DOI article:
Siechowicz, Paweł: The key to M. K. Čiurlionis’s synthesis of the Arts
DOI Page / Citation link: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.23935#0074
68
PAWEŁ SIECHOWICZ
5. Transfer of the Painted Line to Musie
The elear similarity between the musical and painted fugal subjects may mean that the mélodies and
painted contours in Ciurlionis's créative imagination shared the same origin. His ideas were linear but their
linearity was of an abstract kind. Each of them could have been used as either the subject of a painting or a
musical piece. Some ideas, however, found their artistic development in both media, while others were ex-
pressed through a single medium.
The dual expression of the subject, however, can lead us to interesting questions. What is similar about
the ways in which the subject is placed in the pictorial and musical context? Are there any similarities in the
role that is ascribed to it in both forms of expression? To answer thèse we should firstly look carefully at the
musical fugue.
Fugue Op. 34 contains a three-part form. The exposition is composed according to strict rules of counter-
point. The second developmental section is treated more freely and employs longer épisodes (E). The last part
is marked with characteristic stretto in the voices. Interestingly, the first part makes use only of the primai form
of the subject (T) along with two countersubjects (C,, C2) entering consequently. The last part is also based
on the primai form, although it is accompanied by a thematic diminution in stretto. The middle part, however,
begins with a melody, the contour of which resembles the inverted subject but with différent intervais. Then,
the first épisode (E^ follows and the part develops more freely by using fréquent réductions of voices, prime
and diminution forms of the subject, and two other épisodes. Its formai structure i s represented by the follow-
ing schéma (See Fig. 6).
S
A
T
В
Т/л1\
T/r3\ 77M
T(e)
Т/П\ F
1 (C )inw. 1 (D)dim.
1 ld km.
Tlf\ /
' ' E 1 E'
Т7Ге\ Г 1 F 1
Т(б)
Łi Ło Ło
Т7Ае\
'(Udim./
/ /
l(LS) Ц Ц
T/n \ V V Y
T(AS)d im.
Т/П\ T/Pip\
//
т/р\т/п T/n \
Щ) 1Ц K2 1Ц
l(U) l(US)
"(41 v) l(U1j2)
6. Schéma of the Formai Structure of the Fugue Op. 34
PAWEŁ SIECHOWICZ
5. Transfer of the Painted Line to Musie
The elear similarity between the musical and painted fugal subjects may mean that the mélodies and
painted contours in Ciurlionis's créative imagination shared the same origin. His ideas were linear but their
linearity was of an abstract kind. Each of them could have been used as either the subject of a painting or a
musical piece. Some ideas, however, found their artistic development in both media, while others were ex-
pressed through a single medium.
The dual expression of the subject, however, can lead us to interesting questions. What is similar about
the ways in which the subject is placed in the pictorial and musical context? Are there any similarities in the
role that is ascribed to it in both forms of expression? To answer thèse we should firstly look carefully at the
musical fugue.
Fugue Op. 34 contains a three-part form. The exposition is composed according to strict rules of counter-
point. The second developmental section is treated more freely and employs longer épisodes (E). The last part
is marked with characteristic stretto in the voices. Interestingly, the first part makes use only of the primai form
of the subject (T) along with two countersubjects (C,, C2) entering consequently. The last part is also based
on the primai form, although it is accompanied by a thematic diminution in stretto. The middle part, however,
begins with a melody, the contour of which resembles the inverted subject but with différent intervais. Then,
the first épisode (E^ follows and the part develops more freely by using fréquent réductions of voices, prime
and diminution forms of the subject, and two other épisodes. Its formai structure i s represented by the follow-
ing schéma (See Fig. 6).
S
A
T
В
Т/л1\
T/r3\ 77M
T(e)
Т/П\ F
1 (C )inw. 1 (D)dim.
1 ld km.
Tlf\ /
' ' E 1 E'
Т7Ге\ Г 1 F 1
Т(б)
Łi Ło Ło
Т7Ае\
'(Udim./
/ /
l(LS) Ц Ц
T/n \ V V Y
T(AS)d im.
Т/П\ T/Pip\
//
т/р\т/п T/n \
Щ) 1Ц K2 1Ц
l(U) l(US)
"(41 v) l(U1j2)
6. Schéma of the Formai Structure of the Fugue Op. 34