The germinative potential of musical allusions and quotations. Case studies from the work of Romanian composers

Abstract

Since the earliest times, pre-existing music has been a germinative layer that generated new musical entities. As the composer Dan Dediu inspiringly states, “music begets music”. In the particular case of using musical allusions or quotations, the set of their associated connotations has the potential to create a space of interference that can amplify the semantic reverberations of the new work. Sometimes, musical imprints from other spaces or times are placed in the showcase, in plain view. Other times, they are deliberately hidden, transformed into subterranean energies, like unseen rhizomes nourishing the musical organism from within. The case studies selected from the work of Romanian composers represent some hypostases of this fascinating and fertile dialog between past and present. The case studies selected from the works of Romanian composers (Narrative II by Anatol Vieru, music for the film Osânda [The Punishment] by Tiberiu Olah and the Triple Concert “Brahmsodia” by Dan Dediu) represent some of the hypostases of this fascinating and fertile dialog between past and present. From the point of view of the relationship with pre-existing music, the three chosen works propose different solutions: Vieru uses a very well known music, but with subtle extra-musical connotations, leading to the idea of a discreet dissidence, Olah integrates a popular carol, but, given the political-ideological context, he permanently camouflages it, through modern  compositional means, and Dediu constructs his own music starting from fragments of Brahms' music, thus highlighting the organicity of the German composer's creation.