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THE BUZZ
Stephen Interviews
Artist Christopher Saliba
Q. 1: : Christopher, you hold degrees in Art
from the University of Malta and from the Accademia di Belle Arti Pietro Vannucci in Perugia, Italy, where you studied for four years. Can
you say that learning/teaching of Art at tertiary level in Malta is a pari passu with that
in continente?
From what I learnt abroad, informal learning is as much important as the grasp of
academic knowledge and skills. Of course,
to give visibility to ones own intrinsic convictions and create ones own modus operandi takes years and a lot of practice. Im
of the opinion that art courses offered at
University have improved and become
more stimulating throughout recent years,
though they still remain prevalently academic and relatively less student-centred.
Apart from that, prospective artists are
nowadays able to access easily written and
visual contents related to the arts on the
internet and familiarise better with the
contemporary artistic scenario. This is a
huge asset which I could not avail of almost
twenty years ago when I committed myself
to my art studies abroad. Nevertheless, a
huge drawback for Maltese students is the
limited exposure to exhibitions held regularly on mainland Europe which are a must
to better appreciate the quality of different
forms of art.
Stephen Attard
In my case there is no such favourite medium. I consider myself first and foremost a producer of images.
In my opinion, the thought or idea behind a work of
art is more important than the medium or technique
used eventually every creative process requires the
choice of the most appropriate medium to manifest
and give visibility to such thought or idea. Developing ones own artistic language requires ones own
establishment of a set of rules. These in turn provide
the denominator common to all creative output, no
matter which medium is employed.
Q . 4 : In your biography, one finds that being a native of a very small island explains
(your) interest in expressing symbolically the spatial and physical limitations of people
living in confined spaces. This reminds me of the provincialism thematic in Frans Sammuts literary masterpiece Il-Gaa and a Sicilian counterpart by the name of I Malavoglia (G.Verga). On the other hand, your ouvre has a distinct sprightness of colours, not
the least in the portraying of Gozitan landscapes. Thus, can one speak of you as a promoter of a Gozo dialectic of contrasts?
Apart from my knowledge about the different genres of art, what probably convinced
the interviewers at the Italian Cultural Institute that I deserved my place at the Academy of Fine Arts was the passion with which
I described and discussed the diverse works
I presented.
Q . 3 : Christopher, you are a very eclectic
artist. Apart from painting and drawing, you
express your artistic powers also in etching,
sculpture, printmaking, photography, installations and video. What is your favourite medium?
Q . 5 : Your cv pictures you prominently with, among others, Maltese pansophist intellectual Profs. Joe Friggieri. What is your impression of one of Maltas most representative egg
-heads?
INSIDE
Operi Dei Nihil
Praeponatur
Play On
Young Artists
Page
Franz Shubert
Opera in the
20th Century
Stephen
Interviews...
Profs. Joe Friggieri is a prominent intellectual and influential figure at national level.
His artistic versatility has no limits; he excels as a poet, playwright and theatre director apart from being renowned for his philosophical works and publications. His
words are meticulously chosen and his arguments tend to be elaborate. Moreover
he has a knack for delivering complex and profound thoughts in an accessible and
fascinating way.
Q . 6 : Christopher, I know you have travelled extensively. But as far as home, sweet
home is concerned, where is the favourite spot you have pictured in our tiny but endearing insula gaudisiensis?
Gozo boasts of several beauty spots but my favourite is the Citadel in Victoria. I
regularly walk up to the bastions where one can enjoy a 360 degree view of the
islands skyline. Apart from its historical background, this site is strategically positioned to better appreciate what living on such an island is all about.
ISSUE 17
MAY 2016
page 2
page 7
Music in Gozo - 6
Rev. George Frendo
Colin Attard
When discussing the turn of the century, one has to reiterate the very important role that the two Victoria bands played during this epoch. Several Maltese musical personalities became associated with them as musical directors, apart from being
induced to compose substantial amounts of band music. These included the likes of Vincenzo Carabott (1844-1914), Emmanuele Vassallo (1853-1921) and Anton Miruzzi (1867-1941) the latter active in Gozo mostly in the late 19th century. Arguably,
amongst the lot, the most significant is however Emanuele Bartoli (1852-1932), an influential composer with an extensive
oeuvre which also includes lots of sacred works. Having moved to Gozo, where he also became associated with the La Stella Band, he stands out amongst his peers for his rather advanced German-influenced music, characterised by bold and highly chromatic harmony as well as intricate and thick orchestral textures, rather than driving melodic lines. It is a pity that only
very few of his compositions are still performed today, and, if so, only occasionally.
