Harmony and discord discussing by Ina Mar
An absolutely non emotional image this time – not sure how I got to create this…
The left figure: harmony (notes on the music tree: Bach’s Well Tempered Clavier, Book 1, Praeludium in C major
The right figure: discord (notes on the music tree: L’accordage du menteur, Nicolas Tzortzis, contemporary composer).
The collaged musical partitions are of non importance, but the one on the right contains the words “meno” and “armonioso” (less….. harmonical…..)
The eye of the figure on the right is a postage stamp celebrating 50 years since the invention of the rotary engine (1957-2007). I chose this stamp not only for the resemblance to an eye, but also because for me it visually refers to rationality, to constructivism in art and the Russian Avantgarde, to the second industrial revolution (or technological revolution) in Western Europe (end of the 19th-beginnings of the 20th century) – and in a very extended form to atonality in music and to the evolution of musical composition from the Second Viennese School (Alban Berg, Arnold Schoenberg, and Anton Webern) until today.
Harmony (left) and discord (right) are discussing and creating the music of the future, which is represented by an ongoing tree, symbolizing the evolution in artistic and musical creation. We learn from the past and accompanied by it we create the future. Like in arts we study the masters, copy them, then try to search for our own, less conventional, voice. Plutarch wrote “Music, to create harmony, must investigate discord”. But it is also true that music, to create discord, must investigate harmony.
I wouldn’t have written so much, especially because the background thinking of this image is a bit technical, but I got so many questions regarding the content that I felt guilty about not having written anything….
Tags
music, musician, harmony, discord, atonality, eye, contemporary music, musical partition, music composition, ina mar, etruscan, postage stamp, postage stamps
Comments
This works so well in every possible way! …and is informative!
Pure Ina with a touch of Etruscan…
Margot, thank you so much for your motivating words! Etruscan?! That is an interesting interpretation! I will add this in my tags !
– Ina Mar
nice work
great imagery!
The teacher and the pupil…….. the meaning of the potage stamp evades me unless, as its used for an eye, its a play on the word ‘pupil’?…….or maybe its just showing Nicolas Tzortzis as being alive………..oh its all too much this early
er…. hm… Was it too early in the morning? There is no teacher and pupil. There are composers who prefer composing with more harmonic sounds, and composers who prefer composing music that contains more discords. It is just a discussion between the two… I will add some more explanations in the description…. But that is true, discords are more often in contemporary music, so your “being alive” comment is not so far away from the truth… Interesting!
– Ina Mar
I read a bit about Bach’s well temp………blah blah……………………in c major and found that it was composed “for the profit and use of musical youth desirous of learning, and especially for the pastime of those already skilled in this study.” And as Nicolas Tzortzis is still studying, at least he seems to be as far as i can find out, then you can see where im coming from……..even though im wrong lol…. to tell the truth i wish i had’nt read The bloody Da Vinci Code.
Great stuff tho Ina
Three whole centuries separate the two composers. Tzortzis learns from Bach and creates the future. So you are not at all wrong about this “pupil” and “teacher” relationship. The musical tree in the middle, which symbolizes for me ongoing development and achievement upon achievement in artistic and musical creation, is being created by both of them. THANK YOU! Great comment. Really.
– Ina Mar
very nice touch, and a nice description too!
thank you Brennan :)
– Ina Mar