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UNIVERSITY OF CINCINNATI
November 20, 2008
Date:___________________
Javier Clavere
I, _________________________________________________________,
hereby submit this work as part of the requirements for the degree of:
Master in Music
in:
Music Theory
It is entitled:
Semiotic Analysis of Osvaldo Golijov's Musical Setting of the Passion
Narrative in La Pasión según San Marcos
This work and its defense approved by:
Dr. Miguel Roig-Francolí
Chair: _______________________________
Dr. David Carson Berry
_______________________________
Dr. Robert Zierolf
_______________________________
_______________________________
_______________________________
Semiotic Analysis of Osvaldo Golijov’s Musical Setting of the Passion Narrative
in La Pasión según San Marcos
A thesis submitted to the
Graduate School
of the University of Cincinnati
In partial fulfillment of the
requirements for the degree of
MASTER OF MUSIC IN MUSIC THEORY
In the Division of Composition, Musicology, and Theory
of the College-Conservatory of Music
by
Javier Clavere
B.A. Brigham Young University, 2002
Committee chair: Dr. Miguel Roig-Francolí
ABSTRACT
In the year 2000, Helmuth Rilling, artistic director of the Internationale Bachakademie
Stuttgart, commissioned the Passion 2000. The project was a commemoration of the 250th
anniversary of Johann Sebastian Bach’s death by commissioning four musical settings of the
Passion narrative. The narrative of the Gospel of Mark was commissioned of Argentina-born
composer Osvaldo Golijov. This setting of the passion narrative represents a diversity and
combination of musical idioms. La Pasión según San Marcos is a piece whose musical sources
are rooted in the corpus of Latin American popular music, without a specific governing musical
style, creating constant shifts in the levels of musical discourse. The concepts of musical collage,
pastiche, or quotation are usually evoked when analyzing La Pasión según San Marcos.
However, a semiotic analysis of Golijov’s Pasión reveals an interaction of musical and textual
elements. This interaction gives rise to an ironic and satiric ethos, which in turn provides the
foundation for my analysis of parody and existential irony in the work's musical expression. In
this thesis I attempt to explicate how the interaction of musical objects and text signify irony in
music; my approach is grounded on theories developed by Robert Hatten, Yayoi Uno Everett,
Juan Roque Chattah, and Erin Sheinberg. I consider trans-contextualization, inversion, and
conceptual negation of meaning against background referents. I further identify the musical
elements that act as signals negating the meaning of the text through structural appropriation,
gender characterization, and stylistic transformation and ambiguity.
Three movements will be treated to analytical scrutiny. First is “Judas y El Cordero
Pascual” (Judas and the Paschal Lamb), which represents the Afro-Cuban musical genre son
montuno. The Last Supper scene unfolds in this movement, including within it the betrayal by
Judas Iscariot, and the apostolic question of culpability among Jesus’ disciples. The second
ii
movement analyzed includes an allusional or imitative portrayal of plainchant. The characters
are placed conceptually in the opposite gender, inverting the hierarchical characteristics of the
text. This inversion occurs within the context of an iconic representation of a Medieval Church
through chant. The last movement analyzed is “Demos Gracias al Señor” (Let Us give Thanks to
the Lord). This setting of the thanksgiving praise after the Jewish Passover meal is set to a theme
and variations based on the protest song’s melody “Todavía Cantamos” (We Still Sing),
composed and performed by Victor Heredia during the 1980s in Argentina.
iii
Music examples copyright © 2000 by Ytalianna Music Publishing
All Rights Reserved
Used by Permission
iv
AKNOWLEDGEMENT
I want to thank my wife Lindsay and my two boys, Dante and Julian. They are the
purpose and joy of my life. Their support, unconditional love, and confidence are my daily
strength by which all my work is accomplished. I consider myself blessed to have Dr. Miguel
Roig-Francolí as my advisor. His strict inspiring commentary, deep thoughtfulness, and superb
suggestions have helped to focus my methodology and clarify my concepts. Dr. Roig-Francolí’s
enduring patience, tested many times during my work, is a sign of true mentorship and
friendship. I owe a debt of gratitude to Dr. Robert Zierolf, who throughout the years provided me
with unconditional support and mentorship that has enabled me to become a better scholar, a
better musician, and a better person. I especially want to thank Dr. David Carson Berry for
introducing me to the world of semiotics, showing me an area of study that ignited my curiosity
and scholarly work. I also want to thank Dr. Robert Hatten, Dr. Juan Roque Chattah, and the
members of the Semiotic Society of America, who unknowingly guided me to new frontiers in
semiotic studies. Finally, I am ever grateful for the blessings of God in my life, for without His
support and unwavering love none of this would have been possible. Soli Dei Gloria.
v
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Abstract -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ii
Copyright Notice -------------------------------------------------------------------------- iv
Acknowledgments -------------------------------------------------------------------------- v
Table of Contents -------------------------------------------------------------------------- vi
List of Figures ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- vii
Chapter 1: Introduction -------------------------------------------------------------------- 1
Chapter 2: The Narrative of Jesus’s Death: Genesis from Orality to Text ---------- 7
Chapter 3: The Passion Narrative: From Text to Musical Representation --------- 14
Chapter 4: Twenty-First Century Passion Settings, Passion 2000 and Golijov --- 21
Chapter 5: Semiotics: Irony in Music --------------------------------------------------- 28
Chapter 6: Musical Analysis: Judas Y El Cordero Pascual ------------------------- 35
Chapter 7: Musical Analysis: Eucaristía ----------------------------------------------- 55
Chapter 8: Musical Analysis: Demos Gracias al Señor ------------------------------ 69
Conclusion --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 80
Bibliography ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 84
vi
LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 2.1 Evolution of the passion narrative .................................................. 13
Figure 4.1 Tan Dun’s percussion notation ....................................................... 23
Figure 6.1 Anticipated Bass ............................................................................. 37
Figure 6.2 Clave Rhythm ................................................................................ 37
Figure 6.3 Tumbao (rhythmic matrices) .......................................................... 38
Figure 6.4 Rhythmic Matrices for Refrain Section .......................................... 39
Figure 6.5 Rhythmic Matrices for Chorus Section .......................................... 40
Figure 6.6 Son Rhythmic Pattern – A Caballo Rhythmic Pattern .................... 41
Figure 6.7 A caballo Rhythmic Cell ................................................................ 42
Figure 6.8 Mark Section (Three Strophe-Chorus Units) ................................. 44
Figure 6.9 Judas Character ............................................................................... 44
Figure 6.10 Jesus Section (Three Strophe-Chorus Units) ................................. 45
Figure 6.11 Three Women (Observers) ............................................................. 45
Figure 6.12 Montuno Section ............................................................................ 46
Figure 6.13 A Caballo Section ........................................................................... 50
Figure 6.14 Narrative Characters ....................................................................... 51
Figure 6.15 Instrumental Montuno Section ....................................................... 52
Figure 6.16 Salsa Tumbao .................................................................................. 53
Figure 7.1 The Voice of Mark the Evangelist – Soprano Solo ........................ 56
Figure 7.2 The Voice of Jesus – Soprano Solo ................................................ 56
Figure 7.3 The voice of the Evangelist – Soprano Section .............................. 57
Figure 7.4 Jesus and Mark the Evangelist ....................................................... 57
vii
Figure 7.5 Formal Division of the Movement ................................................. 61
Table 7.6 Musical Gesture on Section a1 and a2 ........................................... 62
Figure 7.7 Bridge – Axis Section ..................................................................... 64
Table 7.8 Musical Gesture on Section b1 and b2 ........................................... 64
Figure 7.9 The Symmetrical Organization of Musical Gestures ..................... 66
Figure 8.1 Melodic Fragment from the Original Refrain ............................... 70
Figure 8.2 Bombo Legüero ............................................................................. 71
Figure 8.3 Spring Drum .................................................................................. 72
Figure 8.4 Formal Structure of Todavia Cantamos ......................................... 73
Figure 8.5 Percussion Introduction ................................................................. 73
Figure 8.6 Rhythmic Variations ....................................................................... 74
Figure 8.7 Dynamic Changes and Progressions ............................................. 75
Figure 8.8 Variation I – Addition of Soprano Line to Alto Solo ..................... 76
Figure 8.9 Variation II – Addition of Tenor and Bass ..................................... 76
Figure 8.10 Variation III – Alto Divisi .............................................................. 77
Figure 8.11 Variation IV – Soprano Divisi ........................................................ 77
viii
CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION
The narrative of the Passion of Christ is a core structure in the New Testament.
Throughout the centuries, the Passion narrative has promoted artistic expressions that have been
influential in the life and culture of western civilization. Drama, literature, music, and visual arts
have represented the narrative of Christ’s death through their respective artistic means.
Composers have rendered the Passion narratives through music that typified their theological
understanding of the text; and this understanding, and the way they represented it, was in turn
influenced by their social and cultural surroundings. For example, Johann Sebastian Bach’s
musical settings were shaped by his theological views, the doctrinal environment in the Lutheran
church in the seventeenth century, and performance practices of liturgical music during the
German Baroque. 1
In the year 2000, Helmuth Rilling, artistic director of the Internationale Bachakademie
Stuttgart, commissioned the Passion 2000. The project was a commemoration of the 250th
anniversary of Johann Sebastian Bach’s death. 2 This project included the creation of one
distinctive musical setting for each of the Gospel’s Passion narratives. These musical settings
demonstrate diverse musical idioms, and provide a sample of twenty-first century musical
eclecticism and cultural diversity. The Gospel of Matthew was assigned to Chinese composer
Tan Dun, who scored his piece for choir, soloist, and percussion. The percussion section uses
sound effects produced by amplified water bowls in lieu of traditional percussion. 3 The Gospel
1
Jaroslav Pelican, Bach Among the Theologians (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1986), 53.
2
Osvaldo Golijov, La Pasión según San Marcos, CD 98.404 (Germany: Hannsler-Verlag Classic,
2001), 25.
1
of Luke was assigned to German composer Wolfgang Rihm, who used fragments from Luke as
well as texts from German poets and the Latin setting of the Stabat Mater. 4 The Gospel of John
was assigned to Russian composer Sofia Gubaidulina, who composed the work based on a
Russian translation of the text. 5 The Gospel of Mark was assigned to Argentine composer
Osvaldo Golijov; the resulting composition (La Pasión según San Marcos) features a diversity of
musical styles representative of the world of modern secular Latin American music, Catholic
musical tradition, and political protest music. 6
This thesis considers three movements of La Pasión según San Marcos. The analysis
focuses on irony and parody, whether satirical or not, as a meta-structure of existential irony.
Theories developed by Robert Hatten, Erin Sheinberg, and Yayoi Uno Everett will aid the
understanding and identification of incongruities as indicators of irony or the ironic ethos.
According to Sheinberg there are two ways to interpret musical incongruity:
One is to resolve them into new congruences by modifying their correlations so
that they accommodate each other. The second way is to acknowledge the
structures of incongruities as semantically significant in themselves and interpret
them as irony. The main difference between irony and metaphors is that irony is a
result not only of incongruity based on difference (as is metaphor), but also is
incongruity based on negation, i.e. the impossibility of any accommodation
between the incongruous parts of the message. Therefore is not just the presence
3
Tan Dun, Water Passion after St. Matthew (New York: Schirmer, 2001), 3.
4
Wolfgang Rihm, Deuss Passus: Passion-Stucke nach Lukas fur Soli, Chör und Orchester
(Vienna: Universal Edition, 2000), 4.
5
Sofia Gubaidulina, Johannes-Passion; für Sopran, Tenor, Bariton, Bass, zwei gem. Chore und
Orchestre (Hamburg: Musikverlag Hans Sitorski, 2000), 5.
6
An example of protest music is the song “Todavia Cantamos,” music and lyrics by Victor
Heredia (Heredia 1983). This song belongs to the political protest song style, and is a musical genre that
is associated with the frustrations of daily life in Latin American culture during the times of political and
military oppression from the military government in the decades of the 1970s and 1980s in Argentina.
2
of an incongruity that will hint at the presence of irony, but also its functioning as
an indicator of structural negation. 7
My analysis will address the following questions: How does Golijov’s music hint at the presence
of existential irony in music? Is there extra-musical meaning expressed through Golijov’s
compositional choices?
Richard Skirpan views La Pasión según San Marcos as an example of collage, pastiche,
quotation, or polystylism. However, the work reveals compositional strategies that give rise to
ironic and satiric ethos through interaction of musical objects and text, revealing parody and
irony in musical expression. I will demonstrate this through a semiotic analysis of three
representatives movements: “Judas Y El Cordero Pascual,” “Eucaristía,” and “Demos Gracias al
Señor.” These selections are not considered unique , however; any movement could successfully
be analyzed by means of semiotic methodology.
My decision to approach this topic was supported by three factors: the small amount of
information and research available on Golijov’s La Pasión según San Marcos, my familiarity
with exegetical analysis of the Passion narrative, and the possibility of relating musical meaning
to compositional choices through semiotic analysis. To date there has been only one thesis on
this work, written by the aforementioned Skirpan. It provides a summarily descriptive analysis of
La Pasión según San Marcos, enumerating the structural characteristics of each movement.
These descriptions include a short dictionary-like definition for each movement’s genre and
style, instrumentation, and text. 8 The sources used in Skirpan’s thesis are mainly definitions
7
Erin Sheinberg, Irony, Satire, Parody, and the Grotesque in the Music of Shostakovich: A
Theory of Musical Incongruities (Vermont: Ashgate Publishing Company, 2000), 57.
8
See Richard Skirpan, “Latin American Polystylism: Structure and Form in Osvaldo Golijov’s La
Pasión segun San Marcos” (M.M. Thesis, Duquesne University, 2004).
