The phenomenon of soliloquium in the modern compositor's creativity: to the formulation of a problem by Anna Stoianova (Ukraine)

 

Stoianova Anna

PhD in Art Studies

Compositora y pianista ucraniana. 

 

The relevance of chosen topic is that, despite the fact that problem of the soliloquium as a form of special internal dialogue was put forward in the writings of ancient philosophers, it so far helps to reveal the possibilities of verbal creativity. The soliloquium is a means of developing and representing self-awareness through rationalization of dialogue, and the self-dialogue is an indispensable part of any dialogic form. It is the outward appearance (explication) of internal dialogue that becomes a specific genre of both oral and written language.

The purpose of study is to examine the problem of soliloquium as a form of a special internal dialogue in contemporary composer creativity, definition of place and meaning of soliloquium in music. 

Presentation of the main material.

The problem of soliloquium as a form of a special internal dialogue was put forward in the writings of ancient philosophers. It was based on the study of verbal creativity possibilities, that is, the cognitive and evaluative functions of word as an instrument of human consciousness. The excretion of internal dialogue has become a specific genre of both oral and written language.

The appeal to soliloquium begins with dialogues of Socrates and ends with "Conversation with the mind" of Augustine. The latter opens the concept of "inner human", who is accessible not to passive self-observation, but only an active dialogical approach to himself, which leads to a rethinking of the lyrical, epic and tragic image of man.

It is the active dialogical approach to himself, that becomes main feature of soliloquium, which separates it from self-consciousness and self-reflection. Unlike self-consciousness, the soliloquium is a deliberate and specially organized form of explication of the will of a person. Its inner activity awakens the creative abilities of consciousness, expresses his desire to "get" to a rational-logical form. Unlike self-reflection, the soliloquium is awakened by external questions; it must be preceded by external tasks: the question originated first, and then the answer to it is sought.

In order to further delve into the nature of the soliloquium, we turn to some of its definitions in art studies. For example, Henry Bush writes in his dissertation, "Creativity as a Dialogue Interaction": "Every individual in the process of socialization acquires the ability to conduct an internal dialogue with himself – the soliloquium, which is expressing inner freedom and inalienable subjectivity. The understanding of essence of micro-dialogue between the logical and emotional spheres of consciousness, between consciousness and the unconscious, reveals the role of guesswork in creativity and reveals the possibilities of managing heuristic intuition" [5, p. 18].

According to Mikhail Bakhtin, soliloquium "breaks outer shells of the human image, which exist for other people, determine the external assessment of man (in the eyes of others) and cloud up the purity of self-consciousness" [4, p. 135-136].

An interesting glance at the problem of soliloquium is presented by Anthony Shaftesbury in his work "Soliloquium or the advice to author" [10]. He mentions the famous inscription in Greek city Delphi "Know thyself", interpreting it as "split yourself, be twain" [10, p. 343]. This division is a soliloquium that, according to Shaftesbury, as the ability to maintain its inner conversation, was a special feature of philosophers and wise men. The researcher writes: "And they were proud of the fact that they had never been less lonely than when they were being alone with themselves. Because a low person, they believed, can never be oneself when he is alone" [10, p. 343].

Thus, Anthony Shaftesbury believes that, thanks to the soliloquium, a person gets an opportunity to critically understand himself, and began his moral perfection. In addition, the author in connection with the soliloquium speaks of the need for self-education, as an important foundation of ancient thought. Here it should be noted that in antiquity soliloquium taught self-education and awakened the ability to dialogue through the ability to hear the voice of their own mind, which does not belong only to man.

Roman stoics directly related the soliloquium to the doctrine of soul perfection (psycho-gogic), or a peculiar "soul cure". The concept of "psycho-gogic" was introduced by Seneca, who perceived philosophy as a kind of psychotherapy, using such methods as self-observation, conversation with oneself (soliloquium); thinking about predictable misses (parenza); moral sermon (diatribe); consolation; prayer.

Let us turn to the definition of the place and significance of the soliloquium in the general system of dialogue. It should be noted that internal dialogue is realized only when it is voiced (that is, it is necessary to specify it, to find means of internal speech for its expression). Verbalization is one of the essential elements of the linguistic organization of internal dialogue (it allows one to determine the position of the individual in relation to one or another phenomenon). Verbal assessments may or may not be dominant, but for musical images, their "naming" is necessary as a way to rationalize.

Thus, when it comes to presenting the content of consciousness soliloquium, there is a need for means of rationalization. We can say that in this case, the general communicative experience of organizing a dialogue is involved, which includes the separation of dialogue by types.

