THE EVOLUTION OF FLUTE PERFORMANCE IN THE MUSIC OF THE FIRST HALF OF THE 20TH CENTURY: FROM PASTORAL SEMANTICS TO EXPERIMENTAL TIMBRE

Abstract

The aim of this research is to identify stylistic, semantic, and technical transformations in the treatment of the flute as a solo and ensemble instrument in the musical culture of the first half of the 20th century. Special attention is paid to the analysis of the process of emancipation of the flute’s timbre, the expansion of its performative, articulatory, and expressive potential, as well as the rethinking of its semantics in the context of the aesthetic dominants of Impressionism, Neoclassicism, Constructivism, and Musical Expressionism. The methodological basis of the study is grounded in historical-cultural, typological, and stylistic approaches, which make it possible to consider the phenomenon of flute music in its dynamics and genre variability. The analysis of sources combines elements of structural-intonational and timbral-semantic analysis, based on the study of performance practice, organological aspects, and composer annotations. The scientific novelty of the study lies in the comprehensive reconstruction of the process of forming a new flute poetics in the compositional practice of the first half of the 20th century. For the first time, the aesthetic and acoustictechnical transformations of the flute from Debussy to Jolivet and Varèse are considered within a single context, encompassing not only musical-stylistic aspects but also the semantic rethinking of the flute’s image – from a symbol of pastoral lyricism to a subject of experimental sound language. Conclusions. The conducted research allows for the formulation of a number of generalizations regarding the transformation of the artistic status of the flute in the musical culture of the first half of the 20th century. A stable vector of the instrument’s evolution can be traced – from a traditional bearer of pastoral-diatonic imagery to an active participant in innovative artistic practices, encompassing complex forms of articulation, an expanded timbral palette, and experiments with the acoustic nature of sound. Thus, in the musical culture of the first half of the 20th century, the flute moves from the category of a genre-defining, accompanying instrument to the status of an autonomous expression of new musical thinking, characterized by a synthesis of the archaic and the avant-garde, the ritual and the constructive, the corporeal and the intellectual. This evolution reflects a broader process of transformation of the artistic consciousness of the era, in which the flute appears not only as an instrument but as a sonic projection of time.