3
from Grove Music Online or entries based on recording pamphlets, newspaper articles, and web
sites. 9 The information provided in Skirpan’s analysis of Son Cubano (the compositional genre
used in Judas y El Cordero Pascual) is also a short Grove entry.
For my thesis the following sources provided insightful knowledge about the research on
historical background of the Passion narrative and its musical representation. Gerard Sloyan’s
work Jesus on Trial addresses the historical development of the Passion narrative. 10 Basil
Smallman’s The Background of Passion Music is an important contribution to the development
and background of musical representation of the Passion narrative. 11 Regarding the birth and
growth of polyphonic settings of the Passion in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, the work of
Gerald Abraham 12 and Franklin Ellis 13 addresses the developments of German Passion music
from Luther to Bach. Musical settings of the Passion narratives in the nineteenth and twentieth
centuries are addressed in the works of Melvin Wells 14 and Robert Hutchenson. 15
In the case of the musical genre Son, my analysis provides a comparison of this genre and
its use to combine a tri-partite topical interaction. My study of the Son has relied on the work of
9
Skirpan, Latin American Polystylism, 93.
10
Gerard Sloyan, Jesus on Trial: The Development of the Passion Narratives and their Historical
and Ecumenical Implications (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1973).
11
Basil Smallman, The Background of Passion Music (New York: Dover Publications, 1971).
12
Gerald Abraham, “Passion Music in the Fifteenth and Sixteenth Centuries” The Monthly
Musical Record 83 (October-November, 1953): 208-11, 235-41.
13
Franklin Ellis, “The Development of Passion Music in Germany from Luther to Bach” (M.M.
Thesis, Northwestern University, 1958).
14
Melvin Wells, “Settings of the Passion story in the Nineteenth Century” (D.M.A. Thesis,
Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, 1993).
15
Robert Hutchenson, “Twentieth Century Settings of the Passion: An Opusculum of the
Powerless God” (D.M.A. Thesis, Washington University, 1976).
4
scholars such as Vernon Boogs, who explored the Afro-Cuban call-and-response evolution in the
structural development of form in the Son Montuno from Cuba, 16 and the structural development
and formal evolution of the Son as a genre; 17 and Alejo Capentier, who studied Afro-Cuban
rhythm sequences and rhythmic antiphonal treatment in the Son. 18 Others include Donald Hill,
who discusses structural breaks in the Son and their formal function; 19 James Robins, author of
the study of symbolism and meaning in the Son as found in its form and structure; 20 and Simha
Aron, who has researched the rhythmic stratification of African-based rhythmic structures. 21
Some of the research that supported my preliminary studies of “Eucaristía” included
Robert Hatten’s study of the nature of melodic gestures and the relationship between meaning
and topical systems, 22 Esti Sheinberg’s work on irony and parody as gender inversion and topical
16
Vernon Boogs, Salsiology: Afro-Cuban Music and the Evolution of Salsa in New York City
(New York: Greenwoods Press, 1992).
17
Boogs, Salsiology, 1992.
18
Alejo Capentier, La Música en Cuba (México: Fondo Cultural de Economía, 1946).
19
Donald Hill, “West African and Haitian Influences on the Ritual and Popular Music of
Carriacou, Trinidad, and Cuba,” Black Music Research Journal 18 (Spring-Autumn 1998).
20
James Robins, “The Cuban ‘Son’ as Form, Genre, and Symbol.” Latin American Music Review
11 (Autumn-Winter 1990).
21
Simha Arom, African Polyphony and Polyrhythm: Musical Structure and Methodology
(Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1991).
22
Robert Hatten, Musical Meaning in Beethoven: Markedness, Correlation, and Interpretation
(Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1994).
5
negation, 23 and Kofi Agawu’s theory of topics as an expression in music (work that, in turn,
draws on that of Leonard Ratner). 24
Raymond Monelle expanded the concept of topics as a methodology for the recognition
of musical meaning drawing on Ratner as well. 25 I will refer and adapt these theories of
semiotical analysis, postulating that the interaction between musical objects and text is
responsible for the creation of irony in Golijov’s music. The incongruities resulting from these
interactions give rise to the ironic ethos of the work. Finally, I will conclude the analysis by
showing existential irony to be meta-structural and the main compositional goal; more
specifically, I will demonstrate how incongruencies in the work’s content provide the foundation
for the concept of existential irony.
23
Esti Sheinberg, Irony, Satire, Parody and the Grotesque in the Music of Shostakovich.
24
Kofi Agawu, Playing with Signs: A Semiotic Interpretation of Classical Music (Princeton:
Princeton University Press, 1991), and Robert Martin, “Topics as Meaning,” The Journal of Aesthetics
and Art Criticism 53, no.4 (Fall 1995).
25
Raymond Monelle, The Sense of Music: Semiotic Essays (Oxford: Oxford University Press,
2000) 14-23.
6
CHAPTER 2
THE NARRATIVE OF JESUS’ DEATH: GENESIS FROM ORALITY TO TEXT
Events deemed important can mark the beginning or end of an era. The importance of an
event is measured by the changes produced in a particular society or culture. One particular
event marked and influenced human history in almost every aspect, from how we think and act
to how we understand the moral and ethical standards underlining the fabric of society in the
western world. This event was the trial and death of Jesus Christ, known as the Passion of Christ
or simply the Passion.
Scholarly research has strived to increase knowledge about the historical authenticity of
the Passion, its theological validity, and its religious influence. It has incited intellectual activity
through the centuries. The narrative was fundamental in early preaching, acting as a moral
compass for the early Christian community, and it served as a source of inspiration for artistic
representations. I make no supposition that in the Gospel narrative of the trial and death of Jesus
Christ we find authentic historical tradition untouched by apologetic or theological influences.
Neither do I intend to argue that the Evangelists were writing a biography, or simply preaching
to gain sympathy for their leader Jesus. Instead, the purpose of this chapter is to trace the
development of the Passion’s narrative form, using a derivative method in order to unfold its
development from orality to written text. In the following chapter I will then consider its
development from written text to music representation.
Nearly two thousand years ago, a group of followers of Jesus claimed that events relating
to the death of their leader took place by God’s decree, and that those events had great
importance for the salvation and redemption of humanity. These disciples found themselves in
great need of defending their master’s death and his public humiliation. Their leader, believed to
7
be an innocent man, was crucified in a way reserved for the worst criminals. The narrative of
Christ’s trial and death explained these events, creating a repository of stories in the early
Christian memory. This repository formed a unit that proved useful for preaching and
reaffirming the collective knowledge of these early communities. The Evangelists utilized the
materials available to them, and they had their audiences in mind while composing their
accounts. If we compare the characteristics of the Passion narrative of Mark and the
characteristics of a Midrash, a literary form of first-century Jewish tradition, we find the
methodologies used to construct the narratives to be similar. The Midrash and its form fit the
need to formalize a series of events for the knowledge of future generations. In other words, the
Midrash was the appropriate form available to preserve this event in the social memory and
transmit it to future generations. 26 Violent events, because of their nature and characteristics, are
engraved permanently in the social memory of the affected group. 27 The violent execution of an
innocent man produced the necessary circumstances for the creation of the narrative.
26
The Midrash was a form of oral tradition, which did not become a written form until the second
century C.E. “The term is commonly applied to the whole tradition of Jewish biblical exegesis, but it
primarily denotes rabbinic interpretation of the Bible as it flourished in Palestine and, to a lesser extent, in
Babylonia. In all the midrashic texts, Scripture is seen as the primary source of all wisdom and truth; it
originated in the mind of God and so is inerrant and totally coherent. The aims of the expositor are to
explain apparent errors, harmonize contradictions, and draw out the teaching of the Law and apply it to
Jewish life. To this end, the expositor may resort to extreme techniques of text-manipulation. Despite the
chronological problem, the rabbinic Midrashim have been used to elucidate NT exegesis of the OT, and
they shed light on the works of origin and St Jerome.” The Concise Oxford Dictionary of the Christian
Church, ed. E. A. Livingstone, Midrash (Oxford: Oxford Reference Online, 2007); accessed 1 May
2007; available from http://www.oxfordreference.com/views/ENTRY.html?
27
Alan Kirk and Tom Thatcher, eds., Memory, Tradition, and Text: Uses in the Past in Early
Christianity (Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature, 2005), 191.
8
Mark is widely recognized as the writer of the first of the four Gospels. 28 The belief that
most of the materials available to Mark were in circulation as distinct open stories is the basis for
the theory known as the Pre-Marcan tradition or Ur-Markus. 29 The Ur-Markus theory further
supports the notion of a midrashic structure for the narrative, whereby Mark created a new
literary form, “the Gospel,” in approximately 70 C.E. 30 Old Testament allusions such as Psalm
22, Psalm 34, and Isaiah 52 were foundational blocks in the development and validation of the
Passion narrative. These allusions to Old Testament writings made the text apologetic in nature
and contributed to the creation of future Christian theology and the validation of the Passion
narrative.
The events of the trial and death of Jesus took place in the environment of oral tradition
of first-century Judea, where oral culture and the workings of social memory were crucial
devices for the survival of the meaning of events. 31 In first-century Judean context, social
memory was heuristic and not mimetic; it did not intend to represent or duplicate but to construct
the narrative. 32 Immediately after Christ’s death, a sort of primitive Passion narrative circulated
in the social memory that spread from Jesus’ disciples to Jews and gentiles alike. In the
confinement of social memory and within the realms of ancient rhetoric, the passion narrative
acquired the characteristics of rhetorical oration.
28
Gerard Sloyan, Jesus on Trial: The Development of the Passion Narrative and Their Historical
and Ecumenical Implications (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1973), 36.
29
Werner Georg Kummel, Introduction to the New Testament (Nashville: Abingdon 1975), 53.
30
Sloyan, Jesus on Trial, 36.
31
Kirk and Thatcher, Memory, 121.
32
Kirk and Thatcher, Memory, 126.
9
This primitive oral passion narrative, or rhetorical oration, is associated with the UrMarkan theory. German biblical scholar Martin Dibelius presents evidence of this association in
his analysis of insertions and expansions in the narrative. 33 The possible presence of a coherent
Passion narrative prior to Mark’s writings attests to the role of social memory in the transition
from orality to literary form. This transition gave way to the creation of normative memory in the
early Christian community. This normative memory made a connection between
commemoration and moral exhortation. In the death and suffering of an important person,
commemorative memory found the necessary focus to point to the person’s virtues as moral
teaching tools. 34
In approximately 70 C.E., the Passion narrative ars memoriae was formed into a written
Gospel. Consequently, the Gospel of Mark became the longest recounted collection of
consecutive actions of Jesus. It was introduced with a sense of staging (from Gethsemane to the
grave), in contrast to redactions or vignettes about Jesus’ ministry and miracles. 35 It is not
possible to make claims about the monopolization of a single pre-Marcan narrative, but some
evidence points to the existence of a collection of concurrent narratological Midrashs about
Jesus. The internal structure in the Gospel of Mark is perceived as a dramatic culmination of
Marcan Christology, by which the Passion narrative is framed within a complete Gospel with an
33
John Donahue, The Passion in Mark: Studies of Mark 14-16, ed., Werner Kelber (Philadelphia:
Fortress Press, 1976), 8.
34
By normative memory, we observe the essential connection between commemoration and
moral exhortation. It is by virtue of its normativity that the past makes programmatic, urgent moral claims
upon a community. See Jan Assmann, Das kulturelle Gedächtnis, Schrift, Einnerung und politische
Identität in frühen Hockkulturen, (Munich: Beck, 1992). See also, Kirk and Thatcher, Memory, 191-206.
35
Raymond Brown, The Death of the Messiah: From Gethsemane to the Grave (New York:
Doubleday, 1994), 11.
10
introductory section of ministerial vignettes. 36 The accounts of the death and trial of Jesus were
set in writing, which allowed the possibility of incorporating them into the development of
liturgical rites in the early Christian Church. From Gospel to liturgy was the next transition of the
Passion narrative. The liturgy itself provided the solidity necessary for other forms of
representation to emerge.
In the middle of the fifth century, Pope Leo I (Leo the Great) decreed that for the Roman
liturgies, the Passion narrative of St. Matthew was to be read during Palm Sunday and
Wednesday of Holy Week, adding that the narrative from John’s Gospel be read during the Good
Friday service. A couple of centuries later, the narrative of the Gospel of Matthew was replaced
by the narrative in the Luke Gospel during the Wednesday Mass. 37 These texts were recited as
Gospel lessons during the Mass. Other writings and commentaries developed in order to clarify
the meaning of Christ’s suffering. Among the most influential are Tractatus in Iohannem by
Augustine, Homilia in Evangelica by Gregory, the commentaries of Jerome on the Gospel of
Matthew, and those of Bede on the gospels of Mark and Luke. The literary embellishments of the
Passion narrative added detail and brought the passion narrative closer to reality. These
embellished narratives probably originated in the twelfth-century Glossa ordinaria, a
commentary on the standard repository of biblical interpretation. 38 In literary devotional writing,
few sources from before 1100 C.E. survive. However, there are a few examples from prayer
36
Werner Kelber, The Passion in Mark: Studies on Mark 14-16 (Philadelphia: Fortress Press,
1976), 177.
37
Kurt Von Fisher and Werner Braun, “Passion,” Grove Music Online, ed. L. Macy (Accessed 26
November 2007), available from http://www.grovemusic.com.proxy.libraries.uc.edu
38
Thomas Besbul, Text of the Passion: Latin Devotional Literature and Medieval Society
(Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1996), 30.
