Symbol-pieses in dramaturgy of “Makrokosmos” by G. Crumb
Background.The name of G. Crumb has long gone down into the history of world music of the second half of the 20th century, which is confirmed by the words of some musicologists who classify him as «the patriarch of American music». The composer rushed into the avant-garde stream of the post-war period, declaring himself not only as a bright innovator with his own ideas about the sound world of contemporary music, but also as a deep artist who was able to make generalizations of culture-philosophical scale. In the Russian and Ukrainian literature the interest in G. Crumb’s creative work has been reinforced only in recent decades. That is why its number is not large and it contains mostly generalized information about the composer and is repeated in different editions. The composer works in different genres of instrumental and vocal music which reflect his attention to various timbres, many of which involve stage accessories. This also refers to the famous «Makrokosmos», which can be regarded as a kind of creative manifesto of G. Crumb. Objectives.This paper focuses on two cycles of the «Makrokosmos» written for the electronically amplified piano, which allows to reveal the importance of “symbol” pieces in the composition dramaturgy. Their semantic role in the artistic concept remains today out of sight for many researchers, which confirms the relevance of the cognitive goal stated in the title of the paper. Methods.The paper employs a structural-functional and a comparative methods. Results.The study found out that the piano diptych «Makrokosmos» has a number of similar and distinctive features. Similarity manifests itself in the multilayered nature of programme names; in the identity of the programme subtitle – «Twelve Fantasy-Pieces after the Zodiac»; in the two-dimensionality of the piano sound space («on the keyboard» and «in the case»); in the availability of sub-cycles crowned with “symbol” pieces that are notated graphically; finally, both cycles are written for the electronically amplified piano and are supplemented with the author’s manual and comments, which are only amended in the second volume in view of the expansion of the expressive means palette. They differ in the choice of the zodiac signs; specific and unique graphic of “symbol” pieces; in the use of individualized means of the sound production. In both volumes of the “Makrokosmos», G. Crumb keeps to the tradition of generalizing key intonational ideas in final pieces of each of the three sub-cycles. This principle was first used in «Crucifixus [SYMBOL]» (No. 4, volume 1). The graphic representation of the cross acquires a concrete meaning, giving the sound-images of the whole sub-cycle a universal character. The thematic content of the vertical «column» is connected with the variable playing off of the tertian-and-secundal configuration, which in Adagio molto, in the quietest piano(ppppand ppppp), is associated with moaning, groaning, frozen question. In this context, unusual musical notation acquires a semantic argumentation reinforced by its dynamic solution: the vocal exclamation «Ńriste!» falls on the base of the «column « and is marked with theff, first used in this piece. The circle, chosen as a symbolic drawing of the musical text of the final piece of the second sub-cycle «The Magic Circle of Infinity, Moto perpetuo[SYMBOL]» (No. 8, volume 1), is con-cretized in the second half of the title. This generates a wide field of associative links: from the idea of a cyclical beginning and end, birth and death to the cycle of phenomena of animate and inanimate nature. The second sub-cycle is special as its pieces (except for the final one) embody the images of the irreal world. Regarding this, the strings are intended to be played with the help of two metal thimbles, pizzicatowith a fingernail and a fingertip, glissandowith a thimble and without it, and the pianist is intended to hum (the author’s instruction is «the pianist is humming»), half-wheez and hiss, produce harmonics, tremolo on strings, hit the soundboard and transverse metal rods of the grand piano, whistle into the grand piano. The symbolic piece that closes the third sub-cycle and the first volume of the “Makrokosmos” is called by the composer “Spiral Galaxy”, which is reflected in its visual drawing and summarizes all the characteristic figurative spheres and key thematic complexes. The final piece of the first sub-cycle of the second volume «Twin Suns (Doppel-gänger aus der Ewigkeit) [SYMBOL]» (No. 4) is depicted in the form of two identical circles and embodies the idea of the infinity of the cosmos. The generalized name of the “symbol” piece «A Prophecy of Nostradamus» (No. 8, volume 2) looks like two open semicircles within which the quote «Dies irae» is written. The performance of the play includes the element of the theatrical acting: after playing the first half of the piece the pianist must turn the score upside down in order to succeed in performing the second half. The graphic of «Agnus Dei [SYMBOL]» (No. 12) was made in the form of the peace symbol, confirming the close interaction of all the semantic elements in the sym-bolic pieces of the «Makrokosmos». The dramaturgic role of the final piece goes beyond this cycle, uniting both volumes of the “Makrokosmos” with the cross-cutting spiritual idea. There is a semantic arch between the «Crucifixus» (No. 4, Volume 1) and «Agnus Dei», it makes us remember the most intense, effective moment from the «Credo» of the High Mass h-mollby J. S. Bach: «Crucified» – «Risen». The key roles that these semantic images play in the monumental composition of the “Makrokosmos” for the amplified pianoforte allow us to evaluate them as the conceptual core of the entire work. Consolutions.Summing up the observations, we should conclude, that the non-traditional presentation of the music text in “symbol” pieces causes the effect of the folded time-space, because the performing thought moves not so much in the linear di-rection as it intersects the imaginary space, moves in a circle, and is reflected specularly when returning back, etc.. The performer appears as if inside the sound image, taking in and retranslating all the key ideas of the sub-cycle, reinforced by the author’s remi-niscences of the previous intonational formulas. In this connection, we should mention theatricality as a part of the main idea of “symbol” pieces. It defines not only the real situation of performance, but also the process of learning this kind of visualized works: when analyzing the text and moving along a certain geometric path set by the author, the performer unwillingly becomes impregnated with the spirit and idea of the composition, getting involved in a previously thought-out musical and visual atmosphere.