THE ʻMALAPARTISM ̓ – A MUSICALIZED «PLEURESEMENT»: CURZIO MALAPARTE, ALBERTO MORAVIA, ADALBERTO LIBERA AND THE ARCHITECTURAL STRUCTURES OF THE ʻBEINGNESSʼ

Authors

  • Maria-Roxana BISCHIN Bischin Faculty of Philosophy University of Bucharest, Romania mariaartspy16@yahoo.com

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.24193/subbmusica.2022.2.12

Keywords:

ʻMalapartism ̓, Georges Delerue, “Camille”, Curzio Malaparte, Alberto Moravia, Mohamed Hadid, sun’s phenomenology, light, architectural structures, musical structures, Adalberto Libera, Casa Malaparte, Belle Abri, Bel-Air, Hadid’s architectural structures, Villa Cèdres, Villa Astor, Palazzo di Amore, Villa D. Ionescu.

Abstract

Starting with Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s vision, who acclaimed that ‘Music is liquid architecture; architecture is frozen music’[1], this is an investigation that touches subthemes as a psychological analysis of the characters from the film « Le Mépris » (by Jean-Luc Godard, 1963), made after the eponym novel «Il disprezzo» by Alberto Moravia[2] (1954); an analysis into the music of the film composed by Georges Delerue (1925-1992) – « Thème de Camille », an investigation in George Delerue’s music and other iconic songs from the decade’s atmosphere; a short philosophical introduction into the universe of the architect Curzio Malaparte (1898-1957) and ʻCasa Malaparteʼ from Capri Island. Said so, ʻCasa Malaparteʼ is bought into analysis through the aesthetical-architectural filter of some nowadays epic mansions/residences from Laval, Montréal, Las Vegas, Atlanta, Los Angeles, Bucharest-Kiseleff-Aviatorilor area, which are included in the architectural research-portfolio. More than this, we try to check how architectural structures sculpture the musicalized Being’s essences using examples such as Belle Abri, Villa Cèdres, Villa Astor, Palazzo di Amore, Villa Leopolda, Villa D. Ionescu, Bel-Air, and other magnifiques villas that seem aesthetically very close to Casa Malaparte. In addition, this paper answers the following fundamental questions: Why, sometimes, the music saves/repairs the architectural existentialism? And why is it so important for architecture to create and re-create permanent music? The paper opens and enriches a collaborative research niche between architecture,  music, analysis-methods from philosophy field, and the applied philosophies ʻbehindʼ the real estate portfolios; This paper is an exploration of the beautiful universe of some representative mansions, outlining the ineluctable liaison between sonorous structures and architectural structures, highlighting that the vision of Wolfgang Goethe is still alive in the buildings that surround our cities. This paper is a research realised between 2021 and 2022, and it combines observations from philosophy, architecture, literature, music, and real estate’s domain.

 

[1]   We have not found the work in which Johann Wolfgang von Goethe affirmed the quote,
but we have consulted this digital source: https://www.elemental-architects.com/post/
architecture-is-frozen-music
, that was accessed on 10 August 2022.

[2]   Alberto Moravia, (1) Il Disprezzo (Il fantasma di mezzogiorno), Milan: Bompiani, 1954; (2) Le Mépris, translated into French by Claude Poncet, Paris: Flammarion, 1955, and 1993;
(3) Contempt, translated into English by Angus Davidson, New York: NYRB Classics, 2004.

Author Biography

Maria-Roxana BISCHIN, Bischin Faculty of Philosophy University of Bucharest, Romania mariaartspy16@yahoo.com

References

Bischin, Maria-Roxana, “‘Hebrew Melody in A Minor, Op. 33’ by Joseph Achron. The dehiscence of temporalities between “{in}-flesh-ization” and “holding[s]-still” phenomenon in musicalized mournfulness”, in STUDIA UBB MUSICA, LXVI, 1, 2021 (p. 285 – 302). DOI: https://doi.org/10.24193/subbmusica.2021.1.18.