11
books designated for personal use. 39 In the mind of the medieval worshiper, the last moments of
Christ’s life in the liturgy were enough to portray the great immolation, there was no need to
imitate the event through imperfect means of impersonation and stagecraft. 40
On the other hand, dramatic presentations called Passion plays had their beginnings in the
planctus, a medieval type of song or poetry with the character of a lamentation. 41 The Passion
plays were accounts of the Gospel narrative with the insertion of details and dramatic elements
that approximated the story to the intended audience. The transformation of the Passion narrative
from biblical text to dramatic form is uncertain. The representation of the subject was
approached with great caution and respect. During Holy Week, a single deacon recited the
Passio, marking the change of characters in the dialogue by changing the pitch of his voice. 42
The Passion narrative found a new instrument for representation that alleviated some doctrinal
and theological fear of approximating the subject of Jesus’ death, and provided at the same time
a wider emotional range to develop means for the narrative to evolve. It is with this capability
that the Passion narrative found in music the greatest means for evolution and development.
39
Bestul, Text of the Passion, 34.
40
Karl Young, The Drama of the Medieval Church (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1903), 494.
41
Young, The Drama of the Medieval Church, 309.
42
Young, The Drama of the Medieval Church, 538.
12
Figure 2.1
Evolution of the Passion narrative
Event:
Trial and Death
of Jesus Christ
Preaching and
Midrash
“Ur-Markus”
Gospel of Mark
Passion
Narrative
Representations of the
narrative
FROM THE
LITURGY
Dramatical
Representation
Passion Plays
Literary
Representation
Musical
Representation
13
CHAPTER 3
THE PASSION NARRATIVE: FROM TEXT TO MUSICAL REPRESENTATION
Of all sacred texts with a history of musical settings, of which we may therefore
speak as a ‘genre,’ the Passion stands apart from the rest, being pure narrative
from beginning to end.” 43
Historically, music plays an important role in the expression of meaning, human feelings,
and emotions. The subject of the Passion narrative has attracted the work of many composers,
who have used the genre as a medium for the expression of meaning through their compositions.
The musical representation of the narrative of Christ’s death sprang from the liturgical
framework of the Christian liturgy itself, as early as the fifth century. Though no precise date or
event can be provided as a marker for the initial development of the representation of the
narrative, we find, through the writings of patristic theologians such as Pope Leo the Great, that
the representation of the narrative of Christ’s death developed within the confined rules and
rubrics of theological understanding and religious beliefs of the time, which in turn dictated the
possible means of representation. 44
There seems to be a correlation between the assignment of the liturgical readings of the
narrative to different days in Holy Week and the musical representation of the Passion. The
recitation of Passion settings within specific days implies the need for representational meaning
and intent within each performance of the Passion text for each day, suggesting an overarching
narratological trajectory of the four Passion narratives leading to a climatic resolution on Easter
Sunday.
43
Paul Hillier, Arvo Pärt (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1997), 122.
44
Kurt Von Fisher and Werner Braun, “Passion,” Grove Music Online, ed. L. Macy (Accessed
September 5 2007), available from http://www.grovemusic.com.proxy.libraries.uc.edu
14
Oration provides ways to embellish these performances in order to channel meaning
through performance. In oration, a special pattern of speech is necessary to utter the recitation of
the text. It resembles a single-tone recitation rather than strict speech. The representation of the
Passion in pseudo-musical terms may have emphasized a need to increase the solemnity of the
delivery. The need for this increased solemnity was in accordance with Saint Augustine’s
teachings in his sermon 218, solemniter legitur passion, solemniter celebrator (solemn reading
of the Passion, solemn celebration of the Passion), and the patristic theology of didactic function
of the Gospel. There is very little evidence that the Passion was sung by more than one singer,
the diakon, until the thirteenth century. 45 Manuscripts from the ninth century attest to the
insertion of litterae significativae (letters added to the neumes in plainchant in order to explain
how they should be executed), as an increment in the dramatic presentations of the singer as he
changes from one character to another in the narratological trajectory. This type of chanting, if it
is catalogued as such, belongs to the first musical representation of the Passion narrative, the
monophonic Passion. Further additions of pitch, tempo, and volume in the litterae significativae
were indications of a greater dramatic approach.46
As stated in chapter 2, in the minds of the early Christian worshipers, the last moments of
Christ’s life were a sacred event that didn’t need dramatic mechanisms to portray the great
immolation by imperfect imitation or impersonations. 47 Because of this dogma, any
approximation to musical staging of the Passion narrative was not encouraged; a dramatization
of one person, however, allowed for an accepted staging in the medieval worship. It was not until
45
Von Fisher and Braun, Passion.
46
Hillier, Arvo Pärt, 123.
47
Karl Young, The Drama of the Medieval Church, 494.
15
the year 1254 that the parts among the turba (in the Passion narrative, the text that is spoken by a
group of people) were distributed for the first time among different people, as it was observed in
the Dominican manuscript Gros Livre. 48 With this distribution of parts arose a new sense of
narration and meaning in the delivery of the text. Specific notes are assigned to singers for the
parts of Christ, the turba, and the Evangelist. It was not until the fourteenth and fifteenth
centuries that distribution of voices to different singers in a monophonic fashion became
universal. The first indication of a monophonic multi-voice presentation appears in a manuscript,
written in 1348: PL-WRuI-F459. 49 There were other elements that increased the dramatic
representational intensity of the narrative. Among these elements, the contemporary sense of
theological pietism and mysticism of Bernard de Clairvaux, as well as Franciscan-Dominican
piety, allowed the nature of the Passion narratives to transform from didactic to compassio,
increasing the dramatic and emotional content and delivery. 50 In consequence, contemporary
theological thought and belief dictated (or at least strongly determined) the musical form and
performance style. Evolution of the musical Passion narrative was marked less by musical
explorations or advancements than by the theological understanding of the time.
A different shift occurred in the fifteenth-century theological understanding of the
Passion narrative: the aim of the presentation moved from compassio to imitatio, in order to
bring the believer to a closer experience of the event. Examples of this are found in the St. Luke
48
Ray Robinson and Allen Winold. A Study of the Penderecki St Luke Passion. Celle: Moeck
Verlag, 1983: 28.
49
Von Fisher and Braun.
50
Von Fisher and Braun.
16
Passion and a fragmentary St. Matthew Passion in the manuscript GB-Lbl Eg.3307. 51 There were
two main compositional styles that approximated this need to imitate the narrative by musical
means: the responsorial Passion (choral Passion, dramatic Passion, as in St. Matthew Passion by
Richard Davy, found in the Eton Choirbook c1490), and the through-composed Passion (or
Motet Passion, as in Johannes a la Venture and Antoine de Longueval Passion settings). In the
responsorial Passion, the presentation of the Evangelist was delivered in a monophonic fashion,
while the words of Christ and the parts of the turba were presented in a polyphonic fashion. In
the through-composed Passion, the complete account of the text is set polyphonically. These
settings were musically arranged either following one Evangelist’s account, or through a
combination of all the Gospels into a fusion of all four narratives, also known as Summa
Passionis.
A new development in the musical form of the Passion resulted from the era’s theological
understanding, known as the Protestant Passion. The writings of Martin Luther, especially his
Theologia Crucis, pronounced the statement that the Passion of Christ should not be acted out in
words and pretence, but in real life. 52 A more authentic representation closer to the life of people
should be crafted. This thought helped the development of the polyphonic and monophonic
settings of the Passion in the German language, which spread rapidly in popularity.
In the seventeenth century, responsorial and through-composed Passion types continued
to provide models for compositional purposes. The models set by Johann Walther, Passion music
set to the German vernacular, replaced the recitation of the Evangelist, which was set against a
51
Von Fisher and Braun, accessed [January 10, 2008] available from
http://www.grovemusic.com.proxy.libraries.uc.edu/shared/views/article.html?music.40090.2
52
Von Fisher and Braun.
17
polyphonic setting of the turba utterances. The dramatic representational aspects of these
contrasts were increased by the use of rhythmic and harmonic settings in the polyphonic
sections. 53 However, these settings, such as Schütz’s Dresden Passions (intended primarily for
use in the electoral court of Saxony) quickly became independent from their liturgical teleology.
During the mid-seventeenth century, a radical innovation to the musical narrative was
introduced, by which new signification was added to the performance. A group of German
Hanseatic cities introduced instrumentations in the form of fundamental accompaniment and
ornamental embellishment to the text. These settings were referred to as Oratorio Passions, and
they were embellished not only by musical instruments but also by insertion of interpolations of
textual reflective episodes, the addition of instrumental meditational sinfonias, and addition of
supporting biblical texts as well as new madrigalian verses and hymns. Examples of these
settings are St. Matthew Passion by J.G. Kühnhausen, c1680, and J.V. Meder's St. Matthew
Passion. 54 Now the parts representing the words of Christ were musically set to the
accompaniment of a continuo, or the melodic narrations of the Evangelist were set to
instrumental melodic embellishment. Meaning and narratology changed within this context of
the Passion narrative and its liturgical source, adding to the nature of the dramatic representation
and changing the Passion from liturgical use to a concert piece.
By the eighteenth century there were three groups of musical representations of the
Passion narrative. In the first place there was the vocal Passion, where no instruments were used,
but which included, in some cases, embellishments by the addition of hymns. Within this group
the chanted Passion settings utilized in the Roman liturgies were still present. A second group
53
Von Fisher and Braun.
54
Von Fisher and Braun.
18
included the Oratorio Passions, where the biblical text was a principal force. This type of Passion
included more representational means of musically portraying the text. Examples of this group
are the Latin settings of the St. John Passion by Alessandro Scarlatti, c1680, and Gaspare
Gabellone, 1756. Lastly, a third group included the lyrical meditations of the Passion without
direct dialogue and narration. In eighteenth-century Passion representation there is a
complication in the classification of musical styles. A wide array of hybrid types provided many
new styles that did not develop into genres. Within their structure and musical form,
compositions added sectional interpolations such as poetical preludes, free recitatives, da capo
arias, or even full arias.
By the nineteenth century, with the evolution of public concerts, choral societies, and
music festivals, the Passion narrative took different characteristics, becoming a concert piece
outside the liturgical environment. These Passion musical settings, or even the newly
rediscovered St. Matthew Passion by Johann Sebastian Bach, were used as full concert pieces
that did not offer a liturgical teleology, but were rather performed for aesthetical pleasure instead
of liturgical worship. Even the performances of these works in churches were not meant to serve
the liturgy. The church buildings were transformed from a place of theological worship to a
concert hall, for musical works of sacred material that were designed and performed within the
aesthetic surroundings of a sacred building and architecture. In the twentieth century an attempt
was made to revive the liturgical use of the musical Passion narratives. The Cecilian movement
intended to promote and return the Passion narrative to the original liturgical use. During the last
decade of the nineteenth century and the twentieth century a clear distinction was made between
musical Passion settings intended for the concert hall and settings intended for liturgical use. An
example of the latters is Heinrich von Herzogenberg’s Die Passion. Among the most popular
19
settings for concert use are Penderecki’s Passio et mors Domini nostri Jesu Christi secundum
Lucam 1965 and Arvo Pärt’s Passion Domini nostri Jesu Christi secundum Joannem 1982.
20
CHAPTER 4
TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY PASSION SETTINGS, PASSION 2000, AND GOLIJOV
In the year 2000, Helmuth Rilling, artistic director of the Internationale Bachakademie
Stuttgart, commissioned the Passion 2000. The project was a commemorative homage of the
250th anniversary of Johann Sebastian Bach’s death and was intended “to prove that the Passion
is still in demand and not the least out of date.” 55 The ontologies and intentionalities of Passion
settings in the twenty-first century tend to be far removed from their original liturgical context,
and this project was no exception. These settings were designed as aesthetical performances that
utilize the subject of religiosity in the context of a concert piece, bringing the subject of Jesus’
death back to the concert hall for performance, instead of reserving it for ritual devotion. These
settings have the intent of attracting and developing awareness of new musical expression,
intending further to bring people back to the concert halls while promoting the artistic works of
new composers within the confines of religious matter. Concert halls have became the houses
which give shelter to the musical representation of the Passion narrative in the present, as sacred
worship spaces did in the past. As Richard Taruskin has noted, “the sacred is marketable and
profitable, seemingly a paradoxical, even blasphemous, notion.” 56 However, from the time of
Handel’s oratorios to the present, there are many precedents for a sacred subject becoming a
conduit for gain within the musical marketplace.
Within this context the project Passion 2000 commemorated the death of Johann
Sebastian Bach by commissioning four settings of the Passion narrative, one from each
evangelist, within a multi-cultural context, maintaining a distinctive musical and textual
55
Osvaldo Golijov, La Pasión Según San Marcos, CD 98.404 (Germany: Hannsler-Verlag
Classic, 2001), 25.
56
Richard Taruskin, “Sacred Entertainments,” Cambridge Opera Journal 15, no.2 (2003): 114.
21
representation for each of the four Gospel Passion narratives. These musical representations of
the Passion narrative aimed to approximate the polarity markers by which we perceive the
diversity of musical idioms in our times. They intended to provide a sample of twenty-first
century musical eclecticism, while reading the texts with the perceptive lenses of cultural
diversity and theological relativism.
Chinese composer Tan Dun received the commission for the narrative based on the
gospel of Matthew. Tan Dun, who was raised in Maoist China, is far removed stylistically from
the influence of Bach’s Passion oratorio tradition. The work, Water Passion after St Matthew,
shaped by the composer’s affinity to ritual and theatrical musical performance, is a dramatic
representation through the eyes of a culture foreign to Christianity. The presentation of the
narrative as Chinese ritual is represented by using splashing water as a percussive device,
integrating throughout the work Western musical compositional styles such as American country
fiddling, with vocal styles found in Peking opera and Tuvan throat singers. 57
The element of water is present as the main source for musical inventiveness, as Tan Dun
commented: “the experience of living with water, playing with water, and listening to water was
very important for me.” 58 Among the indications for performance are six different and unusual
ways to perform with water as a percussive instrument:
1.