O. Samoilenko in her monograph "Musicology and Methodology of Humanitarian Knowledge. The problem of dialogue" [8], based on the concept of Bakhtin, distinguishes the following types of dialogue:

1) dialogue with the tradition of culture in general, with the community, with "authority" (it is possible, above all, as a dialogue of consent);

2) interpersonal as an inter-author's dialogue that allows the difference of judgments, or even waiting for it (dialog of disagreement);

3) interindividual dialogue, based on the extreme squeeze and the "closedness" of the points of view of both participants, which creates a movement of semantic differences – mutual estrangement, up to the "insensitivity" of statements, despite their "volume", vivid demonstration (dialogue of the deaf);

4) intercommunicational, inter-social (intercultural, inter-authoritative) dialogue, which, however, can be represented as interpersonal, in the case of anonymity of the individual – without the claim to the author's participation (dialogue of silence or, as M. Bakhtin wrote, "dialogue of the dead").

The problem of dialogue’s typology remains relevant for today's researchers and is being developed quite actively. In particular, there is the concept of "internal language" or interpersonal communication. For example, in the dissertation of Julia Sergeeva "Internal speech as a special form of linguistic communication (on the material of English-language fiction)" [9] she distinguishes five possible types of interpersonal communication:

1) an autodialologue or soliloquium, the addressee of which is the "second me" of the individual;

2) dialogue with the missing interlocutor, who is always a real person.

The author of dissertation divides the interlocutors of this type into two groups:

1. Existing persons, separated from the individual space.

2. Persons who have died before the moment of interpersonal communication.

3. Dialogue with a potential interlocutor – a real person who is in the moment of communication near the individual, but is for him an undesirable or inaccessible partner for communication.

4. Dialogue with imaginary interlocutor. To the imaginary interlocutors the author of the thesis considers the following groups of objects:

а) spiritual objects – animals, birds, fish, etc.;

b) inanimate objects – concrete subjects;

c) abstract concepts;

d) phenomens of nature;

e) mythical personalities, literary heroes.

5. Dialogue with the super-addressee, as represented by God, the Virgin, the supreme power, the Absolute, etc. To this type of interpersonal communication are mainly fideistic texts – prayers, hymns, conventional formulas. In this way author of the dissertation addresses one of the central dialogue’s categories relations in the understanding of Mikhail Bakhtin – the category of super-addressee. According to M. Bakhtin, "the author of statement with a greater or lesser consciousness assumes the highest super-addressee (the third-party person), an absolutely equitable reciprocal understanding of which is supposed either in the metaphysical distance or in the distant historical time "..." (God, absolute truth, the court of impartial human conscience, the people, the court of history, the science, etc.)" [3, p. 498].

Thus, it can be said that the soliloquium is a means of developing and representing self-consciousness through dialogue (rationalization of dialogue), and the self-dialogue is an indispensable part of any dialogical form, as well as self-consciousness is an obligatory part of consciousness.

To trace how the concept of internal speech to works of art is projected, it is necessary first of all to find out how in the art dialogue and self-dialogue are different (since in any cognitive, appraisal, and creative process, both types of dialogue are present). In the process of creating an artwork author must first, to rely on existing creative experience, and secondly, to master the general context of the erO. So there is a dialogue with tradition, with other authors, with already created samples. However, the main component of creativity is direct creation of their own works, and for this author needs to master his own consciousness, that is to turn to the soliloquium as to the creative process.

Thus, in works of art the notion of a soliloquium exists in two forms: as the process of creation and as its result (that is, as the text of an artistic work).

Process of creating an artwork is always a soliloquium, because when searching for creative ideas, author turns to himself with a number of questions ("What do I want to create?", "What do I want to say?", "Which methods will I use?"). A successful completion of this process is possible only when answers to all questions will be received. In other words, the author's creative intentions serve as questions, and the place of "gathering" result is his own consciousness, where he seeks the answer.

As for the soliloquium as a text of an artwork, one can cite many examples in each area of ​​art. We meet a soliloquium in theatrical art, in literature, in painting, in music, and, in each case, it is incarnated differently. It is worth noting that it can be implemented both on the scale of the whole work, and as a part of it or its section.

In the theatre, soliloquium seems to be the brightest – we see the hero, who enters into dialogue with himself, with our own eyes. One of the most typical examples of the soliloquium as a part of play is Shakespeare's "Hamlet", where we see how a hero begins to blame himself in weakness and indecision in order to lead himself out of a state of depression and to act soberly and thoughtfully (that is represented by Shakespeare in monologues-soliloquiums of Hamlet). Hamlet's soliloquium can also be interpreted as a "dialogue of the deaf" (according to the classification of O. Samoilenko), and for the hero contradictory nature of his own consciousness becomes a criterion for assessing the world.

