بررسی تکنیک‌های آهنگسازی ولفگانگ ریم در اُپرای دیونیزُس

Wolfgang Rihm premiered his latest opera (Dionysus) on 2010. In this fantasy, Rihm has innovatively combined Greek Myths with Nietzsche’s controversial life events and thoughts in a surprisingly delusional manner. The libretto is drawn from the text of Nietzsche's Dionysian-Dithyrambs – the philosopher's final confrontation with the ecstatic god of his own aesthetic theories. Rihm in Dionysus opera utilizes music and orchestral excitations, different types of symbols in stage design and manipulated libretto, in order to express his philosophical perception of Nietzsche’s thoughts. Authors of the present manuscript have previously assessed the libretto and symbols used in the Dionysus opera in a separate study entitled “An analysis of Dionysus opera by Wolfgang Rihm, storytelling and choice of symbols”. This paper studies mainly Rihm’s composing techniques and his attitude toward musical components specifically in the music of Dionysus opera. Rihm’s music is a combination of contemporary techniques incorporated with Mahler and Schoenberg’s agitated passions which were well appreciated by his contemporaries as a movement against Boulez and Stockhausen’s avant-gardism. In 1970, he was considered as a pioneer of the movement known as “new simplicity”. Composers who joined this movement, strove for an immediacy between the creative impulse and the musical result (in contrast to the elaborate pre-compositional planning characteristic of the avant-garde), with the intention also of communicating more readily with audiences. In some cases, this meant a return to the tonal language of the 19^th century as well as to traditional forms and instrumental combinations which had been avoided for the most part by the avant-garde. Among the composers most closely identified with this movement, only Wolfgang Rihm has established a significant reputation outside Germany. Rihm’s music shows a tendency towards late-romantic music and prominent composers including Wagner, Strauss, Mahler and Berg. His compositional thoughts have remained unchanged throughout his career. He describes each of his works as “free-standing part of a kind of work in progress”. Regardless of the medium utilized (large orchestra, small ensemble or solo instruments), Rihm astonishingly manipulates sound characteristics. Meanwhile, he develops a unique personal definition of musical elements and concepts including soundspace, soundsign and generative pole which are discussed in this manuscript. Since he has a specific method to progress a musical idea, Rihm’s music cannot easily be categorized using traditional formal perspectives; this does not imply that his works are completely formless. The sense of progression in his music is not regarded as “development”, because development in its traditional meaning sustains a thematic root which is normally applicable to a distinct part of a piece. This study mainly focuses on generative poles, which Rihm has embedded in music of Dionysus. To achieve this goal, authors partially benefited from an article by Richard McGregor, entitled “Interpreting compositional process in Wolfgang Rihm’s Chiffre cycle”. In addition, other important components of his music such as rhythm, meter, tempo, orchestration and instrumentation are briefly mentioned and finally his attractive glimpse at tonal music (a tonality that appears and fades away like a phantom) is discussed.