Research Interests:
In this study, we analyze Chopin’s thoughts on piano playing by examining his sketches for a method book, and define its position in both musical and cultural history. Chopin’s manuscript contains merely an introductory part of the book... more
In this study, we analyze Chopin’s thoughts on piano playing by examining his sketches for a method book, and define its position in both musical and cultural history. Chopin’s manuscript contains merely an introductory part of the book but deserves a careful consideration, since it reflects his critical view on contemporary piano pedagogy. This study first examines the composer’s definition of music and his understanding of the notion of taste, which is a key concept of his aesthetics. Then we discuss the notion of technique: the definition, aim, categories, and its place in Chopin’s musical thought. Lastly, we analyze Chopin’s practical advices on piano playing from a historical perspective. Chopin’s thoughts on piano playing imply both a nostalgia for the eighteenth century music and a premonition of the modern piano technique. These thoughts consist of a dynamic interaction between the classical aesthetics and the romantic world view, which can be interpreted as a negative reaction to the modern industrial society.
Research Interests:
Claude Debussy was a notable music critic of the French Third Republic. The aim of this study is to determine the signification of the critical works of Debussy in the context of both musical and cultural history. As a young composer,... more
Claude Debussy was a notable music critic of the French Third Republic. The aim of this study is to determine the signification of the critical works of Debussy in the context of both musical and cultural history. As a young composer, Debussy strived to get over Wagner’s musical langage. In this context, he devotes most of his critical effort to refute wagnerian idea of music drama and the french wagnerism. Debussy’s general approach to the art is heavily influenced by two major artistic trends of his era, impressionism and symbolism. If he draws a critical reflexion on the notion of representation from impressionist paintings, symbolist poetry offers him a new understanding of the nature, based on a mystical point of view of correspondance. But at the same time, Debussy keeps distance to these artistic trends to save the autonomy and liberty of musical art.
Debussy’s conception of music as an absolutely free art can be called pure music, which implies for him concrete aesthetical programs such as formal liberty, arabesque pattern, simplicity and immediacy. His attitude implies also a certain scepticism which deprives from music any metaphysical function. However, Debussy’s radical demand for musical freedom seems to make apparent contradiction with his defense of national tradition. But he describes french musical tradition as definitely interrupted. The tradition, supposed ever lost but never existed in fact, turns out to be a principle of modernist musical creation from tabula rasa, which serves to justify the very individualist approach to the music of Debussy the composer.
Debussy’s conception of music as an absolutely free art can be called pure music, which implies for him concrete aesthetical programs such as formal liberty, arabesque pattern, simplicity and immediacy. His attitude implies also a certain scepticism which deprives from music any metaphysical function. However, Debussy’s radical demand for musical freedom seems to make apparent contradiction with his defense of national tradition. But he describes french musical tradition as definitely interrupted. The tradition, supposed ever lost but never existed in fact, turns out to be a principle of modernist musical creation from tabula rasa, which serves to justify the very individualist approach to the music of Debussy the composer.