L E
S A C R E
D U
P H ΠN I X
ou
E N C H A N T É E
P A R
L ´ O I S E A U
D E
F E U,
D A N S E - R I T U E L L E
(M E L G A C I A N_V A R I A T I O N S
O N_ A_T H E M E_O F_S T R A V I N S K Y)
O t a c í l i o M e l g a ç o
[duration 20:24] all rights reserved
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The artist Otacílio Melgaço has two official curators in the virtual world. A curator (from Latin: ´curare´, meaning ´to take care´) is a manager or overseer. Traditionally, keeper of a cultural heritage institution (e.g., gallery, museum, library or, as the present case: sound archive) is a content specialist charged with an institution's collections and, highlighting the context in force here, involved with the interpretation of personal (heritage) material. Both, Mr. Paz and Mr. Campbell, are, therefore, reviewers of the Melgacian works. To learn more about their missions, tasks, assignments and responsibilities by means of valuable informations regarding the compositional process, the performative rhizomes and other special features, just click the following link:
otaciliomelgaco.wixsite.com/preamblebypsp
(O.M.Team; P r e l u d e)
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"´And in my dreams I see myself on a wolf's back
Riding along a forest path
To do battle with a sorcerer-tsar
In that land where a princess sits under lock and key,
Pining behind massive walls.
There gardens surround a palace all of glass;
There Firebirds sing by night
And peck at golden fruit.´
(Yakov Polonsky)
´Is it not by love alone that we succeed in penetrating to the very essence of being?´, once suggested Igor Stravinsky.
The quote applies to Otacílio Melgaço. What immense love does he have for music to the point of being so ready to delve into its essence and, epiphanic (epiphonic! epiphoenix?), expand it so luminously!" (Pablo S. Paz; Argentinean musicologist)
"In Slavic mythology and folklore, the Firebird (Russian: жар-пти́ца, romanized: zhar-ptitsa; Ukrainian: жар-пти́ця, zhar-ptytsia; Serbo-Croatian: žar-ptica, жар-птица; Bulgarian: Жар-птица, romanized: Zhar-ptitsa; Macedonian: Жар-птица, romanized: Žar-ptica; Polish: Żar-ptak; Czech: Pták Ohnivák; Slovak: Vták Ohnivák; Slovene: Rajska/zlata-ptica) is a magical and prophetic glowing or burning Bird from a faraway land which is both a blessing and a harbinger of doom to its captor.
The Firebird is described in one of the texts collected by Alexander Afanasyev as having ´golden feathers, while its eyes were like unto oriental crystal´. Other sources portray a large animal with majestic plumage that glows brightly emitting red, orange, and yellow light, like a bonfire that is just past the turbulent flame. The feathers do not cease glowing if removed, and one feather can light a large room if not concealed. In later iconography, the form of the Bird is usually that of a smallish fire-colored falcon, complete with a crest on its head and tail quills with shining eyes.
A typical role of жар-пти́ца in fairy tales is as an object of a difficult quest. The quest is usually initiated by finding a lost rear plume, at which point the hero sets out to find and grasp the live Bird, sometimes of his own accord, but usually on the bidding of a father or king. The Flier is a marvel, highly coveted, but the hero, initially charmed by the wonder of the feathering, eventually blames it for his troubles.
The Firebird tales follow the classical scheme of faerie legend, with the feather serving as a premonition of a hard journey, with magical helpers met on the way who help in travel and seizure of the animal, and returning from the faraway land with the prize. There are many reinterpretations of the story as it was primarily told orally in the beginning.
I highlight the irreproachable production by Sergei Diaghilev / Ballets Russes, who commissioned composer Igor Stravinsky to score the enormously popular large-scale artistic creation called, in French, L'Oiseau de Feu. With choreography by Michel Fokine and scenario by Alexandre Benois, the creature is half-Woman, half-Bird. She is captured by Prince Ivan, but when he sets her free she gives him a magic pinion, which he uses to defeat the spell of Kaschei the Immortal, who had catched thirteen princesses. Prince Ivan then marries the most beautiful of them.
It's impossible not to hear the reverberation: ´the most beautiful of them, the most beautiful of them...´ In my rhizomatic opinion, of all the Variations on L'Oiseau de Feu (even, as here, in the case of fragments chosen by Otacílio), the Melgacian - for organ, percussion and तंबूरा - is, like the (also) chosen princess, the most beautiful. And I dare say that I can make the same deep impression - or inference - when I listen yet to original versions.
