Биографический миф о Гайдне в интерпретации Стендаля и Жорж Санд

Abstract

The article deals with the peculiarities of the interpretation of the Haydn myth in the French literature of the Romantic era ‒ Stendhal’s essay “Vies de Haydn, Mozart et Metastase”, 1814 and George Sand’s novel “Consuelo”, 1843. It is shown how the invariant of the biographical myth is adjusted ac-cording to individual creative attitudes and existing cultural and artistic stereotypes. Stendhal, remaining within the established biographical invariant, emphasizes Haydn’s ingenuity and tenacity, discipline, natural optimism and devotion to his work. He sees in Haydn’s melodicism a manifestation of talent, free from the restrictive rules of counterpoint. At the same time, the life story of the composer is an opportunity not only to express his idea of music as the most unformal form of art, but also to try on the fate of the artist-creator. George Sand’s Haydn is shown as the incarnation of the exemplary ideas of genius and in this sense is opposed to the protagonist – Consuelo. Like Stendhal, the writer actualizes those dominants of the biographical image which are concordant with her ideas of a creative personality. The novelistic Haydn is laborious, determined, unpretentious, good-hearted and fully devoted to music. These are the qualities that serve to ensure the artist’s inner free-dom. However, despite all the differences in creative strategies, both Stendhal and George Sand proceed from the biographical myth of Haydn which is rooted in the European cultural tradition and is based on the key seme “Papa Haydn” that conceptually determines the composer’s creative manner, character, lifestyle and way of social interaction, as well as his place in the musical landscape of the time.