Dante’s Models in Romantic Music

Dante’s impact on music has been studied completely enough, but so far mainly in an empirical and descriptive way. The article examines the works of romantic composers of the 19th - early 20th centuries, based on the plot of Dante’s “Divine Comedy”: Liszt’s fantasy-sonata “After reading Dante” and the “Dante-Symphony”, the “Francesca da Rimini” by Tchaikovsky (symphonic fantasy) and Rachmaninoff (opera). The author analyses compositional and stylistic models of the romantic music inspired by Dante’s poetry as a system, which is relevant for modern musicology, in particular, for the theories of musical language, style, and musical meaning. Along with the traditional musicological methods of analysis of form and intonational dramaturgy, an interdisciplinary methodology is applied, associated with the coverage of the entire system of musical compositional prototypes as a structuring of meaning. This has a pronounced narrative poetic nature in romantic music. The results of the study demonstrate a system of structural and semantic invariants (secondary, musical models) conditioned by Dante’s figurative world and manifested in melody, harmony, fret organization, composition. The conclusions of the article reveal the roles of Dante’s models of the world in the works considered in the following aspects: in the process of extreme intensification of the contrasts of romantic music in the semantic coordinates of “Hell – Paradise”; “Love – Death”; in the approval of the concept of Liebestod; in the creation of new, extreme expressive possibilities for the given style, which significantly expanded the idea of the boundaries of beauty and caused transformations in musical sound (harmony, texture, melody); in the formation of stable idioms of romantic music from Liszt to Rachmaninov; in the modification of the structures of a one-part sonata, of the cyclic symphony, and of opera, which have received the quality of a vectorial dramaturgical process and open dramaturgy.

From Coltrane to Magma and beyond: Interpreting musical meaning through composition

<p>This thesis is an exploration of the work A Love Supreme composed by John Coltrane, his influence on the band Magma, and their composition, Zëss. By applying Clifford Geertz’s interpretive framework to the work of Coltrane and Magma, I suggest that the spiritual concerns of these composers was the primary motivating factor in the creation of their music. I argue for a definition of Coltrane’s musical work, particularly A Love Supreme, as ‘arranged spontaneous spiritual music’, acknowledging that Coltrane’s spirituality was a vehicle for the music and, simultaneously, the music was a vehicle for his spirituality. I also discuss the composer of Zëss, Christian Vander, who has a deeply cemented love of John Coltrane’s music and spiritual concepts, both of which coexist in the music of his band, Magma. My composition synthesises and expands on the work of both Coltrane and Magma. Descend, based on Dante’s Inferno, contains my own interpreted meanings of A Love Supreme and Zëss. The story of Inferno is similar to that of Coltrane’s and Vander’s commitment in their spiritual lives, and in this project I make my own interpretations to access my own spirituality through the act of composition.</p>

From Coltrane to Magma and beyond: Interpreting musical meaning through composition

<p>This thesis is an exploration of the work A Love Supreme composed by John Coltrane, his influence on the band Magma, and their composition, Zëss. By applying Clifford Geertz’s interpretive framework to the work of Coltrane and Magma, I suggest that the spiritual concerns of these composers was the primary motivating factor in the creation of their music. I argue for a definition of Coltrane’s musical work, particularly A Love Supreme, as ‘arranged spontaneous spiritual music’, acknowledging that Coltrane’s spirituality was a vehicle for the music and, simultaneously, the music was a vehicle for his spirituality. I also discuss the composer of Zëss, Christian Vander, who has a deeply cemented love of John Coltrane’s music and spiritual concepts, both of which coexist in the music of his band, Magma. My composition synthesises and expands on the work of both Coltrane and Magma. Descend, based on Dante’s Inferno, contains my own interpreted meanings of A Love Supreme and Zëss. The story of Inferno is similar to that of Coltrane’s and Vander’s commitment in their spiritual lives, and in this project I make my own interpretations to access my own spirituality through the act of composition.</p>

Perception of Musicality and Emotion in Signed Songs

This study investigated how signed performances express musical meaning and emotions. Deaf, Hard-of-Hearing (HoH), and hearing participants watched eight translated signed songs and eight signed lyrics with no influence of music. The participants rated these videos on several emotional and movement dimensions. Even though the videos did not have audible sounds, hearing participants perceived the signed songs as more musical than the signed lyrics. Deaf/HoH participants perceived both types of videos as equally musical, suggesting a different conception of what it means for movement to be musical. We also found that participants’ ratings of spatial height, vertical direction, size, tempo, and fluency related to the performer’s intended emotion and participants’ ratings of valence/arousal. For Deaf/HoH participants, accuracy at identifying emotional intentions was predicted by focusing more on facial expressions than arm movements. Together, these findings add to our understanding of how audience members attend to and derive meaning from different characteristics of movement in performative contexts.

