Page 406 - Weiss, Jernej, ur. 2017. Glasbene migracije: stičišče evropske glasbene raznolikosti - Musical Migrations: Crossroads of European Musical Diversity. Koper/Ljubljana: Založba Univerze na Primorskem in Festival Ljubljana. Studia musicologica Labacensia, 1
P. 406
glasbene migracije: stičišče evropske glasbene raznolikosti
the vicinity of Paris and was constantly active as a composer and conduc-
tor, and as the founder and organiser of music festivals.
As stated in the title of this paper, it is my purpose here to draw atten-
tion to the relationship between Damnianovitch’s wish to affirm his na-
tional identity and his cosmopolitan attitude. Discussing those two catego-
ries – national identity and cosmopolitanism – may have seemed obsolete
to many artists and critics during the period of the dominance of the
Darmstadt and American avant-garde, from the 1950s until the 1970s and
1980s, but the changed socio-political circumstances in Europe in the past
decades (the fall of communism followed by the inclusion of the former
communist countries into the EU, and the massive immigration from Afri-
ca and the Near East), together with the intensive process of globalisation,
have provoked a need in certain composers to preserve in their works links
with the spiritual roots of their national cultures. Damnianovitch belongs
to that group of composers who spontaneously opted for expressing their
national identity while at the same time being fully adapted to the cosmo-
politan surroundings of the countries in which they chose to live.
There is no definite, unproblematic definition of cosmopolitanism,
a concept often confounded with “universalism”, but also often correctly
regarded as “a form of universalism”. In the words of Pauline Kleingeld,
“[Cosmopolitanism ] is the view that all human beings share certain es-
sential features that unite or should unite them in a global order that tran-
scends national borders and warrants their designation as ’citizens of the
world’”6. It seems reasonable to adopt the view (exposed by Ulf Hannerz
and supported by Björn Heile) that, in contrast to universalism that as-
sumes sameness and equality, cosmopolitanism “includes an aesthet-
ic stance of openness towards divergent cultural experiences, a search for
ductor of the orchestra of the Opera in Rennes; 1989–91: guest conductor of the or-
chestra in Rennes, then of the Orchestra of Brittany; 1993–1998: artistic director of
ARSIS – Vocal Theatre; 1994–1998: director of the Music School in Saint-Grégoire
and founder of two local festivals; 1998: special prize at the international competi-
tion ARTAMA (Czech Republic) with Christmas Carol ; 1998–2005: director of the
“Hector Berlioz“ Conservatory in Pavillons-sous-Bois, founder and artistic director
of local festivals; 2005–2008: director of the Ecole Nationale de Musique et de Danse
in Beauvais, founder and artistic director of a chamber orchestra; 2008– 2015: direc-
tor of the “Claude Debussy“ Conservatory in Saint-Malo, artistic director of the lo-
cal orchestra and founder of a festival; since 2015– director of the Conservatory in
Blanc-Mesnil, near Paris.
6 Pauline Kleingeld, “Six Varieties of Cosmopolitanism in Late Eighteenth-Century
Germany,” Journal of the History of Ideas, 60/3 (1999): 505.
404
the vicinity of Paris and was constantly active as a composer and conduc-
tor, and as the founder and organiser of music festivals.
As stated in the title of this paper, it is my purpose here to draw atten-
tion to the relationship between Damnianovitch’s wish to affirm his na-
tional identity and his cosmopolitan attitude. Discussing those two catego-
ries – national identity and cosmopolitanism – may have seemed obsolete
to many artists and critics during the period of the dominance of the
Darmstadt and American avant-garde, from the 1950s until the 1970s and
1980s, but the changed socio-political circumstances in Europe in the past
decades (the fall of communism followed by the inclusion of the former
communist countries into the EU, and the massive immigration from Afri-
ca and the Near East), together with the intensive process of globalisation,
have provoked a need in certain composers to preserve in their works links
with the spiritual roots of their national cultures. Damnianovitch belongs
to that group of composers who spontaneously opted for expressing their
national identity while at the same time being fully adapted to the cosmo-
politan surroundings of the countries in which they chose to live.
There is no definite, unproblematic definition of cosmopolitanism,
a concept often confounded with “universalism”, but also often correctly
regarded as “a form of universalism”. In the words of Pauline Kleingeld,
“[Cosmopolitanism ] is the view that all human beings share certain es-
sential features that unite or should unite them in a global order that tran-
scends national borders and warrants their designation as ’citizens of the
world’”6. It seems reasonable to adopt the view (exposed by Ulf Hannerz
and supported by Björn Heile) that, in contrast to universalism that as-
sumes sameness and equality, cosmopolitanism “includes an aesthet-
ic stance of openness towards divergent cultural experiences, a search for
ductor of the orchestra of the Opera in Rennes; 1989–91: guest conductor of the or-
chestra in Rennes, then of the Orchestra of Brittany; 1993–1998: artistic director of
ARSIS – Vocal Theatre; 1994–1998: director of the Music School in Saint-Grégoire
and founder of two local festivals; 1998: special prize at the international competi-
tion ARTAMA (Czech Republic) with Christmas Carol ; 1998–2005: director of the
“Hector Berlioz“ Conservatory in Pavillons-sous-Bois, founder and artistic director
of local festivals; 2005–2008: director of the Ecole Nationale de Musique et de Danse
in Beauvais, founder and artistic director of a chamber orchestra; 2008– 2015: direc-
tor of the “Claude Debussy“ Conservatory in Saint-Malo, artistic director of the lo-
cal orchestra and founder of a festival; since 2015– director of the Conservatory in
Blanc-Mesnil, near Paris.
6 Pauline Kleingeld, “Six Varieties of Cosmopolitanism in Late Eighteenth-Century
Germany,” Journal of the History of Ideas, 60/3 (1999): 505.
404
