The new situation of globalisation brings to mind that artistic material generally is a limited repertoire of signs. This material defines the artistic world; it encompasses an interpretation of the world rooted in the artist’s regional culture. This situation therefore requires »possibilities of approaching the Other and the Self for which there are not any patterns yet«, as Kuno Lorenz writes. The alienation of the Self and the full identification with the Other may form intermediate stages of this process. My music theatre work Chief Joseph (2001-2003) is largely based on the theme of a confrontation between Self and Other. This theme is approached from a diversity of angles: its different forms, its conflicts, its creative impulses, its disastrous consequences and the utopia of its success. The example for this confrontion used in my opera – the wars between European settlers and aboriginal Indians in North America – is especially loaded with cliché-like valuations in our collective memory. The music does not reflect the theme »Self and Other« by way of polystylicism or quotations of »exotic« material. Rather, six types of scenes are established, each of which relates to a different concept of musical time – a reflection of the author’s observation that cultural differences often can be perceived less in surface forms, but rather in the ways cultures conceive of or construct time. These scene types, moreover, show parallels with Fritz Mauthner’s attempt to categorise language as three »images of the world«: the »Leerszenen« [empty scenes] which are grounded in silence coincide with Mauthner’s type »adjectival language«, the »Klagen« [laments] which concentrate on single constellations of intervals or pitches parallel Mauthner’s »substantival language«, the instable, floating »Recitative« [recitatives] hint at Mauthner’s »verbal language«, while the other scene types (»Indian Songs« and ensemble scenes including »Councils«) in Mauthner’s system would appear as mixed forms. A key position is taken by the scene-type »Rotationen« [rotations], with one rotation occurring in each of the three acts. They form a system on their own, remaining independent of the dramatic action and try to suggest an exterritorial perspective on the theme »Self and Other«.

In Hans Zender’s oeuvre manifold traces of an intense confrontation with intercultural questions can be found. More specifically, many of Zender’s works relate to East Asian cultures. Generally, Zender highlights heterogeneity and his concepts of interculturality seem to be opposed to a hybrid mixture of idioms as described by the term »creolisation«. Most recently Zender’s opera Chief Joseph (2001-2003), a complex work about cultural conflict, oscillated between familiarity and strangeness, between descriptive and cryptic layers. Zender has referred to the ancient Chinese magical square luo shu and to ancient Chinese theories of tuning to widen eurocentric discourses of contemporary music, although the references in his scores can often hardly be labelled specifically »Asian«. On a similar conceptual level, three main traditions from East Asian philosophy have had substantial influences on him, namely: the anti-logocentric ideas of Zen-Buddhism (obviously partly triggered by John Cage), the Confucian ideals of music set forth in the ancient »Book of Rites« Liji, and the philosophers of the Kyoto-School – mainly Kitaro Nishida and his idea of »pure experience«. Zender’s works such as Fünf Haiku (1982) or Lo-Shu VI (1989) exemplify the composer’s transformation of traditional Japanese aesthetics into forms of obvious simplicity that establish a continuous change between uninterrupted flow and sudden silence. The notion of a »dissolution of time« is present in these pieces as well as in the earlier Muji no kyo (1975) which, conversely, ends in an intensification of the musical structure on all levels. Likewise, Furin no kyo (1989) and Nanzen no kyo (1992) superimpose different concepts of time associated with different cultures. In the final section of Furin no kyo the superimposition of different concepts of time and languages results in a collage-like microstructure. These examples confirm that Zender’s aesthetic focuses on contradiction and does not aim to harmonise cultural differences or conflicts. For Hans Zender interculturality means a fundamental »concussion of [established] meanings« (Roland Barthes).

No description available.