Water drips (water drips from the hands)
2.
Water bubbles (with bottles)
3.
Plucking the water with fingers
57
298.
Nick Strimple, Choral Music in the Twentieth Century (New Jersey: Amadeus Press 2005),
58
Brett Campbell, “Tan Dun Talks on Water,” Andante Magazine: Everything Classical
[accessed October 18, 2007] available from http://www.andante.com/article/article.cfm?id=17791.
22
4.
Waterr patting (with the left orr right hand))
5.
Raise a tube in thee air and let the water naaturally drip down from it (with two
hands)
6.
Raise a tube in thee air and let the water naaturally drip down from it (with one
hand) 59
Figure 4..1
Tan Dun percussion notation
R
Reprinted
with perm
mission Schirmer Rental
R
Library
The piecee’s scoring includes
i
a mixed
m
choir with
w a minim
mum number of six singeers per part.
Singers are
a required to play withh water and Tibetan
T
fingeer bells, and to sing overrtones in
alternatioon with playing ancient ceramic
c
winnd instruments. The sopraano part reacches a high E6,
E
and the vocal
v
bass a low
l C2, creaating a wide range of tonne. Instrumental parts incclude violin,,
cello, sam
mpler (speciffically indicated as a Yaamaha A30000), electronic sound-processors, andd
59
Tan Dun, Water
Wa Passion after St. Mattthew (New Yoork: Schirmerr, 2001), 3.
23
three percussionists. The percussionist and the chorus play on a set of seventeen hemispherical
transparent water basins with twenty floor-bass lamps and thirty pairs of Tibetan bells.
German composer Wolfgang Rihm received the commission for the narrative of the
Gospel of Luke. Deus Passus is articulated within the language of German postmodernism and
seems at first to be contrite in its musical gestures. However, by combining gospel accounts of
Jesus’ persecution with textual interpolations of Tenebrae by holocaust survivor Paul Celan, and
the liturgical text of the Stabat Mater and Liturgy of Holy Week, Rihm created a compelling
reminder that all acts of inhumanity, even if two thousand years apart, are driven by the same
evil impulses. 60 The composition’s musical forces include five vocal soloists (soprano, mezzosoprano, alto, tenor, and baritone), supported by a mixed choir. The orchestra consists of two
flutes plus alto flute, two oboes, English horn, baritone oboe, bassoon, contrabassoon, four tenor
and bass trombones, two percussionists, harp, organ, six first violins, six second violins, six
violas, four violoncellos, and two double-basses. 61
Russian composer Sofia Gubaidulina received the commission for the narrative of the
Gospel of John. Her work is an extension of Russian Orthodox musical tradition, where bass
solos, vibrating low and deep, combine with melodic and structural climaxes to create a climate
of musical meditation and contemplation of higher spiritual events. Textually, there are additions
from the book of Revelation and the Russian-language gospel text, lending an apocalyptic
character to the musical gestures. 62 The work is composed for two choirs, the first a chamber
60
Strimple, Choral Music, 298.
61
Wolfgang Rihm, Deus Passus: Passion-Stucke nach Lukas fur Soli, Chor und Orchester
(Vienna: Universal Edition 2000), 4.
62
Strimple, Choral Music, 298.
24
choir of twenty-four singers and the second a massive choir of eighty members. In addition, there
are four soloists: soprano using a microphone, dramatic tenor, baritone, and the trademark of
Russian sacred choral music, a solo basso. All of this is accompanied by a full orchestra with six
percussionists, organ, amplified piano with two microphones, and synthesizer—a massive music
ensemble indeed. 63
The narrative of the Gospel of Mark was commissioned of the most eclectic and
paradoxical composer of the four, Argentina-born Osvaldo Golijov. La Pasión según San
Marcos represents a diversity and combination of musical idioms through its use of various
compositional styles. These styles are representative of the world of modern secular Latin
American music, Catholic musical tradition, Jewish tradition and prayer, and political protest
music. 64 The composition uses a blend of techniques that belong to both art music and popular
music, creating at times a fusion of the two. Though Golijov expressed a “fear of being a Jew
writing a Christian piece,” 65 he successfully managed to appropriate the styles and develop a
composition that reinforces his status as a leading composer. Richard Taruskin rightly praises the
composition as a “lavish collage of musical idioms from Latin American, Afro-Cuban, and
Jewish cantorial idioms.” 66 Indeed, it could be argued that Golijov’s is not an original
composition, and that the elements developed by the composer are indicative of styles already
developed by other performers and composers. Whatever the case, the composition is a clever
63
Sofia Gubaidulina, Johannes-Passion; für Sopran, Tenor, Bariton, Bass, zwei gem. Chöre und
Orchestre (Hamburg: Musikverlag Hans Sikorski, 2000), 3.
64
See page 2, note 6.
65
Richard Skirpan, “Latin American Polystylism: Structure and Form in Osvaldo Golijov’s La
Pasion segun san Marcos” (M.M. Thesis, Duquesne University, 2004), 4.
66
Richard Taruskin, “Sacred Entertainments,” Cambridge Opera Journal 15 (2003): 113.
25
construction of musical styles and structures at the hands of Golijov. It would be appropriate to
classify this work as a collage of musical ethnographic quotations, with the addition of Golijov’s
compositional nuances and stylistic weaving.
Some important questions remain unanswered. Is the composition polystylistic? What is
the best analytical tool to understand the relationship and organization between the formal
structures, text, and musical elements? How is meaning represented through music in this
collage? Golijov states: “I want to record—like Rembrandt recorded the Jews, I want to record
the Christians, simply that. For instance, my great grandmother had a picture of ‘Jeremiah
Lamenting the Fall of Jerusalem’ by Rembrandt—it's the greatest Jewish picture ever, and he
was not a Jew, but he lived amongst them—I cannot aspire to be Rembrandt but if at least one
section of the Passion has the truth about Christianity that Rembrandt's paintings have about
Judaism, I'll be all right—that's enough.” 67 Herein lies a difficulty: how should we analyze this
work in the context of Golijov’s statement? As Rembrandt utilized techniques to approximate his
painting to his understanding of the subject, one must find a theory that will approach Golijov’s
composition in a similar fashion. An analytical system is necessary to understand how meaning
is achieved in such a complex musical collage. In his thesis, Richard Skirpan approached the
analysis through a descriptive exposition of polystylism. Unfortunately, Skirpan’s approach does
not represent a helpful tool to understand the complex compositional processes or to map the
relationship between textual meaning and musical articulation. The projection of meaning and
the narratological trajectory through the composition are achieved by the fusion and interaction
between musical characteristics (structures, stylistic musical gestures) and characteristics of the
text (interpolations, original text, quotations from scriptures). Models and theories of metaphor
67
Osvaldo Golijov. Accessed October 15, 2007, available from
http://osvaldogolijov.com/wd1.htm
26
and irony in music, put forth by Robert Hatten, Juan Chattah, Yayoi Uno Everett, and Erin
Sheinberg, will prove indispensable in considering the correlation between musical articulation
and gestural utterances on the one hand, and textual structures and meaning on the other.
27
CHAPTER 5
SEMIOTICS, MEANING, AND IRONY IN MUSIC
The concept of meaning in music has occupied the minds of theorists and performers
throughout the centuries. In the twentieth century, associational theories of signification and
meaning stemming from Ferdinand de Saussure in Europe and Charles Sanders Peirce in the
United States, developed into a discipline that later would include the study of musical discourse.
This approach, addressing meaning in music, has entered the realm of musical scholarship as
musical semiotics. This area of study deals with musical objects as signs—entities with the
potential for signification. It draws its sources from philosophy, music theory, musicology,
ethnomusicology, cultural history, literary criticism, and linguistics. Analytical models are
employed to achieve sound correlation between the musical object and its signification. A model
that seems to achieve success in this quest for meaning in music is the associative model. In this
model we first listen to music recognizing what is familiar, then we associate those familiarities
as we recall other music schemata. 68
A type of associative analytical technique is “arbitrary encoding,” in which the
associations are beyond dispute and widely recognized as characteristics of the music. 69
Prototypes of this associative example are compositions used in the context of military music, in
particular national anthems, and military marches. Other associative techniques include
quotation, “where the music appeals to our familiarity with a certain musical element to convey
specific meaning,” stylistic allusion, “in which the familiarity may be displayed as a general
68
Peter Burkholder, ed., Approaches to Meaning in Music (Indiana: Indiana University Press,
2006), 79.
69
Burkholder, Approaches to Meaning in Music, 81.
28
melodic pattern or style rather than a specific melody,” references to specific pieces or
conventions, and references to musical syntax. 70 Within the associative process there are two
competencies that further dictate understanding of musical discourse: “stylistic competency,” the
general principles and constraints of a style, and “strategic competency,” individual choices and
exceptions occasioned by a work. 71 In stylistic correlations and strategic interpretations we can
understand the means by which composers map expression and meaning in musical structure.
The same fundamental dialectic between stylistic and strategic competencies is analogous to that
of understanding an utterance in language. 72 The musical message is decoded first according to
the code, then is interpreted according to its context. The quest for meaning in musical semiotics
is concerned with unveiling not what music means, but rather how music means. 73
The concept of markedness, explored in linguistic theory by Michael Shapiro in the
1980s and Edwin Battistella in the 1990s (but tracing its origins to Roman Jakobson and the
Prague School), can be applied to musical analysis as a helpful tool by which we can analyze and
explain the role of musical opposition in the creation of expressive meaning. Robert Hatten
explains markedness as a valuation given to difference where differentiation brings inevitable
opposition. Hatten quotes from Battistela when he states “a marked term asserts the presence of a
particular feature, and an unmarked term negates that assertion.” 74 The example of the unmarked
term “cow” helps to illustrate the concept. For Hatten, the term “cow” is unmarked because it
70
Burkholder, Approaches to Meaning in Music, 82.
71
Robert Hatten, Musical Meaning in Beethoven: Markedness, Correlation, and Interpretation
(Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1994), 30.
72
Hatten, Musical Meaning in Beethoven, 33.
73
Kofi Awagu, Playing With Signs: A Semiotic Interpretation of Classic Music (Princeton:
Princeton University Press, 1991), 5.
74
Robert Hatten, Musical Meaning in Beethoven, 34.
29
doesn’t require a distinguishing explanation of gender. A cow can be either gender. However, the
term “bull” specifies a male gender. “Bull” is marked for oppositional meaning of gender, where
“cow” is umarked. 75 Hatten goes further to classify two types of markedness. The first, privative
opposition, indicates whether a term can be unmarked to show lack of relevance or can be
expressively excluded (presence of A vs. absence of A). The second, equipollent opposition,
asserts the presence of contrary features rather than the presence or absence of a single feature.
The concept of markedness is suitable for musical analysis at different levels. A musical work
can be analyzed in terms of harmonic opposition (major and minor keys as a form of expressive
meaning), melodic opposition (melodic contours and gestures as forms of expressive meaning),
formal opposition (sections and structures as oppositions), rhythmic oppositions (rhythmic
structures acting as opposite markers), as well as in terms of timbre and texture. Markedness in a
musical composition can be analyzed within both stylistic and strategic contexts. As is in the
case of La Pasión segun San Marcos, Golijov’s use of markedness constitutes a complex web of
multi-level referentiality. The differences in referentiality can be evaluated as oppositional, and
the elements comprising the oppositions are not confined to a single stylistic or strategic plan.
Within the context of markedness, there are associative references such as in the case of
metaphors. “A metaphor is an explicit or implicit comparison which is literally false.” 76 Chattah
explains that according to Katz, a metaphorical reading occurs when a predicate violates literal
category membership. In Chattah’s explanation of metaphor, Herbert Clark and Peter Lucy
present the three-stage model for recognizing metaphors by calling attention to their literal
75
Robert Hatten, Musical Meaning in Beethoven, 34.
76
Juan Chattah, “Semiotics, Pragmatics, and Metaphor in Film Music Analysis” (Ph.D. diss.,
Florida State Univeristy, 2006), 10.
30
falsehood. 77 The metaphor derives the literal meaning of an utterance, testing the derived
meaning against the context of the utterance. Reference to context is primordial, as context is the
element that can transform a literal true statement into a metaphor and vice versa.78 As explained
by Hatten, metaphors have the characteristic of interactivity by which meaning emerges.
Metaphorical thinking and metaphors in music have suffered an unfair reception, because
of the temptation to qualify all musical expressive meaning as metaphorical. Thus, there must be
a better system than simply applying metaphorical labels to every musical utterance. It is
important to provide a consistent set of instances where meaning is cued by particular features
and context in music. 79 Within semiotic studies, music has always been in a continuous
relationship with cultural units. However, there are times where incongruencies between musical
units and cultural units occur. In order to understand these relationships between musical and
cultural units, we need to approach the analysis of the material within a different philosophical
methodology. Irony in music becomes the philosophical method of analysis by which we can
describe and understand the creative principles behind a composition and the artistic techniques
that provide meaning.
According to Hatten, “irony is a high-order trope that is inaugurated by the contradiction
between what is claimed and a context that cannot support its reality. The trope is interpreted by
recognizing that something else is meant.” 80 We find that metaphors do mean something
different. However, in the case of irony there must be a potential for reversal in interpreting what
77
For a detailed explanation of metaphor see chapter “Metaphor” in Chattah, Semiotics, 10-25.
