasov, Romania Editors: Ioan OARCEA, Transilvania University of Brasov, Romania Secretary, Series VIII Alexandra BELIBOU, Transilvania University of Brasov, Romania English language supervision: Carmen ANTONARU Web-site: http://webbut.unitbv.ro/Bulletin/ Webmaster: Corina POP Address: 29, Eroilor st., 500036, Brasov, Romania Phone: +40-268-410525 E-mail: editor.but@unitbv.ro © All rights reserved

SCIENTIFIC COMMITTEE - Series VIII Syilvia AHRAMJIAN, West Chester University of Pennsylvania, USA Eugene ALBULESCU, Lehigh University, Bethlehem, Pensylvania, USA Eugen CINCI, School for Advanced Studies, Varset, SERBIA Petruta COROIU, „Transilvania” University, Brasov, ROMANIA Violeta DINESCU, “Carl Von Ossietzky” University, Oldenburg, GERMANY Stela DRAGULIN, „Transilvania” University, Brasov, ROMANIA Carmen STOIANOV, „Spiru Haret” University, Bucharest, ROMANIA Ovidiu MARINESCU, West Chester University of Pennsylvania, USA Nelida NEDELCUT, “Gheorghe Dima” Music Academy, Cluj-Napoca, ROMANIA Madalina RUCSANDA, „Transilvania” University, Brasov, ROMANIA Allanda SMALL, The University of Southern Mississippi – Hattiesburg, USA Roxana PEPELEA, „Transilvania” University, Brasov, ROMANIA Cornel TARANU, „Gheorghe Dima” Music Academy , Cluj-Napoca, ROMANIA

CONTENTS

COROIU, P.M.: Richard Clayderman and André Gagnon - Common references of

componistic stylistics ___________________________________________ 7

DUMITRIU, L.: Simplicity and Mastery. Meter and Rhythm in Part II of the

“Concerto for Piano in G major” by Maurice Ravel ___________________ 13

HILCA, T.: Observations regarding the Perception of Dynamic Aspects in the

"Nocturnes"of Francis Poulenc (“I.Nocturnes no. I-IV”) ________________ 29

IBĂNESCU, C.: Aspects in the Evolution of the Sonata Genre and Form in the

Piano Creation _______________________________________________ 39

KARÁCSONY, N.: Expressing Reality through Spectacle and Dream in Baroque

Art _________________________________________________________ 45

NEAGU, G.: Innovative Techniques and Methods in Contemporary Musical

Rducation ___________________________________________________ 53

PEPELEA, R.: Figure and Affection in „Orgelbüchlein” by J. S. Bach ____________ 65

PORCOS, I.: Archetypal Aesthetics in Various Branches of Art ________________ 73

SANDU, C.: The Orchestral Character of Beethoven’s Pianism ________________ 81

SAVIN, C.: The Polyeleos „A Good Word” in the Musical Reflection of the

Composer Horaţiu Alexandrescu _________________________________ 91

Bulletin of the Transilvania University of Braşov Series VIII: Performing Arts • Vol. 12 (61) No. 1 – 2019 https://doi.org/10.31926/but.pa.2019.12.61.1

Richard Clayderman and André Gagnon - Common

References of Componistic Stylistics

Petruta-Maria COROIU1 Abstract: Richard Clayderman and André Gagnon are two personalities of consumer cult music, attesting the power of sound art to impress the great masses of the public. Their stylistic features have common elements and deserve to be caught in a musical analysis that highlights the sound way that creates value in miniature genres with great audience. Keywords: consumer, music, miniature, popular, piano 1. Introduction

Richard Clayderman and André Gagnon are two personalities of consumer cult music, attesting the power of sound art to impress the great masses of the public. Their stylistic features have common elements and deserve to be caught in a musical analysis that highlights the sound way that creates value in miniature genres with great audience.

2. The problems: Richard Clayderman and André Gagnon, models of popular cult

music

Richard Clayderman is the artistic pseudonym of Philippe Pages, a French pianist born in December1953, who succeeded in a challenging period of anti-musical values, to put into the foreground of global music, with collaborators Senneville and Toussaint, multiple albums of compositions reinterpreting or rearranging works well known to the public at large (soundtracks, classical music, accessible works).

1 Transilvania University of Braşov, maniutpetruta@yahoo.com.

Petruța-Maria COROIU 8

His musical career began in 1976 and has moved, after promising studies in the Paris Conservatory, to the field of the accompanying bands and successful soloists of his time. The most important moment was Ballade pour Adeline, composed by Senneville for his daughter of the same name. The work was to be sold in over 22 million copies, and its tripartite structure under the form of lied is based on a discourse with arpeggio that establishes a song that remained in the emotional memory of millions of people. Initially composed for piano, the work also acquired an orchestral version and one dedicated to the guitar. At 23 years of age, the life of Clayderman was to change due to his sensitiveness and the delicate touch with which he interprets the Ballad for Adeline. His career included almost 1500 different melodies recorded in the style of the new Romanticism that was to proclaim that the romantic element – besides being eternally human – will never disappear from the history of the music for large masses people. The combination between the advantages of pop music accessibility and the professional discourse of cult music made his music very accessible and well sold.

“Romantic prince Richard Clayderman (…) on the basis of the classical piano music, adds the modern elements. Combining the classical music and the popular music, he gives the classical piano music new brilliance and new vitality. (…) Richard is romantic” (Yang, CQ, 2017).

With respect to Clayderman, we cannot speak of the nature of his composition, but only of interpretive aspects. The most publicised of his works (which was also the first one) keeps in line with classical music, but is meant for the public at large.

Ex. 1. Ballade pour Adeline (theme)

Richard Clayderman and André Gagnon

9

The work begins with an introduction that suggests entering into the tonality and atmosphere of the ballad. Initially, the discourse is divided between the lower level of left hand and the higher one (supported by the right hand), and the main melody has a fairly repetitive character. Although composition methods are minimal, this is one more proof that the value of an artistic work is not conditioned by the complexity of the methods used, but by their authenticity and quality. The melody is intoned in parallel sixths, with a multitude of repetitions of the same accord, with mainly gradual flowing, the support being performed by arpeggios unfolded in large harmonic positions.

Ballade pour Adeline has a triple-penta lied structure with ABABA scheme, in which element B proposes minimal tone change (minor tonality) as well as in musical discourse. The climax is marked by the return of the theme with an octave above the first intonation, enriched with extra voices tinted at third or sexta. B is reduced in size and importance, imposing the theme of Section A, which remains in the listener's consciousness. The work ends with a coda that actually resumes the theme again, in slightly modified manners, with a concluding look.

The other great example that we discuss now, in terms of composing, is André Gagnon, born in 1936. He has become one of the most well-known composers, conductors, arrangers and actors of his country. He used the same merging of pop styles with so called classical ones in order to create and interpret music accessible to the wider public, dedicated both to soundtracks and theatre. Like Clayderman, he very early on manifested tendencies as a composer, being able to study in the Conservatory in Montreal.

The two artists represent examples of professional musicians who knew how to reach the public’s heart, so as to mix value and cult dimension with worldwide popularity.

Gagnon launched his first album much at the same time as Clayderman, in 1974, but the one in the following year was to bring notoriety. Before 1980, he also entered the field of cinema soundtracks. His compositional range is much more developed than that of Clayderman, who gained particular popularity at an interpretative level. After 1990, he also entered the genre of opera, being scheduled in the large theatres of Canada. A climax of his career was the composition of the soundtrack for the movie The Pianist in 1992.

His recordings include albums from 1964 to 2016, and the list of films with which he collaborated as a composer is impressive. His music is more elaborate than that interpreted by Clayderman, using multiple harmonic strategies and articulation of musical discourse; nevertheless, preserving his innocence, melodic character, quietness and sensitivity, presently so absent from consumer music.

Petruța-Maria COROIU 10

Ex. 2. André Gagnon – «Après la pluie»

In the work APRES LA PLUIE, the quiet falling of rain is epitomized in sound by means of descending tierces and sixths. Like most works signed by Gagnon, this is more elaborate, presented in an orchestral sound, more developed at modal and melodic level. Rain is symbolized by the theme that has equal short values suggesting the drops, constantly interrupted by unsteadily segments based on the embroidery formula.

POUR LES AMANTS uses the same structure as consumer music: an introduction, followed by a tripartite form and finalized with a conclusion, proposing a dynamic music, with disco or jazz accents, that surpasses courageously the pattern of lyrical music of the neo-romantic type. The work fits into the genre of ambiental popular, very much tasted by the great audience in the 80-90s of the last century.

TOCCATA ROCK proposes a new melodic pattern in André Gagnon's creation, based on the repetitiveness of some metro-rhythmic formulas made up of short and incisive values, limiting the melodic dimension to the upper plane (actually integrated with the entire musical discourse). Mixing baroque (from where toccata comes from) and modern stules (the one of rock music) brings with it challenges that relate to the placement of melodic structures over the rhythmic ones, coming out of the intonational comfort zone of blues music.

Richard Clayderman and André Gagnon

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Ex. 3. André Gagnon – « Toccata rock »

3. Chapters and headings R. Clayderman and A. Gagnon thus subscribe to a neoromantic current that has not ceased to exist in various forms immediately after the romantic era was exhausted. This neoromantism is a continuous presence in the history of modern music in such a way that it supports and is based precisely on the general-human sensitivity.

“The characteristic of the basic theoretical attitudes of metamodernism, specific metamodernist "sensitivity" are the artist's identification strategies regarding the positioning of his statement with respect to other contemporary forms of artistic creativity. The spectator tactics and the main receptive attitudes embodied in metamodernist visual materialw are associated with the dominant forms of sensuality in metamodernism” (Venkova, 2018).

Neoromantic music seems to be an artistic response to a much greater challenge than the strictly artistic one, that of recovering the silence, melody, innocence and elegant universe of the interwar years (both in cult music and consumption music), to retrieve “a gentler age, a state of lost innocence, which as

Petruța-Maria COROIU 12

its subsequent reception has showed proved an enduring site of cultural memory” (Taylor, 2008).

The works written and interpreted by Gagnon and Clayderman have managed to reach the consciousness of the global public precisely by preserving the values promoted by romantic art (regardless of the time and space of its historical existence), values embedded in the level of perennial human virtues such as passion, confession, subjectivism, love of people and nature, attachment to the fantastic facts, the feeling of natural and exuberant equally. 6. References Taylor, B. 2008. “Nostalgia and cultural memory in Barber’s Knoxville.” Journal of

musicology, Volume 25, Issue 3: 211-229. Venkova, A.V. 2018. “Identification Politics of Metamodern Art.” Tomsk State

Journal of cultural studies and art history: 203-213. Yang, CQ (Yang Chunqiang). 2017. “Classical Romance and Dynamic Fashion - A

Comparative Analysis of Piano Music Styles Between Richard Clayderman and Maksim Mrvica.” In International Symposium on Education Management and Innovation, ed. by Zhao L.: 241-249.

Bulletin of the Transilvania University of Braşov Series VIII: Performing Arts • Vol. 12 (61) No. 1 – 2019 https://doi.org/10.31926/but.pa.2019.12.61.2

Simplicity and Mastery.

Meter and Rhythm in Part II of the Concerto for piano in G major by Maurice Ravel

Leonard DUMITRIU1

Abstract: The present study is a tribute paid to Maurice Ravel’s musical ingenuity and craftsmanship as is evident in the second part the Concerto for Piano Orchestra in G major. The composer expands the conceptual interpretation of metre and allows it a freedom similar to that of rhythm. Within this context, a comparison with geometrical shapes and the angles from which they can be viewed can easily be accepted. Ravel shows how abstract metric thinking is completely assimilated by the expression of the aesthetic experience he aims at conveying to the public. Thus, music has an ethereal slightly melancholy texture, pervaded by a unique French “flavour”. Keywords: rhythm, metre, geometry, design 1. Argument

When listening to this musical piece in any other form than live, the music lover will certainly be overwhelmed by the beauty of the music the great French composer envisioned. However, the aesthetic impressions and feelings of the listener in the concert hall are definitely superior to those of someone listening to the same piece in a recorded version; the latter is an experience which is repeatable but unfortunately always the same. The uniqueness of the live version leaves a profound impression and can shape the sensitivity of the person who, seated in the front rows, intently, yet relaxed, listens to the music proposed by the interpreters. Each time the piece is performed in concert again, as if freed from the burden of the (far from insignificant!) technical difficulties of Ravel's score, the piano soloist, the conductor and the musicians in the orchestra always experience different

1 George Enescu University of Arts Iaşi, leonard_dumitriu@yahoo.com

Leonard DUMITRIU 14

feelings in relation to the wonderful world of sound they call to life. Each time, their interpretive version is influenced by an invariable element: the immanent beauty of the music, which is a genuine treasure that the talented musician can constantly refine, but can never distort.

All three parts of the inspirational concert are instances of an overflowing musical imagination and of masterful compositional craft; however, part II is set apart from the others for the particular simplicity of the musical discourse. The impression given by Part I and III is that of tumult, perhaps due to technical challenges which all the performers have to face; the second part reveals a delicate, subtle, deep, ethereal musical world, such as only a French composer could imagine! The artistic act is subjective in the absolute sense and its expressive quality is converted into aesthetic emotions, which engender ideas that can be easily misunderstood and therefore immediately refuted, contradicted, denied.

Consequently, it is easy to understand why, in the lines below, I aim to investigate musical characteristics that are clearly determined and identifiable in the score and, therefore, undisputed, as well as issues that may constitute the beginning of other interpretations and well-argued debates.

An in-depth analysis of the musical scores of a concert piece may include references to various aspects of the musical whole. Some of these aspects are listed below: the technique of the soloist instrument; the technique of the orchestral discourse (more or less involved in the creation of the musical whole); aspects related to harmony, polyphony, homophony, registers, colour, dynamics, rhythm, metre. Undoubtedly, beyond these aspects, others can be discussed that are related, for example, with programmatic elements, with folkloric or archetypal influences or with other stylistic dimensions related to the composer's sources of inspiration.

The aim of the present paper is not to provide an exhaustive analysis of the second part of the concert. The intention is to point out the metre-rhythm binomial and some of its ramifications in the second part of the Concert for piano in G by Maurice Ravel, thus encouraging further debate and the exchange of ideas on this topic.

I cannot move further without mentioning the reason for writing this paper: in my capacity as a conductor, I had to engage with the French composer's music and with the piano version by pianist Bertrand Giraud2. The study of the score, followed by the rehearsals and especially the experience of the first night concert were so intense that they led me to express in writing the enthusiasm and appreciation of the piece that I had the joy of conducting. 2 Symphony Concert at the Brasov Concert Hall, on 30th March 2018. An evening with French music:

Gounod, Ravel, Saint-Saëns. Soloist: Bertrand Giraud; conductor: Leonard DIMITRIU.

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2. Analysis

Ravel's musical expression is apparently classical, limpid and unsophisticated. I am fully convinced that they are the very qualities that impress the listener, who does not see the score and has no direct access to the originality and ingenuity that it encodes. Only a careful researcher of the musical text – the conductor and the pianist among them – can identify certain highly sophisticated conceptual compositional aspects.

The first 33 bars of the second part of Ravel's Concert in G are performed by the piano soloist, in a sort of cadence, avant la lettre, which precedes the segments that form a tripartite segment, A B A’ with Coda. However, the musical atmosphere is very far from what a cadence of the soloist instrument should convey. Virtuosity is replaced by simplicity, the tension by an Olympian calm.

In relation to these very features, at a first cursory glance it could be said that everything is simple, easy, that the pianist is not faced with any problem... It is not exactly so, as the metric system chosen by the composer, namely 3/4, raises a number of problems. Apparently, there should be nothing to discuss in this area, especially as both the metre and rhythm (ternary) for the right hand of the piano soloist are straightforward. A discreet, sweet and undulating melody, clear as a mountain spring, is woven along 34 bars of the piano right hand staves.

Fig. 1. Bars 1-13, the beginning of the melody At first glance, an equally simple musical expression is created for the left hand, whose discourse is also composed in 3/4.

Leonard DUMITRIU 16

Fig. 2. Bars 1-13, the layered contour of the accompaniment

Considered separately (which is not actually affordable to the listener, not accessible in his/her reality), the two musical discourses transmit very similar aesthetic messages, characterized by calm, serenity, peace of mind.

However, the combination of the two spheres transforms things and somewhat modifies the perception; the whole transmits a message which is slightly different from the elements that form it. What precisely determines a state of mind that engenders insecurity, sadness and a sense of lack of fulfilment? It is quite as discernible as... invisible ink, however I find it clear and well-defined. It is all about the left hand on the piano, where Ravel grouped quavers by twos. The composer's manner of combining values and sounds which make up the initial motif, first repeatedly and then in a sequenced manner, would necessarily result in a contour written in 6/8.

Fig. 3. Bars 1-13, the contour noted in 6/8 and layered in terms of registers

Well, the reader may say, what could this hypothetical manner of grouping the quavers mean? The problem lies in the different ethos of the rhythms, as everything the piano plays in Part II of the concert lies under the sign of

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polyrhythm. Moreover, the existence of polymetrics becomes evident, even if it is not recorded as such.

Just because the composer could not (or perhaps would not) write the two staves for the piano in different metric systems (as Bartók did), he very clearly indicated the chronometre = 76, along with the recommendation for the tempo. Beside speed, the quaver is here the pulsating unit!

