Polifonijos atgarsiai: Jono Kossu-Aleksnadravičiaus fuga in as-moll

Abstract

The article examines what types of polyphonic elements may be found in the poem "Fuga in As Moll" by J.Aistis and how much the structure of the poem fits in with the general model of a fugue. After a short discussion of the concept of polyphony in literary work in general, the poem is analyzed in detail, using the historical-comparative and functional methods of analysis and terms of musicology. The obtained conclusions are as follows: 1. The use of polyphony in literature is a complicated issue, and it has not been sufficiently re searched to date; research on the subject is particularly lacking in Lithuanian literary studies. 2. In analyzing the forms of literary work, it is possible to employ the method of functional analysis which allows one to rely not solely on composition principles, but also to search for analogies of specific forms of music. The use of certain terms of musicology facilitates the process of theme identification and reveals its dynamics in a more subtle fashion. 3. In examining the poem "Fuga in As Moll" by J.Aistis, the following manifestations of a fugue were discovered: some three-part contours of reprise forms, elements of "cantus firmus", thematic elaborations characteristic of polyphony, namely, augmentation, diminution, inversion, displacement of counterpoint themes and moods, stretto formation at the start of a reprise, and a typical ending for fugues in major. All this leads one to deduce that the polyphony of J.Aistis is closer to traditional polyphony than to the poetics of the avant-garde. 4. The interaction of music and literature is a particularly vast and interesting sphere of comparative studies, which permits to search for parallels not only on the level of the development art ideas in art, but also of their specific expression.