Folklorism and the Chronotope in Komitas’ Work
Folklorism and the Chronotope in Komitas’ Work
References
- Geodakyan, G. Komitas, Yerevan: Izdatel’stvo AN Armjanskoj SSR, 1969. (In Russ.)
- Grigoryan, A. “Lively, Fruitful Tradition.” Sovetskaya muzyka [Soviet Music], no. 2, 1981, pp. 118–124. (In Russ.)
- Demchenko, A. Kartina mira v muzykal’nom iskusstve Rossii nachala XX veka [A Picture of the World in the Musical Art of Russia at the Beginning of the 20th Century], Мoscow: Kompozitor, 2018. (In Russ.)
Being one of the most original musicians of the early 20th century, Komitas has put into his art a number of typical for this time of artistic ideas, the most notable of which are associated with the musical folklorism and with the concept of the chronotope. His brilliant compositional skills took him far beyond the usual ideas about the genre of folklore processing. A deep insight into the spirit and laws of his native musical speech allowed him to widely apply the methods of polyphonic processing of folk melodies, actively develop the texture of accompaniment, which in some cases acquired an independent artistic value. The identity of Komitas’s songs and choirs is in some cases determined by the connection with the Eastern worldview, which is characterized by a special perception of time and space in comparison with the European mentality. At the same time, the most interesting are the samples, which reveal participation in the categories of universal matter and eternity. Especially widely represented in the works of Komitas deep immersion in the natural sphere with the dissolution of the human principle in it. The ascent to naturalnym categories the composer often does, when making the basis of the works of folk tunes, came from strata of the times and depicting in a sustainable, indigenous features of the national character. A special achievement of Komitas is that it is not limited to the implementation of the pantheistic and supra-temporal as separate entities. In a number of works the composer gives them in conjunction, which again contributed to the features of the Eastern understanding of the chronotope.
Demchenko, A. I. “Folklorism and the Chronotope in the Works of Komitas.” Muzykal’naya akademiya [Music Academy], no. 3, 2019, рр. 166–175, doi:10.34690/3. (In Russ.)