Primitivism in Piano Music of the 20th and 21st Centuries: Interpreting the “Otherness” of the Pianistic Canon

Doctoral student: Vincenzo de Martino
Supervisors: Prof. Jurgis Karnavičius, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Lina Navickaitė-Martinelli
Department: Piano
Intended duration: 2017-2021

Abstract

Vincenzo de Martino

Over the 20th century, many different artistic tendencies arose in response to the people’s astonishment and dismay towards deep changes in the political and socio-economical balances, the scientific and technological progress and the ways of daily life. One of these, Primitivism, radically distanced the modernity of the age in favour of a return to a more authentic and people-oriented dimension, such as that of the ancestors, likewise represented by the manners of life of native populations from Asia, Africa and Oceania at that time.

Music composers were not exempt from being fascinated by such an undiscovered world of myths and legends, exotic landscapes, ancient rituals, as well as thousands-years lasting local music backgrounds, simple in contents but carrying a fierce power and dynamism. Piano music tradition, the most pervaded of Academicism due to the exploitation of the virtuoso figure of Romanticist influence, favourably embraced these suggestions: the piano disclosed its original percussive dimension, revealed further possibilities of timbre and articulation and became the testing ground for new compositional trends.

The author of the present artistic research project attempts to survey and classify these tendencies and give impulse to the performance of the related repertoire in Lithuania and abroad, aiming to identify and solve issues related to technical difficulties and musical expression of the said style. By providing a broad and detailed view on the phenomenon, the author also highlights the potential contrast with the academic musical canon, examining the reasons why such a repertoire has been left out of the study and concert programmes for a long time and why it fully deserves to be included instead.