Conferinta EN
The Cycle of 24 Preludes and Fugues. Modern Interpretations in the Russian Music
GABRIELA VLAHOPOL
Musicology Department University of Arts “George Enescu” from Iaşi
7-9 Horia Street, Iaşi, 700126
ROMANIA
gabriela_vlahopol@yahoo.com
Abstract: Although the pair prelude-fugue is naturally associated with Bach 's Well-tempered clavier, modern treatments applied to fugues and to other forms belonging to the Baroque were relatively common in the 1920s and the 1930s. The waning interest for the imitative polyphonic composition in the second half of the 20th century was compensated by the emergence in European musical cultures of several valuable collections. This study concerns the Russian musical space and two representative works from the sequence of modern reinterpretations of the cycle of preludes and fugues composed after 1950: 24 Preludes and fugues, Op. 87 by Dimitri Shostakovich and 24 Preludes and fugues Op. 29 and Op. 45 (1970) by Rodion Shchedrin. Key-Words: polyphony, prelude, fugue, structure, tonal sistem
1. Premises
Interest for the prelude-fugue combination has fluctuated during the stylistic periods dominated by the homophonous thinking, as the composers approached polyphony and Baroque forms as neoclassical (neo-Baroque) re-designs, with more or less overt constructivist tendencies. Among the numerous cycles or single groupings of the prelude-fugue type, we have the modern responses to the Well-tempered clavier1, some of them using the same title as the Baroque model, realised with the constructive means and the language of the 20th century.
The diversity of approaches is visible within a unique composition school, the Russian musical culture of the 20th century, which contains three remarkable responses to the Well-tempered clavier, belonging to Dmitri Shostakovich, Rodion Shchedrin and Sergei Slonimsky. This study aims to compare the works of the first two composers, from the perspective of their similarities and differences, both between
GABRIELA VLAHOPOL
Musicology Department University of Arts “George Enescu” from Iaşi
7-9 Horia Street, Iaşi, 700126
ROMANIA
gabriela_vlahopol@yahoo.com
Abstract: Although the pair prelude-fugue is naturally associated with Bach 's Well-tempered clavier, modern treatments applied to fugues and to other forms belonging to the Baroque were relatively common in the 1920s and the 1930s. The waning interest for the imitative polyphonic composition in the second half of the 20th century was compensated by the emergence in European musical cultures of several valuable collections. This study concerns the Russian musical space and two representative works from the sequence of modern reinterpretations of the cycle of preludes and fugues composed after 1950: 24 Preludes and fugues, Op. 87 by Dimitri Shostakovich and 24 Preludes and fugues Op. 29 and Op. 45 (1970) by Rodion Shchedrin. Key-Words: polyphony, prelude, fugue, structure, tonal sistem
1. Premises
Interest for the prelude-fugue combination has fluctuated during the stylistic periods dominated by the homophonous thinking, as the composers approached polyphony and Baroque forms as neoclassical (neo-Baroque) re-designs, with more or less overt constructivist tendencies. Among the numerous cycles or single groupings of the prelude-fugue type, we have the modern responses to the Well-tempered clavier1, some of them using the same title as the Baroque model, realised with the constructive means and the language of the 20th century.
The diversity of approaches is visible within a unique composition school, the Russian musical culture of the 20th century, which contains three remarkable responses to the Well-tempered clavier, belonging to Dmitri Shostakovich, Rodion Shchedrin and Sergei Slonimsky. This study aims to compare the works of the first two composers, from the perspective of their similarities and differences, both between
References: Yun-Jin Seo, B.M., M.M. 2003: Three Cycles of 24 Preludes and Fugues by Russian Composers: D. Shostakovich, R. Shchedrin and S. Slonimsky, The University of Texas at Austin May Hakovian, Levon, 1998 - Music of the Soviet Age 1917-1987. Stockholm: Melos Music Literature, ©1998 apud. Yun-Jin Seo, B.M., M.M., 2003