The listener and the work as the dualistic basis for the morphological analysis of music

Размещено на http://www.allbest.ru

The listener and the work as the dualistic basis for the morphological analysis of music

Glivinsky V. V.

Valery Glivinsky -- Doctor of Art criticism, Independent Scholar (New York, USA).

Валерій Гливинський

Гливинський Валерій -- доктор мистецтвознавства, незалежний дослідник (Нью- Йорк, США).

Слухач і твір як дуалістична основа МОРФОЛОГІЧНОГО АНАЛІЗУ МУЗИКИ

Актуальність статті полягає у введенні до наукового обігу нового (морфологічного) типу аналізу музики, який дозволяє розглянути відносини музичного твору і слухача крізь призму взаємодії слухацької вибірковості та іманентної концептуальності музичного тексту.

Мета статті -- охарактеризувати основні об'єкти музично-морфологічного аналізу, їхні властивості, засоби та форми взаємодії, продемонструвати на конкретному прикладі можливості музично-морфологічної аналітичної техніки.

Методологія дослідження заснована на новому, морфологічному типі аналізу, в основу якого покладена категоріальна пара «морфема -- морф», запозичена із лінгвістичної морфології. У процесі аналізу музичного фрагменту (Вступ «Весни священної» Ігоря Стравінського) використані також елементи цілісного та стильового аналітичних типів.

Результати та висновки дослідження.

Морфологічний аналіз Вступу «Весни священної» І. Стравінського дозволяє виявити найбільш характерні риси об'єктно-зображального поліморфізму композитора. Початковий тритакт балету є поліморфним, тобто від початку містить в собі, як у ембріоні, все необхідне для подальшого розвитку. Вихідна точка Вступу «Весни священної» -- мелодія фагота у високому регістрі, супроводжувана підголоском валторни, -- утворює поліморфне інтонаційне поле, що відтворює образ лісу, з якого долинають звуки пастушого ріжка. У процесі розгортання форми цілого десять інтонаційних елементів, що утворюють це поле, мутують, вступають у взаємодію один з одним, породжуючи нові конструктивні різновиди. Виникають нові композиційні прийоми: фігуративні натяки, інтервальні попередження, поліостинатні ускладнення (замість акордово-гармонічних ущільнень), конструктивні аналогії (замість інтонаційної подібності), фактурно-функціональна діалогічність, міжсекційна елементна міграція.

Об'єктно-зображальний поліморфізм Стравінського оновлює мовні норми європейської музики. Властивий класико-романтичній традиції тематичний розвиток стає окремим випадком поліморфного мутування музичної тканини.

Ключові слова: творчість Ігоря Стравінського, морфологічний аналіз, «Весна священна», об'єктно-зображальний поліморфізм.

In morphological analysis, the musical work and the listener are seen as elements of one communicative duality. Each element of this duality may play the role of either subject or object. Morphological analysis takes sound construction as its main target. This makes possible a more flexible approach to analyzing a musical text. The morpheme, one of the cornerstones of morphological analysis, can be defined as a sound construction with a typical set of characteristic features. The other cornerstone, the morph, transforms a morpheme into a generic, stylistic “flesh and blood” of a specific musical text, on the basis of polymorphism. From the point of view of morphological analysis, the musical development in the “Introduction” to Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring is based on a step-by-step approach to an externally existing object, permitting us to perceive (see or hear) its details. The object itself is polymorphic, i.e., like an embryo, it contains within itself, from the start, every element it needs for further development. The starting point of the “Introduction,” the high-register bassoon melody accompanied by the supporting French horn voice, can be defined as a forest seen in a distance, from where the sound of a shepherd's horn can be heard. The ten intona- tional elements of the initial three measures of the ballet are the base from which the form of the “Introduction” is developed.

Keywords: oeuvre of Stravinsky, morphological analysis, The Rite of Spring, object- descriptive polymorphism.