Bischin, Maria-Roxana, “Phenomenology and the ‘levitation-floating’ feeling in music’s nostalgia. An endless {‘into’}-falling”, in Studia Philosophia, vol. 66, no. 2 (Jul. 2021), “Babeş-Bolyai” University, Faculty of History and Philosophy, UBB Cluj-Napoca: pp. 41–53. DOI:http://www.studia.ubbcluj.ro/download/pdf/1376.pdf, and https://www.doi.org/10.24193/subbphil.2021.2.02 .

Burke, Edmund, (1) A Philosophical Enquiry into the Origin of Our Ideas of the Sublime and Beautiful with an Introductory Discourse Concerning Taste, edited for popular use by prof. Abraham Mills, New York: Harper & Brothers, 82, Cliff Street, 1844; (2) A Philosophical Enquiry into the Origin of Our Ideas of the Sublime and Beautiful, London: Printed for R. and J. Dodsley, in Pall-mall, M DCC LVII, 1757.

Dessoir, Max, Zeitschrift für Ästhetik und allgemeine Kunstwissen [Magazine for Aesthetics and general knowledge of art], Zweiter Band, Stuttgart, Verlag von Ferdinand Enke, 1907. Digital archive: https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_lwXbHWSPm9cC/page/n5/mode/2up, accessed on 8 July 2022.

Heidegger, Martin, Being and Time. A Translation of ʻSein und Zeitʼ, translated by Joan Stambaugh, New York: State University of New York Press, 1996.

Heidegger, Martin, Der Ursprung des Kunstwerkes [The Origin of the Work of Art.], Leipzig: Reclam Verlag, 1950 [1967].

Heidegger, Martin, Sein und Zeit, Tübingen: Max Niemeyer Verlag, 1927, [& 1953], [& 1967].

Hopper, Edward, House by the Railroad, 61 x 73.7 cm, object number in the collection 3.1930, New York: MoMA, 1925.

Lagerfeld, Karl; Steidl, Gerhardt; Pfrunder, Eric, Casa Malaparte, Göttingen: Steidl Publishing, 2015.

Moravia, Alberto, (1) Il Disprezzo (Il fantasma di mezzogiorno), Milan: Bompiani, 1954; (2) Le Mépris, translated into French by Claude Poncet, Paris: Flammarion, 1955, and 1993; (3) Contempt, translated into English by Angus Davidson, New York: NYRB Classics, 2004; (4) Disprețul, Romanian edition, Constanța: Pontica Publishing House, 1997.

Mustard, Jane, “Sartre in Space: Rethinking Architecture & Rebuilding Philosophy”, New Zealand, Te Herenga Waka - Victoria University of Wellington, 2010. http://hdl.handle.net/10063/1584.

Naugrette, Jean-Pierre, “Curzio Malaparte, Le Soleilet Les Ombres”, in Revue des Deux Mondes, July - August 2009, pp. 112-118. DOI: https://www.jstor.org/stable/44192577.

Right Honorable the Lord Astor of Hever [John Astor, 3rd Baron Astor of Hever], Curt DiCamillo, et al., Villa Astor: Paradise Restored on the Amalfi Coast, Paris: Flammarion, 2017 [280 pages].

Sartre, Jean-Paul, Being and Nothingness. Translated by Richmond, Sarah. Washington Square Press/Atria, New York, London, Toronto, Sydney, New Delhi, 2021.

Stewart, Ian, Nature’s Numbers: The Unreal Reality Of Mathematics, New York: Basic Books, 38, 1997.

Svavarsson, Svavar Hrafn, chapter “Two Kinds of Tranquility: Sextus Empiricus on Ataraxia”, in Diego Machucha (coord.), Pyrhonism in Ancient, Modern, and Contemporary Philosophy, Springer Science & Business Medi, 2011, pp. , 19-31. DOI: 10.1007/978-94-007-1991-0_2.

Talamona, Marida, Casa Malaparte, Princenton: Princenton Architectural Press, 1996.

Wallis, John, De Sectionibus Conicis Nova Methodo Expositus Tractatus (1655), Creative Partners, LLC., 2021.

Ziolkowski, Theodore, Classicism of the Twenties: Art, Music, and Literature, Chicago and London: The University of Chicago Press, Ltd., 2015.

