Shapinskaya Ekaterina Nikolaevna,
Doctor of Philosophy, Professor,
Deputy Director of the Expert-Analytical Center
for Development of Educational Systems
in the Sphere of Culture,
the Lykhachev Russian Research Institute
for Cultural and Natural Heritage
e-mail: reenash@mail.ru

A Trip of the Archetypical Plot:
An Interpretation of Totentanz by a Medieval Painter and Modern Composer
(Totentanz of Bernt Notke and Thomas Ades)

Abstract. The article dwells upon an interpretation of a Medieval plot of Totentanz in different historical and cultural contexts. Via case studies of the Medieval painter Bernt Notke and contemporary composer Thomas Ades the author argues that despite limits of the cultural code of a certain age, a creative personality finds opportunities to express itself, as well as to reveal new meanings of the archetypical plot. The author discusses peculiarities of creativity through different forms of expression. Special attention is given to creativity in “post-cultural” period, being featured by atrophy of creative impulse and acknowledgement of exhaustiveness of culture. The author makes a conclusion that different interpretations of the archetypical plot contains creativity, its being an expression of a man’s innermost need, a symbol of value of his individual existence in the world, which reflects in innovative interpretations of the classical heritage.

Key words. Creativity, personality, interpretation, cultural context, archetypical plot, the Middle Ages, postmodernism, music, canon, composer

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