The creative process
It was written
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| Several musical scores of the artists during the rehearsals of the Philharmonic State of 'Transylvania' |
The trade of being a composer
We have been wondering what the trade of being a composer presumes.Are there nowadays the same concerns and brilliant results as in the eighteenth century?
In our opinion being a composer is an activity and a concern of a man who works hard to manufacture a product that nobody wants to consume.A product that can be called ‘spiritual food’ for those who want to consume it.Meanwhile, we have contradicted ourselves, saying that composing is not a trade in itself.Most of the time it is a madness, a mild one, in which the composer is concerned, absent-minded or sad , when finding out the misunderstanding of the contemporaries for his creation.
It often happens that masterpieces of any kind enjoy recognition only after the death of the artist, but it is not a rule.
Nowadays, the composer is not the way he was in the past: clavecinist, organist, violinist, who after learning the rules of composition, wrote to enrich his repertoire.In the age of the great composers, the audience was always asking for new opera.This explains the wealth of Haydn, Telemann and Handel’s production.
Many of us,do mathematics lessons with the radio or Mp3 player on. We are in the habit of considering music a "background" which we no longer give any attention, no more than we would be interested in the plastering on the wall. That makes us believe that if music has to die, it will sure die from excessive routine.
How does the compositional work take birth?
Firstly,the sonorous construction must take life in the mind of the composer, then it has to be rewritten entirely on paper. Let’s make a comparison with reading : when reading a book, you are not bound to pronounce words aloud, because you resonate them in your mind. We can figure out that the spiritual and thinking have to create music and not the accidental crossing of fingers on keyboards or other instruments.People were always astounded by how it is possible for a composer to be deaf.Perhaps the admiration for his work was due to his infirmity. The fact that a composer can not hear any work, undoubtedly created him great technique difficulties.Beethoven gradually forgott the manifestation of pure sound of certain devices.The compositions Missa Solemnis or Symphony IX confirm this fact.
However, the deafness had no influence on his essence of thinking.We believe that this deafness helped him focus on his genius, isolating him from all tritenesses of the time he lived.In the case of people who were born deaf,writing music is impossible.
The creative process, compared to other arts
Let’s now talk about the creative process, compared to other arts.This remains the same, whether it comes to music, painting or poetry. The writer uses the usual words, the painter and the sculptor reproduce, deforming a reality they can handle. The genius of a sculptor consists of what form he gives to a body, which he knows anatomically.Yet, the musician has first to make up a model and then to reproduce it.He is forced to invent everything, working on an unknown land ,but being helped by the knowledge gained before.
Words were born from the people’s wish to comunicate in a more precise manner.Slowly but surely languages were shaped.The more civilized the people, the more complex the language is.At a certain stage, people found ways to put down their words.In order to do this,we use the latin alphabet.As far as music is concerned, people picked sounds from nature and tried to render them with the help of their voice and musical instruments.But in order to preserve their musical ideas they needed a sort of musical alphabet.This is how musical notes were born.
We conclude our study on composition and creative process with a quote which we thought was suggestive:
"THE TRUE ARTIST ALWAYS REMAINS PARTIALLY UNCONSCIOUS OF HIMSELF WHEN HE CREATES."
André Gide
