Melbourne Conservatorium of Music - Theses
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ItemSpanish music and its representations in London (1878-1930): from the exotic to the modern( 2013)This thesis argues that the landscape of Spanish music in London evolved between 1878 and 1930 from Romantic exotic constructions to a recognition and appreciation of Spanish musical nationalism, which reflected some of the concerns of post-war musical modernism in a newly cosmopolitan context. This transformation will be traced through the study of specific protagonists and events that contributed to the English reception of Spanish music during this period. While the development of Spanish nationalist music and its important intersections with French music have been studied in numerous texts, little has been written on the English engagement with Spanish music. A key event in defining musical and theatrical Spain in the latter part of the nineteenth century came from France in the guise of George Bizet's Carmen (1875, London 1878). The opera, and its many parodies and theatrical re-workings in London, provides a foundation for discussions of Spanishness in late nineteenth-century England, and influenced the reception of Pablo Sarasate and Isaac Albéniz. In the Edwardian era, closer ties between England and Spain, increased travel possibilities and specialist writers rekindled enthusiasm for Spanish music. The anti- German currents of the pre-war years and the influence of French writers and musicians set the scene for the further English appreciation of Spanish music in the aftermath of the death of Enrique Granados in 1916. The English success of the Ballets Russes production of The Three-Cornered Hat (1919), with music by Manuel de Falla, marked the broader acceptance of Spanish musical nationalism. With the critical recognition of Falla's neoclassical works of the 1920s Spanish music achieved further acknowledgement in England from cosmopolitan critics. At the same time the Spanish guitar was seen to embody many aspects of post-war Spanish music, and through the concerts of Andrés Segovia established itself in a new guise in London. By 1930, the recognition and popularity of Spanish music indicated the extent to which it had integrated and evolved beyond the Romantic stereotypes prevalent half a century earlier.
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ItemAn uncharted island: searching for experimentation in Olivier Messiaen’s Île de feu 1( 2013)This thesis offers a detailed examination of Olivier Messiaen’s (1908-1992) short piano work Île de feu 1 from the Quatre Études de rythme (1949-1950). Though these pieces are recognised for their radical and innovative features, their representation in the existing literature is uneven, and Île de feu 1 has been relatively neglected. Since this work is usually lumped with analytical discussions of its companion pieces, it is normally assumed to be experimental by default. This study therefore proposes to examine Île de feu 1 as a work worthy of its own analytical attention. It considers the contextual position of this piece within Messiaen’s experimental period (1949-1952) and attempts to establish a connection with the innovative quasi-serialist processes that he developed during this time. The analysis adopts the theoretical framework of Messiaen’s self-described compositional procedures, endeavouring to identify in this piece such techniques as: Greek and Indian rhythmic patterns, non-retrogradable rhythms, canonic devices, and the modes of limited transposition, in addition to the influences of theology and birdsong. The results of this technical analysis suggest that Île de feu 1 is less concerned with explicit experimentation, since it only displays an abstract association with such processes and is mainly constructed with the most fundamental features of Messiaen’s musical language. The thesis concludes that Île de feu 1 is a significant point in the evolution of Messiaen’s style, exhibiting as it does those traits that were developed in his earlier pieces, and anticipating a return to these features in the works that follow the experimental period.
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ItemIdeokinesis as a practice strategy in musical performance( 2013)In her book Human Movement Potential: It’s Ideokinetic Facilitation, Lulu Sweigarde proposes the term ‘ideokinesis’ to describe a technique to improve postural alignment and movement efficiency. As musical performance requires the execution of countless refined movement goals, it seems likely that ideokinesis is an effective method of developing instrumental technique. There are a number of studies that demonstrate the effectiveness of ‘mental practice’ in a way that is almost synonymous with ideokinesis. Furthermore, there is an emergent theme in many phenomenological descriptions of musical experience (musical listening), that refer to this experience as being contingent on the perception of motion and an awareness of one’s physicality. For example, Jack Sorenon’s Ph.D thesis Modalities of Musical Attention and Perception describes musical experience as a kind of ‘kinesthetic image’. As musical experience is often described as being intrinsically physical, this thesis proposes that ideokinesis may be an effective practice method in music, not only in the enhancement of motor skills required for performance, but as means of integrating the ideation of these motor skills with a desired ‘kinesthetic’ musical experience.
