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Identifier

000439783

Title

Χρωματομουσικές θεωρίες στους κύκλους των συμβολιστών και θεοσοφιστών καλλιτεχνών και διανοουμένων την περίοδο 1880-1914 : ιδεολογικές προϋποθέσεις και πραγματώσεις

Alternative Title

Colour-music theories in the circles of symbolist and theosophical artists and intellectuals during the period 1880-1914 : ideological premises and practices

Author

Πετριτάκης, Σπύρος

Thesis advisor

Ματθιόπουλος Ευγένιος

Reviewer

Ιωάννου Παναγιώτης
Χαψούλας Αναστάσιος
Αδαμοπούλου Αρετή
Γυιόκα Λία
Κορνέζου Παναγιώτα
Σαραφιανός Άρης

Abstract

The present dissertation explores and evaluates the different aspects of appropriation and modification of colour-music theories by symbolist and theosophical writers and intellectuals during the late 19th and early 20th century, a process through which a diverse mosaic of aesthetic trends and artistic practices was formed and emerged. By the term ‘colour-music theories’ I refer to those theories which emerged from the mid-19th century and which attempted to ‘translate’, usually by means of specially constructed keyboard instruments, the fixed number of oscillations of a musical tone into its corresponding chromatic one. The questions I have raised concern the conditions of the formation and processing of colour-music theories by prominent mediators and popularizers of scientific ideas and the conditions of their diffusion and dispersion in theosophical and symbolic networks. My research focused on the processes of religious pluralism in the decades around 1900, through which theosophy emerged as the main regulator of this multifaceted mobility. In what way is the production of colour-music theories inscribed in the intersections of different worldviews and how is this process reflected in the reception of artistic works? Taking into account the full range of ideological positions and possibilities, I seek to explore whether this amalgam of esoteric ideas triggered and dictated specific iconographic choices and themes, both in the field of musical composition and in that of visual arts practice. Furthermore, I address the question of whether the subjects’ experience and contact with esoteric theories and practices fueled a more general rethinking of their relationship to their work, or subverted the traditional, aesthetic ideas that had hitherto defined and validated it. Methodologically, the thesis is structured by adopting interpretive tools from art history and sociology. The theoretical studies of Max Weber, Pierre Bourdieu, Edward Tiryakian and Peter Vergo have provided a compass of orientation. The first introductory chapter focuses on the historiographical, epistemological and methodological issues that frame the interpretation of the sources. The second chapter examines how Pythagorean music theory is appropriated, used, altered, displaced and transformed within different historical contexts. With regard to the postulation that visual arts should aspire towards a musical condition, the third chapter explores the claims of emancipation of painting from the subject matter. In chapter four I proceed to a mapping of artistic and theosophical networks, and focus on the transfer and use of colour-music theories by the protagonists of these networks. In chapter five I examine the phenomenon of ‘visual pythagoreanism’ and seek its ideological and broader philosophical presuppositions. Chapter six explores the work of Frederick Watts and Nicholas Gyzis with regard to the multifarious appropriations of sound-wave theories. Considering this matrix of cultural mobility of people and ideas, in chapter seven I delve into the issue of Scriabin's networking with symbolist artists or intellectuals and explore whether Prometheus, with his radical program of fusing religious, philosophical and scientific practices, fueled a creative reconfiguration of images and representations of society and the world. Finally, in chapter eight I discuss how the conflation of Neoplatonic, Wagnerian, messianic, and esoteric beliefs took shape in V. Ivanov’s notion of ‘Sobornost’, and explore the ways in which the Russian philosopher projected his worldview beliefs and aesthetic aspirations onto the paintings of Κ. Čiurlionis, as well as the musical work of Scriabin.

Language

Greek

Subject

(Neo)pythagoreanism

(Νεο)πυθαγορισμός

Alexander Scriabin

Anthroposophy

Arabesque

Colour-music

Convergence of music and painting

Esotericism

František Kupka

Frederick Watts

Helena Blavatsky

Jean Delville

Konstantinas Čiurlionis

Nikolaus Gysis

Occultism

Paul Sérusier

Pythagoras

Reginald Machell

Rudolf Steiner

Symbolism

Synaesthesia

Theosophy

Vibrations

Vyacheslav Ivanov

Wassily Kandinsky

Έλενα Μπλαβάτσκι

Αλεξάντερ Σκριάμπιν

Ανθρωποσοφία

Αποκρυφισμός

Αραμπέσκ (αραβούργημα)

Βασίλι Καντίνσκι

Βιατσεσλάφ Ιβάνοφ

Δονήσεις

Εσωτερισμός

Ζαν Ντελβίλ

Θεοσοφία

Κωνσταντίνας Τσουρλιόνις

Νικόλαος Γύζης

Πυθαγόρας

Πώλ Σερυζιέ

Ρετζινάλντ Μειτσελ

Ρούντολφ Στάινερ

Συμβολισμός

Συναισθησία

Σύγκλιση της μουσικής με τη ζωγραφική

Φραντίσεκ Κούπκα

Φρεντερίκ Ούωτς

Χρωματομουσική

Issue date

2021

Collection

School/Department--School of Philosophy--Department of History and Archaeology--Doctoral theses

Type of Work--Doctoral theses

Permanent Link

https://elocus.lib.uoc.gr//dlib/f/c/4/metadata-dlib-1620715166-309201-22582.tkl

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