|
In favoring the
written word, European music has created many masterpieces, but as a
result, has occulted and forgotten its popular inspiration based on
the orality. That composers have drawn on this field, no one denies:
from Bach to Henze, it is not difficult to detect, here and there, a
work taking its substance from the traditional world. In fact, so much
and so well that sometimes the question of the existence of this unwritten
repertory, saved on fragments by composers, has arisen. When Franz Schubert,
in the last piece of his lieder collection, The Winter Voyage,
mentions the hurdy-gurdy in the theme of "Der Leiermann", one can think
that he gives us a last account of this instrument that once flourished
so well in Europe and now has been erased from the collective mentality.
A complete
frame of mind has thus been built up, one which brings together and
sets up as opposites learned music, essentially urban and written, and
the world of music in the countryside, conveyed by the spoken word and
symbolized by the traveling musician coming from nowhere, Schubert's
dying "Leiermann". It is true that in the 19th century, it was thought
that popular music maintained in the countryside was nothing other than
a pale reflection of what was happening in the towns. It was forgotten
that the bourree, jig, mazurka, tarentella, polka, and other musical
forms, after being refined to become the delights of the salon, had
above all come from the countryside. It is true that in the countryside,
it was also possible to take the city or a nearby castle with a developed
artistic life for a model as the music for string quartets surviving
now in the traditional rural environment of Bohemia demonstrates, music
that is nothing other than a reworked copy of the 19th century chamber
ensemble.
It is certainly
the birth of national schools and in the rise of industrial Europe that
the foundations of a science of folklore, born in Germany, were set
up. The return to the popular and country tradition was then set in
motion and provoked systematic examination of it. Nevertheless, when
Bela Bartok undertook research along these lines in Hungary at the beginning
of this century, he discovered that the music of the peasants, far from
being undermined by various acculturations, far from dying in a final
burst of revival, formed an independent and archaic layer. He was the
first to have an intuition of this parallel life between the popular
and peasant layers, on the one hand, and the learned layers as based
on writing developed in an urban environment. This awareness of a newly
discovered world of sound and tone bore the name of "comparative musicology"
in the beginning. In recent decades it has become what is customarily
designated as "traditional music". It is essentially oral, possesses
a melodic core, and supports dance. This field has become more and more
important and contrasts with the field of contemporary composer research
that has generally turned towards abstraction.
It is true
that these two worlds, the learned and the traditional, although continuing
to have reciprocal exchanges and borrowings, have managed their affairs
separately, in mutual ignorance of each other in most cases. In the
rural and traditional world, harsh and rough intervals and uncultivated
voices are appreciated (example no. 9: Valachie Gypsy music). In the
towns, it is preferred to temper this roughness by polishing it. Such
ignorance, really contempt for the other, has operated so that historically
we do not know how to detect the appearance of movements such as the
Portuguese fado or the Spanish flamenco. Judged as minor
arts, these fields have not attracted attention and, furthermore, these
genres have developed in isolation. As for the Greek rebetiko,
it has only interested Western research in the last few years.
In terms
of instruments, one of the traditional European jewels par excellence
that was neither taken over by the birth of the symphony orchestra nor
claimed by learned music is the bagpipes. This instrument was immortalized
by the peasantry on Breughel's canvasses and is common to almost all
European nations where it appears in widely varying local terminologies.
The original term defining the bagpipes that has come back in force
in the vocabulary of a few languages is the word gaida or gaita,
itself derived from a Gothic root meaning goat (gait or gata).
This instrument has not at all disappeared from rural European environments
and has been maintained with force in certain regions, like Scotland.
Not only do musicians continue to play the bagpipes, but they have become
fashionable in numerous countries and are now considered symbolic of
the European continent. Since this instrument's return to popularity,
it is being taught.
Another instrument
that could symbolize the renewal in the field of musical instruments
and call to mind this set of observations about exchanges between traditional
music and written music in urban areas is the accordion. If this instrument
is accepted only as an occasional exception in the world of learned
music and is relegated to the field of variety shows, it is commonplace
when we pass over to the heritage of the spoken word. The accordian
in its diverse forms, such as the Russian bayan, has become an
instrument exclusive to many traditional cultures.
The return
to traditional European music has nevertheless been marked by the large
universal movement of collecting music of the world with the end in
mind of safeguarding it. The movement has shaken the planet since the
birth of the tape recorder. In this return to tradition, research has
revealed that traditional music has survived better in some countries
than in others. In fact, experience has shown that the most industrialized
nations have lost contact more easily with the layer of traditional
music. Many institutes and research centers have been founded for the
"good" of this cause. They have thrown themselves into collecting and
archiving music, gathering up, here and there, thousands of kilometers
of tape. Following the institutes and research centers, ensembles have
been set up, which have tried to reintroduce this music. This movement,
called the revival movement, started first of all in Italy, a country
that possesses a very rich and still hardy traditional repertoire. On
the other hand, another approach to this music was formulated by countries
of the former Eastern bloc: rather than shedding light on this music
as it really is, a scientific approach was implemented which raised
this art to the technical level of learned music, which was hardly beneficial
to it: pretentious orchestras arranged long lines of symphonic formations
among other examples. However, in any case, what is noted, above all,
is certainly the discovery of various forms of regional music. They
have brought a new vision of musical things that was generally unknown.
Among the
highlights of these finds, the quite numerous European polyphonies must
be noted. They call into question again the relationship between the
written word and spoken word. Although questions about that relationship
have not been decided at the present time, they remain burning issues
of the hour. They allow us to reconsider the origin of medieval polyphony,
which began, as has been said before, with Notre Dame of Paris.
It is difficult,
even impossible, to define what constitutes the unity of traditional
European music: it differs greatly from one country to another and at
the same time depends on amateur and professional musicians. It has
kept the epic inspiration that has disappeared from contemporary thought.
Even so, we may venture a few distinctive characteristics: the presence
of many polyphonies seem to constitute the essence of the European conception.
The elaborate sense of hierarchical musical structure also contributes
to it. The pre-eminence of melody and the imprint of rhythm also prevail.
Finally, nostalgia and melancholy emanate. They often combine real inspiration
of power, passion or abandon in it.
The stakes
at the end of this century are indeed the situation that Bela Bartok
intuitively described. Contemporary Western music has moved away from
its melodic impact while traditional music is attached to it. If we
want to construct Europe, how then can we reconcile these two extremes?
Without a doubt, by going back once more to learning and listening to
this music that contains real marvels, then by transmitting music education
not at all through the study of national or regional traditions, but
by becoming attuned to the traditional music that Europe offers. Its
multiplicity can still hold many surprises.
|