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ItemGuglielmi's Lo spirito di contradizione: the fortunes of a mid-eighteenth-century opera( 2013)Pietro Alessandro Guglielmi’s opera buffa or bernesca, titled Lo spirito di contradizione, premièred in Venice in 1766. It was based on another work that had successfully premièred in 1763 as a Neapolitan opera: Lo sposo di tre, e marito di nessuna. The libretto for Lo sposo di tre, e marito di nessuna was written by Antonio Palomba, and concerns a man who attempts to marry three women and escape with their dowries. In setting this opera, Guglielmi collaborated with Neapolitan composer Pasquale Anfossi, with the former contributing the Opening Ensemble, the three finali and the Baroness’s aria in the third act. After moving to Venice in the mid 1760s, Guglielmi requested Gaetano Martinelli to re-fashion the libretto, keeping the story essentially the same for his new opera Lo spirito di contradizione. Guglielmi wrote all the music for his new production, retaining some of his former ideas. I argue that Pietro Alessandro Guglielmi was a prominent composer and significant eighteenth-century industry figure whose output should be re-incorporated into the repertory of modern performance. To this end, a critical scholarly edition to the first act of Lo spirito di contradizione is provided with this thesis. The edition is produced according to the view that the historical filiation of the source should accompany an edition as well as critical and editorial methods, historical notes, sources and synopses. In addition the thesis also explores the plot of Palomba’s libretto, how it was repeatedly appropriated between the years of 1763 and 1793, and the ways in which the thread of Guglielmi’s material continued throughout subsequent works well after the Neapolitan première.
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ItemWestern Influence on Japanese art song (Kakyoku) in the Meiji era Japan( 2013)The focus of this dissertation is the investigation of the earliest Western influences on Kōjō no Tsuki (Moon over the Castle) the composition of Japanese composer Rentaro Taki. Kōjō no Tsuki is an example of an early Japanese Art Song known as Kakyoku composed during Meiji Era Japan (1868 - 1912). The dissertation is divided into four chapters with an introduction. Chapter One explores the historical background of the Meiji Era Japan, highlighting the major impact of the signing of the treaty between the United States of America and Japan in 1853. This treaty effectively opened Japan to the West, not only for trade, but for exchange of social, political and cultural ideas. The resulting evolution that occurred in Japan from feudal society to one of early twentieth century is illustrated by reference to articles and writings of the Meiji Era. The second chapter examines the Japanese Art Song form Kakyoku using the example of Rentarō Taki’s song, Kōjō no Tsuki. This chapter presents an argument to illustrate, from an anthropological viewpoint, why this new form of Japanese Art Song could have its own identity based on Western ideas and not be categorised as a Japanese Folk Song known as Minʹyō or Shin Minyō. Chapter Three outlines the impact of the personal history of the composers, Rentarō Taki and Yamada Kōsaku on the Song Kōjō no Tsuki. Included in this investigation is an examination of similarities in the two Japanese composers’ upbringing and their studies of Western music, highlighting Western influences that may have affected their composing styles. On the basis of this research it can be concluded that two of the three main Western influences of the Meiji Era Japan: School and Military, were present to a degree in the early lives of both composers. These influences, coupled with their study in Europe, consequently influenced this early Art Song composition Kōjō no Tsuki. Chapter Four assesses the song from an analytical perspective. A detailed analysis of Rentarō Taki’s song is compared with the arrangement of the same song by Yamada Kōsaku, a prolific composer of Japanese Art Song during and following Meiji Era Japan. The specific study and analysis of this chapter demonstrates how Rentarō Taki’s Song Kōjō no Tsuki set a precedent for future Western style Japanese Art Song compositions in post Meiji Era Japan.
