Who’s Afraid of Berlioz?
Abstract This article argues that there is one issue that can be useful in expounding the “Berlioz problem”, namely our obliviousness to how the musical work is not only constituted by, but also continuously caught in, a meander of acts. We might call this the “acticity” of the musical w...
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| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Scandinavian University Press
2019-01-01
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| Series: | Studia Musicologica Norvegica |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.idunn.no/smn/2019/01/whos_afraid_of_berlioz |
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| Summary: | Abstract
This article argues that there is one issue that can be useful
in expounding the “Berlioz problem”, namely our obliviousness to
how the musical work is not only constituted by, but also continuously
caught in, a meander of acts. We might call this
the “acticity” of the musical work. The acticity of Berlioz’s music
is defined by his use of the guitar as a composing tool.
The article follows how acts of playing and composing on
the guitar are inscribed in the score and how the physicality of
these acts is still present and creates the specificity of the orchestral
writing, and further, how this “impure” materiality demands new
modes of development. The acts do not simply condition the orchestral
writing, they are present in, and constitute the particularity of,
the score; but more importantly, they may even illuminate an ontological
character of every musical work, its acticity. |
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| ISSN: | 0332-5024 1504-2960 |