Osluškivanje udaljenih svetova - Josip Slavenski i religijska muzika srednjeg i Dalekog istoka "Budisti" Simfonije Orijenta

Abstract

Josip Slavenski's opus displays the composer's infatuation with musical folklore, starting from his own folklore of Međimurje, and expanding to other nonEuropean (mostly Asian) folklore. In this paper I particularly studied the biographical background of Slavenski, which had led him to a meticulous research of musical folklore, via field recordings, in his mature years. It is worth noting that the folklore of Međimurje provided a basis for his musical language i.e. his musical mother tongue (while he later also studied the folklore of non-European peoples). Thus, for Slavenski, folklore became a means for creating a new vital music, and that vitality was something that the western music of the 20th century often lacked. Geographically, Slavenski "has travelled" the farthest while studying musical folklore of India, China and Japan. Results of his research were manifested in the Buddhists movement of the Symphony of the Orient, 1934, which was analysed in this paper. The analysis has unveiled a complex musical construction, constructed music, or musical building of orchestral layers, hence the subtitle of the movement, Musica architectonica.