78
Chattah, Semiotics, 10.
79
Robert Hatten, Musical Meaning in Beethoven, 164.
80
Robert Hatten, Musical Meaning in Beethoven, 172.
31
is really meant. In irony, there must be an intentional inappropriateness. This inappropriateness
may be literal or metaphorical, and by it we can interpret the contradiction as meaningful or
expressive. 81 The use of irony in conjunction with parody has an ideological goal. In La Pasión
según San Marcos one could state that there are aesthetical motivations that underlie parody,
irony, and satire. It is useful to frame the interest and motivation of analysis of irony to provide
not an explanation of why the composer meant the piece in ironic terms, but an analysis of how
the composer meant it.
If we abide by the statement, “in musical discourse, parody and irony present elusive
terms that defy concrete analysis,” then this can leads us to the question “how can parody be
systematically distinguished from collage, pastiche, and quotation in twentieth-century music?” 82
In order to answer this question, Yayoi Uno Everett and Esti Sheinberg provide a set of
definitions that qualify each of the categories in terms of the ethos and aesthetic motivations that
(presumably) guided the composers while adapting their various parodic techniques. First,
Everett defines parody in musical discourse as a composer’s appropriation of pre-existing music
with the intent of highlighting it in a significant way. 83 The analyst further determines whether
the ethos that accompanies the music is deferential (neutral), ridiculing (satirical), or
contradictory (ironic). 84 The three constructs and procedures outlined by Everett are: 1) a
paradigmatic substitution of expressive state, by correlation or analogy; 2) incongruous
juxtaposition of stylistic elements; and 3) the progressive de-contextualization of literal and
81
Robert Hatten, Musical Meaning in Beethoven, 173.
82
Yayoi Uno Everett, “Parody with an Ironic Edge: Dramatic Works by Kurt Weill, Peter
Maxwell Davies, and Louis Andriessen” Music Theory Online 10, no.4 (2004): 1.
83
Everett, Parody with an Ironic Edge, 5.
84
Everett, Parody with an Ironic Edge, 5.
32
stylized quotations. Everett further points out that, by these procedures, the satiric ethos may be
induced locally or combined to convey an ironic ethos at a broader metaphorical level of
interpretation. 85 Sheinberg offers more specific criteria helping to outline the identification of
musical irony:
1. Stylistic incongruities within one governing style
2. Stylistic discontinuities within one governing style
3. Incongruities with available information about the composer’s set of convictions,
beliefs, values, or about his or her personal characteristics
4. Incongruities based on meta-stylistic norms, e.g., rendering a feeling of ‘too high’, ‘to
fast’, ‘too many repetitions’ etc., not when measured relative to a certain style or
topic, but per se
5. Shifts between levels of musical discourse
6. Juxtapositions of more than one stylistic or topical context, none of which could be
regarded as ‘governing’. 86
In the analysis of ironic interpretation, Juan Chattah further emphasizes the need to specify such
other rhetorical devices incorporated in the form as hyperbole (exaggeration), parody (reference
and imitation), satire (intending to ridicule or criticize a social sector), sarcasm (intending to
ridicule or criticize an individual), and the grotesque (juxtaposition of the ludicrous with the
horrifying). 87
85
Everett, Parody with an Ironic Edge, 8.
86
Esti Sheinberg, Irony, Satire, Parody and the Grotesque in the Music of Shostakovich: A
Theory of Musical Inconguities (Vermont: Ashgate Publishing Company, 2000), 64.
87
Chattah, Semiotics, 80.
33
One important concept expanding our understanding of irony as a method of expression
is that of existential irony, the double nature by which two types of ironic statements are
understood. According to Sheinberg, existential irony may be understood as follow:
On one hand it uses contradictions to express the idea of infinite negation¸ which is the
endless process of Socratic irony, and on the other hand expresses the contrary idea, that
of infinite accretion, the process that accepts and affirms all contradictory data as part of
one large, rich, and varied picture. 88
Golijov uses existential irony in La Pasión segun San Marcos as a meta-language by which
ethical messages are encrypted under the disguise of structural juxtaposition, stylistic
incompatibility, and incongruous cultural cross-mapping. Søren Kierkegaard regarded irony as a
matter of the utmost ethical consequences. For Kierkegaard irony is not a matter of speech but a
basic attitude toward life and human existence. 89 By taking this position, one locates the use of
irony as a greater subject in Golijov’s music, dealing with the ideological and ethical
consequences of musical choices. Golijov’s use of irony is a good referential marker by which
one can see a glimpse of the composer’s ethics through his artistic work. Consequently,
Golijov’s music speaks about human nature, religiosity in the twenty-first century, and
multiculturalism in a collage of emotions and expressions, sometimes incongruent and in
complete opposition, occupying a shared space and time.
88
Sheinberg, Irony, 313.
89
Sheinberg, Irony, 318.
34
CHAPTER 6
SON MONTUNO – JUDAS Y EL CORDERO PASCUAL
(Son Montuno – Judas and the Paschal Lamb)
Robert Martin raises the question: what is the connection between the musical work and
meaning? 90 As a response, one could use Robert Hatten’s explanation which states that music
can mediate by habit of association, when stylistically encoded, by producing correlations. When
these correlations are strategically inferred through a stylistically interpretative process, music
produces interpretations. 91 Music is able to indicate, denote, connote, communicate, express,
suggest, and symbolize.
When the relationship between the musical object (musical work) and meaning includes
text, one also needs to consider the meaning of the text and its relationship to the musical object
with its contribution to musical expression. One must consider the following:
1. Is there a collection of recognizable kinds of containers or musical objects that
can be associated to particular expressive connotations, derived from the
environment where they habitually exist?
2. Are the associations common knowledge to the environment of the cultural group,
and is the group aware of the fact that they are common knowledge?
3. Are the characteristics of these musical objects easily recognized as allusions to
the kind of associations portraying referential meaning associations? 92
90
Robert Martin, “Topics as Meaning,” The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism, 53, no.4
(Fall 1995): 417.
91
Robert Hatten, Meaning in Beethoven, 275.
92
Martin, Topics as Meaning, 418-19.
35
In Judas Y el Cordero Pascual, Golijov uses the musical sub-genre son montuno (a derivative
sub-genre from the main son musical genre) as a cultural referential marker. For our analysis, it
is important to point that the son genre, including all its derivative sub-genres, is the most
important musical representative of contemporary Cuban popular culture.
A highly syncretic form, the son is among the most important musical forms of the
Caribbean, usually it is in duple meter, has simple harmonic patterns, and alternates between
verse and chorus sections. 93 The son genre evolved by an amalgamation of musical materials of
African and European origin. In its beginnings as a musical genre, son was played and sung
exclusively by black people. However, later the son found popularity among white musicians
and listeners alike. 94 Today, the genre is representative of indigenous musical aesthetics and has
become a symbol of musical nationalism in Cuba. In order to create this musical symbol as a
signifier of racial integration and social unity, there was need for a social movement to help fuse
both musical cultures. Finding its way into the musical forms, the poetic movement poesía
Afrocubanista (Afro-Cuban poetry) was the principal factor making son a unifying national
cultural sign. 95
The son has certain musical characteristics that make it aurally recognizable. One of them
is the “anticipated bass” rhythmic pattern (figure 6.1).
93
Gerard Béhague, Robin Moore: ‘Cuba,’ Grove Dictionary Online, ed. L. Macy (Accessed 28
February 2008), http://www.grovemusic.com.proxy.libraries.uc.edu
94
James Robbins, “The Cuban Son as Form, Genre, and Symbol,” Latin American Music Review
11, no.2 (Autumn-Winter, 1990): 182.
95
The Afrocubanista is a movement where the mulatto literary forms in the 1930 emerged from a
common stock formed by the historical interaction between black and white Cubans. Afrocubanista
poetry was one of the products of this process, a mulatto literary genre that symbolized black and white
cultural unity because it introduced black cultural forms into white poetry. See Miguel Arnedo,
“Afrocubanista Poetry and Afro-Cuban Performance,” The Modern Language Review, 96, no.4 (October
2001): 991.
36
Figure 6..1
Anticiipated bass
This anticipated-basss rhythmic pattern is usuually played throughout the
t son by thhe doublebasss
and the piano.
p
Howev
ver, other innstruments allso follow thhe pattern. The anticipateed bass is a
distinctivve musical ch
haracteristicc of son. It caame to be as an inherent fusion of rhhythms foundd in
the Rumbba Guaguanco and the Europeanized
E
d Habanera and Danzónn. 96 The anticcipated bass
creates a sense of ten
nsion, upbeatt exhilarationn, and forwaard motion by
b anticipatinng and markking
the upcom
ming harmon
ny that woulld unfold in the upcominng beat.
A
Another
musiical characteeristic of the son is the cllave rhythm in which ann ostinato patttern
is the prim
mordial uniffying elemennt (figure 6.22).
Figure 6..2
Clavee rhythm
mic continuiity functions as a guidingg element annd as
The clavee presents a single patterrn, its rhythm
a foundattion for the entire
e
instrum
mental struccture.
966
Peter Manueel, “The Anticcipated Bass in Cuban Poppular Music,”” Latin Americcan Music Reeview
6, no.2 (A
Autumn-Winteer, 1985): 2599.
37
L
Lastly,
the ma
atrices rítmiicas (rhythm
mic matrices) or tumbaos are rhythmiic patterns
producedd by the com
mposite rhythhms of all thee parts (figurre 6.3). 97
Figure 6..3
Tumbao (rhythmicc matrices)
James Roobbins alludes to tumbaoos as construuctions incorrporating thee rhythmic chharacteristiccs of
all the paarts. The tum
mbaos or rhytthmic matricces are particcularly impoortant in son because theey
determinne—for the liistener, musiician, and daancers—whaat musical evvents to expeect. For exam
mple,
during thhe singing so
olo section (rrefrain) the tumbao
t
utilizzes a rhythm
mic pattern thhat is continuuous
and emphhasizes the downbeat
d
wiithout distraccting from thhe melodic material.
m
Thee bongos plaaying
downbeaats together with
w the Guiros support the
t melodic gesture arrivving to the downbeat
d
(figure
6.4).
97
James Robbiins, The Cubaan Son as Forrm, Genre, annd Symbol, 18
88.
38
Figure 6.4
6
Rhyth
hmic Matrix for refrain section (son soloist sectioon)
ge occurs in the chorus section.
s
The bongos are now avoidinng the downbbeat,
A recognnizable chang
and the bass
b is only playing
p
the downbeat
d
at the beginninng of the choorus section continuing the
t
pattern of a silent dow
wnbeat throuughout (figuure 6.5). Throough this chhange in charracter and
rhythmicc change, thee dancers aree invited to jooin as they will
w not interrfere with thhe solo singinng.
Also, thiss change sig
gnals the endd of the solo singing, connsequently marking
m
the beginning
b
off the
chorus. Traditionally
T
y, the chorus part is wherre audience members
m
aree encouragedd to sing along
and dancce.
39
Figure 6..5
Rhyth
hmic matricees for choruss section
Thee silent downbeaat
continues throughouut the
whoole refrain sectioon
T son musiical style refflects as a whhole a syncreetic mix of musical
The
m
gestuures and poeetic
articulatiions that in th
heir combination of elem
ments alludee to unity, fussion, and cohhesiveness.
Within thhe son there are sub-genrres that conttain small am
mounts of vaariants in thee style, amonng
them are the son mon
ntuno, son chhangüí, and son sucu-sucu. 98 Golijovv uses the suub-genre sonn
988
For a detaileed explanationn of son sub-ggenres see Geerard Behage and James Moore,
M
“Cubaa,”
Grove Muusic Online ed
d. L. Macy (A
Accessed 24 July
J
2007), avvailable from
http://www
w.grovemusic.com.proxy.libraries.uc.edu
40
montuno in his musiccal representtation of the Last Supperr narrative sccene from Mark’s
M
Gospeel.
There aree two main characteristic
c
cs belongingg to the son montuno,
m
thee inclusion of
o an a caballlo
section and
a a conclud
ding coda-likke montuno.
Inn the a caballlo (“horse-sstyle”) sectioon there is a peculiar chaange in the rhhythmic
structure of the tumbao, where thhe rhythmic pattern
p
channges from thee son patternn to the a cabballo
pattern. This
T pattern is called “inn horse style”” because it imitates the strong and fast
f galloping of
a horse as
a an iconic representatio
r
on of joy, viggor, and highh-spirited euuphoria (figuure 6.6). Thiss
change inn rhythmic pattern
p
calls the attentionn of the audience as an innvitation to join
j
in the
joyous siinging.
Figure 6..6
Son rh
hythmic patttern – a cabaallo rhythmicc pattern
The iconic representaation of the galloping
g
off the horse iss achieved byy the combinnation of thee
t downbeaat of the bonngos’ rhythm
mic patterns and
a the Guirros rhythmic cell
addition of a rest on the
(figure 6.7).
41
Figure 6..7
A caballo rhythmiic cell
Boongos
Guuiros
T montuno section is a coda-like seection in whiich all the prrevious musical materiall
The
blends toogether bring
ging the final structural gesture
g
to a climatic
c
closse. In its struuctural closinng,
the son montuno
m
secttion emphasiizes a sense of unity andd fusion of alll the diversee musical
elements as a last forrmal gesture.
