Ru
EnE. Emelina
The labyrinth as a sound model of the world in “Laborintus II” by Luciano Berio
The article is devoted to the analysis of the composition by the Italian composer Luciano Berio – the musical-theatrical play “Laborintus II” for voice, instruments and cassette recording, created in 1965 and dedicated to the 700th anniversary of the birth of Dante Alighieri. The author’s concept of this work organically combines philosophical depth, scale, symbolism of thinking and, at the same time, a focus on creating an impressive picture of the polyphonic “Labyrinth of Light” (Ya. A. Komensky), with its literally visible brightness. The author of the article focuses on the features of the composition and dramaturgy of “Laborintus II”, reflecting the originality of the author’s reading-understanding of the ideas about the image of the labyrinth.
The principle of “collage composition” is presented in “Laborintus II”. The idea of a free mosaic form realized in it is perceived as a kind of musical analogue of the world sound labyrinth, in whose acoustic space the voices of people, instruments, various languages, and cultural and stylistic epochs. The “echo” technique is very characteristic of postmodern art and, at the same time, is a popular source of creating spatial effects in music of different eras. This feature evokes additional associations with the labyrinth as a special acoustic space. In addition, a multilevel system of contrasts is formed in the composition “Laborintus II”. The lowest level is sharp changes in dynamics, timbre contrasts, switching from instrumental sounds to human voices, from singing to recitation, turning into a scream; the highest level is the level of poly-verbal and musical stylistic “elliptical modulations”. Such a technique (“the inertia violation”) can be indicated as one of the main conductors of the “labyrinth” idea in the field of musical composition.
Key words
L. Berio, “Laborintus II”, idea of labyrinth, postmodernism, rhizome, collage composition, E. Sanguinetti, polystylistics.
For citation
Emelina E. The labyrinth as a sound model of the world in “Laborintus II” by Luciano Berio // South-Russian Musical Anthology. 2024. No. 1. Pp. 40-50.
