Sound poetry is an artistic form in which phonetic qualities are usually given preference over the semantic content. In sound poetry, it is especially the rhythm and sound (timbre) of words which is used to build up meaningful structures. Due to this feature, sound poetry resembles the so-called absolute music, i.e., classical instrumental music based on extended and complex forms. In the absolute music, the unfolding of a work’s musical form is simultaneously understood as its content (hence the idea of formal aesthetics that the way of saying is, in a sense, equivalent to what is being said). This is why the analysis of form plays such an important role in the classical music. This article suggests the idea that the tools used in the analysis of formal structures of classical instrumental music can be applied also to sound poetry to uncover its content and meaning. The article concentrates on the sound poetry of Estonian poet and writer Jaan Malin. Malin’s interest in sound poetry was awakened by another Estonian poet Ilmar Laaban, whose works Malin saw as examples. In his works, Malin uses several techniques to achieve timbral continuity of the text, including repetition, fragmentation, and liquidation, timbral “links”, timbral palindromes or retrogrades, transformation of the sound of words, and formal overlaps and interpolations. Occasionally Malin applies metrical structures characterising also the main theme, i.e., the entire musical phrase or group of phrases of a musical work. In Malin’s works, the repetition usually displays a word or a group of words followed by a number of its timbral equivalents, i.e., the words or sound forms (new words invented by the poet having no concrete meaning) that include the same number of syllables, but which are slightly different from the original form. Sometimes longer words or word groups are gradually replaced by shorter words, which creates intensification. Such a phenomenon is referred to as fragmentation in this study. In specific contexts, the fragmentation can be followed by an opposite phenomenon – the summation (shorter words are followed by longer words), which in the analysis of a musical sentence is usually referred to as liquidation. To connect larger formal units, Malin sometimes uses “links”, i.e., the words or word-like fragments having similar sound. The “links” can be direct or indirect. In creating a new “link”, a word is followed by another word that displays the same vowels in the same or reverse order. The first corresponds to the direct, and the second to the indirect “link” accordingly. The latter is also referred to as timbral palindrome or retrograde in this study. Sometimes, there is also a gradual transition from one formal section to another. Such transitions are described as transformations since the dominating words of a new formal section appear as a result of a continuous elaboration of words governing the preceding section. The shortest and simplest way to link two sections is to use a word that functions simultaneously as the last word of the preceding and the first word of a new section. Analogous to music, such a link is referred to as overlap. In addition, Malin in his works occasionally takes the position of a commentator, expressing his opinion on the text. This creates a kind of narrative caesura, interruption of continuity, which can be paralleled with that of interpolation in music analysis. Malin does not use the techniques of musical development for their own sake. Rather, he uses these to enter the dimension of music as he uses the semantic content of words to return to the dimension of language. From the perspective of language, switching between the two dimensions can also be understood as semantic “release” or “recharge” accordingly.
This study investigated cognitive and emotional effects of syncopation, a feature of musical rhythm that produces expectancy violations in the listener by emphasising weak temporal locations and de-emphasising strong locations in metric structure. Stimuli consisting of pairs of unsyncopated and syncopated musical phrases were rated by 35 musicians for perceived complexity, enjoyment, happiness, arousal, and tension. Overall, syncopated patterns were more enjoyed, and rated as happier, than unsyncopated patterns, while differences in perceived tension were unreliable. Complexity and arousal ratings were asymmetric by serial order, increasing when patterns moved from unsyncopated to syncopated, but not significantly changing when order was reversed. These results suggest that syncopation influences emotional valence (positively), and that while syncopated rhythms are objectively more complex than unsyncopated rhythms, this difference is more salient when complexity increases than when it decreases. It is proposed that composers and improvisers may exploit this asymmetry in perceived complexity by favoring formal structures that progress from rhythmically simple to complex, as can be observed in the initial sections of musical forms such as theme and variations.
Besides an abundant musical output, the rich legacy of Ludomir Michał Rogowski (1881-1954) also contains numerous writings, a special place among which is held by Muzyka przyszłości [The music of the future], written in 1919 and published three years later. In this work Rogowski asserted that the possibilities for composing music on the basis of the major, minor and chromatic scales were exhausted. He went on to propose an expansion of the repertoire of scales, giving two criteria for the choice of scales: ‘naturalness’ and ‘rhythmicity’. A ‘natural’ scale is one which can be read from the sequence of fifth steps of the twelve-note chromatic scale in equal temperament. The simplest example is the anhemitonic pentatonic scale. The concept of the renewal of tonal material is central to Muzyka przyszłości, but its author formulates an idea about the rhythmic essence of musical form as well. In his considerations on this subject, he proceeds from the nature-related phenomenon of symmetry. He treats the simplest symmetrical pattern, the ternary form ABA, as an elementary manifestation of rhythm expanded into form. References to nature also occur in Rogowski’s texts on national music. In this context, folk music represents such values connected with nature as simplicity, honesty and freshness; it is devoid of all artificiality or posture, free from all convention. In Rogowski’s musical output, a fascination with nature became a powerful source of inspiration, from which many symphonic works of a programmatic character emerged. The connection with nature and joy of life - the crucial values of Mediterranean culture - are conveyed by the music of Cortege de Dionysos and by the whole of composer’s oeuvre. Rogowski confirmed his belonging to the culture of the South not only with his music. When, in 1926, he left Warsaw for Dubrovnik, he confirmed it also with his life.
