Musical gesture and phenomenology of musical space in 20th-century avant-garde music

• Main Author: Bériachvili Georges
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Akademija umetnosti Univerziteta u Novom Sadu 2020-01-01
• Series: Zbornik Radova Akademije Umetnosti
• Subjects: musical gesture; musical space; embodied music cognition; avant-garde music; musical time (linearity/nonlinearity)
• Online Access: https://scindeks-clanci.ceon.rs/data/pdf/2334-8666/2020/2334-86662008053B.pdf

In the present paper I propose a conceptual framework that establishes a link between two fundamental concepts of music theory: musical gesture and musical space. The unfolding in time is a fundamental feature of musical gesture. However, in plastic arts, the gesture can only be represented in a spatial form. Since music possesses its own internal space, it is logical to assume that musical space can also carry spatialized gestural "imprints". To describe such indirect manifestations of gesture, I introduce the concept of spatial imprint of musical gesture (SIMG). This concept entails a phenomenological approach to musical space, accordingly to which, the phenomenon of musical space includes all forms of quasi-spatial mental representations of music itself, and excludes all abstract representations like "pitch space", "space" of parameter values, schemes of formal structure, etc. I single out five general aspects of the musical space phenomenon: • Quasi-geometric space: a mental representation of music, based on the analytical spatial vision of its elements (sounds, layers, figures, shapes, etc.). • Space as sound substance: an association of sound with color, light, material, physical properties of substances, etc. • Energetic space: a quasi-spatial representation of forces acting within the musical process. • Synthetic large-scale temporal space. • Physical space. These types of spatial representations generally coexist, but one of them may acquire a leading role in certain styles. The development of the art music during past century placed a priority on three components: quasi-geometrical space, space as substance, and physical space. Quoting works by Schönberg, Webern, Stockhausen, Xenakis, and Ligeti, I consider some paradigmatic examples, in which the SIMG becomes a key element from technical and aesthetic standpoints. In the last part of the paper I present a hypothesis, according to which, the process of "spatialization" of music and "migration" of gesture to musicalspace could be a result of cultural trauma. This trauma consists of the distrust of human communion and cathartic consolation through direct empathy, or, more broadly, in a distrust of Humanism.