Filmography:

Godard, Jean-Luc, Contempt (Le Mépris), producers Georges de Beauregard, Carlo Ponti, Joseph E. Levine, cinema Raoul Coutard, music by Georges delrue and Pierro Piccioni, Jean-Luc Godard (director), locations Cinecittà Roma and Casa Malaparte, Capri, release dates, 29 October 1963 Italy, 20 December 1963 France. Production companies: Rome Paris Films, Les Films Concordia, Compagnia Cinematografica Champion, 1963.

Songs’ archive:

Delerue, Georges, Thème de Camille 1963, for Le Mépris film, piano arrangements by Vladimir Guevny, unknown year.

Delerue, Georges, Concerto de l’Adieu, performance by Juraj Cizmarovic (violin), Frank Strobel (conductor), in WDR Funkhausorchester Köln, 2 September 2021.

Dion, Céline, Moi quand je pleure, in album: Sans attendre, songwriters of the song – Maxime Le Forestier, Stanislas, producer of the song – Stanislas, producers of the full album: Yvan Cassar, David Gategno, Patrick Hampartzoumian, Claude Lemay, Scott Price, Julien Schultheis, Stanislas, Jacques Veneruso ; studios for recording – Echo Beach Studio (Florida), Agathe’ Studio, Studio Omega, ICP Studios, Studio 73, The Village, Moulin de la goulette, recording label Columbia, 2 November 2012.

List of the real estates [some details are not offered, in order to protect the locations]:

Casa Malaparte (also, Villa Malaparte), architect Adalberto Liber, place Capri Island, year of construction 1937.

Château de Chenonceau, architect Philibert de l’Orme, 1514-1522.

Château Vicomtal Saint-Pierre de Fenouillet, 11th century.

Chelster Halll, architect William Hicks, 43,800 sq. ft., Ontario, Canada, 2001-2006.

Palazzo di Amore, architect Mohamed Anwar Hadid, 53,000 sq. ft., Beverly Hills, Los Angeles, 2002.

Villa Astor, architect Viscount William Waldorf Astor, restored by Jacques Garcia, Sorrento, 12,000 sq. ft., 1905.

Villa Balbianello, 13th Century, transformed into the villa by Angelo Maria Durini, Lake Como, 1785-1796. (film appearances, A Month by the Lake, 1995).

Villa Belle Abri, architect Paul Girardeau, 34,688 sq. ft., Atlanta, Ferry Road, Chattahoochee River, 2007.

Villa Bel-Air, since 1920, rebuilt by architect Mohamed Anwar Hadid, 30,000 sq. ft., Beverly Hills, Los Angeles, 2005.

Villa Les Cédres Cap Ferrat, architect Sébastien-Marcel Biasini, 18,000 sq. ft., France : coast Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat.France, 1830.

Villa D. Ionescu, architect Thoma Socolescu, 900 sqm., Bucharest: Gheorghe Brătianu Street,1927.

Villa Île-de-Gagnon-à-Laval, architect René Angélil, 24,000 sq. ft., Canada : L’Île Gagnon Laval, 2001.

Villa Leopolda, architect Ogden Codman, Jr., French Riviera: Villefranche-sur-Mer, 1929-1931 (film appearances, The Red Shoes, 1948).

List of architecture offices:

Girardeau, Paul, Abri Design Studio Inc., Atlanta, Georgia.

Hicks Design Studio, Oakville, Ontario, Canada.

L. Lumpkins and Architects, Dallas, Texas.

Lorne Rose Architect, Toronto, Canada.

Digital archive:

Burke, Edmund, https://www.gutenberg.org/files/15043/15043-h/15043-h.htm, accessed on 10 August 2022.

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Published

2022-12-20

How to Cite

BISCHIN, M.-R. (2022). THE ʻMALAPARTISM ̓ – A MUSICALIZED «PLEURESEMENT»: CURZIO MALAPARTE, ALBERTO MORAVIA, ADALBERTO LIBERA AND THE ARCHITECTURAL STRUCTURES OF THE ʻBEINGNESSʼ. Studia Universitatis Babeș-Bolyai Musica, 67(2), 215–230. https://doi.org/10.24193/subbmusica.2022.2.12

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