CC BY
16
DOI: 10.24234/wisdom. v20i4.534 Oksana ALEKSANDROVA, Olexandra SAMOILENKO, Svitlana OSADCHA, Julia GRYBYNENKO, Anatoliy NOSULYA
COMPOSER'S PHILOSOPHY: THE INTERDEPENDENCE BETWEEN WORLDVIEW AND WRITING TECHNIQUE
Abstract
The composer's philosophical thinking category is actually significant; a stable approach to the phenomenon under study has not developed to this day. This phenomenon is a complex socially conditioned mechanism of creativity, which entails understanding and clarifying several philosophical and cultural categories, such as thinking, consciousness, worldview, style, writing technique, concept, cultural values. This research reveals the essence of such a phenomenon as the composer's philosophy of thinking in the interdependence's aspect of the worldview and writing technique. The fundamental approaches, methods and principles of research in composer's philosophical thinking area formed the methodological basis of this scientific article. The manifestations of the composer's thinking as an aspect of writing technique (thinking-writing) are considered. The philosophical type of worldview in the composer's work has been substantiated, and the primary forms of their manifestation in the musical text have been determined.
Keywords: philosophy, composers, worldview, thinking, writing technique.
Introduction
Musical thinking is a multilevel process, the mechanisms of which are involved in operating units and components of musical language/ speech, connected and interacting with each other. Each level is differentiated according to its vector orientation to "horizontal" and "vertical". The combination of these vectors forms a qualitatively new level of organisation of musical two content - depth (texture, spatiality, timbre).
The phenomenon of the philosophy of composer thinking is studied in connection with the factors of its formation, including:
1. artistic consciousness (the mechanism of the individual's mental activity, a form of reflection of the world as a Universe),
2. worldview (the "top" of social consciousness, the conceptual basis of creativity),
3. communication (performing tradition, audience assessment, musicological words),
4. social conditioning (the influence of historical and cultural society, scientific and technological progress, etc.).
The musical art of the 20 - early 21st centuries as a philosophical and cultural layer, representing phenomena scattered in the aesthetic and stylistic sense, is a wide field of study for a modern philosopher. Literally, every decade, new trends, methods of working with musical material arose, the aesthetics of previous generations were rethought, unknown forms of working with sound, text and word were born, and all this can turn into a specific philosophical vision or expression. Note that the existence of a total intellectualisation of modern academic art as a phenomenon generated by theory and practice entailed a cognitive approach, enriching the termi-
nology of musicological discourse (a way to think and talk about musical creativity).
As a product of postmodern consciousness, the social system of the second half of the XX -beginning of the XXI centuries gradually closes a person and leaves her alone with herself. Electronic exchange of information opens up new perspectives and simultaneously alienates society, as it "preserves" the human personality. Thanks to this phenomenon, in the art of music, genuinely unique personalities are born with innovative thinking and an approach to creativity, given the creative experience of the twentieth century. Ending in an integral space-time coordinate, it becomes crucial to develop an idea of how this historical (epoch-making) style differs from the previous ones. Answering the question "can the twentieth century be considered an integral phenomenon in the aspect of composer's creativity" positively, researchers are looking for the criteria of this integrity in the experience of the achievements of non-standard-minded representatives of various national composer traditions. In the proposed dissertation, such a criterion is conceptualism as the embodiment of artistic types of thinking/consciousness (Leodiensis, 1973). The primary category for the chosen direction of scientific research is composer thinking.
The main constant of the artistic expression of most composers of the second half of the twentieth century is conceptualism. First of all, it is a method of creating a composition; therefore, it can be applied when using one or another compositional writing - polyphonic, gramophonic-harmonic, and composition techniques: serial-ism, aleatoric, sonoristic, etc. So, the way of expression can manifest itself in different ways. However, the conceptual method is the same for everyone. Researchers consider the very essence of conceptualism as a direction in art and a method and thinking.