I will try to explain this statement by first referring to a few notions of musical theory. It is a well-known fact that musical metre operates with the categories of measure and time, while rhythm is identified depending on the accents and (rhythmic) formulas. It is also known that the measure is denoted by a fraction, where the numerator indicates the number of the beats (1,2,3, etc.) and the denominator indicates the value of each beat (, , etc.). In theory, these are basic elements in terms of metre notation. However, in practice, as far as both the instrumental soloist and the conductor are concerned, it is the notion of pulsation that becomes relevant. Specifically, it cannot be written, it goes beyond the ordinary, monotonous and objectives limits of the metre, and moves towards the vivid and hence slightly fluctuating subjectivity of the interpretation. Paradoxically perhaps, I venture to say that the pulsation is related directly neither with the tempo (the speed) of the music, nor with its character (parlando-rubato or giusto). The pulsation varies from one interpreter to the next and is different even when, in different situations or moments, the same musician performs the same piece. It is an integral part of that performer's or ensemble's personality and can be directly associated to the pulse of their heart, from a somatic and psychological point of view.

Let us now return to Ravel's scores and the problem of polymetric, of which I said above that it exists without being revealed in notation. In the second part of the concert, the composer (deliberately or just instinctively, it is difficult to tell which) uses the unusual device which can be compared with a situation very graphically described by Godfried T. Toussaint3 in his book The geometry of musical rhythm. What makes a "good" rhythm good?4 While he was not a musician, the Canadian scientist was particularly concerned about the expansion of geometry to other areas, especially by combining the theory of "pattern recognition" with the theory of "similarity in music" and he made quite an interesting statement. He says: "have you ever had the experience of peering at two distinct objects from a single observation point, and at first reach the conclusion that they are identical, only to discover later, after getting more information, that the objects in question are

3 Canadian scientist (b. 1944), considered the father of computational geometry in Canada. See

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Godfried_Toussaint 4 Godfried T. Toussaint, The geometry of musical rhythm. What makes a "good" rhythm good?, CRC

Press, Taylor&Francis Group, Boca Raton, FL, 2013.

Leonard DUMITRIU 18

actually very different? The example in Figure 4 (to be described below, author's note) briefly illustrates this issue. The object on the left is a cube and the one in the centre is a cylinder. They are located at opposite ends. Viewed from above, the objects look very different. However, from a front view, both look like the square on the right.”5

Fig. 4. The way Toussaint looks at geometrical objects

In the chapter entitled "Musical objects and machines" from The Cambridge companion to Ravel6, researcher Deborah Mawer says: “An important part of Ravel's compositional aesthetic is bound up with objectification, crystallization and detachment, ideas that connect with Symbolist notions of imagery, Cubist notions of spatial and temporal planes and, beyond World War I, with the basic tenets of neoclassicism.”7

This quote is not the only proof that Ravel was concerned about the possible translations of his music towards the visual and was especially mindful of this aspect. In the first few dozen bars of the second part of Concert in G major for piano and orchestra, the novel process under discussion here could be labelled "apparent metric unity". It must be admitted that the resemblance with Toussaint's geometric theory, presented above, is striking. Viewed from this perspective, of the different forms the same piece of music can take depending on the grouping of the values and its visual connotations, Ravel's piano score is only apparently unified in terms of metre.

5 Op. cit., p. 151. 6 See Deborah Mawer, editor, The Cambridge companion to Ravel, Cambridge University Press, 2000. 7 Op. cit., p. 63.

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Fig 5. Bars 1-13, Ravel's precise notation The 3/4 measure and the binary grouping in the left hand represent the "apparent metric unity". By contrast, the difference, i.e. the polymetric, can be seen only through the pianist's interpretation. If he/she thinks in terms of the metric unity, he/she accurately complies with the graphic aspect of the left hand and faithfully, even obediently, renders the calm, the tranquillity and peace of mind conveyed by the right hand. It is the equivalent of a front view of the geometrical objects. However, if the soloist senses the subtlety of the composition, or rather of the composer's metric and rhythmic design, he/she will intentionally highlight the ternary grouping of the quavers, presented under Example no. 2. Although both 3/4 and 6/8 are ternary, this very paradoxical metric dualism will make a difference in terms of rhythm of the musical planes reflected in the right and the left hand. That is exactly the effect of the top view of the geometrical objects. Ravel seems to treat the two contours as separate instruments, and this constitutes the very argument in favour of a pianistic realization (of a top view) that separates them.

Words can be inadequate and make a dry technical explanation, but the effect of this music on the listener can be bewildering. What is actually happening? The state of contemplation created by the melody in the right hand (the front view) is overshadowed by a kind of instability in the left hand, derived from the delicate change of the accents on the quavers (the view from above). We must admit that the difference between:

Leonard DUMITRIU 20

Fig. 6. Bars 1-8, with emphasis on the metric accents in 3/4 and

Fig. 7. Bars 1-8, with emphasis on the metric accents in 6/4 is quite significant8.

Moreover, for a better understanding of the issue under discussion, the reader is invited to notice how the polymetric could be signalled, which would make the front and top views match, as if they were examined under a microscope.

8 I added the indication for tenuto just to highlight the putative accented sounds.

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Fig. 8. Bars 1-8, with the notation of the polymetric Obviously, no pianist in the world will play any of these accents because the elements of metric must serve an interpretive design, so he/she must unconditionally submit to it. I would say that the metre will be sublimated by the ideal interpreter, will make him/her slide delicately towards the elevated aesthetic spheres of prototypically French good taste.

Let us now return to the composer, and notice that his concern for rhythm and metre is permanent and dates back to his earliest creations. A first clarifying example can be extracted from his piece for piano "Minuet Antique", composed in 1895, when Ravel was only 20 years old. In the example below the reader can first notice the polyrhythm, apparent between the acute layers of the right hand (hereinafter referred to as layer 1) and the layer of the left hand (layer 2) with chords. We can also see that the middle layer, resulting from the string of quavers repeated on the sound C2 somewhat surprisingly groups all the 12 values, which sets it apart from the other two and gives it a neutral aesthetic expression.

Fig. 9. Ravel, "Menuet antique", bars 56-57, the polyriythmic layers

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One can also note the concurrent existence of a hidden polymetric, that could be identified only if one adds a metric specification at the beginning of each stave.

Fig. 10. Ravel, "Menuet antique", bars 56-57, possible polymetric On closer inspection, the signs of his compositional ideas based on colours and layers can be already seen; this compositional design is probably the reason that prompted Ravel to orchestrate the piece in 1929 - the year in which he started to compose the Concert in G. Could the way in which he designed the rhythm and metre of the two works be a mere coincidence?...

It seems that Ravel long polished the melody that initiates the second part of Concert in G major. According to Michael Russ, the author of the study "Ravel and the orchestra" included in the 2000 edition of The Cambridge companion to Ravel9, the composer himself is believed to have said: "That flowing phrase! How I worked over it bar by bar! It nearly killed me!”10 Ravel also confesses that" melody that recalls Mozart, the Mozart of the Clarinet Quintet...the most beautiful piece he wrote."11

However, the cited source makes no reference to the rhythmic and metric aspects of the introductory fragment for the piano solo, or to the bars up to the end of the middle part, where the soloist instrument is accompanied by the orchestra. I am convinced that when he says he polished the melody, Ravel did not think only of the melodic aspect of the musical discourse, but he had it in mind the rhythmic aspect as well. Moreover, I am inclined to think that the labour on the rhythmic aspect was much more demanding.

9 See Deborah Mawer, editor, op. cit. 10 Op. cit., p. 152 11 place. cit.

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Moving beyond the soloistic section, we find that the emergence of the orchestra, of the flute specifically, which is the first instrument that is heard, we are proposed a rhythmic expression organized in 3/4; however, it can also have the metric aspect of 6/8, which can induce a change of the ethos. In terms of form, this is already an A.

Fig. 11. Bars 34-36, the beginning of section A, the notation in the score in 3/4

Compared to the original, which was presented in the previous example, the same values which are assigned a measure of 6/8 take a slightly different aspect, which may lead to a slight change of accents, i.e. of the sounds highlighted by the performer. On a close investigation of the two examples, trying to hear them, but especially trying to perceive their semantic differences, the reader begins to realise how subtle the French composer's musical thinking really is.

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Fig. 12. Bars 34-36, the beginning of section A, notation in 6/8 This invisible metric duality, which nevertheless gives the pianist the opportunity to juggle with the subtle rhythmic accents, extends up to bar 57, the rehearsal mark 4 in the score. It is the point at which a new architectural section starts, namely B, which provides a few rhythmic clarifications. Thus, the right hand of the piano performs passages with small and very small values, which are played simultaneously with a quaver in the left hand. This is the main clue pointing at the fact that the rhythm is ternary, assimilated to a measure of 3/4. Another indication of the new sections is the passages of gradual quavers, first performed by the woodwinds, then by the string instruments. These passages start from very soft sounds, reaching a cumulated intensity, which is ephemeral in its manifestation of only two beats; the passages disappear, as the music returns to the atmosphere in the beginning of Part II. At rehearsal mark 6, the composer brings back the melody from the first section. Nothing can be clearer than this return, which, in terms of form, is the 3rd segment of the formula ABA'. Obviously, A' is not a copy of A, but here Ravel confirms the idea that simplicity is the most effective form of ingenuity. The following 17 bars are a magic moment, one of the most beautiful solos ever written for the English horn! The very first half of the melody, presented in the beginning as being discreet, soft, and undulating, is entrusted now to this instrument. When performed by it, the feelings Ravel intended to convey get denser, richer and melancholic at the same time, slightly elegiac in tone, a beauty close to perfection!

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Fig. 13. Bars 74-90, solo for the English horn, fragment On listening to this wonderful music that words fail to describe, does anyone realize that Ravel goes so far as to simply resume the left hand contour of the piano, as it appears at the beginning of this part? It is hard to believe... Actually, bars 74-90 contain exactly the same notes as do bars 2 to 18, more precisely the left hand retains its profile and the English horn takes over the melody of the right hand. In addition, in A' the second violins, violas and cellos are introduced, as well as a contour of the scales in demi-semi-quavers in the right hand of the piano. Again, the strings bring that undertone of metric duality they present when they are first introduced at bar 34. It is the role of the conductor to require that certain sounds should be emphasised, for the very reason of bringing out this unobtrusive rhythmical layer, as possibly suggested by the score.

The repetition of a musical motif is not new and can also be found in the works of the other great representative of the impressionist trend in music, composer Claude Debussy. In 1893, the latter writes the String Quartet, later recognized as a masterpiece of the genre; in its 2nd part he displays amazing ingenuity.

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The musical construction of this part relies on repetition, one of the simplest (some would say the most trivial) compositional processes. However, the manner in which the composer arrays the motif is simply brilliant: he presents it identically 28 times and in a slightly modified form 15 other times.

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27

Fig. 14. Bars 74-90, English horn and piano, no strings Consequently, the listener is hard put to test to identify it on listening to this music during a performance.

Fig. 15. Debussy, Quartet, part II, bars 3-4, viola Returning to the work under discussion, it becomes apparent that after the 17 bars reproduced almost identically as in the first segment of the musical discourse that the 2nd part began with, Ravel feels the need to bring out the acute register of the English horn. This is why he makes it perform sounds of the highest range, but also of the highest intensity, which is the climax of the second part, after the tutti mentioned previously. There are 6 bars that complete section A’ and move it close to perfection, one could say, but also lead it to the Coda in the second part. It occurs on rehearsal mark 9 in the score, along with the specific harmonic sounds of the harp, combined with the softness of the flute, bassoons and horns. The piano further delicately performs scales in demi-semi-quavers in the right hand, while the left hand continues the ostinato that it played in the beginning, which is dual in terms of both rhythm and metre. Thus, the slow part of the concert ends as delicately as it began. It moves the listeners' and the performers’ soul deeply, creating an effect comparable to the warmth of an excellent French perfume.

Leonard DUMITRIU 28

3. Conclusions The reader of these lines may be tempted to regard most of the previous claims - not only those about rhythm and metre - as no more than simple speculations, possible platitudes. To avoid such observations, I conclude by saying that I have tried to demonstrate the existence of three characteristics. The first is Ravel's ingenuity in creating melodies in direct relation with his inspiration. The second is the masterful combination of note values and accents, which create the rhythm, and the idea of placing them in various metric patterns, which is a matter of elevated musical thinking, of high craftsmanship. The sophisticated manner in which the composer leaves the orientation to one direction or the other at the discretion of the interpreters, the constant balance between the two metric concepts, sometimes combined with the perfect marriage between the two, are extraordinary. Those who want to interpret this music are thus empowered; they are entrusted with the task of reflecting the aesthetic messages encoded in the score, more so than in the case of other works.

4. References Bhogal, Gurminder K. 2011. “Not just a pretty surface: ornament and metric

complexity in Ravel’s piano music.” In Unmasking Ravel, new perspectives on the music, ed. by Peter Kaminsky, vol. 8, p.352. Boydell & Brewer: University of Rochester Press.

Kaminsky, Peter (ed.). Unmasking Ravel, new perspectives on the music. University of Rochester Press, 2011.

Mawer, Deborah. 2000. “Musical objects and machines”. The Cambridge companion to Ravel. Cambridge University Press.

Mawer, Deborah (ed.). 2000. The Cambridge companion to Ravel. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Puri, Michael J. 2011. Ravel the decadent. Memory, sublimation, and desire. Oxford University Press.

Russ, Michael. 2000. “Ravel and the orchestra.” In The Cambridge companion to Ravel, ed. by Deborah Mawer, 118-139. Cambridge University Press.

Toussaint, Godfried T. 2013. The geometry of musical rhythm. What makes a «good» rhythm good?. CRC Press.

Vancea, Zeno (coord.). 1984. Dicţionar de termeni muzicali [Dictionary of musical terms]. Bucureşti: Editura Ştiinţifică şi Enciclopedică.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Godfried_Toussaint.

Bulletin of the Transilvania University of Braşov Series VIII: Performing Arts • Vol. 12 (61) No. 1- 2019 https://doi.org/10.31926/but.pa.2019.12.61.3

Observations regarding the Perception of Dynamic

Aspects in the "Nocturnes"of Francis Poulenc (I.Nocturnes no. I-IV)

Tatiana HILCA1

Abstract: Through this foray in the world of the four Nocturnes of Francis Poulenc, I have highlighted in particular the importance of the study of expressivity and of musical dynamics as analytic observations regarding the usage of the dynamic parameter. The perception of the dynamic aspects, the deciphering of the meanings and their interpretation determines the correct rendering and conveyance of the artistic expressivity. The value of the emotional message is brought forth only through a performance that can reflect the compositional desires and the emotions of the composer. The correspondence between the dynamic indications present in a musical work and the other parameters involved in the musical whole (the melody, the harmony, the rhythm etc.) endow uniqueness to the compositional language – they become defining when it comes to rendering the affective intensity of the musical discourse and they therefore enhance the sonorous expressive effect. The task of the performer, other than to master their instrument, is to unveil these "connections", to find their corresponding expression.

Keywords: dynamics, sonority, performance

1. Introduction French composer of the 20th century and a member of the Les Six (Georges Auric, Louis Durey, Arthur Honegger, Darius Milhaud, Germaine Tailleferre), Francis Poulenc (1899-1963) debuted in music as an early pianist. Alfred Cortot considered him "one of the most gifted musicians of his generation".2

"This penchant for the piano is self-explanatory through his virtuous dedication to study, that has made Poulenc be the most qualified performer to carry out his light improvisations; and his taste and aptitudes during his student days can be seen in his work – this is what would drive him to perform cheerful and transparent 1 The National University of Music in Bucharest, tatianahilca@yahoo.com 2 Cortot Alfred, French music for piano, Musical Publishing House of the Composers' Union in the

Socialist Republic of Romania, Bucharest, 1966,p. 357

30 Tatiana HILCA music in particular, with examples ranging from Scarlatti's creation to that of Haydn or even Mozart.”3

Unlike Honegger or Milhaud, Poulenc appears to be more modest through his creation;he is no inventor, a discoverer of new compositional processes, "he is not the man of great abstract constructions"4,but rather a composer with an inborn sense of the melody, having a personal nuance, a refinement typical of French music, in which imagination and sensibility are the main guides.

George Keck said that "his melody is simple and pleasant, easy to remember and most of the times expressive from an emotional perspective”.5

Francis Poulenc's music has its particular charm, its expression is simple, direct, his inspiration stems from the Parisian climate, a spiritual synthesis of his birth town. His originality is manifested both in the use of the piano as a translator of feelings and in the aspects that regard his notation and his expressivity, which are characteristic of his musical language.

"Poulenc amplifies his manner, he fuels his music with a more expressive and expressive substance. But that which constitutes the essence of his talent can be found in these notations of kind elegance as well as in the personal accent that will later on distinguish him from his other five friends, regardless of the compositional type he approaches.”6 2. Nocturnes During 1929 and 1938, he writes the eight Nocturnes, a succession of compositions for the piano that are engrained with personal writing and that are usually performed as a cycle, but which can also be performed separately. 2.1. Nocturne no. 1 – C Major – brings forth a lyrical theme through a meditative nature; it is original, with a refinement specific to French music, in which the arpeggio accompaniment très estompé et régulier plays a fundamental role in establishing the affective background. The arpeggio formulas – expressions of continuous melodic flows –follow the diatonic functional relationships marked by a personal harmonic imprint. 3 Cortot Alfred, French music for piano, Musical Publishing House of the Composers' Union in the

Socialist Republic of Romania, Bucharest, 1966, p. 351. 4 Goléa Antoine (coord.), Vignal Marc coord., A dictionary of great musicians, Encyclopedic Universe

Publishing House, Bucharest, 2006, p. 373. 5 Keck, George Russell -Francis Poulenc – A Bio-bibliography, New York Greenwood Press. 6 Cortot Alfred, French music for piano, Musical Publishing House of the Composers' Union in the

Socialist Republic of Romania, Bucharest, 1966, p.341

Observations regarding the Perception of Dynamic Aspects in the "Nocturnes" 31

Ex. 1. In this first section (measures 1-27), the dynamic range is centred around two sonorous identities: mf (in measures 1-8 and in measures19-27) and p (measures 9-12 and in measures 16-18); a sonorous duality that is only interrupted by a faint intensification – f – (measures 14-15).

