Music, Symbolism

This paper deals with the role and treatment of folk music by the acclaimed Greek writer, Alexander Papadiamantis (1851-1911). Born in Skiathos island, he moved to Athens where he worked as an author of novels and short stories for newspapers and literary magazines. He was also active in the field of church music, as the son of a pious provincial priest, and chanted in a small church in Athens. So it goes without surprise that he used several musical images and inserted various folk songs and church hymns in his lietrary works. One of the most significant aspects of his treatment of music is their role as carriers of social meanings and messages within the communities. Most of Papadiamantis' stories are set in a provincial albeit undefined coontext, where folk songs bear a special significance on the local people as they actually did in reality in the past. The terms gnosis (knowledge) and epignosis (deeper knowledge) allude to the stages of getting to know things through the use of music, for there things that cannot be easily said but can be demonstarted by other means, such as the arts. In his works, folk songs (by means of inserted couplets and excerpts of folk peotry) is elevated to a higher status enlightening the heroes as well as the readers.

Although Rachmaninoff has not generally been associated with Symbolism (whether Russian or generally), a close reading of his opera "Francesca da Rimini" exhibits certain features that have generally been considered representative of musical Symbolism. These include the disruption of functional harmonic syntax, the recurring use of distinctive harmonies to signify extra-musical content, and the disruption of linear temporal narrative through musical cyclicism.

Studi Linguistici e Filologici Online. Rivista Telematica del Dipartimento di Linguistica dell’Università di Pisa. Proceedings of the XII National Meeting of  National Association for Sanskrit Studies, Milan. www.humnet.unipi.it/slifo/vol5.2/Pacciolla5.2.pdf