In modern musicology, the category of composer's philosophical thinking is actually significant. A stable approach to the phenomenon un-
der study has not developed to this day. This phenomenon is a complex, socially conditioned mechanism of creativity (Kryshtanovych, Bilyk, Hanushchyn, Sheremet, & Vasylenko, 2021), which entails understanding and clarifying several philosophical and cultural categories, such as thinking, consciousness, worldview, style, writing technique, concept, cultural values. That is why modern scientific research in this area is critical today. The purpose of our research is to reveal the essence of such a phenomenon as the composer's philosophy of thinking in the aspect of the interdependence of the worldview and writing technique.
Methodology
The methodological basis of this article derives from the most important approaches, methods and principles of research in the composer's philosophical thinking area. Also, this article was used: a) general scientific methods (formal-logical, systemic, structural-functional, concrete-historical); b) general logical methods of theoretical analysis (analysis, synthesis, generalisation, comparison, abstraction, analogy, modelling, etc.); c) private scientific methods (technical analysis, specification, interpretation, etc.)
Research Results and Discussions
There is no single model for the classification of a composer's creativity, especially thinking because each of the listed approaches illuminates the problem of a psychological or culturological nature but does not affect all the processes associated with composer thinking and in their relationship with the writing technique, the conditioning of communication and the historical conditions of formation composer.
The concept of composer's thinking and its typology based on the Western European tradition is based on the criterion of the dependence of creativity on the artist's worldview. Consider forms of social consciousness of cognition, such
as philosophy.
Philosophy should occupy the most crucial place in the creative activity of a musician since it is the formation of ethical and moral ideals that contributes to the development of his spirituality, and as a result, the creation of cultural values by the composer (Dos Santos, 2019; Koelsch, Rohrmeier, Torrecuso, & Jentschke, 2013). Philosophical thinking is the highest manifestation of the consciousness of the creator of music. It spreads and affects both each level and element of the musical language and forms the composer's style.
Philosophical thinking can be manifested in the objectification of the composer's most philosophical insight and the formation of a unique concept of creation - the existence of philosophical thought in non-philosophical ideas, for example, religious or scientific. As noted in the previous section, almost every element of the musical language emerged from the laws of the very nature of being, being not only an acoustic phenomenon, but also an aesthetic and philosophical born: intonation, emerged from speech intonation and gesture, bears the sign of the era; metro rhythm is the natural basis of life itself; system-harmony - the quintessence of goodness, beauty and order; dynamics - the manifestation of movement, development, time as an objective way of existence of matter; timbre - an individual characteristic of a voice; structure - universe, unity and interconnection of forms (Alperson, Nguyen, & To, 2007; McCarthy & Goble, 2009).
It is known that the philosophers of Ancient Greece perceived music as a conductor between the earthly and divine worlds, and they saw the seven-degree scale as a reflection of world harmony (Harmony of the Spheres), according to the ancient doctrine of the musical and mathematical structure of the cosmos. So, the composer's operation with elements and components of music broadcasting/languages a priori should express the philosophical nature of his thinking. However, the whole point is in their use since only deep understanding, subordination of their
concept of creation, express the philosophical thought of the creator of music. Proceeding from this, the philosophical nature of the composer's thinking, its ideological attitudes play an essential role in forming the musician's integral personality.
Examining the composer's worldview and musical thinking, one comes across the concept of "technique of composer writing" (from the Greek TexviKo^ ^ те^ул - "art", "skill", "skill"). The worldview, influencing the thinking process, generates the appropriate technique. Having, for example, a religious, philosophical or scientific (or all the mentioned in synthesis) worldview, the composer's thinking must remove the corresponding form (Abrams, 2012; Ansdell & Stige, 2018). Proof of this is the expression of D. Shostakovich about the importance of the worldview as the main criterion on which the process of the composer's work depends. In the concepts of interconnection and mutual definiteness of these processes lies the principle of determinism as a doctrine of cause-and-effect relationships. Determining the involvement of a particular type of worldview in a particular historical era or to a composer is a rather tricky and controversial issue because, in each era, music was born as a result of philosophical thought, a confident scientific approach, and religion (Bowman, 2010; Cross & Tolbert, 2009). For example, the music of Ancient Greece was formed as a result of philosophical and scientific thought: the use of "euphonious" intervals, based on mathematical calculation, the seven-degree scale in the perception of philosophers, was a reflection of world harmony (Harmony of the Spheres), the emergence of a strict and freestyle of polyphonic writing, also became the result mathematical calculation; the system of rhetorical figures of the Baroque era - as a result of religious and philosophical thought; Romanticism was formed as a consequence of the philosophical thought of G. Hegel, I. Goethe, F. Schiller, A. Schopenhauer; New Music (Neue Musik) - Frankfurt School of Philosophy, Scientific Progress - electronic comput-
ers, with the help of which it became possible to operate with sound material in a new way.