The decryption and the interpretation of some sonorities as a dynamic-emotional attribute will be differentiated; and the association with the other parameters that are involved in the musical whole are endowed with great importance. Starting with this idea, a "flowing" mf is characterised by the presence of the arpeggios that are conducted in an ample register and by the grave sounds that play an important expressive role through the underlining of the legato nature of the moment. The syncopes present on the superior level offer brief moments of tension that should be highlighted during performance through a light expressive accent.

The movement of the bass arpeggios is replaced by dotted apparitions of the same instrument (measures 19-21). The pauses create a moment of respite, necessary for the execution of a sudden shift between the sonorous registers. The performance of the leaps on the lower level while taking into consideration the pauses livens the melodic line and defines a more intense, but balanced mf, due to the presence pf the expression legato on the higher level.

The p sonority will also be differentiated: it will be more active in measures 9-12 (the intermittent progression and pauses of the bass), and then less active in measures 16-18 (due both to the sudden loss of tension–piano subito–from the preceding measures, but also due to the return of the arpeggio formulas). We notice that the bass sounds are not endowed with dynamic accents, but the attached pauses create the sensation of expressive impulses (measures 9-11). However, the presence of the dynamic accent on a higher rhythmical value on the high voice (measure 9) supports the first melodic cell in an interrogatory cycle.

32 Tatiana HILCA

The second section will be preceded by a "sectioned" measure - 1/2 - (measure 27) where a light rubato might be necessary to prepare the pp sonority. The grave sounds of the arpeggios will implicitly be endowed with a sonorous marking, with the justification being technical in nature when creating the intervallic leap (measure 28 and measure 30).

Ex. 2.

The central section (measures 44-55) brings a dynamic intensification –crescendo, which tenses up the musical discourse to the powerful sonorities –f and ff.

The tonal conflict, the unpredictable modulations, the dialogue between the harmonic verticality and horizontality – chords and arpeggios – all contribute to the definition of these sonorities. The dynamic accents mark the sonorous peaks and highlight their sober nature – pressez un peu – and the grave sounds on the background will mark the metric accent.

The dynamic profile (measures 47-49) follows the "in ascensio" melodic line, and once the dynamic climax is reached–ff–a decrescendo is required (measure 50).

Ex. 3

The quiet sonorities – pp and p – will "polarize" the final section (measures 56-86). The Le double plus lent coda brings on a quiet E Major, followed by a frail melodic-rhythmic dynamization and by a musical weave concluded up to the silence of the pp sonority.

Observations regarding the Perception of Dynamic Aspects in the "Nocturnes" 33

2.2. Nocturne no. 2 – Bal de jeunes filles7 – in the A Major tonality, where we find an explosion of rhythm and dance; "a detailed portrayer, in its vivid impetus of hasty notes, of small talk of some young girls; he proves through the successful details of his pianistic rendering a sort of epidermal pleasure that cannot be contested”.8

The composer's inclination towards the tripartite structure is highlighted in this Nocturne: in the first section (measures 1-13) the quiet sonorities dominate – p and pp; we then see a median section (measures 14-23) where the melodic substance will acquire more personal valences – avec passion – and the sonorities gain intensity–mf and f; we then see a third section (measures24-30) which reminds us of the mood of the first one.

The constructive process of the melodic line – the main character – starts with the repetition of a rhythmical formula in various melodic situations. Its expressive support is offered by the interior pulsation of the contretemps formulas – the secondary character – as the performer is obliged to keep the equality of the rhythm. These sonorous characters complement each other, and the piano sonority offers the scene of this expressive dialogue. The section has to be thought of as a continuity, as each melodic arc generates the subsequent one, and the tempo –Trèsanimé–denotes the exuberant joy specific to youth.

Ex. 4

The dynamic dimming–pp–appears along with the ending of the first section, and the corona pause seems to "suspend" the whole musical construction in a certain immobility (measure 13). A contrast is therefore created against the following section Strictement au même mouv.

The sonorous background is created through melodic curves in order to maintain the canorous nature of the melodic design and in order to put a halt to

7 Young Girls' Ball 8Cortot Alfred, French music for piano, Musical Publishing House of the Composers' Union in the

Socialist Republic of Romania, Bucharest, 1966, p. 355

34 Tatiana HILCA the haste of the sixteenths; everything has to be performed très souple et très allant.

The incursion in the world of dynamics reaches a fundamental point with the setting up of a dynamic maximum – f – (measures 19-20). The colour reflected by the depressive alterations along with the avec passion indication of the composer contribute to the rise in energetic potential and require a subjective input from the performer. Even though the composer only notes the desired f sonority, there still is a subtle dynamic intensification needed to suggest the direction of the ascending melodic line.

The lack of the caesura specific to the delimitation of the sections and the return of the piano sonority brings back the beginning mood of the Nocturne, assuring the continuity of the musical discourse (measures 24-27).

The corona signals the Très lent ending, where the slow pace towards the extreme sonorous registers imprints a conclusive mood, as the p très expressif sonority becomes necessary. The musical weave gradually gets lost through the last sounds of an arpeggio.

Ex. 5.

2.3. Nocturne no.3, Les cloches de Malines in the F Major tonality; "it might be inferred, if there would only be the brief interlude of violently unleashed strings, that it finds inspiration in a very picturesque manner in the Islamic rhythms and melodies; in reality however, it renders the obsessive chime of a bell in Malines, that has once been, to Poulenc's great dismay, an insurmountable obstacle on his path to proper sleep.”9

The first section (measures 1-42) arrives to mitigate the impetus of the preceding Nocturne. The physiognomy of the theme, the "simple" rhythm that endows the melody with individuality and with its objective tempo – Modéré mais sans lenteur, both easily lead our imagination towards the sound of bells chiming. 9 Cortot Alfred, French music for piano, Musical Publishing House of the Composers' Union in the

Socialist Republic of Romania, Bucharest, 1966, p. 355

Observations regarding the Perception of Dynamic Aspects in the "Nocturnes" 35

The 4p interval will complement this expressive canvas and assume its role of sonorous leader. The writing does not demand virtue, as the role of the two sounds of the interval is to maintain the auditory sensation of the bells. In order to keep the quiet sonority–p doux et mélancolique–the mettre beaucoup de pédale indication is suggestive.

Ex. 6.

Poulenc finds it important to place dynamic accents throughout the musical whole. Their placement on the first beat of each measure offers precision to the alternating measures – 3/4 and 4/4 –but their placement on unaccentuated beats determines an auditory detachment of the measure by one beat (measures 6, 7, 11, 12, 15). I believe that their role is rather to bring a sonorous highlight and not a proper "intensity", as the assertion is not just pure theoretical speculation, but merely the composer's wish to hint at the effect of bells chiming.

The dynamic suggestion of the pendulum of sounds must not be abandoned, even if the dissonances disrupt the new pp presence in measures 18-24.The counter-parallel movement of the harmonic intervals of sevenths and ninths require an expressive emphasis and prepare the increase of the mf intensity by one more step (measure 25).

Long silence, the musical "cuts" present in measure 42 and in measure 67, create the bond between sections, intervals that aim to change the metre and the tempo. Riemann considers that the musical silence has a great expressive power, that "we have to feel them, if they expire or inspire, if they represent a conclusion or if they do not form the hollow space between the two pylons that support the melodic arc”.10

In the median section (measures 43-67) – Agité et mystérieux – the metronomic indication noted by the composer is the quarter note= 138 that comes to contradict the unit of time of the alternating measures–the eighth. The metronomic indication is rather an objective guide, and its correspondence with the other parameters involved

10 Fischer Edwin – Beethoven's Sonatas for the piano, Musical Publishing House of the Composers'

Union in the Socialist Republic of Romania, Bucharest, 1966, p. 17.

36 Tatiana HILCA in the musical context will decide the correct performance. Therefore, the quick tempo, the "obsessive" placementof the dynamic accents on each chord, the auxiliary expressive indications –bref, Pédale sur chaque temps, sec–and the strong sonorities f and ff bring vitality to the moment.

Ex. 7.

The appoggiatura becomes a mobile vehicle that Poulenc uses in order to support his chords. The silent measures (measure 49 and measure 56) delimit the sonorities –f and ff, and the last corona break (measure 60) has a much stronger effect – silence–that seems to be a mediator in order to subdue the sudden change in sonorous intensity –ppp mysteriéux (measure 61).

The restoration of the initial tempo will take place after the très long corona (measure 67). For the successful rendering of the quiet, melancholic mood, the composer adds the les 2 pédales indication that will fade out on the last laisser vibrer chord.

2.4. Nocturne no.4 –Bal fantome – appears "as a far-away echo of dull sonorities11in "C minor, one would say, even though no previous key signature confirms the fantasy tonal reassurance offered by its title; it sensibly paraphrases, on an idle mazurka tempo, a nostalgic quote from Lucien Green12, to whom the work is dedicated”.13

11Cortot Alfred, French music for piano, Musical Publishing House of the Composers' Union in the

Socialist Republic of Romania, Bucharest, 1966, p. 355 12Green Julien, Le Vissionaire -,,Pas une note des valses ou des scottishes ne se perdait dans tout les

maison, sibie que la malade eut sa part de la fête et put rever sur son grabat aux bonnes années de sa jeunesse" – le visionnaire”- Not a note of the waltzes or the schottisches was lost in the whole house, so that the sick man shared in the festival had his share of the party and could dream on his death-bed of the good years of his youth - Francis Poulenc – Nocturnes pour Piano – A Paris Chez Heugel au Ménestrel, 2bis, rue Vivienne, p. 12

13Cortot Alfred, French music for piano, Musical Publishing House of the Composers' Union in the Socialist Republic of Romania, Bucharest, 1966, p. 355

Observations regarding the Perception of Dynamic Aspects in the "Nocturnes" 37

The first measures create the vision of a charming waltz, an irresistible urge that pushes towards movement; the innovative, personal harmony, that has a coloristic refinement rendered by the chromatics used, anchors towards a world full of colour and sonority.

A theme that is harmonically enrichened and exposed in a larger register builds up the framework of this Nocturne. In the first eight measures the pp sonority is the only noted dynamic indication, but the presence of the dotted rhythm in the debut of each melodic arc creates a slight tension. Therefore, certain personal expression gestures are required, as the performer discreetly highlights the dotted sound.

Ex. 8

The expressive potential of the melodic intervals varies proportionally with their size: the melodic 8p leap colligated with its placement in the acute register forces a warm ppp performance (measure 9).

The arpeggio indication present in measures 10, 11 and 12 "opens" the chords. Their performance needs to take into consideration the quiet nature and the tempo of the Nocturne –Lent, très las et piano.

38 Tatiana HILCA

Nothing is exaggerated, even the sf in measure 20 must be naturally performed without any agogic exaggeration, as this Nocturne falls into a restricted mp, p, pp, ppp dynamic sphere.

The ethereal alternations –the high and profound register –the low register –together with the light sonorous increases and decreases prepare the final corona in a transparent ppp sonority.

3. Conclusion The awareness, the performance and the conveyance of the significance of the expressive-dynamic language of a work represents perhaps the most important step in correctly decoding the dynamic terms, specific expressions present in a piece, that should reflect the understanding of the feelings and emotions of the composer.

I must highlight the fact that during this analysis of the first four Nocturnes (having a follow-up study of the other works in this cycle), I only followed some of the guiding lines regarding the expressivity and dynamic aspects; subjects such as the reception of the dynamic pallet, the performance and the style are far from being exhausted. Scores Poulenc, Francis. Nocturnes pour Piano – A Paris Chez Heugel au Ménestrel, 2bis, rue

Vivienne

References

Cortot, Alfred. 1966. French music for piano. Bucharest: Musical Publishing House of the Composers' Union in the Socialist Republic of Romania.

Fischer, Edwin. 1966. Beethoven's Sonatas for the piano. Bucharest: Musical Publishing House of the Composers' Unionin the Socialist Republic of Romania.

Goléa, Antoine and Vignal, Marc (coord.) 2006. A dictionary of great musicians. Bucharest: Encyclopedic Universe Publishing House.

Keck, George Russell. 1990. Francis Poulenc – A Bio-bibliography. New York: Greenwood Press.

Bulletin of the Transilvania University of Braşov Series VIII: Performing Arts • Vol. 12 (61) No. 1 - 2019 https://doi.org/10.31926/but.pa.2019.12.61.4

Aspects in the Evolution of the Sonata Genre and Form

in the Piano Creation

Corina IBĂNESCU1

Abstract: In our approach, we start from the conquests of the Baroque music regarding the architectural pattern of the sonata, following its evolutionary path along with the flowering of keyboard instruments and the creation standard set by Scarlatti who, in his time, named his 555 Exercises of great virtuosity, Sonatas. Starting from the 17th-18th centuries from the two types of sonata - da camera and da chiesa, we reach the time of crystallization of the instrumental sonata genre and form during the Viennese classicism of Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven. One of the great innovators in the field of sonata form and the setting of the well-known pattern of today is Carl Philipp Emmanuel Bach. In his turn, Haydn will approach the sonata from both a standalone and applied to chamber, symphonic and concert music. We follow the architectural changes of the sonata onto new horizons, from Beethoven to Schubert and Liszt. Synthesizing the metamorphoses suffered in the evolution of the sonata genre and form, we observe the tendency of mirroring at its level the distinct elements in the creation of each composer. Keywords: sonata, genre, form, evolution, pianistic creation 1. Introduction

In the pianistic creation, composers throughout time approached especially the large genres, such as the sonata, this having a priviledged place in their preoccupations, which was reflected in the impressive number of works and their exceptional value. The term sonata is used in both the definition of a musical form and in that of a musical genre, which is why we consider it important to reveal the evolutionary path of the sonata genre and form, whose decisive impact on the development and evolution of ample instrumental genres such as the concert, symphony and string quartet is essential. Thus, in our approach we must start from the first conquests in the field, during the Baroque period, a successor of the pavana-gagliarda couple that generated the two directions for the assertion of the sonata - da camera, meant for the laic environment, and the da chiesa, for the church, both reuniting a group of three instruments (hence the name of a tré) and a continuous bass – but also the development direction of the instrumental suite. Refering strictly to the architectural

1 Transilvania University of Braşov, alexandra.belibou@unitbv.ro

Corina IBĂNESCU 40

pattern of the sonata, we distinguish the two terminologies that determine, each separately, a particular aspect in its complex composition: genre and form. 2. History and evolution

In order to follow the evolutionary path of the sonata, we focus on the flowering of keyboard instruments which attracted, through their improvement, the crystallization, development and perfection of the specific instrumental forms. The germs of the classical bi-thematic sonata with development for the piano, a model and creation standard for the classical and post-classical period, are found in the brilliance of Domenico Scarlatti’s clavecinist art (1685 – 1757), who names his 555 de Exercises of great virtuosity, Sonatas. Being a two-part monothematic, this type of sonata (emerged towards the end of the 16th century) involved in the first stage a musical theme exhibited in the basic tonality, framed by a modulating section at a near tonality (dominant in the case of the major base tonalities, or the major relative, in the case of a minor base tonality). Through his works, which naturally combine great melodic expressiveness and interpretative virtuosity, Scarlatti achieves perfection and enriches the pianistic literature, the composer summoning himself ’’more and more categorically to a single genre, to one species and to one single form of chamber concert instrumental music, namely the sonata in bipartite form, monothematic in essence and plurimotivistic in appearance by the thematic ornamentation, pure arabesque’’ (Berger, 1985, 260). Here is how Scarlatti opens the premise for the becoming of one of the most approached piano (and not only) instrumental forms, completed through time, to achieve the complexity it enjoys nowadays. Starting from the 17th-18th centuries from the two types of the sonata genre, da camera and da chiesa, prefigured on the basis of the existence of the tonal level and harmony that will in turn generate the homophone style, taking over the pattern of the bipartite structures of the movements of the preclassical instrumental suite, we reach the time of crystallization of the sonata genre and form during the Viennese classicism of Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven. An analysis of the form, separating it from the sonata genre is, in our opinion, unsatisfactory, since both genre and form have crystallized in the same way, both aesthetically and philosophically, as well as on the development of musical technique and art.

3. Aspects in the evolution of the genre and form With the implementation of instrumental art in music and the abandonment of plyphony already speculated in the slightest detail, the homophone style asserts itself, generating new forms and structures on which the melody is woven, one of the great innovators in this field, with major influences on the development of the

Aspects in the Evolution of the Sonata Genre and Form in the Ppiano Creation 41

sonata form and the setting of the well-known pattern of today, being the successor of the great Bach, is Carl Philipp Emmanuel Bach (1714-1788). In his creative conception, “the bi-thematic sonata became in his compositions the own form of expression for the new content of ideas, which was updated by the last aspect of the”doctrine of affections” and this perfect combination of form and content, due to Bach – is what exerted the strong influence on his descendants, recognized by them, and produced the awarding of the mentioned title, that of father of the modern sonata” (Nicolescu, 1962, -170). Expression and the need for expressing music have become a matter of great interest to new generation musicians, being met by the efforts of refining and perfecting the instrument capable of rendering the composer’s intentions as intense as possible. Here's how the two very important poles for the subsequent evolution of the genre (and from here the openings to the affirmation of some new ones) are found in the same stylistic age: "the improvement of the keyboard instruments and [...] Philipp Emmanuel's conception, the human voice as the ideal to which instrumental singing" [integrates] into that sensitive style whose influence on Haydn and Mozart is no longer contested by anyone and whose main representative is without doubt the author of the Prussian Sonatas and of the Test upon the true way of playing the piano "(Nicolescu, 1962, 169-170). Thus, “classicism will witness the emergence of a musical genre that will dominate music to this day: the sonata” [...], a precursor to the development of the modern concert, symphony, trio and quartet towards a new peak of structural and expressive refinement. If the Baroque music is highlighted by textural complication, then the classical period is characterized by the obscurity of structural clarity” (Ionescu, 2011, 40). Although the soanata form experienced a monothematic development in the Baroque, starting with the Meinnheim School it will evolve over the bi-thematic line in which it will stabilize to the present day. Haydn will give birth to the first sonatas brought to a higher level by his predecessor Carl Ph. Em. Bach, observing the perfect balance of form and thematic development and approaching the sonata form from both as a standalone and applied to chamber, symphonic and concert music, the consistency of the use of this form marking the importance for the entire instrumental genre.

