“The play” as a part of the composer’s interpretation process

Abstract

Involving of philosophic achievements for investigations of the art of composer and performer is a productive practice in modern musicology. The concept of “Homo Ludens” by J. Huizinga (2011) is naturally popular, because its theoretical positions could offer a new approach to the composer’s interpretation consideration. This article dedicated to the problem of “playing” component in composer’s art and this is a relevant branch of modern Ukrainian musicology. The offered view, which includes the concept of “Homo Ludens”, is called for studying of the role of the “playing” component in the process of composer’s interpretation. To accomplish this objective, the analytical method and the method of abstraction and concretization were used. The research of “the playing” component in the communicative system of “composer – performer – listener” is looking promising and there is the relevance of this theoretical work; the scientific newness is there because relatively rarely studied phenomenon of composers’ interpretation appears in a new point of view through the prism of “Homo Ludens” concept by J. Huizinga. During the investigation the features of “the play” were determined as inherent for the composer’s art. They are: 1) the presence of a certain “space” for an “action” (the “inner” universe of composer’s imagination and the “real” place for the working process); 2) “the regular occurrence” of artistic pieces production; 3) “the game rules” – theoretical and practical (including ones, invented by a composer himself); 4) “the withdrawal” from the “real world” during the working process. Additionally, the “agonal” aspect of “the play” (a presence of “the challenge”), despite of its importance, exists together with an urgent necessity for the self-expression by the artistic personality. The composer’s interpretation is a part of every sort of composer’s art: 1) writing a piece on the base of musical “primary source” (Kotliarevska, 1996; Deineha, 2001; Borisenko, 2005; Moskalenko, 2012; Paliy, 2012); 2) processing and integration an image of non-musical origin to the dimension of music art (Khutorska, 2009); 3) invention of an own artistic concept. The musical piece creation, “the composition” itself, is a process of production and synthesis of “the material” and involves the artistic interpretation as a mean of translation (transcribing) and evaluation of a preciseness of this translation. The last contains the “playing” component within – the composer “plays” roles of a performer and a listener in the perspective “projection”, while evaluating a cogency of piece’s future “sounding”. While a piece of music gains more “material” image in the text written down, the “playing” component rate decreases as the opposing, “labouring” one increases. Exclusion of “playing” component subverts the base of “composer – performer – listener” communicative system, in which an important role belongs to such features of “the game” as “the genuineness of play” (a cogency of performance and concert event) and “the withdrawal” of an audience from their reality to different world of music. In the composer’s art an exclusion of “the playing” component reduces the potential of interpretation process, which could lead to formal fixation of an artistic idea or invention of formal ideas. An audience “withdrawal” from the “real world” to domain of concert event (namely, the creating of a “playing” atmosphere of the concert with its own “rules”) also depends on a concert hall entourage. The role of narrator is especially important for the “attuning” of listeners to percept unfamiliar music for them. Thus, “playing” component is necessary for the system of “composer – performer – listener” integrity and is a mark of the musicians’ artistry.