In addition, every outstanding composer creates his own philosophy. It is also impossible to deny the influence of the cultural experience of humankind (including the arts: literature, poetry, painting, theatre) on the musician's personality. The worldview can evolve in the process of human life. In the beginning, public opinion is formed (looking at things as they are, a person sees specific patterns in things, compares them, realises that she is part of society) then a person seeks to understand the patterns and nature of things more deeply, comparing himself with the world, try to understand the processes of the universe. So she can form a philosophical world-view. Through the influence of the religious environment, a person understands that God created the world to realise his sinful essence. This is how the forms of a religious worldview are laid in it. The desire to determine the nature of things by comparing specific facts contributes to forming the scientific method of cognition (world-view). Of course, each type manifests itself in consciousness to either, and it is impossible to determine that, for example, the music of Ancient Greece - the product of a musician who has only a mythological worldview - is impossible, because already at that time, philosophy and science walked "shoulder to shoulder". The only thing that can be attributed to facts is that a musician has an artistic consciousness, creative thinking. Nevertheless, the techniques and methods of working with the material and the nature of creativity-guiding ideas are the most intriguing questions. Moreover, among others, the latter seems to be the most mysterious one. However, let us try to figure it out.
Two diametrically opposite in their nature fundamental methods of cognition of reality -science and religion - have existed in man's mind from time immemorial. The first is based on arguments, facts, mathematical, physical and chemical formulas, analysis. In contrast, the second is based on faith, prayer, awareness of
one's sinful nature and the struggle with shortcomings, passions. However, these two pillars of knowledge can be combined in art.
In art, scientific methods of cognition are transformed into compositional writing techniques or are objectified in a musical text as ideas or concepts, determining the functioning of certain sound forms (Bicknell, 2007; Bresnahan, 2015; Elliott & Silverman, 2012). Note that religious ideas (concepts) can be expressed by the scientific method of working with musical material or be philosophically coloured. In contrast to the religious and scientific, the philosophical worldview is the dominant ideological and conceptual basis of the composer's thinking, his artistic consciousness, because every outstanding composer in his musical works clearly demonstrates the concept of philosophical, religious, scientific content. Based on these considerations, we understand that the forms of manifestation of one or another type of worldview in a musical work are different; therefore, they function differently in a musical text.
To determine the type of composer's philosophical thinking, we will make several general guidelines for selecting musical material (works, types of artistic consciousness of outstanding representatives of musical culture, genre), which illustrates the formulation of the problem of the proposed study.
Philosophical thinking concentrates around the problems facing any philosophical system, the questions of which are of a global, ontologi-cal nature and are associated with the categories of time, space, being, humanity, morality, beauty, truth, truth, and the like.
Let us dwell on the work of O. Messiaen and A. Part to show how the worldview attitudes of composers influence them and how they can manifest themselves in a musical text. In the works of Olivier Messiaen (1979), the "plurality" of physical times (time duration), as one of the aspects of the picture of the world, is expressed in the over-genre of meditation: four symphonic meditations "Ascension"; seven short visions
"Bodies incorruptible" for organ. The composer's philosophical thinking determines a particular attitude to the problem of time in music, found in the "rhythmic canon" (polyrhythm, as an overlap of times in which the universe and humanity live): "Four rhythmic studies" for piano, "Catalog of birds" for piano, "Seven haiku "for piano and symphony orchestra.
