Enantiodromia: The Counter Movement of Extremes

This article is written in Russian. You can read it here.

References

Akopyan [Hakobian], L. Velikie autsaydery muzyki XX veka. Edgar Varez. Roberto Gerkhard. Dzhachinto Shel’si. Zhan Barrake [Great Outsiders of the 20th Century Music. Edgard Varèse. Roberto Gerhard. Giacinto Scelsi. Jean Barraqué], Moscow : GII, 2019. (In Russ.)
Alekseev, E. Rannefol’klornoe intonirovanie. Zvukovysotnyy aspect [Early Folk Singing. The Aspect of Pitch], Moscow : Sovetskiy kompozitor, 1986. (In Russ.)
Mann, T. Doktor Faustus [Doctor Faustus], trans. by S. Apt and N. Man, Moscow : Izdatel’stvo inostrannoy literatury, 1959. (In Russ.)
Aeschylus. Tragedii [Tragedies], trans. by S. Apt. Moscow : Iskusstvo [Art], 1978. (In Russ.)
Jung, C. G. Psikhologicheskie tipy [Psychological Types], trans. by S. Lorie, V. Zelenskiy, 2nd ed, Moscow : Akademicheskiy proekt, 2020. (In Russ.)
Barker, A. The Science of Harmonics in Classical Greece, Cambridge etc. : Cambridge University Press, 2007.
Copland, A. “A Modernist Defends Modern Music.” New York Times, December 25, 1949, p. 11.
Jolivet, H. Varèse, Paris : Hachette. 1973.
Lindstedt, I. Sonorystyka w twórczości kompozytorów polskich XX wieku, Warszawa: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Warszawskiego, 2010.
Lucciano, A. M. Jani Christou. The Works and Temperament of a Greek Composer, trans. by C. Dale, Amsterdam : Harwood Academic Publishers, 2000.
Matossian, N. Xenakis, London : Kahn & Averill, 1986.
Ouellette, F. Edgard Varèse, New York : Da Capo Press. 1981.
Reish, G. N. “Una nota sola: Giacinto Scelsi and the Genesis of Music on a Single Note.” Journal of Musicological Research, no. 25, 2006, pp. 149–189.
Scelsi, G. “Les anges sont ailleurs…”, ed. and comm. by S. Kanach, Arles : Actes Sud, 2006.
Varga, B. A. Conversations with Iannis Xenakis, London : Faber & Faber, 1996.
Xenakis, I. Formalized Music. Thought and Mathematics in Composition, rev. ed., Stuyvesant, NY : Pendragon Press, 1992.

DOI 10.34690/371

Author Levon O. Hakobian (Akopyan)

Affiliation State Institute for Art Studies, Moscow, Russia

Email levonh451@yandex.ru

ORCID

0000-0002-5246-4697

Abstract

The psychological mechanism of enantiodromia (Greek: “counter movement”), described by C. G. Jung, consists of the particularly intense unilateral drive compensation by impulses aimed in the opposite direction. The Greek composer and Jung disciple Jani Christou (1926–1970) used the same term as a title for one of his orchestral pieces. The piece in question, together with some other works by Christou, can serve as a good illustration of how an avant-garde composer’s drive towards absolute novelty, according to the rule of enantiodromia, directs him towards the elemental musical gestures and the archetypal notions of the world. The mutual attraction between the extreme avant-garde writing and the archetypal contents rooted in the depths of human psychology (the Jungian “universal soul”) seems to be a valuable, exciting, and, perhaps, still underexplored topic of the last century’s music history. The article also discusses some examples from the oeuvre of other radical composers active in the second half of the 20th century, especially Giacinto Scelsi (“Prânam I” in memory of Christou) and Iannis Xenakis (“Oresteïa” after Aeschylus).

Keywords avant-garde, philosophy of music, Music of the 20th century, C. G. Jung, J. Christou, E. Varèse, G. Scelsi, I. Xenakis

For citation

Hakobian (Akopyan), L. H. “Enantiodromia: the counter movement of extremes.” Muzykal’naya akademiya [Music Academy], no. 1, 2024, pp. 156–175, doi:10.34690/371. (In Russ.)

Published 04.05.2023

Approved 20.06.2023

Submitted 25.03.2024

Buy pdf version

Enantiodromia: The Counter Movement of Extremes

Enantiodromia: The Counter Movement of Extremes

References

More by this author

On the Hermeneutics of Berio’s “Sinfonia”

In Search of a Unified Style. Review of Constantin Floros’ book “Music as a Language of Man and a Language of Love”

Echos and Octoechos: The Idea and Its Realizations