morphological analysis musical

Introduction

The problem of what a musical work contains in itself and how it is perceived by the listener occupies a central place in musicology. In order to find a solution, I have developed the concept of morphological analysis. Its techniques were used in [Glivinsky, 2019, 2020, 2022]. In the morphological analysis the musical work and the listener are seen as elements of one communicative duality. Each element of this duality may play the role of either subject or object. The subjectness of a musical work is based in its innate conceptuality, its ability to trigger emotional or mental associations at various levels of specificity when perceived by a listener. A discussion of the psycho-physiological bases of this phenomenon, or the steps by which it developed to maturity in European culture, is outside the bounds of this article. Nevertheless, I will note that innate conceptuality became an attribute of music fairly late, in the 18th century. It can solve an array of terminological and methodological problems connected with answering questions about what makes music distinct as an art form, and its content-related or linguistic aspects. I will especially note the relationship between this concept and Boris Asafiyev's “symphonism”. Clearly, the latter is a special case of the former (as is baroque rhetoric, incidentally). Also clear is that innate conceptuality is more concrete and more grounded in the real world, as a tool for identifying the profound expressive foundations of music, than is, for example, Ernst Kurt's “energy,” Aleksei Losev's “number,” or Asafiyev's “intonation.”

The purpose of the article is to characterize the main objects of musical morphological analysis, their properties, methods and forms of interaction, to demonstrate the possibilities of musical morphological analytical technique using a specific example.

Methodological framework of the article is based on a new, morphological type of analysis, which is based on the categorical pair "morpheme -- morph", borrowed from linguistic morphology. In the process of analyzing the musical fragment (Introduction to “The Rite of Spring” by Stravinsky), elements of integral and stylistic analytical types were also used.

Research results

The subjectness of the listener's perception is most vividly on display in terms of selectability. In assessing a musical work's ability to express most fully the aesthetic aspirations and ideals of a particular time, aural perception (both individual and collective) shapes a set of preferences for selecting the names and creative legacies of past and present composers. The level of innate conceptuality plays a decisive role in this process. For example, in the second half of the 18th and early 19th centuries, it turns out to be the work of Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, and Rossini that is conceptually meaningful for the modern listener. Less interest is shown in the music of Gluck, Boccherini, or Paisiello. The Baroque era is associated primarily with Bach and Handel. Vivaldi, Scarlatti, Corelli, Couperin, and Rameau remain in the background. In the 20th century, the highest level of innate conceptuality can be seen in the works of Stravinsky, Prokofiev and Shostakovich. Works by Scriabin, Rachmaninoff, Richard Strauss, Mahler, Puccini, Debussy, Ravel, Orff, and Gershwin are of a comparable level.

Morphological analysis takes sound construction as its main target. This makes possible a more flexible approach to analyzing a musical text. It is purely optional for a listener to have knowledge of the concepts and terms describing the arrangement of pitches, syntactic structures, form patterns, or stylistic and generic features in the music of any particular historical period. In contrast, the sound-constructive basis of music as an art form is a fundamental attribute, and as a consequence, is always under the spotlight in the listener's consciousness. This means that a description of the sound constructions as a sum total of sounds, shaped by rhythm, timbre, and tessitura in their horizontal progressions and vertical combinations, optimizes the perception of the musical flow as a discrete, constructively organized, and, in the end, innately conceptual phenomenon. A morphological analysis relies on sound constructions of various scales, from simple consonance up to a symphonic cycle. The specifics of their sklad This Russian music term refers to the structural logic of a musical fabric (see [Glivinsky, 2022, p. 151]).

Stravinsky's melodic themes as invariant pitch structures are analyzed in [Jarz^bska, 2020]., textural, temporal, timbric, and dynamic organization transform them into morphemes, for subsequent morphic realization.

The morpheme, one of the cornerstones of morphological analysis, can be defined as a sound construction with a typical set of characteristic features. Within the bounds of its specific type, a morpheme triggers a polysemic array of figurative and semantic associations. This polysemy arises from the expressive specifics of music as an art form and is regulated both from the “right” and the “left.” Movement to the right, toward a reduction of associative polysemy, lowers the artistic value of the morpheme and makes it easier to recognize. Movement to the left creates a different sort of problem. А significant expansion of the figurative and associative fields has a fatal effect on that innate conceptuality and reduces the probability it will be appropriately aurally perceived. The level of morphemic polysemy, both figurative and semantic, is fairly mobile and changeable. While it remains an attributive property of a musical text, this polysemy also lives its own life, relying in large part on the specifics of music perception in a particular historical era.