The work of A. Messiaen notes not only a philosophical type of thinking but also a religious one, as evidenced by the composer's disposition towards the Catholic religion, as can be seen in the program titles of most of the opuses: "Twenty Views on the Baby Jesus" for piano, the oratorio "Transfiguration of Our Lord", "Book of the Holy Communion" for organ, etc. It is worth noting that, in addition to the ideas taken from the Holy Scriptures, the composer's attention was attracted by other religions, the ideas of which were conceptually found in "yaravi, a song of love and death", "Turangalila-Symphony", and also in inventing his unique method of writing.
Art for A. Part (2013) is the path of spiritual search, staying in silence, contemplating Beauty, hope in the Lord. The philosophical, scientific and religious type of thinking of A. Part (2013), inextricably linked with the theological tradition of Orthodoxy, was expressed in the creation by the composer of the tintinnabuli technique, in his way, close to the serial technique, which, in turn, is the structuring of the musical text under unique settings composer.
Note that the method of the algorithmic composition refers to the methods of creating computer music, which gives the right to set the creative method of the composer to the scientific one, in symbiosis with the philosophical and religious type of thinking. Part's techniques should be considered "... an equal method of working with intonation as a numerical progression and with a prosaic text as a numerical structure (that is, the text "dictates" the numerical series). Unlike the progression, the text allows one to "subtract" from it the numerical series, which are projected
onto the spheres of counterpoint, harmony (height structure), and the logic of form as a whole. This is largely the source of the novelty of Part's tintinnabuli technique". According to the composer himself, his musical system became "a voluntary flight into poverty."
Also, one should consider that the work of Vladimir Martynov (born 1946) is of great interest to the researcher. It is permeated with philosophical thinking, religious consciousness, the spirit of innovation, originality and a scientific approach to some works. According to V. Mar-tynov, a person in the modern world is present as homo errands - "a lost person", that she needs some guide to the world of righteousness. The composer finds his "refuge" in the ancient church singing art, which is an integrated system, opposed to the torn postmodern consciousness.
The philosophical and religious type of thinking in symbiosis with the composer's choral thinking and the sacredness of the statement was expressed in such a work as "Beatitudes" for three sopranos and a choir. The work is written in the stanza form characteristic of this section (antiphon) of the Divine Liturgy. The composer, without deviating from the canonical form of the antiphon, creates a unique image of light and purity revealed by the grace of God, expressed by musical means corresponding to the image: in the form of linearity of texture, structure and harmony, diatonic, crystal clear melodic lines, qua-si-bell imitations, " long pedals ". At the same time, the work itself is an actual work of the twentieth century. Despite the apparent presence of a harmonious language, all structures are saturated with a fresh sound and are perceived as original.
The study of the synthesis of philosophical and scientific thinking deserves special attention. This type of thinking, in our opinion, was essentially characteristic of such composers of the twentieth century as J. Cage, D. Ligeti, B. Fer-nichou and others.
The philosophical type of consciousness of John Cage (1973) is a consequence of the com-
poser's capture of Eastern philosophy, Zen Buddhism (the ancient Chinese treatise "^Ш" (Yi Jing - Book of Changes), an endless search for new ways in the field of sound production, structure formation, thought, confirmed by each work of the composer). Each work is a new "invention", a new view, and a project with no analogues. The principle of "invention" is a consequence not only of philosophical consciousness but, first of all, of a scientific approach to creating
The work of Derd Ligeti (1993) also notes the philosophical and scientific type of thinking, conceptualism, the invention of the technique of micropolyphony, the use of the method of serial and algorithmic composition (fractal), sonorics, the original rhythmic system (model of the Indonesian gamelan), the technique of "locking keys" in works for piano. A special place is occupied by the concept of rhythm, the result of which is the Concerto for Cello and Orchestra. All components of the musical language of D. Ligeti's works, as a manifestation of the composer's original thinking, resulted from searches and study of culture, art and traditions of different countries, schools, directions, writing techniques and methods of creating a musical composition. It can be assumed that the basis of the composer's philosophical thinking is a scientific approach to music creation.
