Sonorism

Sonorism, sonorics, sonoristics, sonoristic technique

from lat. sonorus – sonorous, sonorous, noisy; German Klangmusic; Polish sonorystyka

A type of modern composition technique using Ch. arr. colorful sounds, perceived as height undifferentiated.

S.’s specificity (as “music of sonorities”) is in bringing to the fore the color of sound, as well as the moments of transition from one tone or consonance to another. A certain brilliance (phonism) is always inherent in the sound of music, both polyphonic (coloring of chords, consonances that arise when they are compared and also depends on location, register, timbre, speed of harmonic changes, structural features), and monophonic (coloring of intervals in connection with register, rhythm, structural features), however, in decomp. styles, it manifests itself (all the more autonomizes) not to the same extent, which depends on the general ideological and arts. direction of music. creativity, partly from nat. originality of style. Elements of the sonoristic interpretation of harmony have been developed in music since the 19th century. in connection with the desire for concreteness and sensual certainty of the muses. images, to music. figurativeness and manifested itself most clearly in the French. and Slavic music (some prerequisites for S. can be found in the folk instr. music of many national cultures). Historical S.’s preforms are the colorism of harmony (see, for example, the episode Des7> – Des from bar 51 in Chopin’s b-moll nocturne), the recreation of certain features of Nar. music (for example, imitation of the sound of Caucasian folk instruments in the form of a quintchord g – d1 – a1 – e2 in “Lezginka” from the opera “Ruslan and Lyudmila”), the selection of structurally homogeneous chords according to phonic. signs (for example, eclipse chords in the opera “Prince Igor”), colorful figuration passages and cadence passages (for example, in the 2nd reprise of Chopin’s Des-dur nocturne; in Liszt’s No. 3 nocturne No. 2), images of whirlwinds, gusts of wind, storms (for example, “Francesca da Rimini”, “The Tempest”, a scene in the barracks from “The Queen of Spades” by Tchaikovsky; “Scheherazade” and “Kashchei the Immortal” by Rimsky-Korsakov), a special timbre interpretation of consonances, ch. arr. when interacting with drum timbres (for example, the tritone in Leshy’s leitmotif from the opera “The Snow Maiden”). An outstanding example, close modern. type S., – the scene of the bell ringing from the opera “Boris Godunov” (introduction to the XNUMXnd picture).

S. in the exact meaning of the term can be spoken of only in relation to the music of the 20th century, which is due to the norms of music that have developed in it. thinking, especially harmonious. language. It is impossible to completely and unequivocally distinguish between exact pitch (music of tones) and sonority (music of sonorities); it is often difficult to separate sonoristic technique from other (non-sonorous) types of composing technique. Therefore, S.’s classification is to a certain extent conditional; it singles out only the most important points and assumes transitions and combinations of typified varieties. In the system of classification, varieties of S. are arranged in the order of gradual removal from the starting point – the phenomena of ordinary tonal technique.

Logically, the first stage of S.’s autonomization is sonoristically interpreted harmony, where there is a noticeable shift in attention from the perception of pitch-differentiated sounds to the perception of pitch-undifferentiated “timbral sounds.” The parallelism technique developed by C. Debussy shows the evolution of this process: the chord chain is perceived as a monophonic succession of timbre-colored sounds (the technique of parallel-dissonant blocks in jazz is similar to this technique). Examples of sonorously colored harmony: the ballets Daphnis and Chloe by Ravel (Dawn), Stravinsky’s Petrushka (beginning of the 4th scene), Prokofiev’s Cinderella (Midnight), an orchestral piece, op. 6 No 4 Webern, song “Seraphite” by Schoenberg.

HH Sidelnikov. Russian fairy tales, 4th part.

In other cases, the sonoristic interpretation of harmony acts as an operation with consonances of timbre purpose (“sonoras”). This is the initial “sonor chord” in Scriabin’s Prometheus, osn. chord in Webern’s piece op. 10 No 3 for orchestra, discordant polyharmony before the reprise of the introduction to the ballet The Rite of Spring.

Sonorant coloration usually has consonance-clusters (works by G. Cowell and others). Not only chords can be sonorous, but also lines (see, for example, Shostakovich’s 2nd symphony up to number 13). Combining sonorous chords and lines creates sonorous layers (most often when interacting with layers of timbres), for example. a stream of 12 sounds in the finale of Prokofiev’s 2nd symphony (2nd variation), in Lutoslavsky’s 2nd symphony, in “Rings” for Shchedrin’s orchestra. S.’s further deepening is connected with the separation from pitch differentiation and is manifested, for example, in the appeal to music for percussion instruments (see Prokofiev’s Egyptian Nights, Anxiety, intermission to the 2nd scene of the 2nd act of the opera The Nose » Shostakovich). In the end, S. from a sonoristically interpreted tone leads to a sonoristically interpreted noise (German: Gerdusch), and this material includes two decomp. element – music. noises (neoekmelika) and extra-musical noises (related to the field of so-called concrete music).

The technique of operating with similar elements and much in their expressive meaning are either very similar or coincide. For example, Penderecki’s “Tren” begins with sonorous musical-noise sounds.

HH Sidelnikov. Russian fairy tales, 4th part.

K. Penderecki. “Lamentation for the Victims of Hiroshima”.

Thus, S. operates both with proper sonorous means (musical noises, timbre layers, sound-color complexes, sounds without a certain pitch), and with the means of some other types of technology (tonal, modal, serial, aleatory, etc.) . Comp. S.’s technique involves the choice of a certain. sound material (its expressiveness is in a direct, and not in a conditional connection with the artistic conception of the work), its distribution by departments of production. based on the chosen line of development, an individually developed plan of the whole. Muses. a process of this kind is associated with the desire for a purposeful development of sonority, forming regular ups and downs that reflect the movement of the psychological underlying basis of musical expression.

S. more directly than tone music, is able to create all sorts of colorful effects, in particular, to embody the sound phenomena of the outside world in music. So, traditional for Russian. classical music, the image of bell ringing finds a new incarnation in S.

Advantages. S.’s scope — mus. works in which sound-colorful effects are of great importance: “flows of blue-orange lava, flashes and twinkling of distant stars, the sparkle of fiery swords, the run of turquoise planets, purple shadows and the cycle of sound-color” (O. Messiaen, “Technique of my musical language”). See also Phonism.

A. G. Schnittke. pianissimo.

R. K. Shchedrin. “Calls”.

References: Asafiev B. V., Musical form as a process, (books 1-2), M.-L., 1930-47, 3 (both books), L., 1971; Shaltuper Yu., On the style of Lutoslavsky in the 60s, in: Problems of Musical Science, vol. 3, M., 1975; Nikolskaya I., “Funeral Music” by Witold Lutoslavsky and problems of pitch organization in the music of the 10th century, in: Music and Modernity, (issue) 1976, M., 1; Messiaen O., Technique de mon langage musical, v. 2-1944, P., 1961; Chominski J., Technika sonorystyczna jako przedmiot systematycznego szkolenia, “Muzyka”, 6, rok 3, No 1968; his, Muzyka Polski Ludowej, Warsz., 1962; Kohoutek C., Novodobé skladebné teorie západoevropske hudby, Praha, 1965, Novodobé skladebné smery vhudbe, Praha, 1976 (Russian translation — Kogoytek Ts., Composition technique in music of the XNUMXth century, M., XNUMX).

Yu. N. Kholopov