Ru
EnG. Kaloshina
The Biblical narration about King David in the interpretations of the West European 20th century composers: the genre aspect
This article examines the “germination” in twentieth-century musical culture – as well as in several preceding epochs (Baroque, Classicism, Romanticism) – of a specific cultural and historical phenomenon: the life and deeds of the Biblical King David, the Psalmist, whose legacy left a profound imprint on European civilization. From the 17th to the 19th centuries, the artistic perception of the Biblical narrative of King David was expressed through traditional synthetic genres of musical composition: tragédie lyrique in the style of J.-B. Lully, opera seria, Baroque and Classical oratorios and cantatas, as well as Romantic programmatic orchestral poems and symphonies.
The article highlights the most significant and large-scale works from the first half to the middle of the 20th century, introducing into Russian musicological discourse such pieces as Carl Nielsen’s opera Saul and David, Darius Milhaud’s opera-oratorio David, and shedding new light on the first authorial version (the Symphonic Psalm) of Arthur Honegger’s King David. These compositions represent two artistic approaches to the figure of David: the psalmodic (interpretation of the Davidic Psalms) and the narrative-dramatic (depicting the life events, spiritual strivings, victories and defeats of the great warrior and ruler). The dramatic content of these innovative works is enriched through various forms of highorder poly-generic synthesis, where major synthetic musical and extra-musical genres across different art forms interact. Milhaud’s opera-oratorio manifests a mobile and variable synthesis as envisioned by Paul Claudel; a corresponding multi-layered synthesis appears in Honegger’s King David; and Nielsen’s opera demonstrates an intra-generic synthesis of various forms of music theatre from different periods (historical and mythological opera, psychological tragedy of the Romantic era, symbolic drama, and comic parody opera of the fin de siècle). These works also reveal features of mystery plays (such as simultaneity, polychronicle and poly-spatial dramaturgy), the presence of a religious-philosophical tragic concept with a zone of Transfiguration – Lucid Moment in the coda, and appropriate principles of continuous symphonization.
Key words
King David, Holy History, Psalter, opera, oratorio, mobile and variable poly-genre tendency, mystery play, concept of Transfiguration.
For citation
Kaloshina G. The Biblical narration about King David in the interpretations of the West European 20th century composers: a genre aspect. In: South-Russian Musical Anthology. 2025. No. 2. Pp. 135–144.