Нет дыма без огня,
Рыбак рыбака видит издалека." (Caio Campbell; Anglo-Brazilian semiologist and musician)
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I - Campbell's A d d e n d u m:
This phenomenal album, "Le Sacre Du Phœnix ou Enchantée Par L'Oiseau De Feu, Danse-Rituelle", is being released on the last day of 2023. In reality, it seems to me to be, unavoidably, an Annunciation of 2024 [a Phoenixian Transfiguration] and we only need to look at the duration of the sound Piece to prove this. A detail typically of O.M.'s ingenuity;
Otacílio and his fascinating polysemy. For example, I believe there is influence or at least mention of a work by English guitarist John McLaughlin here. It is "Birds of Fire", the second studio recording - brought to light in 1973, exactly 50 years ago! - by jazz fusion band the Mahavishnu Orchestra. I draw attention to the first track, homonym. Watch the hypnotic gong which as well begins the composition and how many times it is ritually played. Going for one more: Throughout their career, the progressive rock group Yes opened almost every live show, not by coincidence, with excerpts from The Firebird (it is still used today). I have no doubt, there are passages from such O.M.'s Opus in focus (even considering its dissonances - in fact, of extreme subtlety and elegance -) that flirt with some dreamlike atmospheres - and yet celestial harmonies - found along the highest points of the band's history. I can mention, among countless gems, the suite "Awaken", which appears on the paroxysmal "Going for the One" (1977);
In the title given to the Variations by Melgaço there is a bon mot for another Offspring by [Russian composer and conductor with French citizenship (from 1934) and United States citizenship (from 1945)] Ígor Fiódorovitch Stravinsky, the seminal "Le Sacre du Printemps". Still on the enigmatic name with which this newly given birth Chef d'Oeuvre was baptized, a further probable link is with "El amor brujo" ("Love, the sorcerer"), a ballet by Manuel de Falla to a libretto by María de la O Lejárraga García, although for years it was attributed to her husband Gregorio Martínez Sierra. It exists in three versions as well as a piano suite drawn from four of its movements. Its music includes the celebrated "Danza ritual del fuego" ("Ritual Fire Dance")! Its songs use the Andalusian Spanish dialectal modality. The plot: a gypsy in an unreturned love goes to her arts of magic to soften the ungrateful's heart, and succeeds, after a night of enchantments, recitations and ritual dances, so that at dawn he awakens to love; bells proclaim her triumph;
II - The Phoenix (ϕοῖνιξ) is an immortal bird that cyclically regenerates or is otherwise born again. While it is part of Greek mythology, it has analogs in many cultures such as Egyptian and Persian. Associated with the sun, a phoenix obtains new life by rising from the ashes of its predecessor. Some legends say it dies in a show of flames and combustion, others that it simply dies and decomposes before being born again.
The origin of the Phoenix has been attributed to Ancient Egypt by Herodotus and later 19th-century scholars, but other scholars think the Egyptian texts may have been influenced by classical folklore. Over time the phoenix motif spread and gained a variety of new associations; Herodotus, Lucan, Pliny the Elder, Pope Clement I, Lactantius, Ovid, and Isidore of Seville are among those who have contributed to the retelling and transmission of the phoenix motif. Over time, extending beyond its origins, the Phoenix could variously "symbolize renewal in general as well as the sun, time, the Empire, metempsychosis, consecration, resurrection, etc.";
III - The Firebird is a ballet and orchestral concert work by Stravinsky. It was written for the 1910 Paris season of Sergei Diaghilev's Ballets Russes company; the original choreography was by Michel Fokine, who collaborated with Alexandre Benois and others on a scenario based on the Russian fairy tales of the Firebird and the blessing and curse it possesses for its owner. The Firebird was first performed at the Opéra de Paris on 25 June 1910 and was an immediate success, catapulting Stravinsky to international fame and leading to future Diaghilev-Stravinsky collaborations like Petrushka (1911) and The Rite of Spring (1913).
The Firebird's mortal and supernatural elements are distinguished with a system of leitmotifs placed in the harmony dubbed "leit-harmony". Stravinsky made a point to use many unique effects in the orchestra, including with ponticello, col legno, flautando, glissando, and fluttertongue. Set in the evil immortal Koschei's castle, the ballet follows Prince Ivan, who battles Koschei with the help of the magical Firebird.