N that I haave identifiedd the son background referent, let uss consider hoow Golijov
Now
places it against the narrative
n
sceene, the betraayal (Mark 14:
1 10-11), thhe betrayer (Mark
(
14: 17721), and the apostolicc question (M
Mark 14:19). In Louis Marin’s
M
semiootic analysiss of the Passiion
narrativee, five narratiive characterrs are distingguished. 99 These
T
narrativve elements or characterrs are
the voicees of the evan
ngelist as thee narrator, a chorus representing the apostles, tennors represeenting
Judas Isccariot, the vo
oice of Jesus, and a choruus of observvers. Thoughh Martin conssiders and naames
these chaaracters “top
pics and figurres,” we will avoid usingg these terms as they creeate controveersy
with the idea of musiical “topics”” explored byy Leonard Ratner,
R
Roberrt Hatten, annd Kofi Awaagu.
For our analytical
a
pu
urposes I willl use the term
ms narrativee objects or characters.
c
Inn Golijov’s use
u of the geenre son monntuno againsst Mark’s narrrative scenee, one can pooint
to inconggruities betw
ween the mussical objects and its correesponding teext. There is an inability to
999
Louis Marin
n, Semiotic off the Passion Narrative,
N
Top
opics and Figuures (Pittsburrgh: Pickwickk
Press, 19880), 42.
42
correlate with and accommodate each other. This can be classified as irony in music with the
intention of creating a satirical effect. The technique used to effect this particular occurrence of
musical irony is trans-contextualization, where there is a replacement of a familiar whole with
another to create a satirical effect. The musical object is trans-contextualized, taken from one
familiar context to another, with which it is stylistically incongruous. 100
The overall form of Golijov’s son comprises three main sections: Mark’s (I), Jesus’ (II),
and a final montuno section (III). The first main section (Mark’s section) is a three strophechorus structure (figure 6.8). During the interaction between the soloist (strophe) and the choir
(chorus), as stated earlier, the chorus is a designated place in which other musicians or audience
members can join. 101 This creates an interactive engagement between the musicians and the
audience, creating another sense of unification between the roles and interactions of
performance–performers.
100
Esti Sheinberg, Irony, Satire, Parody and the Grotesque in the Music of Shostakovich: A
Theory of Musical Incongruities (Vermont: Ashgate Publishing Company, 2000), 102.
101
James Robbins, The Cuban Son as Form, 190.
43
Figure 6..8
Mark’’s section (thhree strophe--chorus units)
MARK
K SECTION
N (I)
mm 1--28
Strophe
Chorus
Mark: mm 9-24
Choir:
Judas:
mm 29-44
Stropphe
Choruus
mm. 299-40
Strophe
C
Chorus
mm
m. 45-52
4
mm. 41-44
mm. 41-44
4
mm. 25-28
mm 45-556
mm. 53- 56
m
m 53-56
mm.
T soloist siings the narrrative characcter of Mark the Evangellist, while the correspondding
The
chorus reesponds, in a “call-response” style, singing
s
the character of the
t disciples. In the secoond
call the character
c
of Judas
J
is introoduced in m.
m 41 as a voiice shifting rhythmically
r
y in the choraal
entrancess (figure 6.9)).
Figure 6..9
Judas Character
44
Section (II), the
t Jesus secction, is a thrree strophe-cchorus occurrrence by thee soloist singging
the charaacter of Jesuss (figure 6.10). In the thiird strophe-rrefrain there is an additioon and
introducttion of a new
w element, thhree women’’s voices as observers (fi
figure 6.11). In this sectioon
however,, the narrativ
ve and musiccal material begins
b
to fusse as they prrogress towaard the climaatic
structural closing of section (III),, the montunno section (fiigure 6.12).
Figure 6..10
Jesus Section (thrree strophe – chorus unitts)
JESUS
S SECTION
N (II)
mm 57
7-76
Strophe
Jesus: mm 57-72
Choir:
Judas:
Observers:
Figure 6..11
Chorus
mm 77-92
Stropphe
Choruus
mm. 77-92
7
Threee Women (Obbservers)
45
Strophe
C
Chorus
mm
m. 93-116
8
mm. 89-92
mm. 89-92
8
mm. 73-76
mm. 73-76
mm 93-1116
mm. 93 to end
m
m 93 to end
mm.
m 93 to end
mm.
Figure 6.12
Montuno section
Montuno Section
mm. 117-124
Jesus ………………………………………………..
Choir ……………………………………………….
Judas ………………………………………………..
Observers …………...………………………………
The narrative projection unfolds diachronically from the topic of Mark to the topic of
Jesus (in terms of its evolution over time), bringing forth the first section, “Mark’s section,” as a
commentary on the words of Jesus in a rhetorical shift, marking or disrupting the flow of the
musical discourse. 102 We observe the appearance of a displaced melody in the tenor during the
second strophe-chorus (mm. 41-44), and every chorus that follows, as introduction of the voice
of Judas by implication and indexical pointing. 103 As opposed to iconic pointing, where the
object is referred to by means of resemblance, or symbolic pointing, where the object is referred
to by means of arbitrary encoding or convention, indexical pointing is achieved by relationship
of necessity. This relationship of necessity is identified with the relation between an effect and its
102
Robert Hatten, Interpreting Musical Gestures, Topics, and Tropes: Mozart, Beethoven,
Schubert (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2004), 135.
103
See Pierce’s theory of icon, index, symbol. Raymond Monelle, Linguistic and Semiotics in
Music (Switzerland: Hardwood Academic Publishers, 2000), 193-214.
46
cause, or conversely. 104 In the context of the textual elements of the musical object, Judas is
asking if he is the traitor, and denying that he is the traitor, while the narrative exposed earlier his
act of treason toward Jesus. Musically speaking, the indexical pointing occurs by Judas’ denial
and question (cause), represented by the shift in rhythmic alignment with the rest of the choir,
suggesting a separation from the group (effect). This scene in Mark’s narrative (Mark 14:10 and
14: 17-21) is the beginning of disunity and separation among the disciples in the Passion
narrative, which precedes the foretelling of Peter’s denial and Jesus’ arrest, the final act of
physical separation and disunion of the apostolic group. As mentioned earlier, the main musical
referential meaning of the genre son was social and racial unity. The meaning of the background
referent in the narrative scene is the disintegration of unity and the resulting physical separation
of Jesus and his disciples. There are distinct incongruities between the structural musical
elements and the narrative elements.
Krystyna Tarnawska-Kaczorowska explains that music refers to four spheres of extramusical reality:
(1) Physical Reality: where in the real world there are some physical objects which music
can reproduce by means of sound denotations (horns, church bells, clocks), or sound
imitation by onomatopoetic equivalences or icons (birds singing, horses’ gallops)
(2) Psychical Reality: where music can evoke, connote, suggest, or convey quite a gamut
of emotional states, “affective content”
(3) Non-objective reality: certain abstract notions and qualities, certain extra-perceptive
mental representations, which music renders perceptible and present (triviality,
104
Thomas Sebeok, Ed., Encyclopedic Dictionary of Semiotics (New York: Mouton de Gruyter,
1994), 341.
47
sublimity, pathos, dramatism, the sacred, symmetry, violence, conflict, unity, and so
on)
(4) Cultural Reality: music itself is subject to sonic reincarnations, reanimation,
reinterpretation, and the musical and cultural of bygone eras (techniques, idioms,
pathos, idea subject, trends, etc). 105
Within the sphere of non-objective reality, the incongruity is found between the culturally
implicit presence of unity in the son montuno sub-genre and the narrative’s disunity and
disintegration process within the disciples group. The technique that Golijov employs to
accommodate these two unrelated systems is trans-contextualization that is, taking something
from one familiar context to another with which it is stylistically incongruous. 106 He inverts the
correlation of unity with disunity creating a satirical effect. One can see this specifically
exemplified in the juxtaposition of two elements, the a caballo section (chorus response) and the
narrative element of the apostolic question and displacement of Judas’ accusation as traitor
(Mark 14: 19). The a caballo rhythm imitates the galloping of a horse, creating an upbeat sense
of excitement and joy as people are encouraged to join the refrain of the son (figure 6.13). The
upbeat horse rhythm is incorporated into the narrative moment where the apostles question sadly
whether they are the traitors (apostolic question). The chorus responds to complete the solos with
a fragmentation of Mark 14:19, where the saddened disciples question Jesus with “Will it be I?”
105
Eero Tarasti gen. editor, Tarnawska-Kaczorowska Krystyna, The Musical Work as Sign:
significative constituents, layers, structures. In Musical Signification: Essays in the Semiotic theory and
Analysis of Music (Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter, 1995), 123-25.
106
Esti Sheinberg, Irony, Satire, Parody and the Grotesque in the Music of Shostakovich, 102.
48
This question accentuates the element of distress and sadness in the disciples. 107 Within these
choruses we see the addition of Judas unfolding his inner struggle, reflected in his questioning of
treason, “Traitor?” followed by his denial “I am not a traitor!” This inversion, created by the
incongruence of the musical elements, creates a conceptual negation of the narrative meaning
against the musical reference.
107
John Donahue, The Passion in Mark: Studies on Mark 14:16 (Philadelphia: Fortress Press,
1976), 394.
49
Figure 6..13
A caballo section
T closing montuno
The
m
secttion featuress a dense juxxtaposition of musical annd textual
elements. Here is wh
here the closiing structuraal gesture com
mes to a clim
matic close, bringing all
elements together in a final fusioon. The choirrs include thhe simultaneoous participaation of all fi
five
(
6.14)).
narrativee characters (figure
50
Figure 6..14
Narrattive Charactters
Mark the Evangelist
E
and Jesus – they are
both sung in unison
by the sam
me singer
Choir of Observers
J
Judas
Iscariot
Apostles
Within thhe instrumen
ntal part, the montuno seection includdes the particcipation of thhe whole
ensemblee. The brass section is reeplicating doownbeat omission, characteristic of thhe rhythmic
differentiiation betweeen the a cabballo sectionn and the refrrain section, particularlyy in the part of
o the
conga. This
T is dupliccated by the piano, whilee the tres continues its rhhythmic dennsity from itss
original form
f
(figure 6.15).
51
Figure 6..15
Instru
umental montuno sectionn
In the rhyythmic sectio
on montuno,, there is a reeplacement of
o a main rhythmic compponent. The a
caballo tumbao
t
is no
ow replaced by
b the salsa tumbao (figgure 6.16). Among
A
somee of the
noticeablle differencees between thhe a caballo and the salssa tumbao arre: the salsa rhythm has a 4/4
feel insteead of the 2/4
4 of the son;; in salsa, thee rhythmic articulations
a
tend to be grouped
g
in eiight
measuress instead of the
t traditionaal four meassure articulattion of the soon; and the clave
c
rhythm
m in
the salsa tumbao emp
phasizes thee downbeat innstead of thee silent downnbeat of the son.
52
Figure 6..16
Salsa tumbao
o two stylisttic
These chhanges are efffected in thee percussion part only, creating a juxxtaposition of
elements in one stylee. The rhythm
mic matrix iss replaced byy a Salsa tum
mbao which does not bellong
to the styyle of the son
n, thus subveerting the exxpressive meeaning to a deeper level. Golijov
established at the beg
ginning of thhe work the referential
r
reelationship between
b
the son
s montunoo and
53
the narrative scene. In the montuno section he departs from the stylistic referential. As the work
reaches its highest point of structural fusion and climax, the narrative characters reach their point
of greater disunity, and a new rhythmic component is added. One could determine that the
accompanying ethos is contradictory, thus ironic, confirmed by the ambiguity of the structure
and the negation of the narrative and musical expressive meaning.
54
CHAPTER 7 – EUCARISTIA
(Eucharist)
In the movement Eucaristía (Eucharist), Golijov musically represents the scene of the
institution of the Eucharist (i.e., Holy Communion or Lord’s Supper) within the Passion narrative
(Mark 14: 22-25). This scene contains a pivotal theological concept in the narrative. Rooted in
this scene is a core belief in early and contemporary Catholic theology, that of transubstantiation,
the belief of the real presence of Christ in the bread and wine. The music represents the text in
the form of allusion and stylization of Gregorian chant, an iconic musical representation of the
act of instituting the Church. Golijov’s use of this particular musical style is an axiomatic choice
that symbolically represents the textual fragment of Mark 14: 22-25.
In this movement there is an interaction between two systems. The first system includes
the narrative elements: Mark the Evangelist, Jesus. The second system includes the musical
elements: melodic musical gestures, structural symmetry, and voice range and gender instanced
by a soprano solo as the voice of Jesus (figure 7.1), a chorus acting as the voice of Jesus (figure
7.2). The melodies sung by a group of sopranos are referential markers pointing to the narrative
element of Mark as the narrator.
55
Figure 7..1
The voice of Markk the evangeelist – sopranno section
t referentiaal marker poointing to thee narrative chharacter of Jesus,
J
as he
The solo soprano is the
speaks inn first person
n (figure 7.2)).
Figure 7..2
The voice of Jesus – soprano solo
m
inteeract with eaach other diaachronically, instead of
Both Maark and Jesuss referential markers
unfoldingg synchroniccally, meaninng at the sam
me time (figuure 7.3).
56
Figure 7..3
The voice of the Evangelist - soprano secttion
A certain poiints the charracters echo their narrativve elements within the same
At
s
diachroonic
pattern (ffigure 7.4).
Figure 7..4
Jesus and Mark thhe Evangelisst as a sopranno soloist annd a women’s choir
T interactio
The
on between these
t
two groups of elem
ments gives rise
r to paroddic stylistic
allusion that
t creates incongruitie
i
s between thhe object of reference
r
annd the referring object. Inn
order to analyze
a
these interactionns I will use “melodic geestures” as units
u
of analyysis and as
parameteers for recogn
nition of sym
mmetrical strructures. Byy melodic gestures, I undderstand the
utterancee of a melodiic motion whhich can be considered
c
a a whole unnit closed byy resolution or a
as
feeling of wholeness by the preseence of a staarting and arrrival motionn. Though thee definition of
57
musical gesture is similar to that of a musical phrase, the latter tends to be interpreted mainly by
elements such as tonal gravitational centers and/or rhythmic stability that produce the sense of
closure.
