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abstracts
Anastasia Siopsi: Stage action in Richard Wagner’s work in relation to
his late theories
It is the purpose of this essay to explore a significant dimension of
the relation between time and space in Wagner’s music dramas,
which can be expressed as Wagner’s
“intention
of a gradual transformation of space into time”,
aiming at their ideal identification and, finally, their
“obliteration”.
It is because of this dimension of thought that visual forms can be
perceived as essentially related to music; such an idea is based on
the term
“musicality”,
mainly analyzed in Wagner’s 1870 essay entitled Beethoven. A
significant example is Der Ring’s ending:
in this scene, stage action is presented at two levels, the one
suggesting an existing society (so, there are historical references
implied by the dramatically presented society of the Gibichungen,
and, also, by Nuremberg in Wagner’s Die Meistersinger), the
other counteracting by music in order to develop ideas and emotions
which, finally, prevail (Valhalla’s destruction at the end of the
Tetralogy, but also the archetypal / metaphysical union of the two
lovers after their death in Tristan und Isolde). The idea
expressed in this way is that of the gradual abandonment of phenomenal
reality,
or else,
the gradual obliteration of space and time. All ideas that Wagner
expressed during the last years of his life focus on this notion; in
support of them, he preferred Bach than Beethoven because, as he
believed, Bach’s music broke free from phenomenal reality,
whereas Beethoven’s music never lost its dramatic character.
Iakovos Steinhauer: The concept of mimesis in T. W. Adorno
The focus of this article is the Adornian mimesis as a concept that
redefines the traditional meaning of mimesis, acting now as a
dialectical counterpart of rationality with an important critical
function of the rational world. I attempt to pursue the implication of
these ideas for a topic that has remained unexplored, namely the
aesthetic dimension of the Adornian utopia of “musique
informelle”.
Alexandros Baltzis:
Critical theory in the new conditions of cultural production
This article presents a brief account of the new conditions where the
production, circulation, and consumption of cultural goods take place.
New opportunities for creators, intermediaries,
and the public emerged, as significant changes in the ways of
producing culture have been brought about by several factors. These
include the development of digital technologies and the internet; the
new international division of labor in the realm of cultural
industries of a globalized economy; the proliferation of networking
and “inter-networking” of both the authors and the public. At the same
time, these interdependent developments outline a context quite
different from the one experienced and analyzed by Adorno in his
critique of culture industry. This article focuses on these changes as
it aims to raise several questions regarding Adorno’s critique in an
attempt to explore and highlight what remains crucial and important
from his point of view. In addition, it clarifies some of the
widespread misrepresentations of his views that make his approach too
superficial.
Irmgard Lerch-Kalavrytinos:
Humour, irony and satire in medieval music
In this paper several aspects of humour and wit in medieval vocal
music are presented, especially in polyphonic music of the 13th and
14th centuries. In the poetic texts, the element of humour is often
present. In this respect, the motets of the second half of the 13th
century are of special interest because the words of the tenor often
comment in an ironic or humorous way on the texts of the upper voices
– a topic up to now unexplored – whereas a musical manifestation of
any humour present in the texts is extremely rare. In the 14th
century, the “realistic” setting of texts,
which describe scenes of hunting, fire, fishing, walking in the market
place etc., can often be regarded as humorous and occurs mainly in
caccie, chaces and the so-called “realistic” virelais. In several
cases, a more subtle musical humour can be traced, where aspects of
the meaning of the texts are symbolically represented
through the
musical means of form, for instance in Philippe de Vitry’s motet
Cum statua / Hugo / Magister invidie, or of harmony,
rhythm, and tessitura, as in the songs of the “Fumeux” towards the end
of the 14th century, or of the way the music is notated, as in one of
the two manuscript versions of Johannes Ciconia’s virelai Sus une
fontayne.
George Fitsioris: 14th
century:
Ars Nova, the birth of a new art
Apart
from the impressive novelties in musical notation, the 14th century is
characterized by the appearance and establishment of the first
powerful two-part cadential patterns, which will also remain dominant
throughout the Renaissance. Insofar as chromatic alterations are
required for the formation of exemplary cadential structures, this
paper deals with the perennial thorny issue of musica ficta and
stresses that, as Elizabeth Eva Leach maintains, as early as the 14th
century the semitone became a fundamental contrapuntal resource.
