Le langage et la musique - les points d'intersection esthétiques présentés dans l'oeuvre de Darius Milhaud.

Bc. Alice Karbanová

Master's thesis

Language and music - aestetic meeting points in Darius Milhaud's works.

Abstract:

The purpose of this work is to examine various scientific approaches to musical meaning. It compares the level of signification a music is capable of achieving, in contrast with language. The main focus of the work was to define musical semiology first encountered in the work of Jean-Jacques Nattiez and its prolongation in a study of Eero Tarasti. Thanks to precepts of these works, it was possible to conduct further semiotic research of Milhaud's composition Scaramouche. First part of the research focuses on comparison of linguistic and musical semiology by applying linguistic notions on musical functioning. The main focus was to search for characteristics of a musical sign. Second part of the work attempts to create parallels between functions of language and music. It points out various specific features of musical meaning in comparison to language, with main focus on bodily and temporal experience. It also proves the existence of prolific relations between language and music and finds a positive relationship between them. A large part of the study also focuses on research of perception that affects the character of musical meaning. Lastly, key units of signification have been found and defined in the core of the composition. Subsequently, it was proven that the meaning they transmit is not accidental but is essentially constrained by characteristics of these units. These are also determined by poietic phenomenons. Even though musical meaning may seem less objective that the linguistic meaning, this works attempts to demonstrate that it is possible to determine it.

Abstract:

Hlavním cílem této magisterské práce bylo nahlížet hudební smysl z různých věděckých pohledů. Základním kamenem bylo porovnání znaku jazykového a hudebního a definování základních požadavků hudební sémiologie, tak jak ji koncipoval Jean-Jacques Nattiez. Dále byly nastíněny zásadní styčné body, jakož i rozdíly mezi znakovým fugováním jazyka a hudby, přičemž hlavní důraz byl kladen na tělesné vnímání hudebního významu a další specifika percepce. Dosažené poznatky vedly v závěrečné části práce k sémiologické analýze první věty sonáty pro dva klavíry Scaramouche Daria Milhauda, která proběhla na třech úrovních – poietické, esthesické a neutrální.

Keywords

hudební sémiologie, existencialistická sémiologie, znak, význam, percepce, interpretace, hermeneutika, Darius Milhaud, Scaramouche

Language used: French

Date on which the thesis was submitted / produced: 7. 8. 2017

Thesis defence

• Date of defence: 6. 9. 2017
• Supervisor: prof. PhDr. Petr Kyloušek, CSc.
• Reader: doc. Christophe Gérard L. Cusimano

Masaryk University

Faculty of Arts

Master programme / field:
Philology / French Language and Literature