Robert Hatten states that “musical gestures are grounded in human affects and its
communication—they are not merely the physical actions involved in producing a sound or
series of sounds from a notated score, but the characteristic shaping that give those sounds
expressive meaning.” 108 Musical gestures are generally defined as communicative, expressive,
energetic shaping through time by musical characteristic features such as beat, rhythm, timing of
exchanges, contour, and intensity.
According to Hatten, the foundational principles of a semiotic theory of musical gestures
as applied to music are:
1. Musical gestures are continuous (it is not necessarily the sound that is continuos, but
there is continuity in shape, curve, motion across silence, etc.)
2. Musical gestures possess articulate shape
3. Musical gestures possess hierarchical potential
4. Musical gestures possess a significant envelope (being that gestures can be affected
by pre and post movement)
5. Musical gestures are contextually constrained and enriched, both stylistically and
strategically
6. Musical gestures are typically foregrounded
7. Musical gestures can be beyond precise notation or exact reproducibility
108
Robert Hatten, Interpreting Musical Gestures, Topics, and Tropes, 93.
58
8. Amenable to type-token relationships via cognitive categorization or even
conceptualization and
9. Musical gestures are potentially systematic to the extent of being organized
oppositionally by type, as in gestural language or ritual movements. 109
Musical gestures can be a very useful tool in the determination of formal structures. They
provide a gravitational background field. They help to understand articulations, accentuations,
dynamics, tempo, timing, and stylistic types.
According to Hatten, musical gestures may be generalized under types such as:
1. Spontaneous (individual, original, creative); These mappings of expressive
gestures are marked and subsequently thematized within the musical context.
2. Thematic (as a subject of discourse for a movement); this gesture may be treated
to a developing variation.
3. Dialogical (as gestures between agencies, suggestive of a conversation among
equals, or oppositional ideas).
4. Rhetorical gestures [RG] (marking an unmarked musical discourse or flow); these
gestures provide markers by which a musical discourse can be analyzed and
systematized within the parameters of rhetoric.
a. RG can be used to foreground stages of an expressive genre, providing a
dramatic or narrative character to the musical discourse.
b. RG can act as referential markers indicating sudden or unpredicted
rhetorical pauses (moments of suspension or cessation within the
109
Robert Hatten, Interpreting Musical Gestures, 124.
59
narrative, moments of changes toward a different narrative projection, or
shifts within the narrative indicating displacement or reposition.
c. RG can highlight the reversal of tonal structures or the textual
undercuttings within the musical discourse and narrative.
5. Troping of gestures (characters of two separate gestures are blended into an
emergent gesture). 110
I use a specific instance of musical gestures (melodic gestures) as units for analysis and
as parameters for recognition of symmetrical structures. In formal terms, and according to the
definitions postulated above, the movement is divided into two sections with a connecting
bridge. Sections A and B are mirror reflections of each other with a bridge as axis (figure 7.5).
The textual parsing for each of the section is as follows:
1. Section A
Sub-Section a1: corresponds to Mark 12:22
Sub-Section a2: corresponds to Mark 14: 23-24
2. Section B: corresponds to Mark 14: 25
110
Robert Hatten, Interpreting Musical Gestures, 136-37.
60
Figure 7.5
Formal division of the movement
Overall Structure
A
Section a1 Section a2
[3+2+2]
[3+2+2]
B
Bridge
2
Section b1 Section b2
[2+2+3] [2+2+3]
The grouping of musical gestures determines, together with text parsing, the structural unfolding
of the work. Section A and section B contain seven melodic gestures. Sections a1 and a2 are
structurally mirrored with sections b1 and b2 connected by the bridge.
There is a numerological connection between the number of gestural utterances and the
symbolism of the number seven as indicator of perfection and completeness in biblical
scriptures. Within the metaphorical expression in biblical context, the numerological symbolism
of seven symmetrical melodic gestures represents in Golijov’s movement the wholeness,
completeness, and perfection of the institution of the rituals of the Christian Church. 111 This
numerological symbolism is emphasized by the mirrored order of gestural appearances and the
palindromic arrangement of the melodic gestures’ order within the flow of musical discourse.
According to Peirce, an icon is a sign that refers to the object which it denotes by its own
111
"Meaning of numbers in the Bible." September 28, 2008.
http://www.biblestudy.org/bibleref/meaning-of-numbers-in-bible/3.html (Accessed September 3, 2008)
61
features, and everything that is an icon of something has to be similar to the something and has
to be used as a sign of it. 112 In this movement, according to a Peircean view of the sign, the use
of seven melodic gestures arranged in a symmetrical way is an iconic representation of the
perfection and completeness of the church’s rituals (figure 7.9).
The classification of melodic gestures shown in example 7.6 is governed by textual
markedness, musical completeness, or by a combination of both. Through musical gestures the
text can indicate rhetorical pauses, changes, or shifts marking an unmarked musical discourse or
flow. Together with the text, the melodic gestures provide a sense of articulation, suspension, or
closure in the formal unfolding of the movement (table 7.6 and table 7.8).
Table 7.6
Musical gesture on section a1 and a2
Label
(Section/
gesture)
Score
Rhetorical function
a1 – g1
Rhetorical pause
a1 – g2
Rhetorical pause
a1 – g3
Rhetorical shift
(narrative action)
112
Thomas Sebeok, Ed., Encyclopedic Dictionary of Semiotics (New York: Mouton de Gruyter,
1994), 328.
62
a1 – g4
Rhetorical pause
a1 – g5
Rhetorical closure
(change)
a1 – g6
Rhetorical pause
a1 – g7
Rhetorical closure
a2 – g1
Rhetorical pause
a2 – g2
Rhetorical pause
a2 – g3
Rhetorical shift
(narrative action)
a2 – g4
Rhetorical pause
a2 – g5
Rhetorical closure
(change)
a2 – g6
Rhetorical pause
a2 – g7
Rhetorical closure
The bridge section contains two untexted musical gestures acting as rhetorical pauses (figure
7.7).
Figure 7.7
Bridge – axis section
63
Jesus
Chorus
Table 7.88
L
Label
Musiccal gesture on
o section b1 and b2
Score
Rhettorical functtion
b1 – g1
Rhhetorical pausse
b1 – g2
Rhhetorical pausse
b1 – g3
Rhhetorical pausse
Rhhetorical pausse
b1 – g4
b1 – g5
Rhhetorical pausse
64
b1 – g6
Rhetorical pause
b1 – g7
Rhetorical closure
(change)
b2 – g1
Rhetorical pause
b2 – g2
Rhetorical pause
b2 – g3
Rhetorical pause
b2 – g4
Rhetorical pause
b2 – g5
Rhetorical pause
b2 – g6
Rhetorical pause
b2 – g7
Rhetorical closure
(final closure)
65
Figure 7.9
The symmetrical organization of musical gestures
A
B
Section a1
[3+2+2]
Section b1
[2+2+3]
Section a2
[3+2+2]
Section b2
[2+2+3]
Section a1
[a1-g1 + a1-g2 + a1-g3] = 3 gestures
[a1-g4 + a1-g5] = 2 gestures
[a1-g6 + a1-g7] = 2 gestures
Section a2
[a2-g1 + a2-g2 + a2-g3] = 3 gestures
[a2-g4 + a2-g5] = 2 gestures
[a2-g6 + a2-g7] = 2 gestures
Section b1
[b1-g1 + b1-g2] = 2 gestures
[b1-g3 + b1-4] = 2 gestures
[b1-g5 + b1-g6 + b1-g7] = 3 gestures
Section b2
[b2-g1 + b2-g2] = 2 gestures
[b2-g3 + b2-g4] = 2 gestures
[b2-g5 + b2-g6 + b2-g7] = 3 gestures
This representation of musical gestures is iconically sound and stylistically appropriate. It
provides a sign topology by which we can analyze the perceivable kinds and forms of rhetorical
articulations within the narrative text. However, the musical elements (voice gender and range)
create negation by gender inversion. This gender inversion occurs by the assignment of the
singer’s gender and the consequent change in the vocal range after the inversion (soprano range).
In musical settings of biblical and liturgical text, the voice of Jesus is always portrayed and sung
by ordained clergy (male), or in the case of Passion plays and musical Passions by a male singer.
By allocating the voice of Jesus to a soprano voice, and the voice of the Evangelist to a choir of
66
women (as indicated in the score), the gender inversion creates an incongruity. The markedness
of this gender inversion transgresses pre-existent cultural codes (females are not to sing the part
of Jesus in musical representation of the Passion narrative), in addition to cultural and historical
performance practices (roles were always assigned to male singers). By inverting the role of
Mark the Evangelist (a male) to a group of sopranos and Jesus (clergy) to a soprano solo, Golijov
leads the listener to the existence of polemical oppositions.
The analysis of signification can’t take place at the level of rhetorical characteristics
within the context of melodic gestures and text. Again, we are invited to look at the nonobjective realities of the sign, as postulated by Tarnawska-Kaczorowska, where pathos, the
sacred, cultural codes, symmetry, numerological symbolism, and triviality coexist. 113
There is a difficulty when we analyze the non-objective realities of a musical work. Esti
Scheinberg points at the difficulty of drawing clear lines between parodic stylistic allusions and
non-polemical use of formerly existing styles, genres, and musical elements. According to
Tinayanov’s and Bakhtin’s definition of parody, “the elements that exist in parody and are not
present in stylizations are ‘inversions,’ polemical opposition, or an incongruity inserted between
the object of reference and the referring work.” 114 Within the musical system of Golijov’s
Eucaristía, the most salient stylistic allusion in this movement is to the genre Gregorian chant.
Unlike a replication of a Gregorian chant melody, this movement is to set a scene fragment of the
113
See Krystyna Tarnawska-Kaczorowska. The Musical Work as Sign: Significative
Constituents, Layers, Structure (New York: Mouton de Gruyer, 1995), 123-28.
114
Esti Sheinberg, Irony, 195.
67
narrative to a stylization of chant. 115 This doesn’t make the stylization necessarily ironic or
parodic. However, the double-voiced discourse according to the incongruity of the narrative and
musical systems presents a polemical opposition, creating an incongruity inserted between the
object of reference and the referring work, pointing to the existence of parody in the musical
discourse of the movement.
Within metaphorical expression, the numerological symbolism of seven symmetrical
melodic gestures would represent the wholeness and perfection of the institution of the rituals of
the Christian Church. The stylistic allusion of Gregorian chant would increase the indexical
referent of the Christian Church’s rituals by evoking a sense of ritual performance, suggesting
the use of a familiar musical object to the ritual and conveying a gamut of emotional and
affective states related to the action of the institution of the Eucharist and its ritual repetition.
However, in Eucaristía these physical realities, indexed by the sonic and cultural associations,
are negated by the characters’ transgender inversion and its polarity in relationship to text and
cultural codes. These inverted musical signs negate the physical reality of the movement, thereby
inserting abstract notions and qualities, extra-perceptive mental representations which by the
musical inversion of gender are rendered perceptible and present. This transgression of the
convention or social agreement about the way to represent musically this narrative scene, both in
gender and vocal range, expresses a new referentiality by indexical implication. This being that
the church’s rituals, though perceived to be perfect and complete by an evocation of musical
gestures, formal structures, and numerological symbols, are not complete and perfect when a
gender is excluded.
115
Golijov footnote indication in the score indicates that the movement should be phrased with
the flexibility and air proper of the Gregorian melodies. Osvaldo Golijov, La Pasion segun San Marcos,
113.
68
CHAPTER 8
DEMOS GRACIAS AL SEŇOR
(Let Us Give Thanks)
The movement Demos Gracias al Señor (Let Us Give Thanks) is a set of variations on
the melody of Todavía Cantamos (We Still Sing), a member of the protest-song genre, composed
by Victor Heredia in the 1980s in Argentina. Protest songs are musical expressions of injustices
or problematic issues in a given society or culture. Usually they take the form of a metaphorical
utterance. The content of the protest may include moral issues, discrimination of all kinds, war,
and abuses or violations of human rights. The genre usually associates itself with folk-artistic
expressions and attempts to reach a popular audience, oftentimes the oppressed. Heredia’s song
was written as a metaphorical protest to the oppressiveness of the military government and the
violation of human rights in Argentina during the 1970s and 1980s. The lyrics are a metaphorical
outcry against the atrocities of the “dirty war,” including the disappearance of thousands of
young people on the basis of political dissent. My own translation of the text’s refrain states “we
still sing, we still sing, still ask, still dream, still hope.”
Golijov uses a fragment from the refrain’s melodic material to create a four-phrase
statement that ends with a further fragmented conclusion. By this process the theme of the
variations is created. Golijov uses a very small rhythmic cell to unify the theme from which the
entire movement is built (figure 8.1).
69
Figure 8..1
Melod
dic fragmentt from the orriginal refraiin and concluusion fragmeent
Golijov’ss affinity forr symmetry is
i once againn displayed in
i the overalll structure of
o the movem
ment.
In this movement
m
theere is an abseence of appaarent distortiion, stylistic exaggeration, or other
musical characteristic
c
cs that would hint at ironny and paroddy. The use of a melody from a protest
song as a thanksgivin
ng hymn inddicates, by asssociation, irrony or parody as an undderlying
approachh. A composeer could sim
mply use this melody in quotation
q
or paraphrase. However,
Golijov’ss treatment of
o the musicaal materials against the narrative
n
sceene establishhes a self-eviident
referentiaal relationsh
hip indicatingg the presencce of irony or
o parody. Thhis presents the followinng
questionss: What are the
t stylistic incongruenc
i
cies that creaate this ironyy? Which refferential
representtations of thee musical annd textual content hint too irony in muusic? Which layers are
musicallyy and textually related inn order to produce irony or parody?
