Szymanowski, Eroticism and the Voices of Mythology
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eroticism
Fourth Song
Harmonic Reduction
homoerotic themes
Infatuated Muezzin
Mahler's Ninth Symphony
Mahler’s Ninth Symphony
modern subjectivity
musicology
mythic narrative analysis
mythological eroticism in Western music
mythology
Newfound Land
Orchestral Choral Work
pan-European cultural identity
Royal Musical Association
Schopenhauer philosophy
Scriabin's Work
Scriabin’s Work
Shepherd's Power
Shepherd’s Power
Song Iv
Subjective Expression
Szymanowski's Music
Szymanowski's Work
Szymanowski’s Music
Szymanowski’s Work
Western culture
Young Man
Product details
- ISBN 9780947854102
- Weight: 320g
- Dimensions: 156 x 234mm
- Publication Date: 17 Jul 2003
- Publisher: Taylor & Francis Ltd
- Publication City/Country: GB
- Product Form: Hardback
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The desire to voice the artistic revelation of the truth of a precarious, multi-faceted, yet integrated self lies behind much of Szymanowski's work. This self is projected through the voices of deities who speak languages of love. The unifying figure is Eros, who may be embodied as Dionysus, Christ, Narcissus or Orpheus, and the gospel he proclaims tells of the resurrection and freedom of the desiring subject. This book examines Szymanowski's exploration of the relationship between the authorial voice, mythology and eroticism within the context of the crisis of the modern subject in Western culture. Stephen Downes analyses mythological and erotic aspects of selected songs from the composer's early career, moving to an interpretation of the voice of the homoerotic lover, embodied as a mad muezzin, in terms of heroic notions of Orphic elegy. Discussing the encounters of King Roger with the voices of Narcissus, the Siren and Dionysus, Downes shows how the composer uses the unifying Christ/Eros figure as a means of indicating that the King might be transformed from anguished despot to loving expressive subject. The book ends with an examination of Szymanowski's desire to fuse Slavonic and Middle-Eastern mythological inspirations in an attempt to fulfil a utopian vision of a pan-European culture bound together by the spirit of Eros.
Stephen Downes, Royal Holloway, University of London, UK
