Chinese calligraphy in music: from gesture to sound

Abstract

The article explores the problem of embodying the calligraphic gesture, as well as the main attributes of Chinese traditional writing - ink, brush and paper in the space of musical art. The object of the study is the chamber instrumental music by contemporary Asian composers Lee Chie Tsang (“Interfusion IV – Variegation in Colour” for solo viola), Lei Liang (“Brushstroke” for chamber orchestra) and Yi-hsien Chen (“Sparking” for 12 instruments). The purpose of the work is to identify and substantiate the principles of transferring the philosophical, aesthetic and visual-semantic properties of calligraphy into the musical fabric of instrumental compositions. Research methodology: the interdisciplinary nature predetermined the use of the comparative method to identify and substantiate the typical features of calligraphic writing in the musical fabric of named works. Selected chamber-instrumental opuses of contemporary Asian composers are considered in Russian musicology for the first time and are intended to expand understanding of the methods of refracting the art of Chinese calligraphy in music. In the aforementioned chamber-instrumental works by Lee Chie Tsang, Lei Liang and Yi-hsien Chen, the specificity of the refraction of individual graphic elements of the hieroglyph in music is considered; different types of consistency and shades of mascara (dry, wet, concentrated, light, broken), as well as the manner of working with it (spraying); the features of the sound reflection of a brush stroke are identified using texture organization and sound production techniques, the brush stroke is presented as a musical gesture, a sign reflecting the choreography of a plastic gesture; the principles of transposition of calligraphic laws of space organization were formulated, the idea of ordering the score sheet using calligraphy methods using pauses and fermata to separate “imaginary squares” (metric grid) and “adjusting” the ratio of time intervals between musical gestures was substantiated.