Le 28 juin 2017
de 15h00 à 15h30
Le Patio (université de Strasbourg)
22 rue René Descartes, 67000 Strasbourg
amphithéâtre 6
Séance - Leading Figures of Modernity (I): Messiaen, Dutilleux, and Kurtág
Pré-acte / Acte
Auteur : Vincent Benitez
With which analytical tools could the present-day researcher approach a contemporary work, especially one which does not fit any classical framework and whose coherence is not easily discernible at first glance? Kurtág´s Colindă Baladă, composed in 2009, is an ideal case study in this regard, since it is designed in a modular form whose constituent parts seem unconnected with one another.
The technical mastery of this work is matched by the richness of its semantic layers and complex formal design. Echoing in certain respects Bartók´s brilliant Cantata Profana, Kurtág´s piece takes the Romanian colinda a stage further as its source of inspiration, both in terms of structure and musical substance. The score is packed with dramaturgical indications; scattered throughout the text are allusions to Wagner´s Tristan (“pseudo-Tristan”), or Gesualdo (“ppp di Gesualdo”), together with outright quotations of folk melodies, all of which signpost the stylistically divergent segments of the piece.
By simultaneously evoking both an archaic and a contemporary mood, contained within a manifestly epic structure, Colindă Baladă epitomises Kurtág´s unique style. Rather than featuring postmodernism and intertextuality, it plots a complex poetic labyrinth which seems incomprehensible in itself, but which displays a meta-coherence within Kurtág´s entire oeuvre.
In order to decode this intricate structural and stylistic maze, the analyst has to be equipped with an “amphibious” tool, allowing navigation across disparate terrains: aesthetic, formal, ethno-musicological, and stylistic.
