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28 6e.abstract

This article summarizes and analyzes early works by Cuban writer Alejo Carpentier, focusing on his first three novels from 1933 to 1953 and his study on Cuban music from 1946. A central theme in Carpentier's works is the study of the origins of literary and musical genres. In his 1953 novel Los pasos perdidos, Carpentier proposes a theory that music and poetry emerged together in early human societies as the most basic and refined artistic forms. The settings of his works correspond to regressing in time to find the essential concepts of music's origins. Carpentier argues natural sounds were aesthetically processed by early humans into artistic forms, contrary to the idea music stems from imitation. The article extends the

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34 views

28 6e.abstract

This article summarizes and analyzes early works by Cuban writer Alejo Carpentier, focusing on his first three novels from 1933 to 1953 and his study on Cuban music from 1946. A central theme in Carpentier's works is the study of the origins of literary and musical genres. In his 1953 novel Los pasos perdidos, Carpentier proposes a theory that music and poetry emerged together in early human societies as the most basic and refined artistic forms. The settings of his works correspond to regressing in time to find the essential concepts of music's origins. Carpentier argues natural sounds were aesthetically processed by early humans into artistic forms, contrary to the idea music stems from imitation. The article extends the

Uploaded by

Millie Jane
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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淡江人文社會學刊【第二十八期】

The Route of Alejo Carpentier:


Theory of the Origins of
Music and Esthetic Genres

Norbert Francis*

《Abstract》

This article reports on an investigation of the early works of the


Cuban writer and musicologist Alejo Carpentier. It begins with an
overview of his first three novels Ecue-yambo-o (Praised be the Lord,
1933), El reino de este mundo (The kingdom of this world, 1943), and
Los pasos perdidos (The lost steps, 1953). During this same period,
Carpentier completed his study of the history of music in Cuba, La
música en Cuba (1946). A central theme in the three novels is the study
the antecendents of esthetic genres in both literature and music,
culminating in a proposal by Carpentier in Los pasos perdidos of a
theory of the origin of music in early human societies and its links to the
parallel emergence of poetry, at the same time the most basic/primary
and most refined of the esthetic genres. Verbal art shares with music a
common origin. The settings of each work correspond to a regression in
time and progressive search for essential concepts and categories,
respectively: (1) the Afrocuban communities of the 19th Century, (2)
The Haitian revolution, and (3) a journey to the isolated indigenous
villages of the Amazon region of Venezuela and Colombia (during the
1950's) resulting in the discovery of the same conditions that had given
birth to music in prehistoric times. Carpentier argues against the theory
that the capacity for musical creation can be traced primarily to
imitative impulses; that natural environmental sounds were processed
esthetically by early humans and transformed into artistic forms. The
article extends the discussion of this theme to an overview of modern
theories of musical cognition.

Key Words: musical creation, origin of esthetic genres, narrative

*Norbert Francis, Associate professor, College of Education, Northern Arizona University

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