The engagement of Italian bandmasters was also rather
typical at this time. Maybe one of the biggest names to
grace our shores was Italian Giovanni Giumarra (18611936), bandmaster of the Leone Band and a very prolific
composer of band music. Several of his compositions
which are not just marches are still very regularly
played from time to time, the most popular of which is
arguably the funeral march Dolore. An Italo-Maltese
composer-conductor and Giumarras immediate predecessor at the Leone Band is Orlando Crescimanno (1861
-1923). Crescimanno did not just compose band music,
and a sacred work of his which is still played today is the
military-style antiphon composed in 1894 much later
adapted as a Beatam me dicent for the feast at Kercem.
Yet his two most popular works still regularly performed
today are both composed for band, namely the inno
funebre La Croce and his masterpiece, the cantata A
Maria Assunta which, composed for Victorias feast of
St Mary in 1913, is the oldest grand hymn still performed at the start of festa processions in Gozo.
Giovanni Giumarra
(18611936)
Carlo Diacono
(18761942)
Orlando Crescimanno
(18611923)
page 6
page 3
Play On
Maria Frendo
Joseph Debrincat
In the last years of the nineteenth century and early twentieth century, opera
was dominated mainly by two composers namely Giacomo Puccini (18581924) and Richard Strauss (1864-1949).
Arguably, Puccini was one of the first
composers to introduce symphonic elements in Italian opera. His rich and
beautiful melodies and his innovative
and colourful orchestration made him
one of the last opera composers whose
operas are performed regularly all over
the world.
atonal style whereas the latter was constructed out of the twelve-note technique.
The German composer Paul Hindemith
(1895-1963) was regarded by many as
one of the most important composers
of his generation. His operatic output
includes Cardillac (1926) and Mathis der
Maler (1938).
The Czech Leo Janek (1854-1928)
whose often performed operas include
Jenufa (1904), developed and applied
the concept of speech tunes. Together
with his contemporary Puccini, they
continued to develop their own distinctive forms of verismo. Other composers,
most notably Francis Poulenc (18991963) in Les Mamelles de Tiresias (1947)
and Dmitri Shostakovich (1906-1975) in
The Nose (1930), experimented with
surrealism and poetic nonsense. Igor
Stavinskys (1882-1971) only opera, The
Rakes Progress (1951) is an important
work of neoclassicism, returning for its
inspiration to Gluck, Mozart and other
Classical composers.
In America, George Gershwin (18981937) incorporated jazz idioms in his
works. Besides composing film scores,
he also composed operas. His opera
Porgy and Bess (1935) is considered by
many as the first great American opera.
Though not by temperament an opera
composer, English composer Ralph
Vaughan Williams (1872-1958) turned
to the form six times with his last opera,
Thomas the Rymer left uncomplete. Although rarely staged, these operas fared
well on disc.
Arguably, the most successful composers of this period in England were Benjamin Britten (1913-1976) with operas
such as Peter Grimes (1935), Billy Budd
(1951), and The Turn of the Screw
(1954) and Sir Michael Tippet (19051998) with The Midsummer Marriage
(1955) being one of his most successful
operas.
One has to admit that the twentieth
century, especially the second half,
has seen a sad decline in popularity
of new opera. Those which have
found the widest and most enthusiastic audiences, do not concern themselves primarily with a new idiom
style, or music-dramatic approach.
The German composer Hans Werner
Henze (1926-2012) composed a number of successful operas such as
Boulevard Solitude (1952), Elegie fur
junge Liebende (1961), Die englische
katze (1961), and LUpupa und der
Triumph der Sohnesliebe (2003).
One of the most successful and influential composers
in America after
Gershwin is definitely Philip Glass
(1937- ). His operatic output includes Satyagraha
(1980), Akhnaten
(1984), The Voyage (1992), La
Belle et la Bete (1994), and Waiting
for the Barbarians (2005). The ItaloAmerican composer Giancarlo Menotti (1911-2007) composed operas
such as The Medium (1946), The Consul (1950), and Amahl and the Night
Visitors (1951).
The reasons for this shortage of new
popular operas may be numerous. I
believe that twentieth century composers may have moved too far away
from the expectations of the audience. There are of course exceptions.
There are composers that delved
into the past, making use of those
prime ingredients which were still
serviceable including lyricism and
emotion and blended them gracefully with such contemporary techniques and idioms that ultimately
served their dramatic purposes.
page 4
page 5
Competition
Can you name these
famous artists?
1.
2.
~~~~~
One lucky winner, drawn by
lot, will be awarded a CD!
~~~~~
Marija Refalo, a music theory grade 5 student, is the
winner of last issues competition.
3.
4.
Gozo Visual & Performing Arts School
Soil Street,
Xewkija, XWK 9034
t: 00356 21554162 l 27830774
e: gozo.music.sch@gov.mt
gozo.art.sch@gov.mt
joy.frendo@ilearn.edu.mt
This new adventure offered some challenges for Franz. Apart from missing his
family, Franz also missed mummys good
food and the family fire place. It was
freezing cold in school for there was no
heating, the school food was horrible and
the portions very small. However, Franz
enjoyed learning music and he used to
spend the majority of his free time doing
what he loved best: composing music.