Stravinsky later created three concert suites: in 1911, ending with the "Infernal Dance"; in 1919, which remains the most popular today; and in 1945, featuring significant reorchestration and structural changes. Other choreographers have staged the work with Fokine's original choreography or created entirely new productions using the music, some with different settings or themes from the original. Many recordings of the suites have been made, the first being released in 1928 using the 1911 suite. A film version of the popular Sadler's Wells Ballet production, which revived Fokine's original choreography, was created in 1959.
Critics praised the music of The Firebird's emotional character. Cyril W. Beaumont wrote: "[The Firebird ] is a supreme example of how music, although having no meaning in itself, can, particularly with a programme hint of its intention, evoke a mood appropriate to the ballet concerned." Robert Craft considered the music "as literal as opera", referring to the "mimetic specificity" with which the music follows the story, a trait Stravinsky later disliked and apologized for. The composer wrote that The Firebird became a centerpiece in his career; his conducting debut was a ballet performance of The Firebird in 1915, and he said that he performed it "nearly a thousand times" more.
Fokine's revolutionary Firebird character was part of an effort to combine new ideas with classical ballet, showing his wide-ranging abilities as a choreographer. He later described his style as a diversion from the "conventional system of gesticulation" and a move towards natural expression through movement. The wide resources and experienced artists that Fokine accessed allowed him to create massive productions like The Firebird. Each character or group had their own unique choreography, creating complex scenes like the "Infernal Dance", where the Firebird enchants Koschei's subjects but they all dance differently. Dance critic Alastair Macaulay called this the "most complex choreography that had ever been attempted in ballet" at the time;
IV - The Firebird concept has parallels in Iranian legends of magical birds, in the Brothers Grimm fairy tale about The Golden Bird, and related Russian magical birds like the Sirin. The story of the quest itself is closely paralleled by Armenian Hazaran Blbul. In the Armenian tale, however, the bird does not glow, but rather makes the land bloom through its song. In Czech folklore, it is called Pták Ohnivák (Fire-like Bird) and appears, for example, in a Karel Jaromír Erben fairy tale, also as an object of a difficult quest. Moreover, in the beginning of this fairy tale, the bird steals magical golden apples belonging to a king and is therefore pursued by the king's servants in order to protect the precious apples.
The story of the firebird comes in many forms. Some folk tales say that the Firebird is a mystical bird that flies around a king's castle and at night swoops down and eats all the king's golden apples. Others say that the firebird is just a bird that flies around giving hope to those who need it. Some additions to that legend say that when the firebird flies around, his eyes sparkle and pearls fall from his beak. The pearls would then fall to the peasants, giving them something to trade for goods or services. In the most common version of the legend, a Tsar commands his three sons to capture the firebird that keeps flying down from above and eating his apples. The golden apples are in the Tsar's orchard and give youth and strength to all who eat them. The sons end up barely missing the bird, but they catch one of his feathers that glows in the night. They take it to a dark room and it lights the room completely;
V - Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky (17 June [O.S. 5 June] 1882 – 6 April 1971) was widely considered one of the most important and influential composers of the 20th century and a pivotal figure in modernist music.
Stravinsky's father was an established bass opera singer, and Igor grew up taking piano and music theory lessons. While studying law at the University of Saint Petersburg, he met Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov and studied under him until Korsakov's death in 1908. Stravinsky met the impresario Sergei Diaghilev soon after, who commissioned Stravinsky to write three ballets: The Firebird (1910), Petrushka (1911), and The Rite of Spring (1913), the last of which brought him international fame after the near-riot at the premiere, and changed the way composers understood rhythmic structure.
Stravinsky's compositional career is divided into three periods: his Russian period (1913–1920), his neoclassical period (1920–1951), and his serial period (1954–1968). Stravinsky's Russian period was characterised by influence from Russian styles and folklore. Renard (1916) and Les noces (1923) were based on Russian folk poetry, and works like L'Histoire du soldat blended these folktales with popular musical structures, like the tango, waltz, rag, and chorale. His neoclassical period exhibited themes and techniques from the classical period, like the use of the sonata form in his Octet (1923) and use of Greek mythological themes in works like Apollon musagète (1927), Oedipus rex (1927), and Persephone (1935). In his serial period, Stravinsky turned towards compositional techniques from the Second Viennese School like Arnold Schoenberg's twelve-tone technique. In Memoriam Dylan Thomas (1954) was the first of his compositions to be fully based on the technique, and Canticum Sacrum (1956) was his first to be based on a tone row. Stravinsky's last major work was the Requiem Canticles (1966), which was performed at his funeral.