In my work over the past several years, and also in this article, I refer to the morphemes of:

environment, based on the interaction of two or more sound sequences uncoordinated in time, with a constructive dissimilarity and timbric and tessitura dissociation that generates, in the listener's associative perception, an image of a sort of space-time continuum;

event as specific type of morpheme of environment, including the ostinato to personify just time passing;

dissonance as a sound construction, the constituent parts of which create dissonant (minor second, major seventh, or tritone) friction;

space, consisting of two elements: a reverberating pedal-tone background associated with endless distances, with a melodic relief which pours over it to create the impression of something visibly within reach;

motion, based on the contrasting combination of two horizontals: one manifested as regularity, the other as irregularity;

-- Janus as a sound construction with features which preclude an unambiguous interpretation, either in terms of modal and harmonic organization, formal design and compositional functionality, or, in the end, in terms of the imagery and its meaning;

disruption, created by the emergence of material that abruptly differs from the proceeding development in terms of melody, mode, harmony, texture, timbre or dynamics;

quadruple as a four-phase form pattern which can be described as a-a-b-a;

jellyfish, providing an associative dynamic portrait of a form based on a sequence of phases in which the musical fabric alternately expands and contracts.

The other cornerstone of morphological analysis, the morph, transforms a morpheme into generic, stylistic “flesh and blood” of a specific musical text, on the basis of polymorphism, rather than ordinary variability. What is the difference between the former and latter, and why must we prefer the former? There is not an uncrossable boundary between polymorphism and variability. Both concepts describe a plurality of forms in which a particular object exists. However, the invariant-variant pair is used, as a rule, to describe a linear process, in which the starting point, its structural (melodic, rhythmic, textural) features, are a factor of the recognizability in all subsequent transformations1. The polymorphic object, in contrast, exists as a potential plurality of individualized forms. Their diversity is unified by an initially provided constructive prerequisite: a morpheme. The invariant and variant are linked by their structural and syntactic similarity. The morpheme and morph are connected in constructive and content-related (innately conceptual) ways.

The interaction between morpheme and morph stems from the polymorphic nature of music and is closely tied to its temporal foundation. Temporal deployment, governed by repetition (whether exact or with variations), gives morphological analysis practically unlimited potential. A flexible combination of induction and deduction allows the analysis to find typical innately-conceptual sound constructions, in all the diversity of their textural realizations, among works of various eras and styles. Comparing these textural realizations permits us to refine, and in some cases correct, the way we describe their aesthetic value.

One shining example of the depth and rapidity of morphic transformations in Stravinsky's music is the “Introduction” to Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring. The first well- developed analysis of it was provided by Asafiyev. His definition of its form as the “process of growth in the musical fabric” has become axiomatic [Асафьев, 1977, с. 44]. Irina Vershinina's analysis of the same fragment contains a multitude of interesting observations and conclusions. She stresses the special role of timbric motifs:

“Each new timbric motif grows out of the previous one and provides a basis for the next. A strongly-forged chain with thematic elements for links takes shape, distinct with structural clarity and connected with common pitches. But, once it appears, every subsequent thematic element is left to live on in its original, unaltered form. The essence of the musical structure in the “Introduction” is the sequential placement of these timbric motifs as they are born, motifs which move the boundaries of the range of sound, as if coming to fill a particular sonic expanse” [Вершинина, 1967, с. 154].

Essentially, Vershinina elaborates on Asafiyev's idea of growth, without referring to it. Crucial to this elaboration is her description of the growth of the orchestral texture, its expanding density and volume. From the point of view of morphological analysis, the musical development in the “Introduction” to Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring can be seen as a step-by-step approach to an externally existing object, permitting one to perceive (see or hear) its details. The object itself is polymorphic, i.e., like an embryo, it contains within itself, from the start, every element it needs for further development. The situation is reminiscent of looking at a painting from different distances and angles, or a 360-degree view (moving closer and further away) of a statue, concluding with a return to the starting point. The starting point of the “Introduction,” the high-register bassoon melody accompanied by the supporting French horn voice, can be defined as a forest seen from a distance, from where the sound of a shepherd's horn can be heard (Introduction, bars 1-3).

The specific imagery I am suggesting for the introductory three measures of the work is based on the morphic realization of the morpheme of the environment. Here, the experience of contemplating the natural surroundings translates into a sound structure which recreates the relationship of two dimensions: internal and external. The first is bounded by the limits of the human body, while the borders of the second are laid at the limits of visual perception. As the individual ego dissolves into the infinitude of the natural world, extending to the horizon, a person is submerged in an emotional state that we can define as dissociated tranquility. This is a dissociation from the fuss and bother of everyday life, triggered by the beauty of the outside world. In Stravinsky, dissociated tranquility appears in a specifically “humanized” form. The sound of the shepherd's horn, as it is carried in, becomes the departure point from which the form is deployed, similar to the step- by-step approach to an object audible in the distance.

