The Conflict of the Worlds in the opera "Palestrina" by Hans Pfitzner

Main Article Content

Anastasiya G. Pyzhianova

Abstract

The article is devoted to the opera “Palestrina” by the German composer of the turn of the XIX–XX centuries Hans Pfitzner (1869–1949). The stated problem primarily comes from the features of the chosen one, which seems to be very interesting from various points of view of the composition. The very theme of the opera “Palestrina” refers to the legend of the creation by the great polyphonist of the XVI century of the Missa “Papae Marcelli” – a spiritual work for male a cappella choir. The second important aspect is the figure of the author of the opera, an adherent and follower of the ideas of Richard Wagner and romantic art in general. Pfitzner, whose musical and literary work seems to be a kind of symbol of the struggle against the new trends of the twentieth century, in the legend of Palestrina found a distinct opposition between two worlds: a genius, heir to the ideas of the past and modern society. In the opera Palestrina, three levels of interaction between the “old” and the “new” are traced, represented mainly by harmonic means, the analysis of which became the main purpose of the article.


Keywords: German music, late Romanticism, Hans Pfitzner, the XX century opera, harmony and style.

Article Details

How to Cite
Pyzhianova А. Г. (2023). The Conflict of the Worlds in the opera "Palestrina" by Hans Pfitzner. Music Scholarship / Problemy Muzykal’noj Nauki, 53(4), 49–57. Retrieved from https://musicscholar.ru/index.php/PMN/article/view/1478
Section
Music of the XX–XXI Centuries
Author Biography

Anastasiya G. Pyzhianova, Urals M.P. Mussorgsky State Conservatory, Yekaterinburg, Russia

Postgraduate student at the Theory of Music Department