Knowing and studying the works of the two composers – Carl Philipp and Haydn – led to the evolution of the form and genre of the sonata, rising on a high expressive stage in the creation of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791), who cultivated the sonata pattern taking over what he considered more important and according to his inner structure. “The ease with which the Mozart sound is moving in the form of the sonata” (Nicolescu, 1962, 175) whose first proof is the clarity and cleanliness of his manuscripts, in strong contrast with the manuscripts and sketches of Beethoven that betray the labor of creation, will not go unnoticed in the twentieth century, George Enescu noting in his writings: “I think – perhaps, mistaken – referring him to Beethoven. What is wonderful about Mozart, which totally disparages him from Beethoven, is that he never has experiences,

Corina IBĂNESCU 42

speculations. He goes straight to the goal, finds it suddenly. He adapts himself without obeying the forms of his age, and I refer to the sonata form, based on traceability of simple tonalities” (Bughici, 1978, 331). Although the study of Mozart’s creation of the genre in this sense does not show an intense and direct concern over the renewal or diversification of the architectural and structural plan of the instrumental sonata, Mozart’s genius can not be denied, due to the “disturbing originality of the composer for whom music is a natural, spontaneous emanation, to whom the instinct of the form preserves its original character in all achievements. Without ever failing, he manages intervals, melody, harmony or counterpoint with the naturalness of speaking his mother tongue” (Nicolescu, 1962, 174). The relationship with the instrumental suite and its specificity – the alternation of movements and the contrast determined by the specificity of the combined dances, a model of the development of the parts later adapted to the instrumental sonata – is a structural element belonging to the genre. Thus, from a variable number of three to five contrasting movements (sometimes having an introductory part) known during the preclassical period, the genre of the instrumental sonata will crystallize in classicism, the musical material being usually arranged in three parts, the slow medium one being framed by two fast sections. However, there are few sonatas in just two parts, a closer look at Joseph Haydn’s piano creation (1732-1809), considered to be a true model of structural balance, reveals us the fact that this exception is more common than we expected, of the 52 works not less than 10, in their full formula, have two movements. Of the three great Viennese classics, Mozart appears to be the most stable in terms of the number of parts of his sonatas, remaining faithfull to the structure in three movements in the piano works. The interpretative practice and the study of the classical works of the genre reveal a certain arrangement of the constituent parts of the sonata. Thus, considering the structure in three parts as the pattern of creation and starting from the natural arrangement of the slow part between two fast parts, we also observe, apart from the fact that each movement has a specific character (their contrasting arrangement having the same common denominator as the instrumental suite) a certain pattern as to the shape of the parts in their arrangement throughout the work: part I – sonata form; part II – lied form, menuet with trio, or sonata form; part III – rondo form (rondo-sonata), sonata form, menuet, lied, or theme with variations. The special character that Beethoven’s language gives to his sonatas is supported on the level of the creative conception by the acute need to arrange the movements on a new pattern, subordinated entirely to the musical message. Thus, the structure of the sonata in four parts set by Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827) is: p. I – sonata form (but also theme with variations; sometimes with introduction), p. II scherzo (innovative element), p. III lied, menuet or sonata without development, and p. IV rondo, rondo-sonata or sonata form. We also note the introduction of the funeral march (p. III of Sonata in B Major op. 26), of the fugue (the end of Sonatas op. 106 and op. 110), as well as the programmatic element of romantic

Aspects in the Evolution of the Sonata Genre and Form in the Ppiano Creation 43

filliation (Sonata op. 81, written in 1805: p. I Les Adieux, p. II L’Absence, p. III Le Retour, where the composer himself recorded in the musical text under the three sounds that generated the entire sonata, the word Lebewohl – Adieu). The evolution of the ideology-specific languages that continually metamorphosed the creative consciousness of the composers led, along with the Beethoven developmental principle immerging from the inner dramatism of the generating thematic profiles, to structural metamorphoses, the movements being expanded and amplified to support the entire musical ensemble of great complexity (as in, for instance, Beethoven’s piano sonatas – the three sonatas op. 2, sonatas op. 10 no. 3. op. 22, op. 27 no. 1, op. 28, op. 31 no. 3 (with 4 movements), or the impressive last opuses 101-111 – as well as Schubert’s sonatas or, on the contrary, under the influence of the symphonic poem and its specific deployment, coming to synthesize several sections in a single movement (Liszt – Sonata in H minor S.178). 4. The aesthetics of the sonata The aesthetics of the sonata form follows the path of the Hegelian absolute idea, in which are enclosed the moments of thesis, antithesis and synthesis corresponding to the first (main) theme, to the second theme (secondary, or a secondary thematic group) and the result of their antithetic evolution synthesized in the half-section. Here, the two themes originally in tonal (and expressive) contrast are found in full consensus, in a convergent plan determined by tonal unity. As we know, the culmination of the genre will be achieved by Ludwig van Beethoven, the musical expression, harmonic language, variety of musical forms, dramaturgy obtained from the themes of great spiritual depth, as well as the ideological developments underlying the sonata, conferring an new aura of perfection to this genre, anticipating musical romanticism and “putting in balance the classical ideal” (Merişescu, 1968, 10). The clashes of contradictory principles and the founding of music on a struggling interior, caught between reason and feeling, between subjective and objective, between truth and aesthetics, find their externalized expression in large profound works, with an obviously dramatic character where the struggle of principles leads to changes of the architectural balances, that balance in a perfect equability with Haydn and Mozart destabilizing with Beethoven as a result of the inner tumult in favour of one or other of the principles. Just as in the depth of Bachian creation, flicker the germs of the new languages of the 20th century (demonstrated and researched repeatedly, like a painting by Leonardo da Vinci), the Beethoven sonata reveals the horizons of treating the form as a malleable, permissive support for the laying of new sound edifices. At Franz Schubert (1797-1828) - a contemporary of Beethoven, but deeply affiliated with the romantic aesthetics, the instrumental sonata knows elements of the lied (which he raised on the highest peaks of expressivity, being the major and determinant

Corina IBĂNESCU 44

genre in Schubert’s creation) that gives to the melodic lines a particularly charming profile and a broad breath, the form being extended in order not to melt anything of the melodic expression. Franz Liszt (1811-1886), however, innovating in the genre of the symphonic poem by focusing on the three parts characteristic of the genre in one part, will become the precursor of the modern one-part sonata, the composer proving himself an innovator through his searches and variations, also pointing to the principle of the monothematic sonata, a precursor of modernism. 4. Conclusions Synthesizing the metamorphoses suffered in the evolution of the sonata genre and form, we observe the tendency of mirroring at its level the distinct elements in the creation of each composer. The need to find new forms of expression has led over time to the homophone style domination, the harmonic level reflecting increasingly advanced philosophical, cultural and aesthetic ideas. Having as its source the prototype of the bipartite structure present in the pre-classical suite, the sonata of classical typology is to be considered a peak of instrumental thinking in music, at its basis being, as we have already mentioned, Hegel’s philosophical principle of the antithesis and synthesis. The musical thinking of the stylistic periods following the Viennese classical period marks the so-called neoclassicism, most of the composers embracing the tradition of building the form to exploit it in a new light, the issue of the genre reaching out to multiple aspects. Both the genre and the form of the sonata have undergone important changes over time, driven by each composer’s search for finding the most appropriate means of expression to render the musical content that defines each and everyone. References Berger, Wilhelm Georg. 1985. Estetica sonatei baroce [Aesthetics of the Baroque

Sonata]. Bucureşti: Editura muzicală. Bughici, Dumitru (apud George Enescu). 1978. Dicţionar de forme şi genuri muzicale

[Dictionary of musical genres and forms]. București: Editura muzicală. Ionescu, Lucian Alexandru. 2011. Pianul (înaintaşii şi urmaşii săi, instrumente cu

claviatură) [The piano. Its predecessors and its successors, keyboard instruments]. Constanţa: Editura Europolis.

Merişescu, Gheorghe. 1968. Istoria muzicii universale [The History of Universal music] volumul II [ volume II]. Bucureşti: Editura Didactică şi Pedagogică.

Nicolescu, Mircea. 1962. Sonata [The Sonata.] București: Editura Muzicală. (English version by Gilda Cristina Marinescu)

Bulletin of the Transilvania University of Braşov Series VIII: Performing Arts • Vol. 12 (61) No. 1 - 2019 https://doi.org/10.31926/but.pa.2019.12.61.5

Expressing Reality through Spectacle and Dream

in Baroque Art

Noémi KARÁCSONY1 Abstract: Diversity and unity, dream and reality, the constant struggle between opposites – these are some of the ideas which mark the Baroque, as art period in the history of Western art, but as a perpetual concept as well. The present paper aims to reveal and explain the philosophical ideas which influenced the creation of Baroque artistic creations. The outer splendour is a mask which hides the deep torment of the artist, lavishness and opulence express the complexity of the human soul, torn between contradictions, a tension which can be perceived in Baroque music as well. The alto arias in the “Stabat Mater” of G. B. Pergolesi were chosen to explain, from a musical point of view, some of the philosophical concepts which define the Baroque. Keywords: Baroque, mask, splendour, Pergolesi, “Stabat Mater” 1. Introduction

In her work Infinita contemplazione. Gusto e filosofia dell’Europa barocca, Rosario Assunto analyzes the importance of Leibniz’s philosophy in the process of defining the ideas which influenced Baroque Art. The principles of the German philosopher Gottfried Wilhelm von Leibniz focus on such concepts as diversity and unity: dividing unity and uniting diversity. Assunto believes that the philosophy of Leibniz may be regarded as a Baroque philosophy, which seeks to offer an answer and justification for those imperfections and irregularities often associated with the extravagance of Baroque art.

The German philosopher’s belief is that mankind lives in the most beautiful, most balanced and perfect of all worlds, following a harmonious path established in advance. The apparent imperfections one may perceive are also explained by Leibniz, who believes that behind all these flaws there lies a perfect justification: God would not have created an imperfect world if there could have been created a

1 Ph.D. Student of the Transilvania University of Brașov, Romania. E-mail: noemi.karacsony.singer@gmail.com

Noémi KARÁCSONY 46

better one. These ideas have a soothing effect upon the soul of the Baroque artist, tormented by contradictions.

Baroque art is often associated with decline and decadence, its extravagance is considered a tool which seeks to hide a profound inner crisis. In her work Assunto refers to a fragment in which Leibniz, offering mathematical and rational arguments, explains that behind what one may view as imperfect and irregular, there lie myriads of reasons, which can explain these apparently flawed choices: “(…) a line may be drawn in such a manner as to avoid a certain point or return to it, it may follow an ascending or descending course, it can change its direction and form, its continuity could be broken or it could suffer other changes, thus one cannot examine but one fragment in a line; despite this fact, we could still include this line in a construction in which a Geometer could find a purpose and an explanation for all the alleged irregularities: thus, this is the manner in which the so-called monsters and other flaws of this Universe must be judged...” (Assunto 1983, 108). Assunto believes that the “accusations of superficial sensuality and irrational imagery”, often associated with the Baroque (Assunto 1983, 37), are offered an opposed interpretation through these ideas.

Despite the fact that life is viewed as predetermined, man can and must alter or transform the surrounding circumstances, and he may do so through his faith, ideals, the will and strength with which he seeks to accomplish his desires. This point of view may be an explanation as to why the Baroque artist perceives life as a magnificent spectacle, seeking thus to alter, at least in appearance, that which seems inevitable and impossible to change. 2. Spectacle, grandeur and dream Life in its entirety is perceived as a great play, the world is the theater of the Baroque artist, whose final goal is not the creation of an artistic masterpiece, but rather the effect this work of art will produce upon the spectators. Beauty and splendour act as a shield, concealing the inner tragedy, the weakness of the artist, thus protecting the creator of this artwork. Gradually the artist himself is trapped by the beauty of his own creation: “shimmering beauty must protect the one who creates it, it is destined to act upon an other being, to mesmerize, to amaze and create the state of «meravigilia», but these effects must be tested by the creator himself. This is the moment of the «mirror». Glamour becomes enamoured with its own beauty, often reaching the point of self-fascination, forgetting that it was not created for this purpose. (...) Glamour and splendour cease to determine a goal outside the creator, becoming the goal itself” (Papu 1977, 211).

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The mirror has a symbolic meaning, often employed by writers and artists with the purpose of pointing out one’s mistakes, encouraging the spectator or reader to revise his thoughts and actions. However, in Baroque Art the mirror ceases to represent an outer advice or warning, becoming a means for enjoying one’s own beauty and splendour. This external spectacle is preceded by a complex phenomenon which lies at the very foundation of Baroque Art: inner tragedy. After a certain period of evolution a living being inevitably encounters a particular state of decline, which makes this being vulnerable both to inner dissensions and outer attacks. This weakness must be masked through splendour and glamour, beauty acting as a weapon, operating as meraviglia, enchanting those who behold this sparkle.

Life becomes a spectacle in which the artist, contemplating his own beauty, is decevied by his own creation, falsely assuming that the weakness he desperately seeked to hide has vanished, but in fact the poison has spread even deeper in his being. 3. G. B. Pergolesi: Stabat Mater The cathedral is destined to offer a harbor against the tempest of everyday life, a place for prayer and inner reflections. The Baroque cathedral aims to represent the splendour of the heavenly realm: the paintings and sculptures, the entire edifice in itself, through its monumental construction and heavy ornaments can be regarded as a sacred theater. Ideas related to life and death can be closely linked to the image of the cathedral and expressed through the artistic creations which adorn this sacred space. The works of the great Spanish dramatist, poet and writer Pedro Calderón de la Barca, himslef a Roman Catholic priest, reflect this idea of life perceived as a dream and spectacle: el gran teatro del mundo (the great theater of this world) and la vida es sueño (life is a dream), fundamental ideas of the Baroque (Papu 1977, 50). Life and suffering is represented in the sacred work of Giovanni Battista Pergolesi as well, the well-known Stabat Mater, one the works for which the Italian composer is best known for.

Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater illustrates some of the fundamental ideas which define the Baroque, as art movement and as a perpetual philosophical concept. Pergolesi chose to evoke the tragedy of the crucifixion and the pain of Mary, the mother of Jesus, through the use of contrasts, often piercing and sharp, between the content and the music employed to describe certain verses, as well as through dissonances and powerful rhythmic patterns.

Noémi KARÁCSONY 48

The Christian Hymn dedicated to the mother of Jesus, for soprano and alto soloist, string orchestra and basso continuo, was set to music by Pergolesi in 1736, shortly before the composer’s death. Pergolesi divided his work into twelve movements, each of these bearing as title the first line of some of the verses. The style of the work differs from the operas the composer was well-known for during his lifetime, the light and charming structure of his works destined for the stage is replaced in the Stabat Mater by a certain melancholy and gloom. Through a well-established employment of the various instruments in certain movements of the work, the use of accents and dynamic changes, Pergolesi creates a powerful sonorous image of pain and grief, an overwhelming emotion one can almost physically feel. 4. Representing Baroque ideas: contrast and meraviglia in the alto arias The alto aria Quae moerebat is a wonderful example regarding the use of contrasting elements. At first, the light, floating character of the music may seem striking if compared to the meaning of the latin text: “Quae moerebat et dolebat, et tremebat, cum videbat nati poenas incliti./Quae moerebat et dolebat Pia Mater dum videbat nati poenas incliti.” The meaning of these lines is: How the pious Mother mourned, and grieved, and trembled looking at the torment of her child. One would expect a much slower tempo and the use of a minor tonality, instead of the E-flat major employed by the composer. However, the use of the syncopation causes a certain disturbance of the musical flow, thus musically evoking the pain, the torment, the trembling.

Fig. 1.

Expressing Reality through Spectacle and Dream in Baroque Art

49

In a similar manner, the use of the trill, on the words tremebat in the first part of the aria, and again in the second part of the aria on each syllable of the words Quae moerebat and et tremebat (Figure 2), suggests the powerful, disturbing emotions provoked by the witnessing of the torments of Jesus.

Fig. 2. Another interesting aspect is the use of upward leaps on the words nati poenas: a leap of an octave (e-flat1 – e-flat2) in the first part of the aria, and a leap of a sixth (a-flat1 – f2) in the second part (Figure 3). These upward leaps may suggest Mary’s inner screams of pain upon seeing the sufferings of Jesus and acknowledging the fact that these torments cannot be undone or stopped.

Fig. 3

The following aria for the alto voice Eja mater, fons amoris is written in the triple meter of 3/8, the composer choosing the tonality of c minor for the music of these verses: “Eja Mater, fons amoris, me sentire vim doloris fac ut tecum lugeam” (Thou Mother, fountain of love, let me partake in your sorrow, let me grieve with you). The gentle pulsation of the triple meter and the soothing character of the c minor tonality evoke Mary, the mother of Jesus as a fountain of love.

Noémi KARÁCSONY 50

Here as well, as in the previous aria, the upward leaps (even an upward leap of a tenth between the notes c1 – e-flat2, may evoke the cries of pain, while the repetition of the note g1, through seven bars on the words fac ut tecum lugeam, produces a certain inner tension which eventually culminates on the note d2, followed by a sudden downward leap of a sixth on the note f1 (Figure 4).

Fig. 4.