In its formal aspect, the introductory sound construction of The Rite of Spring turns out to be a classic example of the morphic realization of the quadruple morpheme. Here, it can be described as the sequence a-a-b-a. Aside from the beginning of The Rite of Spring, we can also identify the morphemic traits of the a-a-b-a quadruple in the introductory sections of Firebird and Petrushka.

It is worth examining the initial three measures of The Rite of Spring in two ways:

-- as an ingenious example of Stravinsky's psychologically enriched tone painting, reconceiving the romantic paradigm for perceiving the surrounding world in an object- oriented way;

as an extremely concentrated manifestation of the polymorphism of the composer's creative thinking.

The dichotomy of the sound construction at the beginning of the ballet reveals itself in:

its self-significant artistic value;

its role as a resource for further polymorphic development.

The self-significant artistic value is rooted in the melodic and rhythmic reworking of the folklore source material: Lithuanian wedding song no. 157 in Anton Juszkiewicz's collection Litauishe Volks-Weisen (Part I, Krakow, 1900). The result of this reworking is a generic transformation (from song to instrumental playacting). The bassoon solo sounds like the playful, spontaneous improvisation of a folk musician, marked by the rhythmic quantitativeness, melodic ornamentation. However, as Boulez's analysis demonstrated, its spontaneity is an illusion [Boulez, 1991]. In actuality, it is a virtuosic amalgam of rhythmic symmetry, parallelism, retrograde movement, and variant repetitiveness. In terms of mode, the initial melody of The Rite of Spring, interacting with the French horn line, reveals change at multiple levels. Together with the melodic variations and the sense of rhythmic improvisation, the modal variability adds contemplative features to the cumulative musical image.

The initial counterpoint between bassoon and French horn forms a polymorphic in- tonational field, elements of which, as they develop and interact, recreate the step-by-step approach and entry into the forest from which the shepherd's playing can be heard. There are ten such elements in total. Four of them are contained in the initial melodic figure of the first measure:

the trichord figure c2-b1-g1;

the stepwise movement over the minor triad (b1-g1-- e1);

the fifth e1-b1;

the fourth over a distance, shaped by the lowest and concluding pitches (e1-a1).

In the melodic figure of the second measure, two new elements appear:

the filling of the lower tetrachord of the natural minor with the adjacent natural seventh scale degree ( d2-c2-b1 -a1 -g1);

the audible sequence c2-a1-d2-a1.

The phasal repetition of the initial melodic figure in the first three measures confirms that the echoes (over a distance) of the repeating core tone a1 is the seventh element (7). The French horn line, by itself and in combination with the bassoon line, adds another three elements:

the minor second c#1-d1;

the diminished-octave false relation c#1-c2 ;

the just-audible sequence of two sixths (d1-b1 and c#1-a1) at the end of the third measure.

The first phase of the approach (from the beginning to the first measure of reh. з) can be described as the stage in which the structural integrity of the initial bassoon solo is gradually blurred. Its second appearance (bars 3-6 of reh. 1), unlike the first, does not contain the phasal repetition of the initial melodic figure. The third appearance (bar 1 of reh. 3) is compressed down to the concluding one and a half measures. In the lower textural layer, elements 4 (the fourth) and 8 (the minor second) blend into the morph of chromatically parallel fourths. Its descending and ascending movement, interrupted by pedal stops, emphasizes the improvisational nature of the musical development. The process of approaching frequently starts then stops at fermatas, searching for its way in the right direction.

The morph of the chromatically parallel fourths serves as the textural basis on which are layered both the fragments of the bassoon solo and the new melodic figures that grow out of its polymorphic elements. Especially indicative, in this sense, are the bassoon and piccolo clarinet lines in bars 1-3 of reh. 1. Using element 8 (the minor second), they transform it into a descending sequence based on element 1 (the trichord)). We can also classify the English horn ostinato in reh. 2 as another figure, changing the interval foundation of element 1 (here, major second + minor third). Wrapping up the first phase are the final one and a half bars of the introductory melody, accompanied by descending chromatic lines in the bass clarinets, polymorphically transforming element 8 (the minor second). These lines play an important role in the subsequent development, as do intervallic mutations of trichord figure.

