Wednesday, December 2, 2015
RUMI CANTATA introduction
BEGINNINGS
I had difficulties when I tried to begin writing the score for RUMI CANTATA. Many skecthes for all 6 movements of the cantata existed. But it was still difficult even to decide the layout of the score.
I do not remember how I wrote the skecthes of the melody phase. But the clearest section was written in syllabic melody:
3
Gönlümdeki iç ve dış O'dur, bende can O.
Gövdem, damarım, ruhum, O'dur. Bende kan O.
Tek Tanrı'ya, çok Tanrı'ya tapmak bir mi?
Bak, benzeri yok varlığımın: Var olan O.
I noticed now that this is also the culmination point, the peak of the 6 poems I chose. Strage, it is asif somebody else is writing this music. The music transcends the consciousness of the composer.
The four parts harmony of the 3rd section was also written. So, I decided to begin writing the RUMI CANTATA from the 3rd movement. This helped me to decide easily which layout of score, location of English-turkish lyrics and also to make continuo as vcl obligato + guitar or others. This has made me think once more that a work of art does not necessarily begin at its physical beginning.
A musical piece may begin and continue for a while and then a very charming melody comes and sets itself as the beginning. The new melody or section overwrites and even reshapes the previous material. The human memory rewrites everything it remembers. Moreover it may not only rewrite, it may change the memory it has accessed. Simply, Beethoven 9th symphony chorus section begins as the real beginning of the 9th symphony. Everything before it serves to prepare its entrance.
The issue becomes complicated thinking of multiple movement works. There are multiple entrances, multiple beginnings. If the 1st movement sets a semantic net of percepted material, the second movement may have a contrasted material or non-relative material. The slow 2nd movement of the Sonata form for ex. Contrast will add to the established semantic net but non-relative will create a new semantic net. If the 3rd movement has to become the real beginning of the piece identity, it has to establish a more dominant idea which will import the previous semantic net of the first movement. This is where the listener wakes up the idea and remembers that the 1st movemnt's material is being referenced.
Music is endless... There will always be beginnings.
But as simple human beings, we also have to make many beginnings almost everyday. But are they really beginnings? Or are they just a continuation of previous choices, decisions?
Really, when was the last time we had done a real beginning?