Metaphor of the labyrinth in the musical culture of the second half of the XX century: ballet "Labyrinths" by A. Schnittke

Kalashnikova Dar'ya Igorevna ORCID: 0000-0001-7030-3259 Lecturer, Department of Music Theory, Gnessin Russian Academy of Music 121069, Russia, Moskovskaya oblast', g. Moscow, ul. Povarskaya, 38, stroenie 1 kalashnikovadi95@gnesin-academy.ru Other publications by this author

The labyrinth model in the cultural space of the second half of the XX century acquires the meaning of a universal postmodern metaphor. In the artistic opuses of various types of art (music, literature, painting), the image of the labyrinth embodies the multivariance of the interpretation of the work, the intertwining of intertextual lines, the nonlinear cognition of the surrounding reality by the authors. The structure of the labyrinth model, characterized by the variability and uncertainty of the path, symmetry / asymmetry, striving for the center / avoiding it, in the field of musical art leaves its imprint on different levels of the work: dramatic, compositional, genre, style. K. Penderetsky noted: "How to get to the creative goal, wandering in the interweaving of paths, in the confusion that has become our destiny? The consolation may be the realization that the labyrinth – the metaphor of our being – is always a combination of irrational, unpredictable and predictable elements that we can control. Only a detour leads to the goal" ^{[17, 43]}.

Two types of maze are common. The first one was named "Cretan", in connection with the discovery of the Knossos underground labyrinth on the island of Crete. According to ancient Greek mythology, the labyrinth was inhabited by a Minotaur – a man-eating monster. The Athenians sacrificed seven girls and boys to him every year, until the prince Theseus defeated the monster. The structure of the Cretan or classical labyrinth is related to some geometric figure: a circle, a square, a rectangle. The path in such a maze is devoid of branches, strictly directed to the center, contains one entrance and exit.

The second type of labyrinth, designated as a "maze-confusion", has been known as a literary motif since the III century BC. In written sources of antiquity, the concept of a labyrinth was used metaphorically in terms of describing confusing, dead-end situations. The visual image of the maze-confusion first appeared in 1420 and is distinguished by decentralization, an extensive system of paths, and the asymmetry of the structure. The labyrinth-confusion model gets a new reading in the art of postmodernism. In the novel by W. Eco "The Name of the Rose" ^[12] the library's labyrinth occupies a central place. The heroes were placed in a labyrinthine system, saturated with the intersection of paths, the multivariance of choosing a path, risking being at a dead end.

In the second half of the XX century, a number of works of musical art appeared, revealing a connection with two types of the labyrinth model. The labyrinth of the Cretan type can be traced in the one-act ballet "Labyrinth" (1941) to the music of the symphony C-dur by F. Schubert, the TV opera "Labyrinth" (1963) by J. Menotti, the novel-symphony "Labyrinths" (1992) by N. Sidelnikov, the opera "Gesualdo" (1993) by A. Schnittke. An example of the interaction of two models is the musical and theatrical project "Laborintus II" (1965) by L. Berio. The signs of the maze-confusion manifest themselves in giving the hero a choice of path, one of the directions of which is connected with love, the other with material goods. The signs of the Cretan labyrinth are manifested by the identification of the heroes of Dante's "Divine Comedy" and the characters of the ancient Greek myth: "Ariadne – Beatrice: the personification of love as a guiding thread in the darkness of the labyrinth; Theseus – Dante: a hero who must go through trials; Labyrinth – Hell: a model of the earthly world filled with vices and passions; Minotaur – "the horror of Crete": the personification of base human passions that bind to the material world and are opposed to love as a spiritual core of a person" ^{[6, 139]}.

The mixing of two types of labyrinth paradigms in the light of individual author's reading is also observed in the one-act ballet "Labyrinths" (1971) by Schnittke. The idea of the labyrinth is reflected in the plot level of the composition. According to the author's libretto by choreographer V. Vasiliev, the main characters are in the space of a labyrinth model formed by their own fears and suspicions. Their path, leading from the moment of acquaintance to the fatal outcome, is filled with trials in which the characters show a variety of emotions. The happiness of finding each other is replaced by jealousy and distrust. The bright memory of love is replaced by sinister hallucinations. The labyrinth irreversibly changes the characters, the exit from it marks the tragic finale of their love story.

The structure of the ballet cycle includes five episodes. In the first ("Meeting"), the acquaintance of the main characters – His and Hers - is carried out. They are immediately placed in a space isolated from the outside world. In the second episode ("Alienation"), there is a quarrel between the characters, separating them. The third ("Automatics of everyday life") illustrates the immersion of Him and Her into a mechanistic, everyday routine. In the fourth episode ("Horror") Madness engulfs him, giving rise to hallucinations. In the fifth ("Web"), wandering through the corridors of the maze comes to an end, the heroes find a way out.

Table 1 – Structure of the ballet cycle

          He and She are not the only inhabitants of the maze. Minor characters in the person of monster-like creatures accompany the difficult path of the main characters. They frighten, tempt and mislead Him and Her, appealing to the most unsightly sides of their personalities. In addition to five dancers depicting monsters, a plastic conductor is allocated to a separate dance party. Controlling the creatures of the maze, he contributes to the growth of the conflict between the main characters. Like the conductor of the orchestra, in the finale he passes the last sentence of the painful love of the heroes.