Finally, it points out the considerable differences in the “ending
habits” of French and Italian composers of the period, arguing that
the cadences of the French sound more intense, more decisive, and more
“dramatic” than those of their Italian contemporaries.
Katy Romanou: Guillaume Du Fay’s “Byzantine motets”
This article is part of a research about the relations of the Greeks
with the West and its music in the 15th and 16th centuries, and
focuses on three motets written by the French-Flemish composer
Guillaume Du Fay. The motets Vasilissa ergo gaude (1420) and
Apostolo glorioso (1424) were written when the composer was at the
service of the Italian aristocratic Malatesta family, members of which
had a close relationship with the Peloponnese, at a time when the
declining empire had created a new center in the area. The third
motet, O tres piteulx, also known as Lamentatio sanctae
matris ecclesiae Constantinopolitanae (1454 or 1455), is a lament
for the Fall of Constantinople, in which Du Fay expresses his deep
grief and his distress for the indifference shown by European rulers
(and his own patrons)
to
the event. The article closes with an exposition of some remarkable
coincidences regarding Du Fay’s lament with the one composed for the
Fall by Manuel Doukas Chrysafis, one of the last Byzantine musicians.
Furthermore, in the introduction of the article, an attempt is made to
understand the reasons
for the delays in
the research of the relations between the Greeks and Western music.
Ioannis Fulias: Anton Reicha and the first systematisation of music
forms in the 19th century
The present study focuses on two major theoretical treatises of Anton
Reicha (Traité
de mélodie,
1814; Traité de haute composition musicale, 1824-1826),
and especially on those parts where a systematic classification of the
diverse music forms is developed for the first time in the history of
music theory. Main features of the earlier attempt of 1814 are the
distinction of music forms into pairs, on the basis of both their
extent (“small” and “large” forms) and their binary or ternary
subdivision,
as well as their immediate reference and application to the – mostly
vocal – music repertoire of the late 18th century. In this way, the
constitution of music forms by Reicha is here critically examined,
revealing some inherent weaknesses but also the highly sophisticated
nature of the central dualism between the “large binary form” and the
“large ternary form”. On the other hand, the music forms that Reicha
presents at the end of the second volume of his later treatise (1826)
are primarily
intended
to serve the
broader
compositional process of “exposition” and “development” of thematic
ideas. Their ideal scope is now the instrumental music, however not
that of the past or even the present, but first and foremost that of
the future, as it is revealed not only by Reicha’s few references to
works from the repertoire (which, in addition, are almost exclusively
limited to his own compositions), but also by the serious divergences
noted between the proposed theoretical constructions (for the
“large binary form” that is now equated in essence to the sonata form,
for the “large ternary form” that is henceforth detached from all the
other “rondeau and rondo forms”, for the “form of fantasy”, the
“variation forms”, and also the “minuet forms”) and the compositional
practice of the early 19th century.
Nikolaos Maliaras: Theophrastos Sakellaridis, Perouzé. The
revival of an opera
Theophrastos Sakellaridis is the most
prominent representative of the Greek light musical theatre; yet, he
also composed some serious operas, the most important of which is
Perouzé, a purely dramatic opera, written in 1910-1911 and first
performed by Dionysios Lavrangas’ Hellenic Melodrama opera company.
Since then, and until 1950, Perouzé had
been
tremendously successful within and outside Greece. However, after the
death of its composer, the opera was almost forgotten. The present
text refers to the history of the work and, mainly, to its stage
performance at the Odeon of Herodes Atticus in Athens, in the context
of the Greek Festival, in June 2018, by the Athens Philharmonia
Orchestra and a crew of distinguished artists. Perouzé is not
free from
the
conventions and the commonplaces of the late 19th century opera, with
major influences from the verismo style and its contemporary French
opera, while the linking of the text to its musical representation is
very tight. The plot reflects archetypal issues, such as the
incompatible, for most societies, love between people of different
social and cultural background; therefore, it takes on diachronic
dimensions and refers to situations that can occur in any place and
any time. From a musical point of view, the work is full of
magnificent melodic ideas, while the orchestration and, generally, the
organisation of its musical material reveal a very gifted composer who
could have produced a series of high quality serious operas and, thus,
could redefine the course of opera in the 20th-century Greece, if,
most likely for livelihood reasons but also because of the specific
historical conditions in the second decade of the 20th century, he had
not abandoned his career prematurely.