This descending motion continues, touching the lower register of the voice on the notes b and c1. The sudden change of registers may suggest that through pain and suffering man can be redeemed, however the use of the low register of the singing voice can be interpreted as an indication regarding the difference between our present state as humans, exposed to sin and mistake and our desire to ascend to that holy state where Mary, as the mother of Jesus, abides.

The rhythmic patterns employed by Pergolesi in the third aria for the alto voice, Fac ut portem, evoke the painful, almost unbearable sound of the crucifixion: the hands and feet of Jesus are nailed to the cross. A pattern similar to the one used in the instrumental introduction is restated by the alto voice, in a sequence which is repeated for three times, each time a tone lower.

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Fig. 5. The latin verses are the following: “Fac ut portem Christi mortem, passionis fac consortem et plagas recolere./Fac me plagis vulnerari, cruce hac inebriari ob amorem filii” (May I be granted to bear the death of Christ, the fate of his Passion and commemorate His wounds. Let me be wounded by his wounds and be inebriated by His cross, for the love of your Son). The suggestive introduction is followed by a more tranquil part, the voice supplicating to take part in the suffering of Christ. The beautiful vocalize on the word plagas suggests the holy nature of this pain, while the ascending pattern of the ornaments seem to evoke (once more) the redemption which is possible after the Passion. 5. Conclusions Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater offers wonderful opportunities for meditation: the music translates, in a most subtle manner, the profound meaning of the Passion of Christ, the performing musician, as well as the listener, are encouraged to empathize with the pain and torment which eventually lead to redemption. The profound symbolism of the Stabat Mater is translated into music by Pergolesi, using a complex and rich musical language. The work mesmerizes and stirs, both the performer and the audience, thus the double goal of the meraviglia is accomplished: the magic of this splendour can mesmerize the spectator, for it has already mesmerized its creator. The passing nature of earthly life is represented in Pergolesi’s work, through the harmonic constructions, musical intervals, rhythmic patterns and timbres employed.

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6. References Assunto, Rosario. 1983. Universul ca spectacol. Arta și filosofia Europei baroce [The

Universe as Spectacle. The Art and Philosophy of Europe in the Baroque Era]. București: Editura Meridiane.

Papu, Edgar. 1977. Barocul ca tip de existență [The Baroque as A Type of Existence], vol. I and II. București: Editura Minerva.

Bulletin of the Transilvania University of Braşov Series VIII: Performing Arts • Vol. 12 (61) No. 1- 2019 https://doi.org/10.31926/but.pa.2019.12.61.6

Innovative Techniques and Methods in Contemporary Musical Education

Gelu NEAGU1

Abstract: Globalization and new technological changes - processes that have accelerated in the last 20 years together behind a new world economy "driven by technology, fuelled by information and driven by knowledge. Extending this new global economy has major implications for the structure and goals of educational institutions. Since the period of topical information continuously decreases and the level of access to it increases exponentially, the educational system cannot remain focused on sending a rigid set of knowledge from teacher to student in a fixed period of time. After Alvin Toffler, "The illiterate XXI century will not be those who cannot read and write but those who cannot learn, learn and learn again." A diversified curriculum by introducing digital information and gain new modern methods of teaching, learning and assessment, will inevitably give character education Romanian knowledge society in which it exists. Design content of school subjects without serious analysis of accessibility and tackling them superficial, remain without positive effects in terms of musical education and, especially, will feel the effects of superficiality. Keywords: e-learning, ICT in music education, collaborative, interdisciplinary, transdisciplinary, integrated education, blended-learning. 1. E-learning in music education

Visibility term e-learning in the spectrum of worldwide education marked since its inception, revolution means, modern techniques and methods and their harmonization with the contemporary, creating as niche penetration of educational paradigm that tend today to find resolution evolving and constantly upgrading the methodological tools adapted XXI century.

Since its inception, the concept of e-learning and assigned one or more definitions which undoubtedly highlight, on the one hand the complexity of

1 National University of Music Bucharest, Email:geluneagu@gmail.com

Gelu NEAGU 54

approaching the subject in a context of the continuous evolution, and on the other hand, brought in for the new elements thereof, capable of producing significant changes in contemporary pedagogical ideology.

Broadly speaking, e-learning educational situations mean all the significant means using information and communication technology.

The term, borrowed from Anglo-Saxon literature, was expanded from primary meaning, etymologically, learning through electronic means now covering the area of intersection of educational activities with modern ICT tools.

Defined as more like e-education, the area of semantic concept e-learning interferes with and overlaps indefinitely variable on a multitude of terms that capture the variety of experiences teaching that can benefit from technological support: assisted instruction / media computer, digital / mobile / online learning / education, training in multimedia, etc.

Narrow, e-learning is a type of distance education as a planned teaching and learning experience organized by an institution providing material immediately in a sequential order and logic to be acquired by students in their own way. The emergence of the term e-learning and distance learning took place recently in the Romanian educational system.

By definition e-learning encompasses methods and traditional techniques and modern and using IT & C (multimedia processing and asynchronous or synchronous communication) leads the subjects that used to get experience in understanding and mastery of knowledge and skills in a field of knowledge. In the context of music education, e-learning concept translates, on the one hand a valuable educational, training, and on the other hand, educational value, learning; comprising both theory and practice music, interacting, and highlights two aspects improve teaching side of musical disciplines.

As of course know the interaction between theory and practice is vital for understanding the music, which in time will increase the performance that will be argued of course, once again, complementary facets theoretical and practical discourse teaching music available at all levels of training.

The practice of music education showed some concrete situations of work, there may be some gaps in coherent approach to relationship theory - practice due to multiple causes and different, such as for example lack of specialized teachers, lack of minimum instrumentation means teaching, specific music (musical instruments, music, etc.), systemic inconsistencies (by calling this causes in the system, the educational system, the transition from one stage to another, for curriculum development or transformation, such as, for example, introduction a digital manual for music education), etc.

All these phenomena, unfortunately, we know today and certainly desired an immediate solution and secure their more noticing is a need to extend the training

Innovative Techniques and Methods in Contemporary Musical Education 55

music at some levels of education, and an effective way to approach the subject and while solving some of the issues raised in the music education system is the introduction of e-learning pedagogy contemporary music.

It should however be noted that the expansion possibilities of music education, e-learning, at the moment are limited in our educational musical, so it requires a series of tests and studies to highlight those elements of modern technology to satisfy all and which ensure the complementarity theory, and achievement of the proposed educational ideals.

1.1. Learning tools

Learning in modern society is not rigidly connected to the classroom, it now allows the development of learning methods oriented individual learning and large groups; synchronous and asynchronous learning; learning groups divided geographically, etc., all being mentioned clearly in contemporary music education.

Dealing with such modern techniques involve sustained educational actors in finding the most efficient ways of working to harmonize general evolutionary spectrum of the social system with specific training and musical training at all its levels of action.

Thus, in recent decades they have developed a series of methodologies and implementation strategies, of which mention here: - Problem Based Learning - PBL – learning method in which those trained are

challenged to "learn to learn" cooperating in working groups to find solutions to real problems. These problems are used to stimulate the desire for knowledge of students in - a given field. PBL critical thinking and analytical forms, search capabilities and use appropriate learning resources.

- Case Study – active learning method, based on the analysis of situations (problems) concrete with known solutions. Group of students in the learning process is proposed to analyze a specific situation in a given context. It requires determination of an optimal algorithm for solving. Finally, the proposed solutions against each other group members and analyzed the algorithm of case used in the actual situation.

- Collaborative Learning – method of learning the skills trained with different levels working together in small groups to solve a common problem. Learning responsibilities are distributed within the group, each responsible for their own learning and training those who have a lower level of skills. The method allows the development of critical thinking, communication skills.

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- Cooperative Learning– learning method applied to local groups, the organizational component and the communicative tools are implemented through traditional (classroom activities face to face).

- Team based learning – developed a training strategy for the creation and development groups trained in resolving performance issues. Team (s) are made for the whole period of learning (course), their work is evaluated continuously. For evaluation can be used part time resources reserved course. Self-evaluation is critical importance within the group (peer review) and continuous monitoring of the progress of the team.

1.2. Online learning Tools

The methods listed above can be found in the virtual environment generated e-learning through applications and online tools dedicated to music education, but very few will get an outline relevant in order to obtain the status of certain middle of music education and, of course, only after prolonged search and following studies dedicated didactics modern musical instruments can be amplified due to the specific nature of musical art.

I will try to expose the breakdowns summary, an approach short, to highlight the multitude of instruments that techniques of modern information operates today, and because of the huge number of them, we turned to the presentations of the Center for Training and Technology Performance UK ( Center for learning & performance Technologies), which proposes an interesting classification tools for e-learning, accompanied by the list of the best tools for each category from 2007 to 2018, registering 400 such tool: • programs Web browsing - allow access to web pages, search systems, view

network information, interaction with other training programs. (Firefox, Chrome).

• Email - Apps for email. Enable the creation and management of email accounts, receiving, viewing and sending e-mail messages and attachments. (Google, Yahoo).

• Tools for Social Networking - allows communication with network members, creating and editing your profile, forging links with certain members of the network, participation in and organization of the virtual network (Ning, Twitter, Facebook).

• Panels – services – applications to express public sharing of personal information (iGoogle).

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• Collecting and displaying news (RSS feed) - programs for the collection of the sites latest news in one or several areas specified and displaying them in a special location (work area window gadget, etc.) (Google Reader, Bloglines).

• Synchronous communication tools - allow sending and receiving instant text messages, sound and video. (Skype).

• Tools for creating blogs and micro blogs - Maximum automate the creation and management of blogs. It also gives space for information posted (Wordpress, Blogger, Twitter).

• Tools for creating web pages - Allows full automation of process of creating and managing a website. Allocate space for information posted (Google sites, Dreamweaver).

• Tools for online processing of documents – applications that allow access to documents (text, spreadsheets, presentations, databases) stored remotely and view or edit them jointly with other authorized users (Google Docs, Zoho).

• Tools for creating presentations - allows creating, editing and viewing multimedia presentations with the inclusion therein of external resources (PowerPoint, Impress).

• Tools for publishing and storing presentations - allow publication Network presentations created. The presentation is accessible from anywhere. You can start discussions on the web presentation, receive comments, feedback. (Slideshare).

• Applications for Web conferencing – allow synchronous communication more people using Internet resources. Communication can be done through video, sound, text and screen sharing. (DIMDATA, Adobe Connect, Skype).

• Image processing, organization and storage web - applications to create, capture and edit images (local) and their subsequent posting in online albums. (SnagIt / capture, Adobe PhotoShop / Creating, editing, Picassa, Flickr / organization and post Network).

• Applications for broadcasting video, audio - visual and sound systems for capturing video with subsequent translational online and network storage. It allows both synchronous access during direct translational as well as repeated access of users in asynchronous mode. (YouTube, Flip, Livestream / video, Audacity, iTunes / sound).

• Tools for organizing personal schedule – allow optimal organization of work (hours, meetings, and meetings) for a certain period (Google Calendar, Evernote).

• Tools for organizing schemes of thought (mind mapping) - applications for the creation and development schemes of thought on the basis of ideas (concepts). Applications of this kind are used to generate, visualize, structure and classify ideas and problem solving processes, organization, decision making. (Freemind, Bubbl.us).

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• Tools for creating educational resources (course authoring) - applications for creating and organizing educational resources. Course structure allows the creation, support interactive course content systems and test objects simulation and educational games. (Articulated lecturers, Adobe Captivate, Camtasia).

• Library, dictionaries, maps and online encyclopaedias - specialized resources for education. Allow obtaining information by way of precise definition or open, illustrative material or a geographical nature (Google Maps, Google Books, Wiki, DEX for Android).

• Systems management courses – complex applications that allow complete management of e-learning in an educational institution. (Moodle, Blackboard).

• integrated social learning platforms – integrated tools for open learning team, group, collaborative within the enterprise, etc. (Elgg).

2. E-Learning – possible transdisciplinary approach to music education

The social dynamics of the last decades presents to the contemporary world a series of challenges to which the field of education does not remain indifferent. The complex and integrated nature (character) of issues such as globalization, migration, interculturality, environmental protection, information explosion, conflicts, demands a transdisciplinary educational approach.

To cope the challenges of the contemporary world, students need strategic skills such as the ability to learn how to learn, the ability to evaluate and solve problems. it is appropriate to recall the short definitions of the notions, thus: multidisciplinarity studies a discipline through several disciplines at the same

time; multidisciplinarity is the overlapping of elements within several disciplines,

apparently unrelated, to highlight some common issues. interdisciplinarity makes it possible to establish some links between different

disciplines. Interdisciplinarity means also the transfer of concepts and methods from one discipline to another in order to achieve a unitary understanding of the surrounding world.

transdisciplinarity requires the approach of some often-complex themes, using investigation tools and rules specific to certain sciences using their concepts, but in other contexts.

Students show interest in the concrete problems they face in everyday life and seek explanations and practical solutions. In order to meet their interests, education will have to become more involved in everyday life, because what interest children are very little in the field of scientific theory.

Innovative Techniques and Methods in Contemporary Musical Education 59

The fundamental objective of any educational system is the formation of general culture in pupils. The unilateral organization of information into a rigid system is totally inappropriate with this intention.

The contribution of the disciplines should not be constituted by what they have in common, transferable elements, elements that ensure general character. in this way through the education, in which the curriculum goes beyond the barriers of a discipline, the specific competences will be formed, but also the transferable, necessary for the personal development of the pupil (competence to learn, social skills, methodological skills) on the basis of such open and flexible education, profound specialization can be achieved through the formation of lasting general competences over time.

The integrated approach, specific to transdisciplinarity, is centered on the real world, on the relevant aspects of everyday life presented as it affects and influences our lives

The transdisciplinary level involves the integrated approach of the curriculum by focusing on real life issues, focusing on finding solutions, solving problems in authentic life, in order to develop transversal competences. From the pedagogical perspective, the transdisciplinary approach: it provides students with the appropriate formal framework for organizing

knowledge. it is appropriate for all levels of intellectual ability or learning style; is totally

participatory, requires the use of any active teaching style. it presents a high degree of complexity, both in terms of content and

methodological approach. it is much cheaper than teaching-learning based on school textbooks it is permanently refined, updated as a result of the education user's feed-

back. Transdisciplinary skills cannot be classified according to the content of a

subject. They are classified such as: general-methodological skills: observation, experimentation, graphic

representation, interpretation of data or text. metacognitive competences - estimation of difficulty of workload, strategic

planning, evaluation of results, behavioural monitoring, personal learning techniques.

positive attitude, motivation - realism, interest in learning, tolerance for contradictory information, positive attitude towards personal performance.

pragmatic skills - personal initiative, ability to concentrate, task orientation to task solving, work skills

What the student will know to do after transdisciplinary learning?

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• to interpret, to analyze, to formulate, to express personal opinions. • to use the information to solve a given problem. • to Identify and solve problems

Organized transdisciplinary content will focus on the educational process not on the discipline, but on the intellectual, affective and psychomotor approaches of the student. Organizing content in a transdisciplinary manner is based on the pupil's mental behaviour from the perspective of effective integration achieved throughout all stages of the educational process (design, deployment, evaluation).

The active teaching methods in the transdisciplinary approach transform the student from the subject into the subject of investing, make the student co-participant in his own education and ensure the possibility of acting as a person but also as a member of the team. Regardless of the type of integration that is being approached in the learning process, integrated design and learning organization are centered on learning through research based on the constructivist and global vision of the surrounding world. Learning is not done only in schools; most of the learning in contemporary societies seems to be actually outside the school. Families, the community, "equality groups" and especially the media constitute a significant way of learning.

The strongest argument for classifying disciplines is that life is not divided into disciplines. (J. Moffet).

Because we are today in a full revolution of intelligence, we must understand that transdisciplinarity reveals the poetic dimension of existence, crossing, as I said, all the disciplines beyond them. Do not confuse with multidisciplinarity and interdisciplinarity. (Basarab Nicolescu).

The music, by its interdisciplinary nature, shows a distinct approach, the notion of interdisciplinarity, in the absence of complementary notions there can be no "arrows of the same arc of knowledge", but it is related to discipline, multidisciplinarity, pluridisciplinarity and transdisciplinarity.

From the perspective of transdisciplinarity, music, as the discipline of the study of the National Curriculum, can be seen, in the near future, as the secret third included, binder of a multidisciplinary or multidisciplinary entity amplifying all its components, puzzle pieces, logical and pertinent ensemble of a specialized education adapted to the present society, a society with values that seem inverse, without mistaking if we call it "depolarized axiological system".

From the same perspective, we ask the question: as a discipline of complete education, can music be actively involved in the development of a whole education?

Emerging from a cultural paradigm as a reflective approach to the development of the whole human being through the education-culture ratio, the

Innovative Techniques and Methods in Contemporary Musical Education 61

idea presented by Professor Janina Flueraş shows a careful approach to the phenomena and processes underlying this approach, being a viable solution to the recapture of the fundamental discipline status in human omnipotence and human personality, as well as the resuscitation of an axiological system of contemporary culture and education.

Focusing on values of education can be symbolically modelled by a building that we will call Knecht's Temple, figure 1, relevant to the dome, the columns (including the necking’s) and its foundation as symbols of messages its foundation as symbols of key messages transmitted through musical education.

Fig. 1. "Knecht's Temple - Values and Polarizations” In my opinion, I believe that an education unfolding without having in its heart a set of values to which it refers and which it conveys can be an honest professionally, technically correct but without long-term impact. Values represent the first level reference in an educational paradigm; therefore they constitute the dome of the Knecht Temple.

The specific areas of education are found as columns of the Temple. Without developing the theme here, an important aspect in the design of educational programs, both at macro level (modules in programs) and at micro level (themes within a module), represents the axiomatic sine qua non of design - this is the one that defines the number of columns. Two questions arise:

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What are the distinct minimum modules of the proposed program without which it is incomplete in its relationship with the objectives to be achieved?

