À l’improviste - Improvisation and creation

Presented by Géraldine Muhlmann, philosopher
In conversation with Karol Beffa pianist, composer and doctor of musicology

How can there be aesthetics in something that, by definition, defies all rules and for which there are no poetics, techniques or solfège? We learn to prepare, not to invent, to continue, not to begin, to plan, not to create: there are no more rules for improvisation than there are for invention or desire. A mechanism can be analysed, but the inventive process can only reveal itself. Since manufacturing has its technical secrets, why should creation not have its mystery, its poetic mystery? Would improvisation be synonymous with frivolity and impatience without hard work? Improvisation manuals themselves (whether for the speaker at the podium or the organist in church) seek to equip the unprepared, to prevent the unexpected circumstances that can catch a person off guard, to break the deadlock with fate by giving the conscience the breathing space of respite and freedom. However, improvisation is not just a hasty act of pulling off a last-minute manoeuvre with the means at hand; it also refers to the mystery of creative thought. In the creative solitude of invention, even the most methodical builders began by improvising. Just as courage is the virtue of the outposts, the virtue of willpower on the front line and in immediate contact with danger, so improvisation is the first step in creative invention, starting from the blank page. It is the very beginning.

Vladimir Jankélévitch, Liszt –  Rhapsody and Improvisation  (réed. Flammarion, 1998)