Scholarly record

THE MUSICAL CREATION INSPIRED BY THE WORK OF SCULPTOR CONSTANTIN BRA?NCUS?I MAJESTIC BIRD – SONATA FOR SOLO CLARINET BY TIBERIU OLAH

M. Rusu

Abstract

This article proposes to create a connection between two seemingly contradictory universes: the art of sculpture and the art of music. The creation of one of the most important sculptors of the 20th century, Constantin Bra?ncu?i, became an inexhaustible source of inspiration for artists from different domains, especially for musicians, Romanian composers creating diverse symphonic works inspired by the artist’s sculptures. Background: In the history of art, Bra?ncu?i makes a striking turn. He adopts a unique attitude, carving directly in the material from which the work of art originates, bringing in contemporary symbols or forms that remind us the charms of the Neolithic populations, of deities that were venerated and transposed into stone figures, as well as by translating into sculpture the purest expressions of human spirituality. Tiberiu Olah is the Romanian composer who offered Constantin Bra?ncu?i’s masterpieces a significant place in his musical works. He created distinguished compositions inspired by Bra?ncu?i’s most important sculptures, by appealing to modern, avant-garde musical language and non-discursive dramaturgy. Methods: In order to demonstrate the connection between the two arts we will describe the main musical aspects of the Majestic Bird – Sonata for solo clarinet by Tiberiu Olah, in connection with the significance of Constantin Bra?ncu?i’s homonymous sculpture. Perhaps the greatest challenge of Constantin Bra?ncu?i’s artistic life was the illustration of the flight, the ascension through the symbol of the bird. Bra?ncusi was inspired by the legends found in the Romanian fairy tales of the Majestic Bird, a magical character that also has a protective role. In the evolutionary process of creating the sculpture, the bird gained an elongated form, reduced to essence, “gradually giving it a naturalness, a dynamism, and finally an ascending force line, even tending to create the illusion of its detachment from the base in flight”. Tiberiu Olah creates a monodic work for the clarinet, in which he transforms or metamorphoses an archetypal folk melodic source with modern compositional means, in similar way to Bra?ncu?i offering a unique interpretation of a figure drawn from the archaic funerary sculpture. Results, Conclusion: Finally, this research aims to demonstrate, as a synthesis, the musical illustration of the flight and the modern techniques which symbolize the evolution and the unrestrained inspiration of the composer.Thus, Pasarea Maiastra – Majestic Bird – Sonata for solo clarinet is a model of modern creation in which archaic musical elements of folk essence are developed and transformed by means of avant-garde compositions.

Publication details

Back to publication list