Bohater operowy między sacrum a profanum. Wątki religijne o charakterze epifanicznym w operach: Robert Diabeł Giacoma Meyerbeera, Faust Charlesa Gounoda, Doktor Faust Ferruccia Busoniego
An operatic character between the sacred and the profane. Religious motives of an epiphanic type in Robert the Devil by Giacomo Meyerbeer, Faust by Charles Gounod and Doctor Faust by Feruccio Busoni

Author(s): Małgorzata Pawłowska
Subject(s): Music
Published by: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Śląskiego
Summary/Abstract: The play belonging to the sphere of the sacred and the profane is possible in the oper-atic work. Most visibly, it concerns the works, the subject-matter of which is based on a dual-ity of divine and devil elements, often with an exposed role of the latter. Usually, it is thesphere of the profane, with a devil protagonist that dominates, whereas those attributed tothe sacred appear as a distinguished value, in special moments.A sudden stoppage of a multi-aspectual dramatic-music action takes place amonga whole theatrical noise and what appears is the fragment moving into the transcendentalsphere, somehow connected with the phenomenon of the sacred. This moment of breakingaway from the here and now could be referred to as “an epiphanic moment”, to quoteMieczysław Tomaszewski. The moments of that type are presented on the basis of the situa-tion of seduction by devil in Robert the Devil by Giacomo Meyerbeer (1829), Faust by CharlesGounod (1857) and Doctor Faust by Ferruccio Busoni (1925). If at all we can speak of thepossibility of constituting an epiphanic moment in the opera, it is tightly connected witha dramatic action. In the case of seduction, the protagonist is suspended between the sacredand the profane; between these two worlds, and has to make a choice. A clear reference tothe idiom of church music when the character refers to God is visible in each scene underinvestigation and in each opera in question. There is a strong contrast of the qualities be-longing to the sacred and the profane respectively, the contrast which, according toWładysław Stróżewski, can serve the purpose of triggering the phenomenon of the sacred.

• Details
• Contents