The personality of Brian Fernyhaw is unique in contemporary musical art. In his work, artistically meaningful philosophical ideas develop through complex intellectual, intuitive processes of creating a structural composition (Fernyhaw, 2008). The philosophical worldview of B. Fer-nichou was formed due to his capture and study of philosophical literature, painting, architecture, poetry, and alchemy.
Regarding the philosophical ideas underlying the creation of B. Fernyhaw's musical compositions, one should point to the theory of allegory by V. Benjamin (in a sense: the transition from image to description, from one art to another), the idea of transformation, the composer de-
scribed as follows: "In his essay "Ursprung des Deutschen Trauerspiels" he first unearthed endless variations on the relationship between images and concepts.
The religious (theistic) type of worldview based on spiritual-moral values, the practice of prayer and asceticism turned out to be on par with philosophical thinking, expressed in the work of composers such as Ksh. Penderecki and J. Tavener. Each of the named authors is a creator and innovator with his own creative and life experience, which results from unique thinking. This is where the originality of the writing technique comes from.
The composing work by Krzysztof Penderecki (1933) occupies a special place on this list (Bylander, 2004). His personality is always associated with a non-standard type of thinking, innovation, avant-garde. Being one of the first creators of aleatoric and sonoric composition, his principles of organising musical material were continued in subsequent generations of composers. However, suppose you study in detail the work of the composer. In that case, most of his creations are associated with religious themes, the musical language in the works of which is imbued with the spirit of the Catholic Church singing tradition, expressionism, and neo-roman-ticism aesthetics.
The work of John Tavener (1944-2013) stands apart in the panorama of British music and the entire modern musical culture. In contrast to K. Penderetsky, the composer's handwriting traces the interconnection of Orthodoxy, Byzantine church singing tradition, Western Catholic music and European modernism of the 20th century against the backdrop of a mystical way of thinking. J. Tavener compared his creation method with an icon painter who paints an icon and called his works "musical icons" (Moody & Caroline, 2014). The program titles of the works are connected with this: "Ikon of light" for chorus and string trio.
As a result of the research, it can be stated that the composer's thinking is a dynamic, evolving
process, subordinated to the breath of the era. The specificity of the composer's thinking in the music of the second half of the 20th and the beginning of the 21st centuries lies in the interdependence of the worldview, communication (performing tradition, listening assessment/perception) and the composer's social conditioning (scientific and technological progress in the postmodern era) form the author's writing technique. The interdependence of worldview and compositional technique in the composer's thinking - its variability, mobility, structure, determinism of some processes and discreteness of others. Differences in the writing technique of composers are a product of their mental activity. They are conditioned by artistic consciousness, which is based on the objectification of various cultural-historical forms.
Conclusion
The manifestations of the composer's thinking as an aspect of writing technique (thinking-writing) have been referred to in the paper. The philosophical type of worldview in the composer's work has been substantiated, and the primary forms of their manifestation in the musical text have been determined. The worldview is formed in the composer's live process: it derives from the interaction of consciousness and communication with the respective socio-cultural environment. The typology of the composer's creativity is accepted through the philosophically viewed dichotomy - "thinking/consciousness". The philosophical aspect should constitute the conceptual foundation of any mental activity of the artist - seeking to learn the laws of nature and to gain the philosophical view of things and creativity, also being capable of directing the musician on a path in which they can express themselves and find answers to the respective questions.
We concluded that conceptual thinking is a supreme method of creativity. It is at the highest level of operating with sound structures. All the
levels and components of thinking while constructing musical drama are expressed in the form in which the composer attributes certain meaningfulness.
We think that further research in this area should be in accordance with the philosophical methodology developed and outlined by the British philosopher Scruton (2009), where, in our opinion, an almost complete matrix of musical discourse and effective methods of its analysis can be found: discursive perception of music, compositional perception of music. Perceptual aspects of analysis, factors of aesthetic influence, etc.