The starting point of the second phase is underlined with an accelerated tempo (рій mosso). The sequence of contrasting episodes symbolizes the entry into the forest grove. In the first episode (bars 2-6 after reh. 3), the chromatic fourths in the bassoons again go spiraling. With that in the background, the French horn continues rhythmic and melodic- melismatic transformations to the morph of element 1 (major second + minor third). The dynamic aspiration of the beginning episode lets us see it as a sort of predict to the music recreating the noises and voices of the forest's inhabitants (reh. 4 -- bar 4 of reh. 6).

The sound-descriptive staticity of the second episode is based on the use of French horn harmonic pedals and trills in the clarinets and flutes. The atmosphere of vibrating silence they create is filled with orchestral voices that imitate the sounds of living nature. These include:

the rhythmically irregular repetitions of the d#2 in the oboe at reh. 4 (element 7, the repeating tone);

the triad figure with a flickering e2-e#2 minor-- major third scale degree in the oboe at reh. 5 (elements 2, the triad, and 8, the minor second);

the “cooing” bass clarinet solo as a hybrid of three elements: 7 (the repeating tone), 10 (the reverse-melodic version of the sequence of two sixths), and 3 (the fifth).

Other textural lines are acoustically in the background, and play an enhancing role, thickening and expanding the musical fabric. Nevertheless, there are interesting details to be found in their intonational relief, which are important in terms of the form as a whole. For example, the flute line in bars 1-2 of reh. 5 is based primarily on elements 3 (the fifth) and 4 (the fourth). Its purpose is to expand the sound space by encompassing the second and third octaves. Elements of mirror-image symmetry are present in the construction of this line. The sounds before and after the pivotal tone d#2 at the start of bar 2 of reh. 5 relate to each other as rhythmically altered retrogrades (Introduction, reh. 5).

The piccolo clarinet line starting at reh. 4 is born out of melismatically embellished, chromatically descending melodic movement (a morph of element 8, the minor second), which is used at the start of the second phase in one of the bassoon lines. The piccolo clarinet transforms this movement into a melodic figure based on the compressed to a major third (minor second + minor third) and expanded to a triton (major second + major third) morphs of element 1 (the trichord). In the last repetition, the starting major second e2-f#2 of the triton mutation is replaced by a minor second e2-e#2. This is the composer's way of melodically preparing for the flickering major-minor third in the following oboe solo.

The contralto flute line at reh. 6 deserves special attention. As a morph of element 5 (the filling of the lower tetrachord of the natural minor with the adjacent natural seventh step), it mutates into the melodic figure, which can be heard as a foretelling of the French horn solo at reh. 25 of “The Augurs of Spring. Dances of the Young Girls.” Played in a relatively sparse textural environment, it is clearly audible. The French horn pedal in the second episode can be interpreted as an autonomous consonant component of the musical fabric (the E major second inversion at reh. 4). It transforms to a sharply dissonant structure responding adroitly to changes in the textural environment (at reh. 5). Layered on top of the major-seventh foundation A#-a (the morph of element 9, the diminished-octave false relation), there is a third line, the melodic minor second f-e1 that constitutes yet another diminished-octave false relation with the flickering tertian tone of the oboe solo (Introduction, reh. 5).

The intermediary role played by the third phase (bars 5-10 after reh. 6) is emphasized by a change in texture. This series of compact three-tone or four-tone chords results from layering two narrow-range melodic ostinatos over the circular, spiraling line of chromatic-parallel fourths (used for the third time). One of those ostinatos (in the first flute) is the compressed morph of element 5 (here, the filling of the lower tetrachord of the natural minor without the adjacent natural seventh step). The distinguishing characteristic of the second ostinato, in the English horn, is an inner constructive repetition which brings the tones of the minor second f-f#1 in turns (a morph of elements 7, repetition, and 8, the minor second). In terms of imagery, this fragment is similar to the beginning of The Nightingale: perhaps the movement of clouds, perhaps the rustling of treetops. From a gradually approaching point of view, the third phase can be interpreted as a brief rest stop in the glade, giving one time to cast a glance at the sky and the nature all around. The similarity of these landscape analogies stems from related approaches to composition. The intervallic sequences in the orchestral introduction to the opera group around a repeating fifth. The compact three-tone or four-tone chords of ballet are layered periodically with consonant D major/minor triads. Despite its brevity, the third phase is handed over for development. Its concluding four measures demonstrate clear signs of rhythmic slowing (duplets rather than triplets in the flutes) (Introduction, mm. 5-10 after reh. 6).

