ORIENT AND OCCIDENT: WHAT THE «MASKS» BY KAROL SHYMANOVSKY HIDE
Abstract
The purpose of the article: to reveal the semantic and stylistic features of the combination of oriental and occidental types of thinking as evidence of a «cultural meeting» in the piano cycle «Masks» by Karol Szymanowsky.
Research task: to analyze the plays of the «Masks» cycle through the declared prism; to reveal the semantics of the West and the East in the program load of the plays and to follow the ways of its implementation.
Research methodology. The topic of the article required the use of such methods as cultural and integral musicological analysis. The first of them became a prism for understanding the «cultural meeting» of the Orient and the Occident as types of thinking. The second gave the specified features in the piano cycle «Masks» by Karol Szymanowsky.
The results. In general, the cycle «Masks» is a vivid example of musical symbolism, while we can state that the embodiment of oriental imagery is dominated by impressionistic style, based on the search for sound color, secession, represented by exquisite linear writing, and vivid allusions to Arabic («Scheherazade») and Ibero-Moorish («Serenade of Don Juan») cultures, sophisticated exoticism. On the other hand, when portraying images characteristic of Occidental culture, the stylistics turns out to be late romantic and expressionistic, which cultivates a special power of feeling and its dynamic development, as well as a kind of expressive scherzoness associated with it. At the same time, in the plays there are also numerous examples of a combination of the specified types of thinking, which reflect, respectively, «state» and «action», which gives the cycle a special originality.
Novelty. The scientific novelty of the research lies in the semantics interpretation of the cycle «Masks» by Karol Szymanovsky as a reflection of the Occident and the Orient «cultural meeting».
The practical significance. The results of this study can be used in courses on the culture history and the piano art history in higher education institutions.