With regard to the holistic embodiment of theatrical soliloquium, this is a mono-spectacle, where one hero can not only represent a dialogical attitude to himself, but also reveal the whole surrounding reality by himself (for example, Jean Cocteau's "The Human Voice").

Similarly, soliloquium is embodied in literature. It may be noted here that we encounter a holistic approach to this kind of dialogue, usually, in small genres, especially in poetry (a striking example is the "Dialogue of Hamlet with Conscience" by Marina Tsvetaeva). But inside the big genre, soliloquiums appear in key, even critical moments for the hero, as, for example, in novels by Theodore Dostoevsky. For modern literature, an interesting feature is inclusion of the word "soliloquium" in title or genre subtitle of the work: Alexander Morozov "General notebook. Soliloquium" (1975), Marina Savvina "People of the cardboard city, or soliloquium at the beginning of the end of the world. Novel-quote" (2006).

The hardest way of soliloquium's embodiment is fine art, however, one can assume that it is quite fully revealed in cases where the author portrays himself, thus embodying a dialogical attitude towards himself. If to consider soliloquium as an action that continues in time, it is embodied in painting through the creation series of self-portraits by artist (for example, series of self-portraits by Vincent van Gogh).

Soliloquium in music, as an act of self-awareness and self-esteem, is embodied in a special way, because any music has a style, any style is the whole human, and any human has self-consciousness.

Musical soliloquium can be said to unite the peculiarities of its embodiment in all other forms of art: theatrical aspect is incarnated in the opera, literatural appeals to thyself are revealed in instrumental music, and soliloquiums-selfportraits, that are related to fine art, are embodied in music as monograms or self-quotes.

Stylistically, the musical soliloquium is closest to minimalism, and each of composers who work in this direction finds its embodiment through appealing to various means of musical expression. For example, in Valentine Silvestrov's soliloquium (as a look on consciousness, including musical consciousness, from the inside) is realized through the search of musical signs, which are the basis of musical consciousness. He asks question of what the mindset of musician is formed, and he is trying to find an answer in addressing the achievements of previous eras. Luciano Berio has completely different look on music soliloquium, he treats music in the process of stylization, collage, and manipulation of strange texts fragments. That is, if V. Silvestrov's question relates to the moment of musical consciousness formation, then the question of L. Bério concerns its direct filling, its active activity.

Third position in relation to the music soliloquium is embodied in Giya Kancheli's works, filled with meditativeness, desire for self-restraint. This desire is expressed through marginal saving of expressiveness means, which reaches a state of loud silence (when silence and silent dynamics are perceived as a sign of entering a particular internal state – the state of productive loneliness).

G. Kancheli creates a kind of "non-sounding temporal continuum of music" (term by Mikhail Arkadiev [1]). This term Arkadiev deduces from the opposition "loud" (non-acoustic) and "non-loud" matter in music, which is represented as a similar opposition of space and mass in architecture. It is interesting to note that he considers that "non-loud", temporal continuum in music is more active and difficult to organize than an empty architectural space.

It is the path of contrasting loud and non-loud material, with a special emphasis on silence moments, seems to be the closest to finding genuine answers to those questions that have become cause of soliloquium for the person. According to O. Samoilenko, the truth in any dialogue (including the self-dialogue) is born in pauses, at the moments of "silence", in contrast with the isolation and structural completeness of individual statements included in the dialogue. O. Samoilenko writes: "The integrity of statement, which makes it possible to find semantic completeness in it, and comprehensive silence, as a distance between the statements, are two conditions of dialogue and, accordingly, the cathartic conditions of the artistic (musical) dialogue" [8, p. 173].

This idea is confirmed in the words of Mikhail Bakhtin: "Silence is a meaningful sound (word) – a pause which constitutes special logosphere, single and continuous structure, open (unending) integrity" [2, p. 357]. In this observation, M. Bakhtin returns to the conceptual dialogical "couple" which is leading in his poetry: completeness – openness, since "meaningful word" – statement – exists in two plans for him: the non-repeatable statement when it is completed, and repetitive, open statement, when it is attached to the language.

O. Samoilenko applies the Bakhtin's description of musical-creative process characterization by and states that "in the first case, in our opinion, the statement exists as an inter-compositional phenomenon, that is, in the context of an artistic work. In the second, it addresses textual levels of music development" [8, p. 173].

Interaction of first and second, she calls, following M. Bakhtin, "the musical logosphere" – common Logos ("self-expanding") of music [8, p. 173], confirming her words by the following quotation from M. Bakhtin: "Through the statement, language connects to the historical uniqueness and incomplete integrity of the logosphere" [2, p. 357].

