German and Italian Codes in Vladimir Odoyevsky's Stories about German Musicians

In terms of imagology and semiotics, the article describes the interaction between German and Italian elements in Vladimir Odoyevsky's stories Beethoven's Last Concert and Sebastian Bach. Germanness in these works is represented in two variants: in the images of philistines and artists, men of genius, which corresponds to the spatial scheme of the bi-worldness based on the German romanticism. The genius character simultaneously exists in the both worlds but aspires to be in the spiritual space. The latter can be represented as an inner mental and as a heavenly sacral locus. The musical and sacral elements in Odoyevsky's stories merge into a single whole with the help of the motives of an esoteric closeness and devotion. The image of the German musician and composer is opposed to the images of musical ‘exoterics' -audience members, common interpreters and music theorists who are not able to understand either the essence of music or the genius soul. However, the opposite images of philistines and geniuses are dialectically united in the characteristic of their one-sidedness. In the framework of Odoyevsky's philosophical views, it is expressed in the conception of the ‘completeness of life'. Neither philistines nor geniuses live according to the completeness of human self-actualization. Ordinary people cannot move beyond the profane space; they are enchained by their earth-bound passions and interests. On the contrary, a lonely genius devotes the whole life to music and looses part of his/her humanity. Accordingly, self-centration, focus on the inner space, ‘das Innere', is a characteristic of presenting Germanness just like the philistine narrow-mindedness that is often ridiculed in Russian literature. Their common basis is the concept of ‘speculativeness' of the German nation represented as rationalistic and eager for ordering. The antipode of this ordered German element in Odoyevsky's poetics is Italianness that is actualized in the story Sebastian Bach with the help of the oppositions such as “order - chaos/disorder”, “heavenly/godlike - earth-bound/human”, “peace - passion”, “instrumental and abstract music - vocal/anthropic music”, “German fugue - Italian canzonet”, “North - South”. Furthermore, the contradistinction between the German and Italian elements is represented as a hidden confrontation of the characters - the demiurge Bach and the trickster Francesco; the latter represents the infernal characteristics of a seducer, perverter and mocker. The image of Sebastian's wife Magdalena is ambivalent. The Italian and German elements antagonize each other in it. The German mentoring and the sense of duty of the mother and wife come into conflict with the awakening woman's sexuality and Italian passion. However, Italianness cannot be completely actualized in the German space, which leads to Magdalena's death. Further, it helps to reveal the Goethean intertext of Mignon in Odoyevsky's story (the story line of the tragic fate of an Italian in Germany).

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