“FANTASIA E FUGA SULLE PEDALE PER ORGANO” BY DAN VOICULESCU: A SYNTHESIS OF BAROQUE AND MODERN ELEMENTS

Abstract

Entered into Dan Voiculescu’s chronological catalogue among the last finalized titles (July, 2009), Fantasia e Fuga sulle pedale per organo requires a simultaneous analytical reading, both from the perspective of the Baroque and modernity. The first piece of the diptych represents an echo that Dan Voiculescu seems to produce centuries later of the Prelude and Fugue in G Minor, for Organ, BWV 542, by Bach. The writing technique of this first section of the diptych evokes, through its aspect of noted improvisation, pieces of 17^th-18^th century organ literature, assimilated to the category stylus fantasticus. Fuga sulle pedale leads the analyst to discover a hybrid between the canon of two voices and the pedal fugue, which allows us to pinpoint certain connections with the language of Paul Hindemith’s fugues from Ludus Tonalis, or with the airy writing style of the German composer’s Three Organ Sonatas. The stylistic bivalence of the entire piece is also reflected in the type of grammars used in modelling this novel opus; while the author applies a traditional grammar for the form shaping, by designing the discourse according to an early Baroque formula, he resorts to a generative grammar, typical for 20^th century music, for the elaboration of the content. The two levels of the text – the Baroque and the modern - overlap in a harmonious fusion and prove that the author rarely departs from an adherence to strict contrapuntal principles.