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The study analyses the orchestral piece Picassiáda (1958) by Ostrava-based composer Karel Kupka (1927–1985), focussing on the part Smrt Orfeova (in English: The Death of Orpheus). Kupka uses the method of editing assembly, causing a specific excited expression. An important moment of the piece is the inspiration by Pablo Picasso’s illustrations accompanying the edition of Ovid’s Metamorphoses. The analysis looks for elements of musical narrative, which create a unique narrative programme by means of references to the artistic and mythological component. Pieces inspired by ancient themes represent an important part of Kupka’s work. Picassiáda is his most famous piece. The editing assembly method is used throughout Picassiáda; it has a form-creating function within the layout of the piece’s various forms. The inspiration by Picasso’s illustrations is rather free, reflecting the world of ancient culture and mythology with a symbolic background in a modern way. The parallel of both artists’ musical and artistic expression demonstrates itself in Kupka’s work in the form of contrasting cuts of musical surfaces, and in Picasso’s work by the contrast of his monumental and lyrical paintings. Both Kupka’s and Picasso’s work captures the dramatic and ambiguous death of the mythical Orpheus. The narrative analysis of the piece is carried out with a modified methodology of narrative analysis according to Eero Tarasti, who perceives musical narrative as a specific succession of musical events and the creation of tension among binary musical elements. The organising narrative principle of music is isotopy. The articulation of the musical narrative of Picassiáda takes part at three levels of spatiality, temporality and actoriality. The music is modalised through the relationship of the musical structure to myth and artistic inspiration. The narrative analysis of Picassiáda points to a specific, meaningforming alternation of contrasting isotopies, following the narrative structure of the Orpheus myth. The method of editing assembly is the narrative element in music. Modalisation of music through a myth is a supporting method of its interpretation; it points to the deep meaning-related interconnection of the musical and mythological components of the analysed work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study deals with the relationship between myth and music of the 20th century. Myth is a structuring principle affecting music by remythologisation. The author analyses time models in mythological thinking in confrontation with new models of time in music. Myth and music contain a vertical and non-linear dimension with specific manifestation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Art of the 20th century is characterized by the rise of the mythical thought and transformation of the myth into an artistic creativity. In music we can encounter manifestations of conscious and unconscious neo-mythologism in various forms. The methodological foundations of our text are concepts by Claude Lévi-Strauss, Carl Gustav Jung, Gilles Deleuze or Victoria Adamenko. The text focuses on the basic identification of the repetition as a mythological sign and its manifestation in the music of the 20th century (Arnold Schoenberg, George Crumb, minimal music etc.). Constitutive principle of repetition in music is connected with categories such as musical space and time, contrast, difference, musical thought. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study deals with the analysis and interpretation of a work of music with a mythological theme. The relationship between myth and music is described on structural, semantic and symbolic levels. The interpretation is based on the basic principles of the theory of archetypes formulated by Carl Gustav Jung and their usage in musicology. The purpose is to present a theoretical outline of the main methodological principles and approaches to works of music thematically inspired by mythology and the process of archetypal symbolisation. The study includes a presentation of hermeneutic forms of the relationship between myth and music, the theory of archetypes and archetypes in music, music symbolisation options and finally, an identification of the main principles and methods of music analysis from the archetypal point of view. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]