ABOUT SENSE AND ABSURDITY OF PRODUCING CLASSICAL MUSIC FOR TV UNDER WAR CIRCUMSTANCES

(incidental notes and sketches)

Seadeta Midzic

HRT, Zagreb

The musical programme on television is not a mere reflection of musical events; it primarily consists of their reinterpretation, which indirectly means their evaluation, interpretation and inclusion into the overall sphere of Croatian culture. Broadcasts of concerts and musical events represent only one segment which naturally seeks its complement. This complement is realised through intensifying the documentary nature of the media as an apparently autonomous documentary segment (e.g. portraits, documents having an exploratory, critical and essayistic approach to musical works or to musical history, and consequently, to our own tradition). The war has corroborated and underlined the very extremes of the medium: craving for the spectacular and its a priori documentary nature. In this way the phenomenon of war and music are intertwined both in real life and on the TV screen, and the image of distress is underlined and emphasised by the spirit of music. Yet, even then the TV programme was not a mere consequence or just a reflection of war suffering or of its own technological and financial limitations. Owing to the mobilisation of all creative forces, the programme was at the same time an expression of resistance and, indirectly, a reflection of the level of cultural development of the Croatian people who were defending not only their freedom, but also their spiritual survival. After all, the whole history of Croatian art, including its music, is the direct consequence of the struggle for the nation's survival; consequently, it is a confirmation and guarantee of the future. The presence of classical music and musicians in the programme "Za slobodu" (For Freedom)", although dispersed during the whole day (initially almost 30 hours a month) has shown not only the need for the background effect of music, but also reflected the level of civilisation.

Even as an intermission, music is a symbolic return to the primeval power of beauty and order which provide the basis of our existence in every sphere of civilisation and the focal points in overcoming chaos and savagery. Every day we were in a position to test and examine the meaning of art and music in the life of a community, and of a culture, including television. We have not, to be sure, discovered any new meaning of music; we have, though, constantly reaffirmed what is usually considered being known, acknowledged and solved in other fields, in the sphere of philosophical thought or in the fine pyramidal structure of culture. The meaning of music, its function and its place in society and life, and especially on television has been examined with surprising comprehension: the significance of what music on television is, could or should be. Of course, the dramatic question of the artistic expression is also brought up. This is decisive for the role of music (not only in the TV programme) and it determines the meaning of its life as well as our own. In addition, we should not forget the importance of the benefit concert broadcasts. Indeed, they had been the point where solidarity took shape and represented the living chain linking the country divided by war. An enormous emotional energy, bursting out from time to time in passionate gestures, was built into this fragile unity of communication, but its signal maintained the fundamental meaning of a moral act. At that time we were watching the war spreading as a spectacle of horror in the television news, but gradually the time of war and the time of peace ceased to exist separately, as did the peaceful and war affected areas. Various epochs and areas were intermingled as were various forms of human life, music and theatre.

It cannot be said that new forms of television expression were created. But a unique amalgamation of an artistic document was certainly created, in which the presentiment of evil, realised literally, was documented in the image of horror. All of this happened in the sphere of music and art. In the two war years, Croatian opera production was almost symbolically defined by the contemporary works of Croatian composers who were presented at the festival of contemporary music and the Zagreb Music Biennial in 1991 and 1993. Ka{telan's and Radica's mystery play, the Prazor (Primeval Perception) turns to the primeval image and fear driven by the presentiment of evil. In the Apokaliptika, Arrabal and Kelemen recognize evil as a frightful characteristic inherent in the nature of man. The evil that became our fate and the incredible reality. The images of reality and perception which are complementing each other, but can hardly be distinguished one from another in their grotesque monstrosity suggest that the anticipation of evil is always true, and that good and hope can only occasionally help us overcome it.

The life of the Croatian opera scene in the demolished theatre in Osijek, and the theatres in Rijeka, Zagreb and Split is an expression of hope and a cry for help, or, primarily, of self-help. As a document, the television programme also raises and intensifies the question which expects to find an answer in the spirit rather than in the fate of soil.

The importance of such an answer was pointed out in the documentary on the creation of a play having the dimensions and contents of an opera, "Osman". The play was based on the baroque epic by the Dubrovnik poet Ivan Gunduli}, which incorporates not only the historical and philosophical experience of the 17th century, but also the whole theatre ensemble and the unifying significance of the Croatian National Theatre, the relevance of artists who in their work describe and express the tragic but at the same time fruitful encounter of two civilisations and cultures: the East and the West, Islam and Catholicism. The luxuriously painted stage set was designed by an artist who survived the devastating siege and destruction of Sarajevo, witnessed the attack on Dubrovnik and lost his two homes, but not his homeland. This testimony was part of the effort to overcome the war situation and enlighten it by human and artistic experience.

Yet none of these works, none of these testimonies carry with them the implication of cause-oriented art; they only speak of cause-oriented living, and if and to what extent self-defence through art is possible. It is the defence of spirit, because the spirit is our home and our future. The seed of such logic is sown in the television programme as well. The forms that grow from this seed are not characterised by their novelty or distinction but by their multi-layered nature. But, it can be grasped only by a perceptive audience. Similar analysis is required to understand a work by the Croatian composer Marko Ru`djak Libanon moj i tvoj (Lebanon, Mine and Yours) composed to the lyrics of Khalil Gibran, in 1983, recorded for the Anthology of 20th Century Croatian Chamber Music. It was visually reinterpreted as an echo of the unprecedented suffering of Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina.

P.S.

The broadcast of avant garde atrocities requires an academic discipline, a moral composure which compensates for the historic distance and respect for the structure of the works and documents it uses.