“More Precisely than Precise”: About the Musicological Works of Mark Kopytman

Abstract

The article characterizes the methodology and the most important
positions of the theoretical works of the Russian composer
and musicologist Mark Kopytman (1929–2011). His teaching
activities were connected with the conservatories of Alma Ata,
Kishenev and, after 1972, with the Jerusalem Academy of Music
and Dance (rector, professor, head of the Theory and Composition
Department). The publications of his books are examined –
“Khoroboye pis’mo” [“Choral Writing”] (1971, tutorial manual),
“Mnogogolosny kanon” [“The Many-Voiced Canon”] (1960,
research book), “Simfonicheskaya muzyka” [“Symphonic
Music”] (1962, about the works of Kazakh composers), “O polifonii”
[“On Counterpoint”] (1961, from the series of popular
research literature), “Muzykal’no-teoreticheskiye trudy S. S. Bogatyryova”
[“The Music Theory Works of S. S. Bogatyryov”]
(1972, overview). Parallels are brought in between the musician’s
literary and the compositional style, reflecting the profound
characteristics of Mark Kopytman’s creative individuality. He
brings to the forefront the goals of learning the technologies
of compositions based on his methodology. In particular, this
touches upon the principle of the chain upon composing manyvoiced
canons and detailed programs of mastering any types of
choral textures that had undergone a typological categorization by
the musicologist. Concisely defining the optimal norms and rules
of writing, Kopytman does not dogmatize them, but considers the
parameters of style and the possibilities of deviation from them
for the sake of concrete artistic effects. Kopytman’s methodology
also contains criteria of a critical approach to the studied subjects,
for instance, to the symphonic works of the composers of
Kazakhstan. The author advocates for a reasonable balance of
harmony and counterpoint, arguing that a hypertrophied state
of any one of the aspects leads to superficial experimentation.
Kopytman favors methods that correspond to the inner laws of
the “art of intonated sense” (Boris Asafiev), which assume both
following tradition and directedness towards new artistic means.

Keywords: Mark Kopytman, musicology, counterpoint,
compositional technique