What are the distinct, minimal themes of a particular module without which it is incomplete in relation to the established educational objectives?

For each column, the model looks in the form of the captain's set of knowledge-skills-attitudes (skills), K-S-A, developed by each discipline or module.

I’ve considered it is important to mark the specificity of what we learn to know, to do and to be for one or other of the domains we decide to reunite under the same set of values.

The Foundation of the Temple of Values is the theoretical core of possible interventions and developments of innovative concepts able to bring music and musical disciplines to their place in a modern educational curriculum, deeply harmonized to the new technical and scientific conquests and to the new social dominant of nowadays.

Trying to find a way to solve the new problems presented above, also looking for answers to the questions, I was especially attracted by the EPTP article: axioms that "make the difference", published in 25.08.2011 Marian Staş - senior trainer, which refers to "the art and mastery of a durable training interaction return to the operative and fault-free management of the set of axioms” 3. Conclusions It wanted a clear delineation of the aims of education modern music involving on the one hand, students and teachers, and on the other spectrum multicultural of a modern community that this subject is addressed using his unwaveringly all economic resources, human, material and information available to it. So personally, believe that the interdisciplinary approach of the activities of music education can and must remain a focus of an educational curriculum complete and comprehensive, harmonized institutional framework legislative and community around which they revolve general and specific objectives, competencies, using strategies and appropriate methods combine content and more new personalities learners (child, student, adult).

What we want from the Romanian school musical education? • We want a heightened culture of the educational environment in which the

educated will have to be at the center of any specific musical activities, but also in other cultural-artistic, school or extracurricular activities.

• We want to achieve a fully adaptable and accessible musical language, as well as the development of music specific skills that broaden the horizon of

Innovative Techniques and Methods in Contemporary Musical Education 63

knowledge of the educated, then able to use new opportunities for musical expression, to be found by their own feelings and emotions within the ideational created by a certain musical speech, or by a certain musical pedagogical approach.

• We want the musical art to maintain its authentic value, continuously expressing its fundamental role in the formation and development of human personality.

• We want, using what we know today about musical art, to ensure a dose of sustainability by orienting its evolution in time to the human factor that consecrated it.

The review and restructuring of the music education curriculum, topical theme, can generate some suspicions in the coherent approach of didactic dimensions from the nature of art and its role in human life, all the more so, of the musical art, taking into account its peculiarities, so addressing such a subject implies indirectly the inspection, knowledge, ownership and responsibility.

The polisemantic character of the curriculum term has made possible, in different periods of evolution of the Romanian post-decembrist educational system, the emergence of various topics of discussion and polemics that have highlighted precisely the defining role for a such a concept. Benefiting from such a rich and meaningful history, such as that of musical art, implies both truth and reality, but also knowledge and involvement.

The challenges of the XXI century, in a retrospective glimpse of the musical background of humanity, through observing an evolutionary constant, can only lead to the clarification of new approach strategies and models of work to harmonize art and the musical science of the most competent and consistent ideas or concepts in modern musical educational learning, of course, reported in the contemporary society in a permanent change.

Unrest and uncertainties in the search for a sense from the second half of the twentieth century and the beginning of the 21st century, have only amplified the report, naturally, between value and non-value by choosing those methods and means of musical education that Respond to requests and needs, but to keep up with new elements in time education.

All the more so, with the experience of past periods, it is necessary to clearly delineate some pedagogical aspects that ensure the music and discipline of musical education the welcome status in the general curriculum of Romanian education, naturally engaged In a universal systemic complex, but to individualize and keep the national identity unaltered.

The reality of the medium-level Romanian educational environment of compulsory general education contrasts profoundly with the elements of novelty

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and evolution of art at the beginning of the 21st century, with obvious prerequisites for pertinent approaches to the future.

4. References Bălaşa, Marin Marian. 2003. Studies and materials of musical anthropology.

Bucharest: Musical Publishing House. Bălăşa, Marin Marian. 2011. Musicologists, Ethnology, Subjectives, Politicians.

Bucharest: Musical Publishing House. Ceobanu, Ciprian. 2016. Learning in the Virtual Environment. Iasi: Polirom

Publishing House. Cerghit Ioan. 1988. Educational means and didactic strategies in: Cerghit Ioan,

Vlăsceanu Lazăr (coord.), Pedagogy course, University Press, Bucharest. Cerghit, John. 2008. Alternative and Complementary Training Systems. Iasi: Polirom

Publishing House. Ciolan, Lucian. 2008. Integrated Learning - Fundamentals for a Transdisciplinary

Curriculum. Iasi: Polirom Publishing House. Gardner, Howard. 1983. Theory of multiple intelligence, from theory to practice.

New York: Basic Books. Ilie, Mihaela et al. 2008. Teacher training manual for the use of e-learning

platforms. Bucharest: International Literature Publishing House. Răilean, Elena. 2015. The psycho-pedagogical basis of the electronic manual

elaboration. Iaşi: Lumen Publishing House. Ştefănescu, Eugenia–Liliana. 2014. Interdisciplinarity in Music. Bucharest: Music

Publishing House. *** 2003. Akade Musica Collection No. 9. Bucharest: National Music University. https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/8800-the-illiterate-of-the-21st-century-will-

not-be-those, accessed 20.11.2018. https://www.toptools4learning.com/home/, [accessed August 2018]. http://forum.portal.edu.ro/index.php?act=Attach&type=post&id=2448967,

[accessed August 2018]. https://www.managerexpress.ro/idei-resurse/learning-interes/arta-si-maiestrie-in-

training-eptp.html, [accessed August 2018]. https://www.moisenicoara.ro/transdisciplinaritatea-si-educatia-integrala/,

[accessed August 2018].

Bulletin of the Transylvania University of Brasov Series VIII: Performing Arts • Vol. 12 (61) No. 1 – 2019 https://doi.org/10.31926/but.pa.2019.12.61.7

Figure and Affection in Orgelbüchlein by J. S. Bach

Roxana PEPELEA1

Abstract: The musical-rhetorical figure possesses a rich area of representation, going from the "decoratio" function to the semantic inversion, in accordance with the Doctrine of Affections (Affektenlehre). Since the Baroque period, there have been many attempts to group musical figures by their nature and rhetorical functions. The Doctrine of Affections facilitated the transfer of the expressiveness of the figure from the vocal to the instrumental. A close connection between the rhetorical figure and the affections appears in Bach's "Orgelbüchlein". The set of 46 Chorale preludes for organ, BWV 599-644, constitute a veritable dictionary of expressive constants that can be found in the religious or even secular works composed by Bach. Keywords: J. S. Bach, rhetoric, affekt, figure 1. Introduction

The views on the role of the musical-rhetorical figure cover a wide range, starting from the simple function of the dissonance it encompasses, to the higher level of language of affections. Ever since the Baroque period, there have been many attempts to group musical figures by their nature and rhetorical functions.

Numerous Baroque figures come from vocal music. Bach is considered "the first moment of the full coherence of a musical rhetoric", and "the unequivocal relationship between biblical text and Bach's music reveals the mechanism of meaning in music" (Banciu 2006, 69-70). "The songs and oratories [of Bach, note mine] represent [...] as many models, where the musical expression is circulated through the rhetorical figures and with the help of the symbols, the metaphor and the allegory contained in the literary text" (Toduţă 1973, 86). André Pirro, in Bach's Aesthetics (1907), deals with the expressive language of the cantata: "Deeply attached to the evangelical religion, he [Bach, note mine] believes that the religious text [...] is essential for the edification of believers. The spirit of the public is cut in the way of listening to music as a language" (Pirro 1907, 11-12).

1 Transilvania University of Braşov, alexandra.belibou@unitbv.ro

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In accordance with the Doctrine of Affections, the musical-rhetorical figure has surpassed the exclusive framework of vocal music, penetrating instrumental music, as well. But in the opinion expressed by G. Banciu, "in the absence of the word, the figure retains only partially the original meanings, the semantic freedom being conditioned on the one hand by the generally accepted meanings according to the analogical thinking, and on the other by the musical context in which they appear (melodic, rhythmic, harmonic, dynamic, timbral)" (Banciu 2006, 70).

2. Melodic-rhythmic constants according to the dominating affections of the text

The multitude of musical figures, over 100 in number, "is a mixture of syntactic and semantic aspects" (V. Sandu-Dediu 2013, 68). From his predecessor, J. Burmeister, who had run a classification of over 100 figures, "Bach took on a rich taxinomy" (Banciu 2006, 65). Above all this information of documentary interest, it is interesting to reveal those springs that prove the involvement of rhetorical symbols in the Bachian compositional thought. This trend becomes a desideratum for the contemporary researcher who tends to re-evaluate the Bachian (and contemporary) creation from the perspective of rhetoric and affection theory.

A close connection between the rhetorical figure and the affections appears in Bach's Orgelbüchlein. The set of 46 Chorale preludes for organ, BWV 599-644, constitute a veritable dictionary of expressive constants that can be found in the religious or even secular works composed by Bach. Orgelbüchlein is, at the same time, a compositional treatise, a collection of organ music, an organ method, and a "theological statement". These four aspects are connected in such a way that it becomes difficult to establish a clear boundary between them (Stinson 1999, 25).

Among the relevant features of the style of these preludes are (Williams 2003, 236):

- four-voices texture; - chorale melody with function of cantus firmus, placed on the soprano; - imitative counterpoint with figures derived from cantus, to the other three

voices. Researchers agree that most of the preludes that make up this cycle are based on recurrent motifs (Brinkman 1980, 46), in agreement with the affections determined by the text of the Lutheran choral. In this sense, certain melodic-rhythmic profiles, which act with the force of some constants, could be extracted and classified.

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2.1. Melodic constants 2.1.1. Gradual melodic profiles • With descendant sense (catabasis):

The figure is associated with the metaphor of language that expresses predominantly negative feelings. It is represented by the downward direction of the melodic movement, the direction from heaven to earth, or from earth to grave. By analogy, descendant melodic movements suggest sadness, depression, humiliation, weakness, prayer, etc. The movement from heaven to earth (descent of angels) usually associates with a major tonality, and the descent into the grave is associated with a minor tone. In this sense, even the titles of the chorales that appeal to such musical symbols, become illustrative, such as the BWV 607, Von Himmel kam der Engel Scharr (The angelic crowd came from heaven).

Fig. 1. Catabasis (Von Himmel kam der Engel Scharr)

A series of chorales from Orgelbüchlein follows this melodic profile, especially the Christmas chorales: BWV 606, Vom Himmel hoch, da komm ich her (From above, I am coming here); BWV 608, In dulci jubilo (In sweet joy); BWV 612, Wir Christenleut' (We, Christian people).

Fig. 2. Catabasis (Wir Christenleut')

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• With ascendant sense (anabasis): Scalar ascending fragments can also symbolize the inexorable life span, as in

BWV 644, Ach wie nichtig, ach wie flüchtig (Ah, how vain and fugitive is life). Rapid ascending and descending passages above the bass octaves compare life with a path that appears and then disappears.

Fig. 3. Anabasis (Ach wie nichtig, ach wie flüchtig)

• Waving profile (transitus, superjectio):

The combination of the two forms, anabasis-catabasis, in a polyphonic deployment, expresses the oscillation of tense expectations, hopes (ascendant motives), and outcomes, consequences, or responses (descending motifs) as we meet in BWV 609, Lobt Gott, Ihr Christen allzugleich (Praise God, you Christians together).

Fig. 4. Anabasis-catabasis trough transitus to bass and superjectio to tenor (Lobt Gott, Ihr Christen allzugleich)

2.1.2. Mixed melodic profiles

• Gradual step motion followed by a tense leap (circolo, antitheton)

In Choral BWV 617, Herr Gott, nun schleuß den Himmel auf (Lord, open your Heaven for me), the bass octave ranges suggest, according to the text, the idea of an opening to Heaven. The tenor counterpoints in a rhythmic continuum, making a

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circular motion – circolo mezzo – around the neighboring sounds of the tonic chord (A – E – C#), followed by arpeggio.

Fig. 5. Gradual step motion – leap (Herr Gott, nun schleuß den Himmel auf)

The well-known tenor figure sometimes becomes, with Bach, a theme for the fugue (Well-Tempered Clavier, B sharp major, II / 21):

Fig. 6. Circolo mezzo (Fugue WTC II/1) • Dissonant leaps

Often, the leaps bring into the melody dissonant intervals, such as fourth, fifths, and sevenths – increased or decreased (saltus duriusculus). When intervals are major or enlarged, they evoke struggle, victory, and joy; when they are minor or diminished they evoke pain, struggle, agony, torment, corruption, prayer, begging, and death. These are some interpretations that need to be adapted to musical work, text, and context. Some intervals are considered very harsh, tough, (such as A-D# or B-F#): these are called "intervals of death". Later, they were called "mystical" by composers like A. Scriabin.

Fig. 7. Saltus duriusculus (In dich hab 'ich gehoffet, Herr)

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Choral BWV 640 In dich hab 'ich gehoffet, Herr (I have hoped for you, Lord), presented before, is an illustration of the use of the figure saltus duriusculus The well-known BWV 637, Durch Adams Fall ist ganz verderbt (Through the fall of Adam, everything is corrupted), illustrates the expulsion of Adam from heaven after sin committed, by multiplying the figure saltus duriusculus to all voices (diminished/augmented fourth and fifths, false relations). The bass contains expressive minor and diminished sevenths, accompanying the motif that descends progressively into the abyss of the grave register. This is how "the fall of Adam" is allegorized, his degradation (Bukofzer 1939, 9).

Fig. 8. Saltus duriusculus (Durch Adams Fall ist ganz verderbt)

2.1.3. Chromatized melodic profiles • Chromatized melodic profiles (passus duriusculus)

Chromatic sequence passus duriusculus expresses sadness in descending form (affectus tristitiae), depression, despair, pain, etc. It is very common since the fifteenth century (for example in Gesualdo's madrigals). In ascending form it is less painful, describing the difficulty of climbing, moving upward, or prefiguring the hope, the joy associated with the birth of Christ. The ascending form of the figure passus duriusculus is also found in BWV 614, Das alte Jahr vergangen ist (The old year left).

Fig. 9. Passus duriusculus (Das alte Jahr vergangen ist)

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• Descriptive melodic profiles (hypotyposis) Here are those musical profiles that suggest prototypical objects

(hypotyposis). These are sequences of sounds that have a strong suggestive force, achieved by associating with vivid visual or auditory images. The best known visual example is the figure (motif) of the cross. The broken cross symbol may be a graphic detail of the Christmas star. In choral BWV 601, Herr Christ, der einge Gottes-Sohn (The Lord Jesus Christ, son of God), the musical figure corresponds to the text, "He is the star of the morning, shining in the distance, clearly exceeding the other stars". The most descriptive chorale, which multiplies this symbolic motif of the Cross of Christ, is the Chorale BWV 625, Christ lag in Todesbanden (Christ is in bondage to death).

Fig. 10. The figure of the cross (Christ lag in Todesbanden) 2.2. Rhythmic constants Since ancient Greece, poets have developed theories about the affective force of rhythm, theories perpetuated in the Renaissance and the Baroque periods. The rhythmic hesitations resulting from the breaks of regular rhythms by pausing intervals suggest uncertainty, doubt, fear, anxiety or anger (pausa, suspiratio, tmesis etc.). The accumulation of durations, syncopation can cause the same sensations due to the instability created with respect to the meter. The effect of instability increases if, at the same time, there is a bass that follows normal metric accentuation. Syncopation is also used willingly in dancing to give a character of joy, agility (dubitatio, extensio, syncopatio). The use of augmentation or diminution induces strong feelings of persuasion, especially in the fugue or chorale arrangement (schematoides, diminutio). The punctuated rhythm suggests solemnity, majesty (ouverture à la française). Repeated notes suggest strength, stability (bombus, bombs, bombilans). This figure may have different interpretations, depending on the speed of repetition, the number of sounds, the

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register etc. The dactyl or the anapest (corta) have meanings such as: sad, depressed, tense (dactyl), or elegant, stable (anapest). 3. Conclusions

A number of musical elements have been developed over the centuries and have acquired a distinctive symbolic and expressive force. They have become musical figures recognized by the audience of the past centuries and are still used today in various types of music. These elements are based on expressive constants or metaphors in the sphere of language. These symbolic expressions reached the climax of the late Baroque period in Bach's works, especially in cantatas, as in the cycle Orgelbüchlein.

German musicologist Arnold Schmitz (1893-1980) stated that "who does not understand Bach's language through the symbolic meaning of rhetoric cannot pervade his creation" (Toduţă 1973, 80). 4. References Banciu, Gabriel. 2006. Introducere la Estetica retoricii muzicale [Introduction to the

Aesthetics of Musical Rhetoric]. Cluj-Napoca: MediaMusica Publishing House.

Brinkman, Alexander R. 1980. “The Melodic Process in Johann Sebastian Bach's Orgelbüchlein.” Music Theory Spectrum 2: 46-73. www.jstor.org/stable /746179 [accessed March 3, 2019].

Bukofzer, Manfred. 1939. “Allegory in Baroque Music.” Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes 3, (1/2): 1-21. www.jstor.org/stable/750188 [accessed March 8, 2019].

Pirro, André. 1907. L'Esthétique de Jean-Sébastien Bach. Paris: Librairie Fischbacher.

Sandu-Dediu, Valentina. 2013. Alegeri, atitudini, afecte. Despre stil și retorică în muzică. [Choices, attitudes, affects. About style and rhetoric in music]. Bucharest: Didactic and Pedagogical Publishing House.

Stinson, Russell. 1999 Bach: The Orgelbüchlein. Oxford University Press. Toduţă, Sigismund. 1973. Formele muzicale ale Barocului [Baroque Musical Forms],

vol. II. Bucharest: Musical Publishing House. Williams, Peter. 2003. The Organ Music of J. S. Bach. Second Edition. Cambridge

University Press.