The fourth phase takes up the developmental thread that appears in the first episode of the second phase. The motion deeper into the forest at reh. 7 is based on an alternation between saturated and sparse textural fragments (representing the forest and the copse). Stravinsky recreates the tutti-solo dialogue, originating in baroque music, using the contrast between ten-line and three-line constructions. In the saturated (ten-line) constructions, there are eight pedals and two-tone ostinatos that temporally prolong the harmonic vertical, consisting of five degrees of the whole-tone scale from f# with the added tone d#. The dissonant acoustic environment absorbs the oboe and piccolo clarinet voices. Their intonational profile is based on musical material which previously sounded in both episodes of the second phase. The oboe repeats, in condensed form, the morph of element

(the repeating tone). Again (for the third time) piccolo clarinet plays a morph of element

(the minor second). In the sparse (three-line) construction, Stravinsky uses two more elements from the second phase: initial segment of the English horn line at reh. 3 (element 1, the trichord figure) and first bar of the contralto flute line at reh. 6, foretelling the French horn solo at reh. 25 of “The Augurs of Spring. Dances of the Young Girls.” The dialogue between the saturated and sparse constructions is in an inverse proportional relationship: the condensed repetitions in the former lead to expanded repetitions in the latter.

The second episode of the fourth phase (reh. 8) is constructively monolithic. Its underlying layer (one pedal and four two-tone ostinatos) absorbs the melodically individuated lines in the alto flute and piccolo clarinet. Within that underlying layer, the ostinato line in the bassoons, a morph of element 6 (the sequence c2-a1-d2-a1) deserves special attention. The alternation of major third and major third (d1-bb-c#1-bb) can be heard as a vital step in the melodic preparation for the ticking minor third -- perfect fourth ostinato (db-bb-eb1- bb), which is one of the main expressive means in “The Augurs of Spring. Dances of the Young Girls.” The piccolo clarinet line includes a three-time repetition of the morph of element 8, the minor second (its fourth appearance). In the alto flute, the morph of element 5 (the filling of the lower tetrachord of the natural minor with the adjacent natural seventh step) repeatedly, in a rhythmically altered and constructively expanded form, initiates a sequence that extends into the initial episode of the fifth phase, which is crossing through the forest proper.

The beginning of the fifth phase (bar 1 after reh. 9) contains a new intonational element. The oboe solo can be seen as one additional morph (along with the chromatic- parallel fourths) of element 4. Its initial melodic figure, paradoxically, resembles trochaic syncope, an Italian Baroque musical mannerism, based on a descending jump from the downbeat to a syncopated note. Trochaic syncope would also be used in works from the 1920s and 1930s, markedly influenced by the stylistic features of Baroque era. In The Rite of Spring, its sounding continues in a melodic line primarily built on fourths. This line serves as a kind of constructive antipode, a horizontal projection of the chromatic-parallel fourths. Aside from the new morph of fourth, the musical fabric of the first episode contains its inverse imitation in the piccolo clarinet. Serving as a third element is a rhythmically changeable sequence (a morph of element 5, the filling of the lower tetrachord of the natural minor with the adjacent natural seventh step), which has its bеginning at the end of the fourth phase.

The second episode of the fifth phase (reh. 10-11), a patch of forest which is difficult to cross, is marked by the highest level of textural density. Its psychologically enriched tone painted statics are grounded in the nine-measure pedal of the cellos and basses. The pitch foundation of that pedal is a most powerful dominant harmony, the major-minor seventh chord from e! Its relations with the ballet's initial bassoon solo, marked by a predominating A minor, and also with the variable D major/minor in the third intermediary phase are obvious. They point in an unambiguous (though fairly veiled) manner to the classical functional-harmonic (T -- S -- D) foundation of the musical development. Looking ahead, the resolution of texturally and dissonantly complicated layering of the dominant pedal not at T (А minor), but rather at the A-flat minor of the concluding, sixth phase, can be seen as a special type of interrupted cadence. Its nonstandardness, increasing the intensity of forma- tional energy which cannot find a natural way out, leads to the appearance, at the very end of the “Introduction,” of the main thematic elements from the following “The Augurs of Spring. Dances of the Young Girls.”

