Rybnikova A.Y., Tupitsyn D.S. —
The mysteries of musical drama of Elena Gokhman’s composition “What the Wind Is Singing About”
// PHILHARMONICA. International Music Journal. – 2020. – ¹ 5.
– P. 18 - 31.
DOI: 10.7256/2453-613X.2020.5.33162
URL: https://en.e-notabene.ru/phil/article_33162.html
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Abstract: The research object is the vocal-instrumental music of a well-known Saratov composer Elena Gokhman (1935 - 2010) as one of the crucial parts of her creative work. The research subject is the musical drama of the lyrical verses “What the wind is singing about” (2009) considered in the context of the vocal-instrumental works of the composer which is analyzed in order to reveal the plotline and the essence of the author’s poetic and musical-instrumental “moves” and preferences and to understand the genre identity of the composition. The researchers analyze the reasons of Gokhman’s turn to the poetry of A.Blok, the idea of the author’s preferences in relation to the performers collective, the presence of the plotline of the verses, the genre identity of the composition, thematic and intonational links with the first lyrical musical cycle of the composer based on Blok’s poetry of the 1970s. The vocal and instrumental music of Gokhman is considered through the lens of specific analysis of one of the late works of the composer, the complete musical score of the verses “What the wind is singing about” is introduced into scholarly discourse for the first time. The authors use the methods of overt observation, hermeneutical practices of subtext detection, and comparative studies. They help to find out what creative conclusions in the field of “small” forms Gokhman had arrived at, and to what extent they draw the details of the dynamics of the author’s way and comply with the modern music genres. The research shows that the composer builds a single, thin and subtle plotline out of various Blok’s poems of different periods of time, which is drawn by means of special musical means (bell tolls and the sound of the chorus as the leading timbre of the heroine) and intonations (the leading idea of the girl and her song) piercing the composition. The parts of musical instruments, especially the violin, help the composer to fill the composition with new senses and give the key to its interpretation and genre identification as a suite.