References
Abrams, B. (2012). Understanding music as a temporal-aesthetic way of being: Implications for a general theory of music therapy. The Arts in Psychotherapy, 38, 114-119. https://doi.org/10.10167j.aip.-2011.02.001 Alperson, P., Nguyen, C. B., & To, N. T. (2007). The sounding of the world: Aesthetic reflections on traditional gong music of Vietnam. Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism, 65, 11-20. Ansdell, G., & Stige, B. (2018). Can music therapy still be humanist? Music Therapy Perspectives, 36(2), 175-182. https://-doi.org/10.1093/mtp/miy018 Bicknell, J. (2007). Explaining strong emotional responses to music: Sociality and intimacy. Journal of Consciousness Studies, 14(12), 5-23. Bowman, W. (2010). No one true way: Music education without redemptive truth. In T. Regelski, & J. T. Gates (Eds.), Music Education for Changing Times (pp. 315). New York: Springer. Bresnahan, A. (2015). Improvisation in the arts. Philosophy Compass, 10(9), 573-582. doi: 10.1111/phc3.12251 Bylander, C. (2004). Krzysztof Penderecki: A
bio-bibliography. Westport, Connecticut: Praeger.
Cage, J. (1973). Silence: Lectures and writings. (1st ed. in 1961). Westport: Wesleyan University Press.
Cross, I., & Tolbert, E. (2009). Music and meaning. In S. Hallam, I. Cross, & M. Thaut (Eds.), The Oxford handbook of music psychology (pp. 24-34). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Dos Santos, A. (2019). The usefulness of aggression as explored by becoming-teenagers in group music therapy. Nordic Journal of Music Therapy, 29(2), 150173. https://doi.org/10.1080/080981-31.2019.1649712
Elliott, D. J., & Silverman, M. (2012). Rethinking philosophy, re-viewing musical, emotional experiences. In W. Bowman & A. L. Frega (Eds.), The Oxford handbook of music education philosophy (pp. 37-62). New York: Oxford University Press.
Fernyhaw, B. (2008). Brian Ferneyhough by Brian Ferneyhough. Paris: L'Age.
Koelsch, S., Rohrmeier, M., Torrecuso, R., & Jentschke, S. (2013). Processing of hierarchical syntactic structure in music. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States, 110, 15443-15448. doi:10.1073/pnas.1300-272110
Kryshtanovych, M., Bilyk, V., Hanushchyn, S., Sheremet, I., & Vasylenko, K. (2021). Modelling the ways to increase the creativity of psychology students as a ba-
sic factor in professional development. Creativity Studies, 14(1), 34-50. https:-//doi.org/10.3 846/cs.2021.12571 Leodiensis, J. (1973). Speculum musicae. Corpus scriptorum de musica (The mirror of music. Body of music, in Latin (Vol. 3; R. Bragard, Ed.). Paris: American Institute of Musicology. Ligeti, D. (1993). Lichnost' i tvorchestvo (Personality and creativity, in Russian). Moscow: Sat. articles. McCarthy, M., & Goble, J. S. (2009). The prax-ial philosophy in historical perspective. In D. J. Elliott (Ed.), Praxial music education: Reflections and dialogues (pp. 19-51). New York: Oxford University Press.
Messiaen, O. (1979). Lexico UK Dictionary. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Retrieved from https://web.archive.org/-web/20070220062516/http://www.olivi ermessiaen.net/ Moody, I., & Caroline, G. (2014, January). Sir John Tavener: A world of light. Gramophone, 1105, 16-19. https://doi.org/-10.1093/gmo/9781561592630. article.2 7569
Part, A. (2013). Biography & History. AllMusic. Retrieved from https://www.allmusic.-com/artist/arvo-p%C3%A4rt-mn0000-929776/biography Scruton, R. (2009). Understanding music philosophy and interpretation. London, New York: Continuum. Retrieved from https://portalconservador.com/livros/Ro ger-Scruton-Understanding-Music1.pdf
