- Part of 'A topology of musical encounter' (summary) -
On the level of personalistics we usually deal with highly associative and intimate notions of music. Recalling the personal view of Raphaella Danksagmuller on her relation with the Duduk is a good example of interesting and valuable personal information that is nevertheless hard to use as a good basis for collectivity. First of all I doubt if Raphaella would want the intimate relation with her instrument to be a collective shared objective. I imagine she wouldn’t, it is a private notion that is everpresent in her approach to music but would lose its meaning if it lost its personal uniqueness. In such a case it is very important to know the opinion of the musician, because this information can only gain significance in the light of a personal perspective.
Apart from careful treatment of the musician’s personal sphere, that is especially to be considered with personalistics, the question rises if such a personalistic would lead to any interesting musical idea. There seems to be quite a distance between the actual creation of music and these associative personal considerations. A memory that exemplifies an important marking point in the life of a musician might play an essential role in his musical practice, and is therefore important to know about when working together, but still far attached from any concrete means that connects musical worlds together in a sounding reality.
“I started my carreer in the early seventies as composer for theatre. During that period I developed a reluctance from actors. It was humiliating for us musicians seeing them wearing the music as their personal wallpaper and showing off with it on stage as their assets. In the theatre they grab and use whatever it is that they want to use, and throw away what they don’t need anymore with the same ease, not giving a damn what it is worth. After a while I was totally fed up with this and founded my own orchestra called ‘Amsterdam Drama’, with which we performed my theatre repertoire in concert and without interference of actors and stagedirectors. I still write theatre music, only without a theater. In my pieces you feel as if someone enters, and later something else disappears. I treat my musical materials as stage characters. That’s why I love the Viennese classical music so much – their themes are characters, and they appear and disappear and develop during the piece in each others company. I find it exceptionally exiting to sit next to this process and hear it happen.”
- in conversation with Maurice Horsthuis, composer and alt-violinist
This chapter of Maurice does show a possible way how such a personalistic anecdote can form a broader basis to connect musical ideas. His experience in the theatre has a direct translation in his musical imagination and still takes an active role in his musical conception. This conflicting and fertile ‘relation of theatre and music’ could form an excellent connection to others who deal with conceptions or realities of theatre in their musicpractice. Especially on the ideological grounds personalistics could form very strong connective means between musicians.
No comments:
Post a Comment