This study offers a selective overview of the most important methodological approaches and theoretical concepts relevant to the study of musical meaning which have emerged in the Anglo-American musicological tradition since the 1990s. It takes as its starting point the work of Lawrence Kramer, which represents the conceptual underpinnings of New Musicology, and continues with Michael Klein’s study of musical intertextuality, which helps to further illustrate the implications of post-modern philosophy for the hermeneutical interpretation of music. A significant portion of the text is dedicated to Robert Hatten’s work on markedness, correlation, gestures, topics, and tropes. The discussion of the topic theory also covers the contributions made by Raymond Monelle, Danuta Mirka, and others. The overview continues with Esti Sheinberg’s theory of musical incongruities and her typology of modes of semantic ambiguity, including irony, satire, parody, and the grotesque. To complement the traditional text-based approach to musical meaning, this overview also considers meanings communicated through the movements of the human body, referencing Nicholas Cook’s thoughts on embodied cognition and Robert Hatten’s approach to interpreting musical gestures encoded in a musical text. Attention is also paid to the line of thinking leading from Edward T. Cone’s ideas on the presence of different voices and personae in seemingly singular musical works, through Fred Maus’s conception of music in terms of dramatic interaction of musical agents, to Hatten’s theory of virtual agency. This is followed by the summary of Byron Almén’s theory of musical narrative, i.e. the capacity of music to articulate a trajectory leading from one state to another, propelled by the dynamic forces of conflict and resolution. Subsequent chapters discuss the relevance of recent approaches to the study of musical form (William Caplin, James Hepokoski, Warren Darcy) and the possibilities/limits of musical narrative in music since 1900, in which the conventional principles of syntax (tonality, form, motivic/thematic structure) are often questioned. In the closing section, the author returns to Kramer’s ideas, takes a stance with regard to the opposition of semiotic and hermeneutic approaches, and discusses ethical issues associated with the act of interpretation (and misinterpretation).
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Tato studie nabízí přehled nejvýznamnějších metodologických přístupů a teoretických konceptů vztahujících se ke studiu hudební významovosti, které se objevily v anglo-americké muzikologické tradici od devadesátých let minulého století. Výchozím bodem je dílo Lawrence Kramera, které reprezentuje ideová východiska tzv. Nové muzikologie, a pokračuje studií Michaela Kleina o hudební intertextualitě, která osvětluje některé další implikace postmoderního myšlení pro hermeneutickou interpretaci hudby. Podstatná část stati je věnována dílu Roberta Hattena, tedy konceptům jako příznakovost (markedness), korelace (correlation), hudební topoi (topics) a tropy (tropes). V diskusi o teorii hudebních topoi je rovněž zohledněn přínos autorů jako Raymond Monelle, Danuta Mirka aj. Navazuje výklad o modech významové nejednoznačnosti (semantic ambiguity), tedy o hudební manifestaci principů ironie, satiry, parodie a grotesky, jak je popisuje Esti Sheinberg. Kromě významů obsažených v (hudebním) textu je pozornost věnována též významům komunikovaným skrze pohyby lidského těla. Obecnou charakteristiku pojmu „vtělené kognice“ (embodied cognition) nabízí Nicholas Cook; možnosti studia významu expresivních gest zakódovaných v hudebním textu systematicky demonstruje Hatten. Opomenuta není též pozoruhodná myšlenková linie vedoucí od úvah o přítomnosti různých hlasů či „person“ v hudbě (Edward T. Cone) přes pojetí hudby jako dramatické interakce různých hudebních agentů (Fred Maus) po Hattenovu sofistikovanou teorii virtuální agence (virtual agency). Následuje kapitola představující teorii hudební narativity (Byron Almén), tj. schopnost hudby vyjádřit dějovou trajektorii směřující z počátečního do koncového stavu na základě dynamiky konfliktu a rozuzlení. V této souvislosti je diskutována relevance novodobých přístupů ke studiu hudební formy (William Caplin, James Hepokoski a Warren Darcy) a otázka možností a limitů hudební narativity v hudbě po roce 1900, v níž jsou často zpochybňovány konvenční syntaktické principy (tonalita, forma, motivicko-tematická práce apod.). V závěru se autor vrací k tezím Lawrence Kramera, zaujímá vlastní stanovisko k opozici sémiotických a hermeneutických přístupů a akcentuje etické problémy související s aktem interpretace (a desinterpretace).
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