W need to lo
We
ook at the intteraction of elements in each layer as
a symbolic signs
s
dependdent
on learneed cultural co
odes. 116 Theere are two sttylistic layerrs in this moovement that require a closer
116
See Monellle, Sense of Music,
M
14.
70
examinattion; one is the
t protest soong genre ass a declamatiion of disconntent and obj
bjection to a
reality, annd the secon
nd is the mom
ment during the Passion narrative whhen Jesus’ disciples
d
singg
psalms of thanksgiving at the endd of the Passsover meal. Let us exam
mine how Goolijov’s use of
o
musical material
m
in reelationship with
w the narrrative text hiints at irony..
T movemeent is scored for a SATB
This
B (soprano, alto,
a
tenor, annd bass) chooir, accompannied
by a perccussion trio comprised
c
of two bomboos and a spring drum, insstruments chharacteristic of
Argentinne folklore. A native instrrument of foolklore musicc in Argentinna, and not well
w known
outside itts genre, the bombo legüüero is
An Argentinee drum tradittionally madde of a hollow
A
wed tree trunnk and coverred with
cuured skins of animals suuch as goats, cows or sheeep. Becausee the fur is leeft on the
hide, the bom
mbo’s sound is deep and dark. The boombo servess as a combinnation of
bass and perccussion, not just
j maintainning the metter, but evokking an elemeental,
visceral respo
onse. It is callled legüero because it can
c be heard from many leguas
(tthe distance a gaucho cann ride for ann hour, in Arrgentina is allso a way to
appproximate to
t 5 kilometters). The leggüero, considdered one off the oldest
innstruments in
n human history, is an esssential elem
ment of Argeentine Folkloore
(ffigure 8.2). 1117
Figure 8..2
Bomb
bo legüero
Publiic Domain Image
117
Wikipedia Online Encycclopedia, Thee Bombo Legüüero [Accesssed (Decembeer 12, 2007)],
available from http://en
n.wikipedia.oorg/wiki/Bombbo.
71
The sprinng drum or lion’s roar drrum on the other hand iss
A membranop
phone in thee form of a friction
fr
drum
m, consisting of a cylindrrical or
buucket-shaped vessel withh one end oppen and the other
o
closedd with a mem
mbrane. A
leength of cord
d or gut is faastened throuugh a hole inn the centre of
o the membbrane; the
coord is resineed and rubbed with coarsse fabric or a glove, prodducing a passsable
1
im
mitation of a lion's roar (figure
(
8.3). 118
Figure 8..3
Spring
g Drum
Reprooduced by permissiion from www.rem
mo.com
This com
mbination of instruments, by their tim
mbre and muusical characteristics, prooduces a veryy
distinctivve sound, wh
here their perrformance promotes
p
the expansion of
o dynamic ranges
r
and
emphasizzes the increease of dynam
mic density. Together with
w the choirr they becom
me versatile in
i
both their dynamic an
nd rhythmicc ranges.
O
Once
again, Golijov
G
outliines a formal structure thhat resemblees a palindrome, each forrmal
section mirroring
m
its opposite in shape (figurre 8.4).
118
James Blad
des and Jamess Holland: 'Strring Drum: Lion’s Roar', Grove
G
Music Online
O
ed. L.
Macy (Acccessed [6 Jan
nuary 2008]), available froom http://www
w.grovemusicc.com.proxy.llibraries.uc.eddu
72
Figure 8..4
Formaal structure of Todavía Cantamos
IIntroduction
Percussion
Theme
A – B – B’
Variation I
A–B
Variation II
A–B
Variation III
A–B
Variation IV
A – B – B’
Closing
Percussion
Set in mootion by a fo
our-measure introductionn, where an ostinato-like
o
e rhythm is unfolded,
u
thee
theme is presented by
y a series off four melodiic fragmentaations of the original sonng’s refrain
(figure 8.5).
Figure 8..5
Percussion introduuction
As each variation
v
unffolds there are
a two proceesses taking place by whhich Golijovv realizes his
variationn techniques:
1. The
T variation
ns increase inn rhythmic density
d
and dynamic
d
attaacks
2. The
T variation
ns expand in the vocal raange and voicces participaating
73
The rhythhmic density
y is unfoldedd by the addiition of smalll variants inn the underlyying rhythmiic
structure of each of th
he variations within the percussion accompanim
a
ment. These changes
c
add
t original ostinato
o
patteern (figure 8.6).
8
rhythmicc density to the
Figure 8..6
Rhyth
hmic variatioons – end of section A inn the theme (mm. 16-19))
As the vaariations unffold the rhythhmic variantts become loouder togetheer with the voices.
v
These rhyythmic variaations occur in mm. 35-338, 39-43, 555-56, 67-69, 92-95, 106--108,
122-129,, 143-147, 15
58-160, and 165-173.
T dynamic level increaases organicaally as the movement
The
m
unnfolds and reaches its
loudest leevel during the
t last four measures prrior to the closing percusssion solo. This
T
growth inn volume and sound is a representatiion of the woork’s material layer. In this
t layer
the musiccal object reflects a psycchical realityy evoking, coonveying, orr suggesting the
affective content asso
ociated withh a growing frustration
f
orr anger at a protest
p
song not
being heaard (figure 8.7).
8
74
Figure 8..7
Dynam
mic changess and progresssion
(Box 1: m.
m 5 | Box 2: m
m. 44 | Box 3: m. 96 | Box 4: m. 135 | Box 55: m. 174)
75
T vocal parrts unfold the variation form
The
f
by the addition
a
of a soprano vooice to the altto
solo in vaariation I (figure 8.8), exxpanding thee texture to an
a SATB in variation II (figure 8.9),
dividing the alto secttion in two parts
p
in variaation III (figuure 8.10), annd finally subbdividing thee
soprano section
s
and the
t alto sectiion in variation IV (figurre 8.11).
Figure 8..8
Variattion I – addition of sopraano line to alto
a solo
Figure 8..9
Variattion II – adddition of tenoor and bass
76
Figure 8..10
Variattion III – alto divisi at m.
m 96
Figure 8..11
Variattion IV – sopprano divisi
W regard to
With
t the narratiive elementss, the lyrics include
i
fragm
ments of Psaalms 113-1188. It
is assumeed that in Mark 14:26, “after singingg songs of prraise, they walked
w
out too the mount of
o
77
Olives,” 119 the disciples sung psalms of thanksgiving proper of the conclusion of the Jewish
Passover meal. In Jewish tradition the Hallel psalms (114 -118) are sung to conclude the
Passover meal with hymns of praise and thanksgiving in remembrance of the Exodus. 120 Golijov
interpolates paraphrasing from the text of the psalms:
Psalm verse
Paraphrase
113:1
Alabemos su nombre
113.5
El reina allá en lo alto
114: 7
Aunque tiembla la tierra
118:1
Alabad a Jehová porque es bueno
118:1
Porque para siempre es su misericordia
118:14
El es mi fortaleza y mi salvación 121
In order to clarify, consider that the two stylistic layers or systems (text and music)
present self-evident distortion or exaggeration as referential markers for satirical parody. Musical
stylistic characteristics provide means of referring to the outer world creating referentialities
outside themselves. Under the classification of non-objective reality, the relationships between
the textual elements of the Passion narrative (psalms of thanksgiving sung at the end of the
Passover meal) and the musical genre that provided the original material or musical element for
the variations (the protest song melody) are fused within the musical process of variation (the
119
New American Bible (Kansas: Catholic Bible Publishers, 1985), 1014.
120
Donahue, The Gospel of Mark, 401.
121
Libro de los Salmos, Biblia Latinoamericana (Madrid: Editorial Verbo Divino, 1972).
78
increase in rhythmic density, dynamic range, vocal range expansion, and the intensity of the
percussion attacks) providing then the necessary evidence of the presence of parody.
The parody is made evident from the tripartite stylistic clash between (1) the musical
referent background (a protest song’s refrain), (2) the place in the narrative scene (the text of the
hallel—singing of the thanksgiving psalms after the Passover meal), and (3) an increasing
dynamic and rhythmic level in the evolving variations that reaches no resolution or conclusive
climatic event. This clash (or parody) doesn’t have the intent to satirize. The musical object
keeps building in its euphoria in dynamic and rhythmic strength, achieving no apparent
resolution or conclusion. The purpose of this movement is ironic but not satirical; it can be
classified as a non-satirical parody. Whereby two or more stylistic layers are presented without
necessarily exaggerating or distorting them, the parody is made apparent by the very stylistic
clash. 122 The disciples are singing psalms of thanksgiving and praise to the texturally increasing
tune of a protest song.
122
Steinberg, Irony, 147.
79
CONCLUSION
The application of theories of musical incongruities to the music of Golijov offers an
analytical approach by which we have been able to decipher some irreconcilable differences
between the Passion narrative and its musical representation. Sometimes concepts like quotation,
pastiche, or collage fall short of explaining the incongruity between the musical object and the
intended meaning of the narrative. Robert Hatten implies the inadequacy of this analysis when he
says
Of course, one cannot assume that the text determined the meaning of music, or
that the music merely illustrates the text. As I have argued, music meaning may at
times contradict the text, perhaps tropologically (i.e., ironically), and only a
theory of musical meaning not tied to words or programs will enable one to
establish such productive collision and interpret their potentially tropological
significance. 123
In search for a statement that describes the need for such a theory, the words of Hatten are
precise and appropriate. We understand that incongruities in musical discourse are indicators of
ironic ethos. So it is with this frame of mind that we can understand that it is not the existence of
incongruities that will hint at the presence of irony, but the function of those incongruities as an
indicator of structural negation. 124 In music, the extent to which the violation of cultural norms
can communicate satirical meaning is perhaps best exemplified by the appropriate use of a
musical object, due to its more easily definable character. 125 The theoretical applications and
methodologies of musical semiotics provide a deeper understanding of the incongruity between
123
Robert Hatten, Interpreting Musical Gestures, 294n13.
124
Shienberg, Irony, 57.
125
Sheinberg, Irony, 107.
80
the musical object and the intended meaning of the narrative. Irony in music is a tool for satirical
purport and expression of the unresolvable. 126
In the case of the examples analyzed, the trans-contextualization of a popular genre and
stylistic incongruencies within the norm of the Passion narrative create a satirical effect. In the
son montuno “Judas y El Cordero Pascual” (Judas and the Paschal Lamb), there are
incongruities between the relationship of the structural musical elements (the iconic or indexical
features of the son’s form and structure) and the Passion narrative elements. The son Golijov
chose for this movement is the most important musical representative of contemporary Cuban
popular culture. In the son montuno, the structural or formal musical characteristics symbolize
unity and cohesion throughout. As the work reaches its highest point of structural fusion and
climax, the narrative characters reach their point of greatest disunity, and rhythmically a new
foreign component is added. I determined that the accompanying ethos is contradictory, thus
ironic, confirmed by the ambiguity of the structure and the negation of the narrative and musical
expressive meaning.
In the case of Eucaristía, I observed the characteristics of parody in the elements of
incongruous and polemical components inserted as “satirical parody.” The characters are transgendered to an opposite, pointing stylistically to a new context, thus creating stylistic incongruity
and parody. The music represents the text in the form of allusion and stylization of Gregorian
chant. In this movement, the use of seven melodic gestures in a symmetrical order is an iconic
representation of the perfection and completeness of the church’s rituals. However, the musical
elements create negation by gender inversion. The double-voiced discourse according to the
incongruity of the narrative and musical systems presents a polemical opposition, creating an
126
Shienberg, Irony, 27.
81
incongruity between the object of reference and the referring work, pointing to the existence of
parody in the musical discourse of the movement. By the transgression of conventions or social
agreements about the way to express this narrative scene, Golijov parodies through the
inappropriateness of the musical elements, both in gender and vocal range, the implication of
lack of ritual integrity when a gender is excluded.
The variations on the melody by Victor Heredia (“Todavia Cantamos”) are an expression
of non-satirical parody. Both stylistic layers are presented without hints of exaggeration or
distortion. The stylistic clash between the musical referent background (a protest song’s refrain),
the moment in the narrative scene (the text of the hallel—singing of the thanksgiving psalms
after the Passover meal), and an increasing dynamic and rhythmic level in the evolving
variations that reaches no resolution or conclusive climatic event creates a sense of irony that is
non-satirical.
The theoretical applications and methodologies of musical semiotics provide a deeper
understanding at the incongruity between the musical object and the intended meaning of the
narrative. Irony in music is a tool for satirical purpose and the expression of the unresolvable. 127
There is a meta-structure in the study of irony: existential irony. According to Sheinberg,
“existential irony has a double nature: on the one hand uses contradictions to express the idea of
infinite negation. On the other the idea of infinite accretion, whereby a process of accepting and
affirming all contradictory data as part of one large, rich, varied picture.” 128 Golijov’s doublelayered musical discourse conveys a strong sense of existential irony. Structurally the work is in
a constant state of interaction that creates negation or referential inversion at different levels.
127
Shienberg, Irony, 27.
128
Shienberg, Irony, 313.
82
Kierkegaard regarded irony as a “matter of the utmost ethical consequences, a basic attitude
toward life and human existence.” 129 Consequently, Golijov’s music speaks of religiosity, the
sense of the sacred, human nature, and life’s ambiguity, expressing the unresolvable, through a
tessellation of the sacred, the banal, the sublime, the grotesque, and the beauty of the divine.
129
Shienberg, Irony, 318.
83
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