Bulletin of the Transilvania University of Braşov Series VIII: Performing Arts • Vol. 12 (61) No. 1 – 2019 https://doi.org/10.31926/but.pa.2019.12.61.8

Archetypal Aesthetics in Various Branches of Art

Iuliana PORCOS1

Abstract. The term archetype may be defined as the original model of things and represents “an inventory of human experiences, but also of the experience accumulated by lower forms of animal life”, manifested as “symbolic elements in dreams, in the hallucinations of mad people, in myths, in folk legends. It also operates as forms or schemata organizing individual experience” (Encyclopaedia 2004, 62). Despina Petecel Theodoru notices that each creative phenomenon is ultimately based on two or three antique concepts which act as a matrix: mimesis (imitation)2 and arché (the archetype), whose sole purpose is alétheia (the truth) (Petecel 2003, 1). This is the foundation of an important orientation in the cultural life of the 20th century – archetypalism –, displayed in many branches of art (music, painting, sculpture, philosophy, literature). Keywords: archetypalism, sculpture, music, recovery, essence

1. The archetypal aesthetics in sculpture. Constantin Brancusi The interest for archetypal forms, myths and legends is the result of symbolistic art and literature which were widely spread, and later brought about surrealism and expressionism.

In the Romanian context, a famous representative of this current is the sculptor Constantin Brancusi (1876-1957); during the same period there were also the sculptor Dimitrie Paciurea (1873-1932) – with the works The Sphynx (1913), the series Chimeras (1931), Pan (1931), the painter George Demetrescu Mirea (1852-1934) – the author of the huge canvas Vârful cu Dor [The Lovely Peak] (1884), and

1 PhD candidate, Transilvania University of Brașov, Romania 2 In the sense of acknowledgement, not copy or identical replica.

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the sculptor Cornel Medrea (1888-1964) author of Dragoș Vodă și Zimbrul [The Ruler Dragoș and the Wisent] (1937).

As for Constantin Brancusi, he was able to shine a new light on old ideas and universal truths, reviving the myths “at the level of contemporary thought and acceptance under new spiritual shapes” [out translation] (Deac 1982, 7). He is the first sculptor who gave up classical beauty, who refused Michelangelo’s and Rodin’s conservativism, and set out to render expressiveness reduced to the essential, a new element which is dominated not only by contemplation but also by content, at the same time, offering sculpture the possibility to become a specific form of communication among people. The archetypal forms are the ones which satisfied his imagination and offered him the possibility to combine the real representation with the pure form.

The relationship between the simplicity of the form and the essence of reality is direct in Brancusi’s work, from this point of view we can notice the successive stages in changing the fundamental form, the artist planned to create sculptures “for to all times” by eliminating the features which “might reflect a certain era or period” [our translation] (Mocioi 1987, 41); crucial for Brancusi’s artistic vision was “the belief in the eternal return of human and natural, fundamental phenomena, which transcend history, linking permanently the present and the mythical past” [our translation] (Welcker 1981, 83).

Thus, we witness the creation of works built on a series of basic principles – simplification (reducing the artistic form in order to render the absolute universally valid dimension), styling (modelling the concrete shape in order to reach the equilibrium, perfection), the purity of the shape (and obtaining the absolute spiritual emotion), essentializing (in the philosophical sense of the quest for the idea, reaching durability and the universe), moving from the real to the symbol in the search for human signification, as the end result of creation.

The main themes which stem from ancient myths and legends and which the sculptor chose to approach and render in its works are: the origin of the world, the myth of the bird and of flight, the myth of death and of sleep, the myth of the centre of the world, the theme of love and fertility as derived directly from mythology – Laocoon (1900), Prometheus (1911), Narcissus (1914), Caryatide (1915), Chimera (1918), Leda (I -1920, II- 1923), Adam and Eve (1921), Ulysses (1922) – or the Romanian superstitions – Witch (1916), Cock Welcoming the Sun (1922), The Ancestral Gate (1937), The Table (1937). His first works already reveal his interest in the meaning of folklore, of Romanian legends and traditions; inspired by the custom from Gorj region of

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planting two trees at the gate of family homes where relatives are buried (especially at the resting place of two spouses). The branches of the two trees would become mingled in time as a symbol of eternal union. This is the origin of The Kiss (1907), work characterized by simplicity and, at the same time, depth, by great symbolic power. Another example is The Gate of the Kiss (1937) itself where the two eyes (of the two characters) merging into one under the form of a circle or the missing arms are reference points in expressing the essence of the work in question.

Another work which refers to archetypal forms is The Sleep (1908). Subsequently, the sculptor will modify its compositional structure, striving for the purity of the shape, thus coming closer to the universality of the ideas he embraced. He deals with the same topic in the Sleeping Muse – in its 12 versions (1909-1912), because Brancusi stylized and simplified until he came close to the purest volume, which could attest the archetypal value of a work representing the dormant human being.

The ovality specific to the Muse is also present in Prometheus (1911) – a modern representation of the beginning of liberating the thought, of the birth of consciousness, of the rational man. Because Prometheus represents the spirit, the form of Brancusi’s sculpture is the most adequate to illustrate the increasing distance from physical or historical details.

One of the sculptor’s favourite themes was to symbolize fertility. The first work dedicated to this is the Wisdom of the Earth, which was later continued by the Sleeping Muse, Princess X (1916), Mademoiselle Pogany (1913), White Negress (1923), Blond Negress (1924), Eve (1921), and others.

The oval shape – primary and universal expression of these symbols – materializes in figurative representations of the sense of the world’s origin, in the 7 versions of the Newborn (1915-1930). This continual rendering of the essence pursued permanently by Brancusi can also be found in the Beginning of the World (1920), with the origin myths coming into contact through the philosophy of the Tibetan Milarepa. The myth about the birth of the world from an egg is common to many ancient peoples and is considered a universal symbol. In most myths, the cosmic egg comes from the primordial waters; once it surfaces, it separates creating the earth and the sky.

Broadening the research of this myth, we learn about the bird that participates in bringing the seed (the cosmic egg) at the water surface. For Brancusi, this is theme of the 7 versions of Maiestra and the 22 versions of Bird in Space. We must not forget that the sculptor uses myths to reach the synthesizing

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figurative form, to acquire the certainty of creation; he is not preoccupied to illustrate but to render the modern shape, widely generalizing, with contemporary meanings. He believes The Bird to be the symbol of the relationship between the sky and the earth. Another representative work is the Fish (1927). Set on a polished aluminium plate to suggest the idea of floating, this is a symbol of the primordial element – water –, rendered in mythography through the image of the fish. The essence of the work is to capture floating, movement, life.

The idea of movement and of flight is encountered also in the Turtle (1940) and the Flying Turtle (1943). In old myths, it represented the image of the Universe, underlining it stability – although it moves slowly, it possess longevity, durability.

An overview of the aesthetics promoted by the sculptor Constantin Brancusi would be incomplete without mentioning the sculptural ensemble in Târgu Jiu, made up of the Endless Column, The Gate of the Kiss and The Table of Silence.

The Gate is the symbol of home, and for the Romanian peasant it has a spiritual value. The upper part represents a dowry chest like the ones found in authentic peasant houses. The drawings suggest a hora, a peasant wedding, and the image is repeated from the sculpture The Kiss.

The Table of Silence is surrounded by 12 chairs and can be associated with The Last Supper, in which the 12 apostles surround Jesus – thus, the 12 chairs represents the Apostles, while the table stands for Jesus Himself. Another possible interpretation is the table as a symbol of family reunion and meditation, signalling Brancusi’s wish to determine people to adopt this ancient custom again.

The Endless Column remains the central piece of the ensemble, amazing through its suppleness and the force of the plastic thinking. In fact, it represents the conquest of space by joining the earth and the sky, an open shape towards infinity (so ascending stairs) signifying creation, birth, dramatic death and rebirth in a continuous cycle on the vertical or in a spiral, a new shape of the Universe including the most sublime and modern meaning.

In conclusion, the revelation which results from approaching archetypal themes in Constantin Brancusi’s sculptures is symbolistic, because he eliminated from his creation the illustration, the narrative, which might have tempted him upon reading the myths and legends. The sculptor managed to render the unity of form and content by universalizing ideas, by finding meaning, purity.

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2. The archetypal aesthetics in composer Octavian Nemescu’s work Octavian Nemescu (born in 1940) is one of the composers who played a decisive role in imposing the archetypal movement in Romania, “remaining faithful to this idea, transformed into ideal, that he serves through his creation and his entire spiritual existence, in a permanent quest for fundamental truths and ways to symbolically represent them” [our translation] (Anghel 1997, 83). As we can see from other works by the same composer – Natural-Cultural, Combinations in circles, Metabyzanthinirikohn – Nemescu implements in his piece Concentric, a triadic relationship – through the concepts natural, cultural, transcultural – that, in his opinion, are the only basis to discover the archetypal as a means and universal form of existing and of expressing the cultural; thus, it becomes the living proof of implementing his artistic vision concerning the archetypal orientation. Concentric is, in fact, his first work which brings to the fore the idea of archetype, inaugurating concomitantly two important contemporary aesthetical orientations: the accompanying spectral one and the new non-serial complexity. The first audition of the work, along with the piece AUM by Corneliu Cezar, took place at an unofficial concert organized at the State Central Library, in July 1969, and the following one was organized in Darmstadt in August 1972; in 1980 Concentric was awarded with the prize of the Group of Experimental Music of Bourges (G.M.E.B., France). The piece was made up of three overlapping layers: the deep layer – A (in p-pp) and the medial layer – B (mp-p), which can be found on magnetic tape, and the surface layer – C, which represents the instrumental reality and consists of numerous short events which create ascending and/or descending waves or ephemeral existences; thus, the piece is built on two important coordinates: the spectacular one, that of the music performed on stage, and the non-spectacular one, that of the music recorded in electronic form, in order to overlap them during the performance. Coming back to the layers which make up the structure of the piece, several comments should be made: the deep layer A contains the many basic tones (natural harmonics) of the fundamental tone, of undulating intensities as the sounds of big bells. This reality represents a natural archetype. The medial layer B includes the many musical cultural archetypes, specific of certain regions or geographic areas, and of different musical epochs (so of different musical styles), in evolution according to the historical chronology and composed

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of cadential rhythmic and melodic motifs (extracted from various music types) which take place obsessively over a certain period of time. B is tuned with A. Consequently, the sounds of the cadential motifs must generally be resonant harmonic for the fundamental A. As for the surface layer C, it is obtained from acoustic instruments: clarinet, violin, alto, violoncello and piano, and represents the layer of the upper harmonic areas, acute (the lower areas are covered by the recorded tape). There is also a legend of the way in which certain effects are noted. For example, for percussion there are specific drawings which are associated with the gong, the Chinese bells, the harmonica, castanets, cymbal, marimba, vibraphone, etc. Each instrument will take over and play different percussion instruments, according to the composer’s notation. The work starts with the sound of the harmonics of the fundamental tone A presented on the tape, which corresponds to the deep layer A in ppp – an ancient archetypal sound. At the same time, the clarinet initiates a gong strike which is left vibrating for 45 seconds (according to the composer’s notation). Next, the other instruments of the surface layer C start playing, creating a sonorous atmosphere in which one can identify the harmonic sounds in the A spectrum, presented as a heterophony. There are certain reference points marking the fundamental notes which start the series of harmonics, for each individual instrument (for example, the violin player has as reference points the tones E and B). The temporary notation on the score for each instrument (15, 20 and 25 seconds, respectively) which contributes to this game built on fundamentals is followed by an artificial harmonic fourth and by sequences of harmonics which become the key elements in the musical discourse. During this time, the piano operates at the back of the resonance chamber (pizzicato sound effects). Here the composition includes a random moment, of improvisation in the second measure of system 1, page 2, when each instrument starts improvising. The most concrete drawing is meant at this point for the violin which, after improvising for a short interval, emits clear sounds which, naturally, belong to the A spectrum. After this moment all the instruments start centring on clear sounds – with the mention that the violoncellist plays on the vibraphone at this point in the composition, and the pianist uses the bells – until a new heterophony is reached in system 1, measure 2, page 3, with an extremely concrete notation, in ff; the clarinettist must use the percussion again, more precisely the gong (page 3, system 2, measure 1); next, the drawing suggests an imitative polyphony (page 4, system 1, measure 1) after which a homophony can be identified (page 4, system 1, measure 1).

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Thus, the composition is defined as a play between layers A-B of the low harmonics and layer C, of instruments emitting harmonics in a syntactic construction which is in perfect agreement with the composer’s clear indications. From time to time, moments of heterophony and (isolated) polyphony are created, the clarinet reaches a climatic point (page 5, system 1), the human voice is featured at certain moments without becoming too conspicuous, and from page 11 the composer abandons on the tape the stationary chord of A and B and tries to decompose it into component notes. 3. Conclusion The aim of the archetypal approach is to recover the archetypal elements and aspects pertaining to all traditions (irrespective of the branch of art), and to strip them of their cultural, contextual, conventional implications, in order to bring them closer to their natural state (Anghel 1997, 87). The surge of this orientation was natural, because it represents the consequence of the saturation brought by the representatives of structuralism and serial composition. It is worth noting that these orientations combine harmoniously, and are even supported by the other branches of art, creating a complex image of the artistic act. Some of the most important representatives of the Romanian cultural school embraced archetypalism, as shown by their creations which expressed the same universal truth, promoted the same cultural values, although they are based on different (sonorous/visual) materials. The supporters of this movement are multicultural, they are familiar with numerous traditions belonging to different peoples, they are intellectuals thirsty for knowledge and, for this reason, the aesthetics they promote through archetypalism fully demonstrates its supporters’ aspiration, their ascension to universal forms. 4. References Anghel, Irinel. 1997. Orientări, direcții, curente ale muzicii românești din a doua

jumătate a secolului XX [Orientations, directions, currents in the Romanian

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music of the second half of the 20th century]. Bucharest: Editura Muzicală a Uniunii Compozitorilor și Muzicologilor din România.

Deac, Mircea. 1982. Brâncuși. Surse arhetipale [Brancusi. Archetypal sources]. Iași: Editura Junimea.

Enciclopedie de filosofie și științe umane [Encyclopaedia of philosophy and humanities]. 2004. Bucharest: Editura All Educational.

Giedion-Welcker, Carola. 1981. Constantin Brâncuși. Bucharest: Editura Meridiane.

Mocioi, Ion. 1987. Estetica operei lui Constantin Brâncuși [The aesthetics of Constantin Brancusi’s work]. Craiova: Editura Scrisul românesc.

Petecel Theodoru, Despina. 2003. De la mimesis la arhetip [From mimesis to archetype]. Bucharest: Editura Muzicală.

Bulletin of the Transilvania University of Braşov Series VIII: Performing Arts • Vol. 12 (61) No. 1- 2019 https://doi.org/10.31926/but.pa.2019.12.61.9

The Orchestral Character of Beethoven’s Pianism

Constantin SANDU1

Abstract: We can trace back to the pre-classical era pieces written for keyboard instruments but encompassing sonorities typical of other instruments. In Scarlatti`s Sonatas we can often perceive flute, oboe, horn, violin, guitar sonorities and so on. At a more complex level, in Bach`s works, owing to the polyphonic style, we find different simultaneous lines that can be associated with various instruments. In Haydn’s work, especially in the last Sonatas, there is a certain orchestral sound, whereas in Mozart’s, the situation is even more complex due to the notably vocal character of his melodies. However, the orchestral sonority fully reveals itself in Beethoven’s piano works, due to the existent symphonic structure, based on the continuous and more and more intricate development of the sound form, resulting in the crystallization of the sonata form, which is the foundation for music written not only for one or two instruments, but also for large orchestras and chamber music ensembles. Keywords: Beethoven, pianism, orchestral, sonatas 1. Introduction We can trace back to the pre-classical era pieces written for keyboard instruments but encompassing sonorities typical of other instruments. Was this, perhaps, the result of composers’ inner desire to surpass the timbre monotony of the harpsichord, and later, of the piano? Or maybe, does the intimate structure of European music force it to find plenitude in the complex sound of a large orchestra? It is said that every sound (even a solitary one) implies harmony. Then, why would not any melodic line imply the tone colour of a precise instrument that can perfectly adapt to its character? In Scarlatti`s Sonatas we can often perceive flute, oboe, horn, violin, guitar sonorities and so on. At a more complex level, in Bach`s works, owing to the polyphonic style, we find different simultaneous lines that adapt to various instruments, therefore, to chamber music ensembles or to a smaller orchestra, specific to the musical era. In the Suites, we often encounter

1 Higher School of Music and Performing Arts of Porto, constantinsandu@netcabo.pt

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contrasting sonorities, corresponding to the dialogue between the soli and tutti of the baroque orchestra, as in the Italian Concerto, that leaves no room for doubt – although written for the harpsichord; it was devised for the soloist and orchestra. In Haydn, especially in the last Sonatas, orchestral sonorities make their appearance: dense successive chords for tutti, melodic lines typical of string instruments, motives specific to winds. The first lines solely, of the Sonata in E flat Major Hob. XVI: 52, are enough to illustrate this idea. In Mozart, the situation is even more complex due to the notably vocal character of his melodies. As we often come across orchestral sonorities or piano-orchestra alternations (Sonata in B flat Major KV 333), we have, in general, a clear picture of the piece in which voices and instruments harmoniously fuse their own tone colours into music of extraordinary plasticity. 2. The orchestral character of Beethoven’s pianism The orchestral sonority fully reveals itself in the piano works of Beethoven, owing to the existent symphonic structure, based on the permanent development, more and more intricate, of the world of sound form, resulting in the crystallization of the sonata form, which is the foundation for music written not only for one or two instruments, but also for large orchestras and chamber music ensembles. Likewise, the composition of more sonatas with 4 movements instead of 3, as was the custom, drew the piano sonatas nearer to other musical genres, such as the symphony and the string quartet. By following attentively Beethoven`s phrasing notations, we can find that many of them do not apply to the entire musical discourse, but only to one of the voices. The placement of the sf., fp., cresc., dim. notations leaves no room for doubt. Unfortunately, we encounter many editions that have had no regard for this particularity of Beethoven`s writing style and, either because of negligence or typographical reasons, they have displaced the notations, placing them in the middle of the system, hence altering the original musical idea. In the next example, in an excerpt from Sonata op. 27 no.2, we can see the difference between the Henle edition, supervised by B. A. Wallner (Figure 1.a) and the Curci edition, supervised by Artur Schnabel (Figure 1.b).