Program Music

Studies of program music explore ways in which extra-musical material is expressed and interpreted through music. Conceptions of program music are broadly construed and vary throughout history in correlation with various aesthetic and philosophical perspectives—narrowly defined, programmatic compositions include an extra-musical program describing the musical expression, while a broader definition considers evocative titles, allusive musical material, and conventional musical significations as vehicles of extra-musical meaning. The question of aesthetic value arises in the debate surrounding the ability of music to communicate extra-musical ideas and the quality of music that claims to do so. This question is extensively explored through the polemics of the 19th-century “War of the Romantics,” pitting programmatic music against “absolute music.” Musical and theoretical writings of figures such as Berlioz, Liszt, Wagner, and Hanslick provide rich source material informing many studies on program music. The distinction between program music and absolute music is blurred through various approaches to deriving meaning from both types of music. Theories of narrativity propose methods of interpreting formal structures, tonal progressions, and thematic devices interacting in ways reminiscent of literary narrative. Semiotic approaches explore meanings that arise from conventional significations of genre, style, and “topics,” evoking cultural understandings of social position, setting, and affect. Applying interpretive strategies such as these to programmatic music allows for hermeneutic readings mapping the extra-musical program onto the musical events to explore meaningful points of intersection or contradiction. Further studies draw connections to composer biography and sociohistorical context, positioning the music in philosophical perspectives and reception. Broader cultural and political situations inform readings of underlying implications such as nationalism or social commentary. Current studies of program music explore musical narratives in nuanced contexts that parse the historical and cultural atmospheres surrounding composers, their music, and reception to propose new readings and frames of interpretation.

Performing Authorship in the Music of Contemporary Singer-Songwriters

<p>This thesis explores the dynamic and oftentimes puzzling relationship between singer, song, and listener in the music of contemporary singer-songwriters. I argue that this relationship is simultaneously understood through and confused by the use of indeterminate pronouns in song lyrics. The crossing over of language from speech to song leads to a multiplicity of “readings” of music and artists, where the “I” of the song’s narrator is elided with the “I” of the composer and the “I” of the performer. In this research I highlight the importance of listener experience in the ways these “I”s are contextualized and examined, shedding light on the dynamic and varied ways listeners are already engaging with this music. I also explore how these understandings ultimately impact listeners’ broader perceptions of the often-gendered values of emotional honesty and truthfulness of singer-songwriters. This research brings together original ethnographic research and theoretical explorations of musical and literary authorship and interpretation, focusing on the creative work of three singer-songwriters – Amanda Palmer, Hera Hjartardóttir, and Katie Morton. By drawing on these diverse research areas and musical repertoires, I propose an interdisciplinary model that highlights the active role listeners play in the creation (or discovery) of musical meaning. My hope is that this thesis opens up a space for future discussions to take place that examine the many layers of live performance that impact and inform interpretations of narrative, while also giving a voice to the listeners and fans whose engagement forms a crucial element of these singer-songwriter performances.</p>

Performing Authorship in the Music of Contemporary Singer-Songwriters

<p>This thesis explores the dynamic and oftentimes puzzling relationship between singer, song, and listener in the music of contemporary singer-songwriters. I argue that this relationship is simultaneously understood through and confused by the use of indeterminate pronouns in song lyrics. The crossing over of language from speech to song leads to a multiplicity of “readings” of music and artists, where the “I” of the song’s narrator is elided with the “I” of the composer and the “I” of the performer. In this research I highlight the importance of listener experience in the ways these “I”s are contextualized and examined, shedding light on the dynamic and varied ways listeners are already engaging with this music. I also explore how these understandings ultimately impact listeners’ broader perceptions of the often-gendered values of emotional honesty and truthfulness of singer-songwriters. This research brings together original ethnographic research and theoretical explorations of musical and literary authorship and interpretation, focusing on the creative work of three singer-songwriters – Amanda Palmer, Hera Hjartardóttir, and Katie Morton. By drawing on these diverse research areas and musical repertoires, I propose an interdisciplinary model that highlights the active role listeners play in the creation (or discovery) of musical meaning. My hope is that this thesis opens up a space for future discussions to take place that examine the many layers of live performance that impact and inform interpretations of narrative, while also giving a voice to the listeners and fans whose engagement forms a crucial element of these singer-songwriter performances.</p>