Theodore Karathodoros: Exploring the structural qualities of Legetos
in Dimitri Terzakis’ Legetos for two violins
Dimitri
Terzakis’ Legetos for two violins constitutes a special case in
the composer’s creative work, as his influences, compositional
starting points, and intentions, regarding the use of technical
elements stemming from the Greek tradition, are disclosed ab initio
by its title. Indeed, the challenging title of the piece refers to
Legetos, a specific sound environment and a branch of the Fourth mode
of Byzantine music, which creates powerful motives for exploring the
utilisable structural qualities and features inherent in the
traditional material. This article
launches a debate
between the work and the theory and praxis (performance) of Byzantine
music in order to reveal some correspondences between them, as well as
the transformation of elements of the Byzantine music culture
through
the contemporary
compositional
thinking. At the same time, a description and highlighting of the
micro-interval functionality is attempted, which does not aim at
enlarging the melodic scale steps, or their subsets, but serves the
concept of
tensioning
forces, as they appear in the texture of Byzantine chant, as well as
in the music of the eastern Mediterranean in general.
Sofia Kontossi: Genuinely Greek, inherently orientalist or a longing
cosmopolitan? Exploring Emilios Riadis’ identities through the song
cycle for voice and piano Neuf petites mélodies roumies
In Neuf petites mélodies roumies (terminus ante quem
1925), geographically remote areas of the
South-Eastern
Mediterranean – as parts of the broader Hellenic World – and diverse
female figures – as representatives of various ethnic groups –
converge into Riadis’ nostalgia for the lost atmosphere of his city of
childhood: the oriental, multi-ethnic, cosmopolitan,
and
still under Ottoman sovereignty at the turn of the XXth century
Thessaloniki, connected through
the
multifarious facets of the omnipresent woman’s love. A characteristic
specimen of the composer’s last creative period, this work attests
Riadis’ mature style: an authentic blend of oriental voluptuousness
and careful elaboration following the Western music tradition, where
inspiration from Greek folk music and impressionistic
strokesmerge
into an artful plot and balance. Concluding, I would say that
Nine little romeic songs
cycle expresses Riadis’ desire to reconstruct in the Eastern
Mediterranean a piece of the Orient not as an idealised space of
evasion – following the exoticism trends of his time – but as part of
his rich inheritance of being a dreamy and cosmopolitan Romios.
Antonis I. Konstantinidis: “Some
privileged ratio by itself, some privileged perception, and some a
combination of the two”.
The depiction of music intervals as a timeless search in the theory of
Greek music
Considering the reform of Chrysanthos (or that of the
Three Masters) as a starting point, the theory of intervals in
Byzantine Music is presumed on a new basis closely linked to the
ultimate past of ancient Greek music theory.Ôhe
terms and definitions of the new theory are sought in this theoretical
background, from where extensive loans in music terms are being
derived. This is
a fertile influence that positively affects new theoretical thought
and can be explained both in ideological terms and the self-evident,
imperative need to fortify the melodic basis of music by a logically
inductive theory. It is at this point that the art of music meets the
numbers and through them the prestige and the logic of a systematic
theory that must now be based on axioms, theorems, propositions, and
proofs.
During the research of music theory sources, we also
note a diachronic search
for an idealistic equilibrium between mathematical
designation and musical performance,
namely through the imaging with numbers and the musical
interpretation itself.
This path is proving to be a long one with multiple
challenges, revisions, but also various versions and extensions that
in itself constitutes a continuous and unremitting challenge. From
this point of view, the original question of Ptolemais from Cyrene and
the response that she proposes, i.e. the clear separation of the
science of harmony between the mathematical-Pythagorean and the
musical-Aristoxenian ones, as well as that of the theory of music in
two schools of thought, “[that] of mathematics and [that] of hearing”,
is reassigned by Chrysanthos in the new psaltic theory and, as is
observed, especially in the third part of the response, regarding the
concomitant theoretical dimension of music and mainly through his
effort to depict the music intervals.
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