Historical retrospective in the composer creativity by M.-A. Hamelin
Authors: Nikolenko R.V. 
Published: August 2020

Introduction. Art would always be a great mirror that reflects various historical epochs with their unique philosophical ideals, aesthetic and ethical principles, and the twenty-first century is no exception in this sense. At the same time, a specific feature of contemporary art is the desire to actualize the heritage of past centuries in the conceptual dialogue of cultures remote in time and space – a tendency that belongs to the basic philosophical and aesthetic characteristics of postmodernism as the dominating cultural paradigm of the XXI century. In modern musical art, the actualization of cultural heritage occurs in many ways, among which the most well-known and studied are citation, collage and stylization. All these phenomena are the subject of close attention of musicologists and cultural scientists. It is worth referring to the famous works of U.Eco, F.Jameson, V. Bibler. Of the Ukrainian musicologists who study these phenomena, let’s call D. Ruzhinskaya, O. Protopopova, O. Samoilenko. But music practice constantly generates new phenomena that also require attention. A striking example of the original use of musical material from previous eras is the compositional work of the Canadian virtuoso pianist Marc-Andr&#233; Hamelin. Having received recognition as an outstanding performer, he also created his own recognizable writing style, and his opuses are of undoubted interest for the music community. The objective of this article is to consider the specifics of the postmodern tendency to actualize the cultural heritage of the past and implementation of this intention on the example of the composer creativity by M.-A.Hamelin. This research is based on structural-functional and genre-style methods. The methodological basis is the works of U. Eco, F. Jameson, V. Bibler, dedicated to the philosophical and aesthetic concepts of postmodernism and, especially, the dialogue of cultures, which reflect the problem of interaction of the old and new in modern art. Research results. The compositions by M.-A. Hamelin are presented now by a significant number of piano miniatures, the cycle of “12 Etudes in all minor keys”, by variation cycles and transcriptions. Most of them involve someone else’s thematic material in one way or another. It can be presented as quotations, which, however, are not entered in the original form, but undergo certain changes at the first appearance. One of the ways of the composer’s interpretation of thematicism is to transfer melodies to a new multi-voiced context, which is so different from the original one that a theme is no longer just a new re-harmonization. For example, M.-A. Hamelin’s Toccata is based on the melody of the famous Renaissance song “L’homme arm&#233;” (“The Armed Man”). This work was commissioned as a mandatory piece for the Fifteenth international Van Cliburn piano competition. Using a song theme in the Toccata genre, M.-A. Hamelin accelerates movement not only due to the tempo (molto movimentato, ansioso (ma non senza nobilt&#224;)), but also the relentless movement of the sixteen in the accompaniment, creating the effect of continuous development. The important point in the composer interpretation of the source material is also the “register” transformations of the melody transferring in different octaves. The bright example of reinterpretation of the thematic material of the Renaissance is the variation cycle “Pavane Vari&#233;e” on the theme “Pavane Belle qui tiens ma vie” borrowed from Tuano Arbo’s treatise “Orchesografia”. This work, like the previous one, was written to order: for the ARD International music competition 2014. When presenting the Pavane theme, the composer almost exactly preserves its original appearance, but makes small changes in the harmony that “modernize” the theme. Further development of the theme is based on a significant transformation of its textural and figurative content. The variation cycle as a whole is characterized by a modified harmonic component, thanks to which the Pavane finds itself in atypical conditions, and as if it begins to “talk” in the musical language of impressionism and jazz, as well as gets away on a rather significant distance from the original theme. For example, in variations No. 1, 2, 4, 5, 7, 8, 9, only the general outline of the topic is guessed. In addition to the actual themes of past eras, M.-A. Hamelin sometimes uses old musical forms, filling them with new content. Such example is L&#228;ndler III from the collection of plays, which is called “Con intimissimo sentimento”. In this work, the artist imitates the form of an old French couplet Rond&#243;, the peculiarity of which is the thematic similarity between the refrain and the episodes and the immutability of the refrain itself. Precisely following this specific form, M.-A. Hamelin creates a vivid theme for the refrain and develops it in three episodes. At the same time, by its harmonious language, the play approaches to the style of M. Ravel, and is interpreted in an impressionistic character. Conclusions. Referring to the musical heritage of past eras, M.-A. Hamelin covers various historical periods of time. The composer does not limit himself to the use of musical themes, but also refers to early musical forms. Considering the ways of processing themes in the work of M.-A. Hamelin, it is worth highlighting the desire to exhibit the material in a modified form, while the degree of change can be quite different: from a slight modification of the melody and harmony, to a fairly significant change in the harmony and texture of the theme. However, in both cases, the themes are recognizable, and their form is preserved. It is also noteworthy that the Renaissance themes chosen by the author are moved to an atypical virtuoso context, since they are included in the works written to order for music competitions, however, this interpretation gives more freedom for its disclosure in various aspects. When using old forms, M.-A. Hamelin fills them with a new harmonious meaning and combines the various genre elements (such as the features of Landler and Rond&#243;). Through the interaction of forms, genres and harmonic means belonging to different epochs, M.-A. Hamelin’s works possess the effect of a cultural polylogue, which makes it possible to consider retrospection an important feature of his compositional thinking.