The dramaturgy of the ballet is based on the concept of the labyrinth model, giving birth to the phenomenon of a maze in a maze. By "macrolabirint" is meant a feature of the structure of the whole, by "microlabirint" – the construction of the fifth episode ("Web"). "Macrolabirint" and "microlabirint" are the personification of two types of maze. The structure of the first correlates with the Cretan species, which is manifested in the following features. The principle of centralization of the classical labyrinth is realized in the conditions of the fourth part of the cycle ("Horrors"), which is the axis of the dramatic process and is located at the point of the golden section. It is in it that the choreographic conductor, acting as a Minotaur, together with his subjects (five dancers) finally subdue the will of the heroes, provoking madness and hallucinations. The fourth episode in the Cretan-type labyrinth system becomes the center in which the main battle of the opposing sides takes place. The Minotaur and the other maze creatures present throughout the cycle finally prevail.

The moment of being in the center ("Horrors") of the labyrinth is emphasized by plastic movements. Wandering through the intricate paths of the maze in the previous parts was accompanied by the characteristic gestures of dancers depicting insurmountable walls. In the fourth episode, the "talking" gestures disappear, informing the disappearance of the walls.

The principle of symmetry of the Cretan labyrinth model extends to the organization and correlation of the extreme episodes of the cycle. Their structure (I – "Meeting", V – "Web") includes identical sections: I part – A (Moderato), B (Allegro scherzando), C (Meno mosso), D (Adagio); V part – A (Cadenza), B (Andante), C (Maestoso), D (Meno mosso). The culminating sections in two episodes are sections C, characterized by an increase in tonic factors, an abundance of vertical tercular complexes, and the predominance of consonance. The zone of greatest stability in the sound–pitch system of episodes becomes a tonal pseudo–quotation in the spirit of the XVIII century in the first and a long ostinato of leitteration (c-e) - in the fifth episode.

The tonal organization of the extreme parts is also a sign of the symmetry of the Cretan model. The understanding of tonality in ballet was carried out in line with the individual author's reading of Schnittke ^[11]. A chain of thirds is used as the center of tonal attraction: c–e, c–es, cis–e. Their interweaving into the orchestral fabric created a tonalization of local supports. For example, in the first part ("Meeting"), the introduction of thirds after the alternated large and small tercdecimaccords approved the tonics of the C-dur/c-moll and cis-moll keys. The same principle of the formation of the tonal system is found in the fifth part ("Web"), in the sections Maestoso and Meno mosso.

Symmetry is also observed at the dramatic level of the first episode ("Meeting") of the ballet. The first appearance of Him and Her is marked by a retrospective character. The frozen position of the figures of the heroes reproduces the final fatal moment. Such an artistic device predicts the direction of future development and closes the dramatic action in a circle. The natural sequence of stage time is restored in the Adagio section of the first episode, returning the characters to the dating scene.

The phenomenon of "microlabirint" determines the compositional processes of the fifth part ("Web") of the cycle and correlates with the structure of the maze-confusion. Schnittke noted: "The last part is mazes, mutual wanderings and a way out of them, thanks to the meeting of both heroes" ^{[11, 54]}. The movement of the heroes in the maze-confusion is devoid of the former centralization, He and She are placed in an extensive labyrinth system inside a larger one. The abundance of paths provokes a false choice and only the fearless laying of a new route will provide an exit from the "microlabirint" and, accordingly, from the "macrolabirint".

He and She, in the process of finding a way out of the maze of confusion, show different emotions correlated with the sections of the fifth part: Cadenza, Andante, Maestoso, Meno mosso. Each section is presented in a certain pitch system, which corresponds to the multilevel concept of the maze-confusion. The path from the entrance to the exit is paved through the development of seriality, sonority, modality and tonality by means of polyphonic, sonorous, homophonic writing.

The first section (Cadenza) of the fifth part is the entrance to the maze-confusion. In it, the theme anticipating the future of the fugato in the second section (Andante) is carried out in one voice. The principle of theme development resembles a serial one, in which the growth of the section fabric is made from the original series. A one-voice theme with polyphonic presentation and serial development, after an aggravated conflict in the previous fourth part ("Horrors"), cuts through the silence caused by the deafening of the heroes after the incident. The polyphonic second section (Andante) envelops Him and Her in a web of their own fears and suspicions in the face of monster voices and a Minotaur (plastic conductor). Labyrinth creatures separate lovers by guiding them along different paths of the maze. 

The heroes' wandering through the dark corridors of the labyrinth is emphasized by the sonorous waves of fugato development. Monster-like creatures increase the disunity of the characters, envelop them with hallucinations, leading them away from the exit from the web of the maze.

The exit from the intricate corridors of the labyrinth is indicated in the sections of Maestoso and Meno mosso tonal with modal episodes. Committing a rebellion against hatred, revenge, jealousy, He throws the score at the Minotaur, rushing to his beloved. The music from the two sections of the first part ("Meeting") sounds, implementing symmetry at the level of the cycle. The temporary retrospective laid down in the first part made a full circle and closed the action. The reunion of Him and Her takes on a fateful look, with the score in their hands, the monsters, led by the Minotaur, march victoriously. Her last sigh is accompanied by the fading sound of the third c–e.

The metaphor of the labyrinth, becoming one of the symbols of variability, invariance, intertextuality of musical culture of the second half of the XX century, determined the specifics of compositional and dramatic processes in the ballet "Labyrinths" by Schnittke. Within the framework of the "macrolabyrint", the principle of symmetry of the Cretan labyrinth model is reflected in the structure of the extreme parts of the ballet cycle, and the phenomenon of centralization of the classical labyrinth is realized in the conditions of the fourth part of the ballet. The "microlabirint" with the branched structure of the maze-confusion was the fifth part, each section of which is solved in a certain altitude system. The labyrinth paradigm in the ballet "Labyrinths" gets a new reading, demonstrating Schnittke's individual handwriting.