The article analyses Miloslav Kabeláč’s op. 50 (1965), the first of the series of his most mature works In some way, words play an essential role in all these works by introducing great humanistic and philosophical subjects. Words represent substance sui generis, and enter the composition as an autonomous form (contact with such substance matures the long thought compositional concepts, together with Kabeláč’s tectonically combinatory thinking). The analysis of op. 50 focuses in detail on the key relationship between music and words. It seems that the space, in which both components meet is in the form of a litany. In its juxtaposition with bi-polar format conception (based on two contrasting sound platforms – drama and reconciliation), and with regards to the title of the composition Eufemias Mysterion (The Mystery of Silence), it could be seen as a specific type of expression, a ritual and an initiation of space.
The study A Simple Song – The Art of Composition. Miloslav Kabeláč’s Six Lullabies (1956) focuses in particular on the solo vocal part of this composition which is based on folk poetry and scored for alto solo, small female choir and instrumental ensemble. The author begins by explaining the two principal reasons behind the composer’s choice of text – its meaning and its structure. The study offers detailed analysis of the musical form, the use of rhythmic structure and the melodic attributes of the vocal line. Step by step, the author reveals the cyclic plan of the six songs; the extension of the multi-directional composition into a unique space: the six autonomous lyric moments, the interior continuous ondulating, the arch-like span, and the open-ended cycle line of flight. The writer’s interest in French phenomenology is present here.
The study “A Lullaby in a Space – the Space in the Lullaby. Miloslav Kabeláč’s Six Lullabies (1956)” is a follow-up to an earlier one (published in the previous issue). The author focuses in particular on the accompaniment structure (flute, bass clarinet, strings and small female choir), which is completely extracted from material in the solo vocal line. There is a wide range of variation, from the use of only one tone to the expansion of melodic cells from the original vocal line. The composer creates different sound textures ranging from a rhythmic pedal on a single tone to different polyphonic combinations. Sound textures trace two principal planes: one of reciprocal stratification of the sounds layers which are more or less independent and the other, where all layers are in a harmony. They exist, not in isolation from each other, but grow organically from one another.