The textural lines that weave through the dominant pedal in the low strings play various roles. For instance, the ostinatos in the contrabassoon and French horns, inheriting the tradition of the flickering major-minor third in the oboe solo from the second episode of the second phase, try to use the minor second g-g# they create to put in doubt whether the third degree in the major-minor seventh accord is indeed major. The lines in the English horn, piccolo clarinet, and clarinet in A, reproducing morphs already heard, gradually drown in the growing volume of background, coloristic counterpoints. In the last measures of reh. 11, there are as many as 15 of them. So that the oboe horizontal morph of element 4 (the fourth), which is intonationally contoured and begins with trochaic syncope, can be heard in the thickly saturated sound texture thanks to its doubling by the piercing timbre of the piccolo trumpet (Introduction, reh. 11). The divisi in the violas play an important role in shaping the overall character of the sound. Their dual-layer glissandi sul C, while playing harmonics based on their 2-8 overtones, can be interpreted as a new synthetic morph combining element 2 (in this case, stepwise movement along a major triad) and the characteristic modal detail of element 5 (in this case, the low Mixolydian seventh degree of natural major). In the sense of both construction and imagery, this morph directly follows the tradition that hearkens back to bar 14 of the “Introduction” to Firebird, and indirectly to the border between rehearsal marks 1 and 2 of the “Introduction” to The Nightingale. The idea that the imagined traveler is now inside the forest (inside the object) is emphasized by one more background counterpoint, which recreates the “cooing” bass clarinet solo from the landscape-imagery episode of the second phase of the approach.

The sixth and final phase of the approach heralds the moment the folk musician playing his horn comes into view. Stravinsky reproduces the original bassoon solo in a structurally condensed form transposed by a minor second down. The absence of any French horn counterpoint here speaks for itself: attention focuses exclusively on the source of the sound, and not on anything else (Introduction, mm. 1-5 of reh. 12).

The “Introduction” of the ballet can be considered a manifesto for a new, object- descriptive creative method, rejuvenating the linguistic norms of European music. Within that method, the thematic development peculiar to the classical and romantic traditions becomes only one individual case of polymorphic mutations of the musical fabric. New compositional techniques arise: figurative hints, intervallic foretellings, multilayer ostinato complexity (instead of chordal or harmonic condensation), structural analogues (instead of intonational similarity), textural and functional dialogicity, and the migration of elements between sections.

The dynamic profile of the shape in the “Introduction” to The Rite of Spring, based on alternating phases of expansion and contraction of the musical fabric, can be likened to the way a jellyfish swims. Jellyfish use cyclical changes to the shape of their bell-like bodies to move forward. When the bell contracts, water in front of the jellyfish is sucked inside, propelling it forward. As a rule, the expansion phase of the bell is longer in duration than the contraction phase. The jellyfish analogy more precisely describes the cycle of expansion and contraction than does Asafiyev's definition of “form as the process of growth in the musical fabric:”

“It is difficult to describe this type of form, because here, the chief thing is motion, the unceasing filling, branching, and inflating or “contracting” of the fabric, and also its retrenchment, in the inflow and outflow of sounds (quantitatively, in terms of numbers actually obtained, and not only through the amplification or reduction in the power of the sound). As if it is breathing, the fabric fills with air and expands, then shrinks to one or two lines [...] The form of the introduction to The Rite of Spring is the process of growth in the musical fabric [my bold print. -- V.G.]. This is achieved by the filling and branching described above ...” [Асафьев, 1977, с. 43-44].

Although in describing the process of shaping, the author applies the contrast between branching, inflating and contracting, the definition of the form as a “process of growth” includes only the first, “branching and inflating” phase.

Forms based on the alternation of phases of expansion and contraction can be seen as the textural implementation (or morphs) of the jellyfish morpheme. Underlying this morpheme are cyclical changes to the sound construction. The process is predicated on the growing role that textural, timbric, and dynamic elements of the musical fabric play in shaping the form. The introductory sections of Firebird, Petrushka, and The Rite of Spring are brilliant examples of jellyfish morphs. Each of them is individually characteristic in terms of subject, genre, and stylistics. At the same time, in all three cases, the dynamic profile shapes a gradual growth in the texture. The area of the densest texture suddenly, with no connecting ties or transitions, contracts into the concluding section, which is based on the material heard at the very beginning. This section cannot be defined as a reprise in the simple three-part form. This is, in fact, the contraction phase. Its functional role comes down to concentrating energy for a new expansion. Resuming cycles of expansion and contraction are the most natural form for modeling the subconscious emotions which make up the foundations of the figurative world in Stravinsky's music. The morpheme of the jellyfish, its structural basis, and its specific textural incarnations can be described as the most vivid case of the Russian master's innovation in musical form shaping.

