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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. 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Macy (Accessed [6 January 2008]): http://www.grovemusic.com.proxy.libraries.uc.edu Campbell, Brett. “Tan Dun Walks on Water.” Andante Magazine: Everything Classical (Accessed [18 October 2007]): http://www.andante.com/articel/article.cfm?id=17791 Von Fisher, Kurt and Braun, Werner. “Passion.” Grove Music Online ed. L. Macy (Accessed [26 November 2007]): http://www.grovemusic.com.proxy.libraries.uc.edu Golijov, Osvaldo. Accessed October 15, 2007, available from http://osvaldogolijov.com/wd1.htm Livingston, Edward. The Conscise Dictionary of the Christian Church. Oxford: Oxford Reference Online (Accessed [1 May 2007]): http://www.oxfordreference.com/views/ENTRY.html? Stevens, John and Rastall, Richard. “Passion Play.” Grove Music Online ed. L. 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