Neo-Mythologism in Music: From Scriabin And Schoenberg to Schnittke And Crumb (Interplay: Music in Interdisciplinary Dialogue) (Interplay: Music in Interdisciplinary Dialogue)

This investigation aims to demonstrate how it is much more rewarding to view quintessential Western composers in a culturally non-purist and non-exclusive context, rather than insist on incongruity of independent cultural experiences. It has customarily been hard to overcome the divisions between the mind of a highly sophisticated art-musician and the mind of an aboriginal maker of music, myth, and ritual. Both neo-mythologism and neo-ritualism of the twentieth century clearly provide foundations for transcending the cultural borders. The role of mythification in compositional processes has remained outside the main focus of musicology. This book examines the different aspects of composers' thoughts from philosophical views and theoretical systems to operatic librettos and the musical fabric itself, including form, pitch organization, and instrumentation. (From the Introduction) This investigation aims to demonstrate how it is much more rewarding to view quintessential Western composers in a culturally non-purist and non-exclusive context, rather than insist on incongruity of independent cultural experiences. It has customarily been hard to overcome the divisions between the mind of a highly sophisticated art-musician and the mind of an aboriginal maker of music, myth, and ritual. Both neo-mythologism and neo-ritualism of the twentieth century clearly provide foundations for transcending the cultural borders. The role of mythification in compositional processes has remained outside the main focus of musicology. This book examines the different aspects of composers' thoughts from philosophical views and theoretical systems to operatic librettos and the musical fabric itself, including form, pitch organization, and instrumentation. -- from publisher description Frontmatter Acknowledgments Foreword I Neo-Mythologism: a Hermeneutic Construct and a Historic Trend II The Prime Structuring "Molds" of Myth and Music III Towards the Universality of Myth IV In Search of the Lost Union: Word-Myth-Music V Cosmologies VI Numerology VII "Where Time Turns Into Space": The Mythologem of a Circle VIII Reception and Critique Appendix 1. An Interview with George Crumb Appendix 2. The English translation of the texts by García Lorca from George Crumb's Ancient Voices of Children Appendix 3. Text excerpts from Stockhausen's Licht Selected bibliography List of Illustrations Index Neo-mythologism : A Hermeneutic Construct And A Historic Trend -- The Prime Structuring Molds Of Myth And Music -- Towards The Universality Of Myth -- In Search Of The Lost Union : Word-myth-music -- Cosmologies -- Numerology -- Where Time Turns Into Space : The Mythologem Of A Circle -- Reception And Critique. By Victoria Adamenko. Includes Bibliographical References (p. 277-286) And Index. The Devil and the Perception of Schnittke's Early Style -- The Mythologems in Schnittke's First Symphony -- Postlude -- Appendix 1. An interview with George Crumb -- Appendix 2. The English translation of the texts by García Lorca from George Crumb's Ancient Voices of Children -- Appendix 3. Text excerpts from Stockhausen's Licht -- Selected bibliography -- List of Illustrations -- Index