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Fig. 1.a. Ludwig van Beethoven - Sonata op. 27 no.2, p.I, bars 62-69

Fig. 1.b. Ludwig van Beethoven - Sonata op. 27 no.2, p.I, bars 60-65 It is clear that Beethoven`s intention was to have the bars 62-63 and 64-65 played in a different manner, in the first two the cresc. and dim. applying to the right hand arpeggio, while in the next ones to the thematic motive in the left hand. Another interesting example can be found in the Coda of the first part of Sonata op.57 (Figure 2): in bar 257 (Henle ed.) we find the f dynamic mark for the right hand and the ff for the left, then twice p dimin. for each line, as Beethoven believed a singular sign would not suffice to convey the message, finally, both hands (instruments or orchestra parts) must play with the same dynamics.

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Fig. 2. Ludwig van Beethoven - Sonata op. 57, p.I, bars 256-259 In what follows, I will share a few ideas regarding timbre and orchestral sonorities that help me discover and reveal to the audience the universe of some of the central pieces in Beethoven`s work. 3. Sonata op. 53 In part I, the first theme is attributed to strings, the motives in the soprano line being introduced by winds, culminating in a ff for tutti. The second theme is definitely entrusted to woodwinds (Figure 3), the sf. in bar 38 (Henle ed.) applying to the third voice, represented by the horn

Fig. 3. Ludwig van Beethoven - Sonata op. 53, p.I, bars 32-42

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The second part belongs to the horns. In regard to the difficulty in performing some of the passages, Donald Francis Tovey writes the following in the foreword of The Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music edition: `in bars 21-25, a good cellist will play the base line with magnificent colour, spontaneous rhythm and without the smallest temptation to speed` (Figure 4).

Fig. 4. Ludwig van Beethoven - Sonata op. 53, p. II, bars 18-24 The first theme of the third part consists of a dialogue between the flute (in the tonic) and the oboe (in the dominant), which, step by step, invites other instruments to play a triumphant-in-character tutti. In the coda we find a few bars with glissandi in octaves in both hands that would wonderfully fit the harp and I believe it deserves a short parenthesis. We know that these could be easily played on the pianos of that time. To prove it, we have Czerny`s Etudes with glissandi in sixths, octaves and even chords. On modern pianos, this poses a difficult problem, because of the heaviness of touch and the increased key height. Fischer says: “Scales and octaves must be played glissando, which, on some heavy action pianos, is almost impossible. Try to play the first octave in a much emphasized way.”(Fisher, 1966, p.80). On the other hand, Arrau asserts: `Waldstein was written for a piano with Viennese mechanics, on which glissandi in octaves were easy to play. When I come across a piano on which these cannot be played, I change the programme. I only play Waldstein if the piano responds` (Horowitz, 1982, p.105)`. Tovey believes that this was not an easy task, not even in Beethoven`s time, due to the quarter note in the middle of the glissando that interrupts the continuity of the eights. Thus, he recommends playing that quarter with the left hand (in the right hand fragment), whereas on pianos with heavy action he suggests playing the whole passage with both hands, sacrificing a few notes. He considers the solution of playing the octaves staccato, used by various pianists, unhelpful, adding that this can only remind us of Mozart`s opinion of Clementi: `he writes Prestissimo and

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plays Moderato`. My opinion is that, besides the compulsory speed, the great difficulty is to play the passage in pp, as indicated. As a vast majority of pianists do not find themselves in Arrau`s position to afford to change the programme on the eve or even on the day of the concert, I think that the two-hand playing is a better choice, as I myself use the following fingering (Figure 5):

Fig. 5. Ludwig van Beethoven - Sonata op. 53, Coda, bars 462-477 4. Sonata op. 57 The initial arpeggios pass from the cello to the viola, next to the violin, the trill motives being played by the woodwinds (Figure 6).

Fig. 6. Ludwig van Beethoven - Sonata op. 57, p. I, bars 1-10 The second theme is performed by the horns and the trumpets, instruments that are able to bestow upon it the majestic character (Figure 7).

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Fig. 7. Ludwig van Beethoven - Sonata op. 57, p. I, bars 35-40

The same solemn atmosphere is set by the sonority of the metal instruments that play the theme of the second part (Figure 8).

Fig. 8. Ludwig van Beethoven - Sonata op. 57, p. II, Theme, bars 1-15

The first variation is played by the winds (the chords in the right hand) and the strings (the melodic line in the left hand) (Figure 9), while in the second we have an expressive cello accompanied by a violin (Figure 10).

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Fig. 9. Ludwig van Beethoven - Sonata op. 57, p. II, Var. I, bars.16-29

Fig. 10. Ludwig van Beethoven - Sonata op. 57, p. II, Var. II, bars 32-37 In the third part, the theme in sixteenths is performed by the string section; the motives in chords are introduced by the winds (Figure11)

Fig. 11. Ludwig van Beethoven - Sonata op. 57, p.III, bars 21-35

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In the coda there is an interchange between the tutti (chords in ff) and the strings section (chords in p) (Figure 12).

Fig. 12. Ludwig van Beethoven - Sonata op. 57 p. III, Coda, bars 306-323 5. Conclusions By all means, in these works, as in all the others by Beethoven, there are typical piano-written passages, where figurations cannot be easily and naturally adapted to other instruments. However, in most instances, the global sonority can be transposed to the orchestra by using other figurations, specific to the instruments that constitute it. In this respect, I remember that Sequera Costa, the pianist, once said in a master-class that `it would be of great use to the composition class students to orchestrate Beethoven`s sonatas as an exercise, so suggestive is the music for this purpose.` In any case, when it comes to pianists, I am convinced that thinking in an orchestral manner helps develop imagination regarding tone colour, which provides an important leap in quality from the level of a good musical performance to a truly interesting one.

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6. References Beethoven, Ludwig van. 1980. Klaviersonaten [ Piano Sonatas]. Munchen: G. Henle

Verlag. Beethoven, Ludwig van. 1999. 32 Sonate per pianoforte [32 Sonatas for pianoforte]

Milano: Edizioni Curci. Fischer, Edwin. 1966. Sonatele pentru pian de Beethoven [Beethoven’s piano

sonatas]. Bucureşti: Editura Muzicală a Uniunii Compozitorilor. Horowitz, Joseph. 1982. Conversation with Arrau. New York: Limelight Editions.

Bulletin of the Transilvania University of Braşov Series VIII: Performing Arts • Vol. 12 (61) No. 1- 2019 https://doi.org/10.31926/but.pa.2019.12.61.10

The Polyeleos A Good Word in the Musical Reflection

of the composer Horaţiu Alexandrescu

Ciprian SAVIN1

Abstract: The polyeleos Cuvânt bun [A Good word], thus conceived by the contemporary composer Horaţiu Alexandrescu in order to be sung by male choirs, develops, harmoniously and polyphonically, an old psaltic chant written in the middle of the 19th century by the protopsaltis Kiril Arvinte from Ciolanu Monastery in Buzãu and published by the archdeacon and musician Sebastian Barbu-Bucur in his volumes of church sacred chants. The composer creates expressive musical images, that send an inner state of peace and prayer, by rigorously respecting the functionality of the melodic formulas, rhythm and meter of the fifth tone; it is, thus, avoided, the sonoric spectacular which has nothing in common with the orthodox worship space. Keywords: polyeleos, modalism, psaltic, composer, polyphony, 1. Introduction

“The polyeleos (gr. πολὺ ἔλεος, πολυέλεον = much forgiveness, much mercy) is a chant whose text is formed by verses chosen from psalms 134 (You Servants of God) and 135 (Confess to the Lord…). It is sung at the matins of the feasts of some saints after the second row of sedalen. At the feasts of the Virgin Mary, the polyeleos is composed of verses from the psalm 44 (A good word resounds in my heart…)” (Barbu Bucur, 1984, 381).

Horaţiu Alexandrescu is a professor, conductor, composer and musicologist. He was born on May 17, 1955, in Constanţa, and graduated from the “Ciprian Porumbescu” Conservatory of Music, Bucharest, Faculty of Music and Musical

1 Gimnazial School no. 39 „Nicolae Tonitza”, Constanța, psalt_ciprian@yahoo.com

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Composition, Musicology section (1979). He has a doctorate in Musicology from the National University of Music, Bucharest. (2005). The professor had wrritten over 200 works which comprise orthodox sacred choral music and secular choral music for all types of choirs, four cantatas, the opera “Saint Andrew, the Apostle”, chamber music, incidental music and musicology works. He is a member of the Union of Romanian Composers and Musicologists, and a founder member of the Romanian National Choral Association.

The polyeleos Cuvânt bun [A good word] was written by the composer Horaţiu Alexandrescu in 2009, at the request of the Tomis Archiepiscopate. The work is registered by Radio Romania under the interpreting of the male choir Cuvânt bun from Constanța, conducted by the Archid. PhD. student Gianin-Cristian Oprea and acquired by the Union of Romanian Composers and Musicologists in 2010. This chant-prayer is being sung during the matins of feasts of the Mother of God.

The psaltic melody on which the musical speech of the work has been built is neumatically marked by the Protopsaltis Kiril Arvinte from Ciolanu Monastery in Buzãu, around 1850 and has been published by Archdeacon and PhD Professor Sebastian Barbu-Bucur in his volumes of psaltic music.

The choral work signed by Horaţiu Alexandrescu accurately follows the functionality of the echoi (tone) 5, diatonic and plagal tone of the first tone, also called plagyos protos. The work is of religious inspiration and is written for male choir and a tenor soloist.

2. Cuvânt bun [A good word] – Stylistically Analysis

The choral embellishment of the psaltic music combines the modal harmony with the polyphony. The melodic and cadential formulas of the fifth tone are carefully and faithfully kept.

The architectonic of the work respects the structure of the prayer-text. Each one of the two verses of the polyeleos has a musical section. The first section (A) is related to the verse A good word resounds in my heart. It says: Rejoice, Queen of Heaven, blessed Mother of Christ, our Lord! Hallelujah!, and the second section (B) to the verse I say my things to the Lord. Rejoice, Queen of Angels, Mistress of the world. The author even states these in the score by numbering them. He uses at the end the traditional formula of the prayer, which is Hallelujah, that means God be praised (hebr. Hallel Yahve), which is a musical coda.

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A B Coda

(m.1 - m.39) (m.40- m.56) (m.57- m.65)

One of the features of the composer’s entire choral work that have a psaltic character is related to the rhythmic-melodic formulas of the echoi that behave like musical motives, having, one or two metric accents.

The melody belongs to the fifth echos, also called the hypo-dorian echos due to his function as a first echos plagal. The scale used is the enharmonic one, usually used for the sticheraric or papadic cadence (see ex.1). Although the usual modal centre of the fifth echos is D, this time, the work is made on F, due to the male choir ambitus.

Example 1. The scale of the fifth echos (Panțîru, 1971, 234)

In the vision of the composer Horaţiu Alexandrescu, with regard to this choral chant, the voice extension surpasses the interval of a ninth. The bass covers an interval of a perfect twelfth (E-flat-B-flat), the baritone covers the decimal (B-flat-D1-flat), the second tenor evolves in the interval of minor ninth (C-D1-flat), and the first tenor sings the song also in an interval of major tenth (E flat-G1). The score of the soloist covers the entire tenth (F-A1 flat). The entire play is dominated by the gradual melodic rhythm, interrupted in some incipient melodic formulas by perfect fifth and fourth jumps, and occasionally, by major and minor thirds. The melody remains faithful to the Byzantine model sung at the kliros of the churches.

The metric fully depends on the text. Although the four quarter notes measure has been initially proposed, during the play, depending of the tonic accents of the words, the metric oscillated between two and three quarter notes. While the short durations (Quaver, Semiquaver) generally, marks the theme interpreted by one of the voices, the long durations (Minim and Semibreve) represents the “isons” that accompany the theme.

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In what concerns rhythmic characteristics, one could state that there are imperfect cadences on A, C and F1 (corresponding to ga, ke and Pa’ from the Byzantine notation) and perfect cadences on F. The melodic beauty is given by its simplicity and by the gradual repetition of the cadence formulas by each voice or by the soloist, accompanied by chords of fourth and fifth, a specific trait of the modal harmony.

The first section – A (m.1-m. 39) corresponds to the verse A good word resounds in my heart. It says: Rejoice, Queen of Heaven, blessed Mother of Christ, our Lord! Hallelujah!, the voices enter in stretto, the theme being successively sung by the bass, the baritone, the first tenor, and, finally, by the second tenor.

Example 2. The first phrase from Section A

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The composing procedures are polyphonic and easily identified, certain musical motives easily passing from one voice to another (see Example 2).

The chord on the thirds are, usually, avoided, which is, usually, one of the traits of the modal embellishment of the psaltic music.

Another trait of the enharmonic scale of the fifth tone regards the usage of natural D ascending and D flat descending. Of course, here D (pa) is the equivalent of B(zo) from the Byzantine notation, which is under the influence of the Syrian Agem ftoral, with the above mentioned effect (see Examples 1 and 3).

Example 3. Syrian Agem ftoral

The polyphonic reflection of the composer suggests the antiphony as a type of execution of some of the Christian chants, even from the first centuries of our era.

Imitations, the entering in stretto of the voices, the succession of the sonoric planes, the continuous dialogue between the voices, all of these form the author’s conception in what concerns the religious choral art.

One of the traits of the musical speech is represented by the usage of the ison, a type of chant used nowadays, present in the liturgical chant since the patristic period.

In what concerns the importance of the usage of the ison in the choral creations, Daniela Doroșincă states: “The usage of the ison in the harmonic choral chant begin with the first processings of the psaltic melos, its presence certifying a certain sonority of the Byzantine music ethos. If in the psaltic chant, the ison accompanies the entire melody, oscillating between the tonic, the dominant and other steps that it moulds, in the choral works this is valued on shorter parts, depending on the coloristic effect the composers wish to obtain, being present in more and more different versions” (Doroșincă, 2013, 18-19).

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Example 4. The second musical phrase

Due to the polyphonic thinking of the composer’s musical speech, the melody passes from one voice to another, which compels the interpreter to use timbre unity and text articulation. While the melody is predominantly gradually built, the harmonic-polyphonic layer is clear, having long values, the melodic leaps functionally emphasizing the structure of the fifth echo.

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The second section – B (m.40-56) corresponds to the verse I say my things to the Lord. Rejoice, Queen of Angels, Mistress of the world. The melody starts with the bass (m.40-44), who continues it together with the baritone (m.45-47), and amplified under the sonoric tension by the entire choral ensemble, on the words Rejoice, Queen of Angels, Mistress of the world (m.48-56).

Example 5. The first phrase from Section B

The work finishes with a coda (m.57-m.65) on the word Hallelujah, the melodic line being, first, sung in unison by the tenors, while the bass voices use long durations of the sounds, a stylistic trait of the psaltic chant, accompanied by the ison.

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Example 6. Coda

The functional relations are plagal; the author intentionally eliminates the third from the vertical sonoric structures built on the main steps (string of recitation 1, string of recitation 2, subtone, final), thus, respecting, the traits of the voice.

The procedure represents one of the stylistics methods used by the composer Horaţiu Alexandrescy, whose musical creation is strongly anchored in the Romanian psaltic music tradition.

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3. Conclusions

The polyeleos A good word is a theological-mariological synthesis, endowed with a special profoundness, that gathers the prophecies of King David about the Mother of God and the means of worship comprised in the patristic and philocalic writings of the Church. In this context, the harmonic-melodic and architectonic structure of the choral work completes and embellish the profound theological message of the work.

One could state that, through timbre, dynamic and agogic, and, especially, though the sonoric balance that it gives out, the musical speech consolidates the sung prayer and makes the sonoric expression render sensitive the mind and soul of the one who listen to it and prays. Being dedicated to the cultic space, the chant gives away peace, moving minds and hearts.

The choral song A good word is one of the contemporary composer Horaţiu Alexandrescu’s reference works, together with Taina creștinătății [The Mystery of Christianity], the carol Cerb s-a lăudatu’ [Stag was boasting], the choral suite De nuntă [Of Wedding], comprising folk music themes from Herţa- Bukovine, Versete alese la Taina Sfintei Cununii [Distinct Verses to Holy Matrimony], Imnul Heruvic [The Cherubic Hymn] and Tatăl nostru [Our Father], works that have been awarded by the Romanian Patriarchate in 2011, 2015 and 2016, as well as with the opera Sfântul Andrei, Apostolul [Saint Andrew, The Apostle], or the cantata for one soloist, children choir and symphonic orchestra Aducând cântări, mulțime [Bringing hymns, o people].

4. References Barbu-Bucur, Sebastian. 1984. Dicționar de termeni muzicali [Dictionary of Musical

Terms]. Bucharest: Enciclopedică Publishing House, p. 381. Doroșincă, Daniela. 2013. Ethos bizantin în muzica corală românească [Byzantine

Ethos in the Romanian Choral Music]. Iaşi: Pim Publishing House. Panţîru, Grigore. 1971. Notaţia şi ehurile muzicii bizantine [The Notation and the

Tones in the Byzantine Music]. Bucharest: The Musical Publishing House of the Composers’ Union.