Arti musices, Vol. 45 No. 1, 2014.
Original scientific paper
Ruždjak and Text. The Multilingualism of Trois chansons de geste (Chanson rouge, Chanson blanche, Chanson bleu), for Baritone, Orchestra and Tape (1971)
Nikša Gligo
orcid.org/0000-0002-6252-4411
; Music academy, University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia
Abstract
The text deals with the hardly known composition by Marko Ruždjak (1946-2012) and shows the full complexity of the relationship between music and its textual background, although the composer was only 25 years old. Moreover, this relationship as a special constant threads through the whole opus by Ruždjak. In spite of the title and in spite of the fact that no melody of chanson the geste has been preserved, Ruždjak chooses the texts which have no correspondence with chanson de geste: the English text by an unknown author in the 1st song; the 1st stanza of the German song Wach auf, mein hort by Oswald von Wolkenstein (1376 or 1377-1445) in the 2nd song; and Ave Maria by Philippe de Rémi, sire de Beaumanoir (1210?-1265?) in the 3rd song. Even if we ignore the languages, which cannot correspond to "pure" chanson de geste, the same holds for the content of the songs. The role of the orchestra is especially interesting because it influences the global form of the composition. In the 1st song that has symmetrical form, with the voice in the middle, the orchestra surrounds the voice, while in the 2nd song the orchestra is not present because the voice is accompanied by the white noise of different widths. And in the 3rd song the whole orchestra with the full string sound prepares the baritone’s solo that concludes the piece with Amen, again the part of Ave Maria that by no means corresponds to chanson de geste.
Keywords
Marko Ruždjak; Vladimir Ruždjak; Chanson de geste; Oswald von Wolkenstein; Philippe de Rémi, sire de Beaumanoir; music and text; white noise
Hrčak ID:
127437
URI
Publication date:
20.5.2014.
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