Conclusions

Stravinsky's object-descriptive polymorphism in the “Introduction” to The Rite of Spring is what Schoenberg did not want to hear, or was not able to hear in Stravinsky's music. He frequently laments the absence of thematic material, in Stravinsky, that would be capable of serving as a foundation for developing variation [Schoenberg's..., 2017]. These complaints point to Schoenberg's unfamiliarity with this unique solution to the perennial problem of the Grundgestalt of a musical work, a solution based on completely different artistic and aesthetic preconditions. I wish to point out that Stravinsky's object-descriptive polymorphism appears in The Rite of Spring a decade before the Austrian master's first dodecaphonic compositions. Today, nobody doubts that The Rite of Spring, as well as several other works by Stravinsky are superior--in terms of artistic mastery, influence on worldwide musical processes, and, finally, popularity among a large listening audience--to any work by Schoenberg or other composers of the past century. Stravinsky's artistic discoveries help us see them as a central, key phenomenon in 20th century music. We now must reconsider our overall picture of that century and its artistic achievements. The techno-centric and Teutono-centric fetters that, up to now, have hindered theoretical and historical musicology must be discarded. The Stravinsky's artistic legacy, reproduced every day in the auditory experience of the modern listener, must finally be granted the description, and appreciation, it deserves.

Bibliography

Асафьев Б. В. Книга о Стравинском. Ленинград : Музыка, 1977. 279 с.

Boulez, P. Stocktaking from an Apprenticeship. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 316 p.

Вершинина И. Я. Ранние балеты Стравинского. Москва : Наука, 1967. 223 с.

Гливинський В. В. Переосмислюючи Стравінського історично і теоретично // Науковий вісник Національної музичної академії України імені П. І. Чайковського. Київ, 2019. Вип. 124. С. 133-150.

Гливинський В. В. Переосмислюючи Ігоря Стравінського історично і теоретично --

// Науковий вісник Національної музичної академії України імені П. І. Чайковського. Київ, 2020. Вип. 128. С. 142-160.

Гливинський В. В. Переосмислюючи Ігоря Стравінського історично і теоретично --

// Науковий вісник Національної музичної академії України імені П. І. Чайковського. Київ, 2022. Вип. 133. C. 145-159.

Jarz^bska A. Stravinsky: His Thoughts and Music. Berlin, Peter Lang, 2020. 387 p.

Schoenberg's Program Notes and Musical Analyses. Schoenberg in Words. Vol. 5. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2017. 468 p.

References

Asafiev, B. (1977). Book of Stravinsky [Kniga o Stravinskom]. 2nd ed. Leningrad: Muzyka, 279 p. [in Russian].

Vershinina, I. (1967). Stravinsky's Early Ballets [Rannie balety Stravinskogo]. Moscow: Nauka, 223 p. [in Russian].

Boulez, P. (1991). Stocktaking from an Apprenticeship. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 316 p. [in English]

Glivinsky, V. (2019). “Rethinking Stravinsky historically and theoretically [Pereosmys- liuiuchy Ihoria Stravinskoho istorychno i teoretychno].” In: Scientific Herald of Tchaikovsky National Music Academy of Ukraine [Naukovyi visnyk Natsionalnoi muzychnoi akademii Ukrainy imeniP. I. Chaikovskoho]. Vol. 124. Kyiv, pp. 133-150 [in English].

Glivinsky, V. (2020). “Rethinking Igor Stravinsky historically and theoretically -- II [Pere-osmysliuiuchy Ihoria Stravinskoho istorychno i teoretychno -- II].” In: Scientific Herald of Tchaikovsky National Music Academy of Ukraine [Naukovyi visnyk Natsionalnoi muzychnoi akad- emii Ukrainy imeni P. I. Chaikovskoho]. Vol. 128. Kyiv, pp. 142-160 [in English].

Glivinsky, V. (2022). “Rethinking Igor Stravinsky historically and theoretically -- III [Pere-osmysliuiuchy Ihoria Stravinskoho istorychno i teoretychno -- III].” In: Scientific Herald of Tchaikovsky National Music Academy of Ukraine [Naukovyi visnyk Natsionalnoi muzychnoi akad- emii Ukrainy imeni P. I. Chaikovskoho]. Vol. 133. Kyiv, pp. 145-159 [in English].

Jarz^bska, A. (2020). Stravinsky: His Thoughts and Music. Berlin, Peter Lang, 387 p. [in English].

Schoenberg's Program Notes and Musical Analyses. (2017). Schoenberg in Words. Vol. 5. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 468 p. [in English].

Размещено на Allbest.ru