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 (page viii) Foreword (page ix) I Neo-Mythologism: a Hermeneutic Construct and a Historic Trend (page 1) II The Prime Structuring "Molds" of Myth and Music (page 27) III Towards the Universality of Myth (page 77) IV In Search of the Lost Union: Word-Myth-Music (page 113) V Cosmologies (page 137) VI Numerology (page 183) VII "Where Time Turns Into Space": The Mythologem of a Circle (page 201) VIII Reception and Critique (page 241) Appendix 1. An Interview with George Crumb (page 265) Appendix 2. The English translation of the texts by García Lorca from George Crumb's Ancient Voices of Children (page 273) Appendix 3. Text excerpts from Stockhausen's Licht (page 275) Selected bibliography (page 277) List of Illustrations (page 287) Index (page 291) 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.