The Problem of Form in the Work of Ivo Petrić

Abstract

The article discusses the problem of form in the work of the contemporary Slovene composer Ivo Petrić. After a brief presentation of the latest divergent principles as regards this theoretical question, specifically, what form is, what it can be, or rather what it should be, as well as what is its relation to its subordinate structure, the following conclusion is arrived at: in spite of having a kind of given existence, form in a way feeds on the structure; the latter, though theoretically in the last instance unambiguously explicable, becomes owing to differences in perception a variable thus influencing the form and depriving it of becoming a constant. It is from such points of departure that the composer's formal procedures are presented. The analysis reveals that in all the phases of the composer's development, irrespective of his momentary stylistic orientation and irrespective of even most modern sound, Petrić – thanks to an inherent creative sense of form – operates with form-building procedures which seem to be typical of all musical cultures: a balanced treatment of repetition, variation and contrast makes unity – and form.