Sigma Alpha Iota

12 Winter 2023 • sai-national.org SAI Natial Cvention MUSIC AND ART Connections and Intersections Image 1. Viktor Hartmann, Image 1. Viktor Hartmann, Costume Sketch of Canary Chicks Costume Sketch of Canary Chicks for the Ballet for the Ballet Trilby, 1871 Trilby, 1871 (Wikimedia Commons) (Wikimedia Commons) By Kathi Bower Peterson e following is an adaptation of the educational workshop presented by Kathi Bower Peterson at this past summer's SAI National Convention in Greensboro, NC. M usic and art are forms of artistic expression that appeal to the closely-connected senses of sight and hearing. e 18th century philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau said: "Music portrays everything, even those objects that are purely visible. By means of almost inconceivable powers it seems to give the ear eyes" (Roberts: 7). Exploring the links between these two creative practices can not only enhance our appreciation of both, but can offer cognitive benefits that expand our capacity for imaginative thinking and introduce us to new paradigms for perceiving the world. Studies have shown that combining image and sound allows us to access multiple intelligences and modes of thinking, as well as sharpen our observational abilities and facilitate improved "memory, geometrical representation and reasoning, reading fluency, sequence recognition, phonological awareness, observation, creativity, … and problem solving" (Chapman: 28). is essay explores some composers that were influenced by visual art, as well as artists that gained inspiration from music. Because this subject is so incredibly broad, the focus has been limited to Western music that is intrinsically tied to art, and European and American art with a connection to music. e examples chosen all deal primarily with instrumental music and two-dimensional art (not sculpture), as they provide a great amount of material to work with. Although what is discussed here is only a highly selective fraction of possible examples, it is hoped that these highlights of different kinds of interactions between music and art will provide a glimpse of what is possible and assist in developing strategies to enrich personal consumption of these art forms or apply them in a classroom setting. A lthough there have always been musical works that have a connection to visual art, they became more common in the 19 th and 20th centuries; the pieces discussed here are from that time period. Composers have had a variety of responses to and relationships with art. For example, they have depicted the mood or events represented by the work, used a specific element of the work as a starting point, or imitated the visual style of the art in their music, just to name a few possibilities. A well-known piece of music inspired by art is Modest Mussorgsky's Pictures from/ at an Exhibition, a product of Mussorgsky's close friendship with the artist Viktor Hartmann, who died suddenly of an aneurysm. A memorial exhibition of Hartmann's work was the impetus behind Mussorgsky's piano suite of 1874 (also commonly known through Maurice Ravel's adaptation for orchestra), which consists of ten movements interspersed with "Promenades." Each movement depicts one of Hartmann's works, in which Mussorgsky "paints" the art musically. For instance, the movement titled "Ballet of the Unhatched Chicks," written to accompany Hartmann's Costume Sketch of Canary Chicks for the Ballet Trilby (Image 1), uses a buoyant tempo and musical figurations such as grace notes to capture the frenetic antics of a group of chicks. Other movements similarly seek to capture the subjects of Hartmann's works by stylistic means. e brief "Promenades" between the movements are aural depictions of a museum patron walking from artwork to artwork; they contain variations of the same theme, written in a walking cadence with variations in tempo. MUSIC INSPIRED BY ART MUSIC INSPIRED BY ART

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