Littérature scientifique sur le sujet « Poemi sinfonici »

O propósito deste trabalho é apresentar uma análise da Sinfonia n. 1 (“O Imprevisto”) de Heitor Villa-Lobos (1887–1959) a partir de sua estrutura formal e narrativa. A obra foi composta em 1916 e é estruturada como se fosse um poema sinfônico, com texto programático escrito pelo próprio compositor. A narrativa literária é recoberta por outra, de caráter musical, estruturada em forma cíclica segundo o método de Vincent d’Indy (1909). A análise irá buscar pontos de aproximação e afastamento entre as narrativas literária e musical, segundo teorias da forma musical, usando terminologias de Hepokoski e Darcy (2006), Vande Moortele (2009, 2013) e Stoïanova (2000); teorias de narratividade musical propostas por Eero Tarasti (1994) e Byron Almén (2003, 2008); e análises tópicas, segundo Leonard Ratner (1980), Wye Allanbrook (1983), Raymond Monelle (2000, 2006) e outros. A intertextualidade se manifesta no plano musical, com obras de Berlioz, Liszt, Wagner, Franck, Nepomuceno e Debussy, mas também no plano literário, com Dante, Camões, Drummond, Graça Aranha e Haroldo de Campos. Palavras-chave: Villa-Lobos; Sinfonia; Narratividade; Teoria das tópicas; Análise musical; Intertextualidade

O propósito deste trabalho é apresentar uma análise da Sinfonia no 4 (“A Vitória”) de Heitor Villa-Lobos (1887-1959) a partir de sua estrutura formal e narrativa. A obra foi composta em 1919 para celebrar o final da primeira guerra mundial, e sua estreia foi programada para um concerto dedicado ao casal real belga que visitava o Brasil em 1920.Originalmente estruturada como um poema sinfônico em três partes, a obra se baseia em texto escrito por Luís Gastão d’Escragnolle Dória (1869-1948). A narrativa literária é recoberta por outra, de caráter musical, estruturada em forma cíclica segundo o método de Vincent d’Indy. A análise irá buscar pontos de aproximação e afastamento entre as narrativas literária e musical, segundo teorias de narratividade propostas por Eero Tarasti (1994) e Byron Almén (2008), além de análises tópicas, segundo Leonard Ratner (1980), Wye Allanbrook (1983), Raymond Monelle (2000; 2006) e outros. O objetivo é interpretar os aspectos musicalmente significativos resultantes da intertextualidade entre música e texto.

La presente ricerca mette in rilievo il mondo estetico di Victor de Sabata (1892-1967), visto come un tutto coerente nella sua complessa dimensione artistica. Il focus e il tema principale sono rappresentati dal cosiddetto “poema contemplativo” Gethsemani (1925), probabilmente l’opera più idiomatica del musicista triestino. Victor de Sabata, come compositore, rimane lontano dalle diverse “ondate” di stili compositivi della prima metà del XX secolo, e muove dalla dissoluzione della forma sonata già iniziata da Richard Strauss verso lo sviluppo dei temi, preferendo variarli con una sorta di vaporizzazione timbrica puntinistica e facendo inoltre uso di una magistrale abilità di disincarnare il suono fino a giungere ad un’unica ed originale idea musicale di Verklärung. L’analisi del poema musicale illumina anche l’atteggiamento complessivo del suo stile direttoriale, in particolare per quanto riguarda la registrazione per l’etichetta EMI (His Master’s Voice) della Tosca di Puccini con Maria Callas e il concerto dal vivo a Salisburgo del 1953 con Morte e Trasfigurazione di Richard Strauss. In aggiunta, le origini mitteleuropee mostrano una speciale assonanza con alcune liriche di Umberto Saba (1883-1957), particolarmente la silloge Preludio e fughe (1928). Le conclusioni affermano che sussiste una circolarità sia nel suo stile compositivo sia nella sua attività direttoriale, consegnando alla storia della musica una eredità assolutamente “trasfigurata” di una personalità indipendente in modo completo dalle tendenze culturali dominanti del suo secolo, in grado di adombrare, inoltre, una nuova prospettiva nel fare musica.
The present research highlights the aesthetical world of Victor de Sabata (1892-1967), as seen as a coherent whole in its complex artistic dimension. The focus and main topic are represented by the so-called “contemplative-poem” Gethsemani (1925), probably the most idiomatic opus by the musician from Trieste. Victor de Sabata, as a composer, stays aloof from the different vagues of compositional styles of the first half of 20th century, and moves from the dissolution of the sonata-form already started by Richard Strauss to the creation of a sort of circular-type of music, giving no importance to the development of themes and preferring to varying them through a sort of puntillistic timbre-vaporization, using moreover a masterful skill to disincarnate the sound into a unique and original musical idea of Verklärung. The analysis of the musical poem illuminates even the general attitude of his conducting style, particularly concerning the EMI (His Master’s Voice) 1953 recording of Puccini’s Tosca with Maria Callas and the 1953 live concert in Salzburg with Death and Transfiguration by Richard Strauss. In addition, the Middle-European origins show a special assonance with some lyrics by Umberto Saba (1883-1957), especially the Preludio e fughe (1928) collection. The conclusions assert that there is a global circularity both as in the music composing as in his music conducting, delivering to the music history a quite transfigured legacy of a unique personality utterly independent from the dominating cultural tendencies of his century, foreshadowing a new perspective in music making as well.

The chapter begins with testimonies about the aesthetic impact of the War Requiem at the time of its premiere followed by a survey of war-themed musical compositions that preceded Britten’s work and Britten’s reflection of his pacifism in musical works such as the Sinfonia da Requiem op. 20. Discussion is then focused on the commission from Coventry Cathedral that led to the War Requiem; Britten’s choice of nine poems by the war-poet Wilfred Owen, which Britten interspersed with traditional texts from the Roman Requiem Mass; and the choice of three specific soloists to represent three countries involved in World War II. The music of Britten’s work is discussed in terms of musical and structural symbolism, particularly in Britten’s choice of the tritone interval to express tension. Performance practice concerns address the staging of the work into three distinct strata, the vocal characteristics of the original three soloists, and the intended acoustical environment of Britten’s conception.

Blue Mountain is a 35-minute work for two actors and orchestra. It was commissioned by the Ultima Festival, and premiered in 2014 by the Danish National Chamber Orchestra. The Ultima festival challenged me – being both a composer and writer – to make something where I wrote both text and music. Interestingly, I hadn’t really thought of that before, writing text to my own music – or music to my own text. This is a very common thing in popular music, the songwriter. But in the lied, the orchestral piece or indeed in opera, there is a strict division of labour between composer and writer. There are exceptions, most famously Wagner, who did libretto, music and staging for his operas. And 20th century composers like Olivier Messiaen, who wrote his own poems for his music – or Luciano Berio, who made a collage of such detail that it the text arguably became his own in Sinfonia. But this relationship is often a convoluted one, not often discussed in the tradition of musical analysis where text tend to be taken as a given, not subjected to the same rigorous scrutiny that is often the case with music. This exposition is an attempt to unfold this process of composing with both words and music. A key challenge has been to make the text an intrinsic part of the performance situation, and the music something more than mere accompaniment to narration. To render the words meaningless without the music and vice versa. So the question that emerged was how music and words can be not only equal partners, but also yield a new species of music/text? A second questions follows en suite, and that is what challenges the conflation of different roles – the writer and the composer – presents? I will try to address these questions through a discussion of the methods applied in Blue Mountain, the results they have yielded, and the challenges this work has posed.