While some composers and academics of the time disliked the avant-garde nature of Stravinsky's music, particularly The Rite of Spring, later writers recognized his importance to the development of modernist music. Stravinsky's revolutions of rhythm and modernism influenced composers like Aaron Copland, Philip Glass, Béla Bartók, and Pierre Boulez, all of whom "felt impelled to face the challenges set by [The Rite of Spring]," as George Benjamin wrote in The Guardian. In 1998, Time magazine named Stravinsky one of the 100 most influential people of the century. Stravinsky died of pulmonary edema on 6 April 1971 in New York City;
VI - Sergei Pavlovich Diaghilev (31 March [O.S. 19 March] 1872 – 19 August 1929), also known as Serge Diaghilev, was a Russian art critic, patron, ballet impresario and founder of the Ballets Russes, from which many famous dancers and choreographers would arise.
Diaghilev's career can be divided into two periods: in St. Petersburg (1898–1906) and while as an emigrant (1906–1929);
VII - Manuel de Falla y Matheu (23 November 1876 – 14 November 1946) was an Andalusian Spanish composer and pianist. Along with Isaac Albéniz, Francisco Tárrega, and Enrique Granados, he was one of Spain's most important musicians of the first half of the 20th century. He has a claim to being Spain's greatest composer of the 20th century, although the number of pieces he composed was relatively modest;
VIII - John McLaughlin (born 4 January 1942), also known as Mahavishnu, is an English guitarist, bandleader, and composer. A pioneer of jazz fusion, his music combines elements of jazz with rock, world music, Western classical music, flamenco, and blues. After contributing to several key British groups of the early 1960s, McLaughlin made Extrapolation, his first album as a bandleader, in 1969. He then moved to the U.S., where he played with drummer Tony Williams's group Lifetime and then with Miles Davis on his electric jazz fusion albums In a Silent Way, Bitches Brew, Jack Johnson, Live-Evil, and On the Corner. His 1970s electric band, the Mahavishnu Orchestra, performed a technically virtuosic and complex style of music that fused electric jazz and rock with Indian influences.
...for purposes of pragmatism and clear exegesis,
quotes have Wikipedia as a source...
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Between two parentheses...
(Atonalism, Twelve-Tone, Serialism, Musique Concrète... Acousmatic. Eletroacoustic. Magnetic Tape. Expressionism, New Objectivity, Hyperrealism, Abstractionism, Neoclassicism, Neobarbarism, Futurism, Mythic Method. Electronic...Computer Music, Spectral, Polystylism, Neoromanticism, Minimalism and Post-Minimalism...are addressed by Melgaço. Paradoxically New Simplicity and New Complexity also.
Art Rock, Free Jazz, Ethnic Dialects, Street Sounds are occasional syntax elements.
All the possibilities mentioned above and others that were not mentioned are the usual accoutrements of the composer/instrumentalist to establish his ´babelic´ glossary. We can prove this in a short passage of a single composition up along the entirety of a conceptual phonograph album. All distributed over a career and idiosyncratic records. Have we a universe before us and I propose to see it through a telescope, not a microscope.
I propose not handle very specialized topics here. Otherwise would be, with the exception of musicians and scholars, all hostages of a hermetic jargon. Because more important is to present Otacílio Melgaço to the general public and not to a segment of specialists. Faction of experts not need presentations, depart for the enjoyment beforehand. For this reason there is no niche here for intellectual onanism and encrypted musical terminology. The reason for these parentheses is to establish such elucidation. The non-adoption of technicalities leads to more panoramic, amplifier reviews. Are You always welcome. Those who do not dominate contemporary music and are introduced to the world of ubiquitous O.M. [autodidact and independent artist who, being more specific, does not belong to schools or doctrines; artist who makes Music and that´s enough; music devoid of labels or stylistic, chronological, historical paradigms or trends] and Those who belong to the métier and turn to enjoy propositions they know and also delving into advanced Melgacian sound cosmogonies...
I conclude poetically. ´Certeza/Certainty´ by Octavio Paz. ´Si es real la luz blanca De esta lámpara, real La mano que escribe, ¿son reales
Los ojos que miran lo escrito? De una palabra a la otra Lo que digo se desvanece. Yo sé que estoy vivo Entre dos paréntesis.´ If it is real the white light from this lamp, real the writing hand, are they real, the eyes looking at what I write? From one word to the other what I say vanishes. I know that I am alive between two parentheses.
We´re all more and more a-l-i-v-e now.)
- P.S.P.