The notion of soliloquium in music can also be linked to the tendency of camernization (soli-logization) of major genres – symphony and opera, which take place at composers' work at the present stage.

In relation to the symphony, it can be noted that, despite the fact that earlier this genre was representative and focused on socially significant "big" images, in recent years the process of its camernization is being carried out in order to transfer inner human's world through the music.

With regard to the opera genre, the strengthening of its chamberness, as well as in the symphony, is connected with the deepening of their own limits, which leads to an increase of intentional factors. In vocal music, this tendency is often associated with a dialogue between a poet and a composer who already claims to be a "dialogue of cultures".

The symphonic soliloquium is brightly embodied in seven symphonies of Giya Kancheli. Composer does not apply to the traditional symphonic principles, but creates his own style, even his type of symphony, which is similar to one-part poem with variant-variational development and contrasting figurative content.

The unifying factor for all the symphonies of G. Kancheli is the free form of the composer's plan deployment, as well as the narrative "from the first person" and the promotion to the foreground of the subjective principle. In this case, "solization" of symphonism manifests itself, and the phenomenon of self-dialogue is realized in the symphonic method by G. Kancheli through the comparison of two figurative spheres – FF and PP. It is because of a sharp and sudden comparison that creates a sense of real internal dialogue, which occurs at a high emotional tension.

As an example of symphonic soliloquium, the beginning of the Fifth Symphony by G. Kancheli can be given as an example. Here, in the inner dialogue, two opposing principles converge: the "childish" leit-theme is a harpsichord (sequences inspired by baroque music, perceived as something irreversible, infantile) and the sad theme that invades her – it finds itself in obscure intonational gleams, in descending "moans" of orchestra. This soliloquium becomes the starting point for the development of entire work – all the main themes are grown from it, and its outcome is the conclusion of the symphony.

The soliloquium of Fifth Symphony with its deepening in itself grows out from the fact that Natalya Zeifas calls "the crisis of poetic worldview" [6, p. 91]. According to her, it was precisely, that to this boundary, which was determined in the late 1970's in all Georgian art, "the musical drama of Kancheli in the Fifth Symphony" is coming [6, p. 91].

As an example of an opera soliloquium in its two variants – in the form of a dialogized monologue and in the form of a monologized dialogue – one can bring V. Hubarenko's mono-operas "Love Letters" ("Tenderness") and "Monologues of Juliette".

When analyzing these mono-operas in her thesis, Olga Lisovaya writes: "In the mono-opera "Letters of Love" the structural and semantic basis of the composition acts as a dialogized monologue, or rather, the rule of dialogue of identification is in effect, when two persons think about the same thing in reality or in imagination. And in the "Monologues of Juliette", the idea of ​​a monologized dialogue is realized, when the consciousness of hero is bifurcated, finds its internal opposition, sounds on two different voices. From here and the outwardly paradoxical name ("Monologues") appeared – for an opera in which two actors are involved – Juliette and Padre Lorenzo" [7, p. 83].

Despite the fact that in "Letters of Love" involved one stage character, and in "Monologues of Juliette" two characters involved, both of these works in their essence are mono-shaped. However, at the same time, the image that disclosed in them is dual; it combines the opposite semantic and intonational principles. In this case, there are also common cross-cutting thematic elements present. That is, we can say that both of these operas become soli-logized. This is also indicated by the fact that the orchestral and vocal parties complement each other dialogically, composer alternates them, presents them in the form of counterpoint, thus composer is achieving the inseparable unity of two musical-performal opera spheres.

Also, composer in both of these operas implements the idea of ​​the eternal dialogical confrontation between Rock and man. It is embodied in the musical-thematic content of operas through the opposition of polar complexes of love and death, herewith in both works composer represents the possibility of a cathartic solution.

The conducted study of genre-style diversity in music makes it possible to formulate the following conclusions.

The soliloquium in music becomes an aesthetic paradigm which is overgrown with compositional techniques, that is, it is not localized in the same genre form, but defines the genre method of creativity (as, for example, tendency of camernization), and generates certain compositional decisions. As a form of artistic self-dialogue in music, it becomes an integral part of composer poetics, involves a variety of compositional and stylistic means of embodiment and development, and manifests dependence on stylistic guides of musical art and its semantic priorities.

Thus, we can say that the musical soliloquium forms its own artistic and expressive sphere, connected both with dialogical techniques, and with the stylistic certainty of musical material, acts as the equivalent of the author's composer monodialogue.

 

 

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