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ItemBeyond incantation: paths to the interpretation of André Jolivet's Sonata for flute and piano( 2013)French composer André Jolivet (1905-1974) contributed several important works to the flute repertoire, constantly pushing the limits of the instrument’s technical and expressive capabilities yet maintaining a musical language distinct from that of French compositional trends in the mid-twentieth century. His two concertos and sonata written between 1949 and 1965 are seldom performed, with flautists preferring to engage with the programmatic pre-1945 works Cinq incantations pour flûte seule and Chant de Linos. This thesis adopts the methodology of practice-based research, and seeks to facilitate an informed and engaging performance of Jolivet’s 1958 work, the Sonata for flute and piano through contextual study and analysis.
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ItemRepresentation of the 'Temporal Real'( 2013)Representation of the Temporal Real is an exploration of temporal representations, variable syntheses between artist, environment and technology, in the fabrication of the multi-dimensional. This research is an attempt to dissolve the roles of art and science to reconcile a disconnected relationship to reality effected by technology by exploratory making that lies between experimental verification and poetic speculation. The works investigate the boundaries of sight and scientific visualisation as a way of de-centering the human in networks of artistic production. The enquiry builds on previous visualisations, Leonardo da Vinci’s ‘Deluge series’, Etienne-Jules Marey’s ‘Birds in flight’ and Jean Clair’s ‘Cosmos’ exhibition, and recent cosmological theory into the depiction and description of what I have termed the ‘Temporal Real’. Art in this research is the interrogation of this Temporal Real.
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ItemComposition folio( 2013)Folio of compositions submitted for completion of the Masters of Music (Composition) (by Research). This folio includes five notated works: 1. Harpy; for solo violin 2. Trio; for flute, viola and harp 3. Astral Figures; for orchestra 4. Admitting the Passage of Light; for string quartet 5. Weird; for solo soprano and small chamber ensemble
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ItemThe Brazilian seven-string guitar: traditions, techniques and innovations( 2013)Since the early 1980s a new and unique repertoire has emerged for the seven-string guitar, known in Portuguese as the violão de sete-cordas, a Brazilian instrument typically played in choro ensembles. This thesis demonstrates, through musical analysis, that this new repertoire is a result of two converging musical influences, both the Brazilian six-string guitar repertoire and the traditional accompaniment role of the seven-string guitar in choro ensembles. Choro is a genre of Brazilian instrumental music that developed in Rio de Janeiro during the late nineteenth century and continues to be played throughout Brazil, as well as gaining popularity in other parts of the world. The Brazilian seven-string guitar emerged in Rio de Janeiro at the beginning of the twentieth-century; photographic evidence and recordings confirm that it was included in choro ensembles as early as the 1910s. Traditionally strung with steel strings and played using a metal thumb-pick, the instrument provides a counterpoint accompaniment line that is generally improvised. In the early 1980s a small number of musicians experimented with the use of nylon strings; this resulted in timbral variations and greater expressive qualities similar to the standard classical guitar. Guitarists began to use this new version of the seven-string guitar as a solo instrument, as well as in other musical settings outside of typical choro groups; this significant development is referred to as the duas escolas or two schools of performance practice. In this thesis, a selection of works composed between 1983 and 2012 is analysed, considering elements such as rhythm, harmony, melody and form, along with issues of performance practice and instrumental techniques and discussing the distinguishing musical features that contribute to the new seven-string guitar repertoire.
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ItemThe afflicted image: contemporary art and reification( 2013)In the form of a dissertation paired with an installation comprising paintings, photographs, sculptural and text-based elements, this research channels an investigation into aesthetics through the filter of a specific photograph. This image, circulated within the media and pointing to political injustice, serves as the focal point for discourse surrounding the motivation to a politically driven praxis. Documenting the torture and humiliation of a detainee known as ‘Gilligan’ at the hands of U.S. Army personnel stationed at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, this iconic photograph grew into a personal obsession. Its aesthetic influenced the development of a symbolic lexicon based on hoods and facial concealment. The Afflicted Image scrutinises this fascination, its psychological and philosophical implications, away from the relentless coherence of mass media. The dissertation relates the creation of the image, inserting it into a historical framework of the hood as garment and metaphor, and positioning it as the locus for a “constellation of concepts”. The impact of the image is analysed via trauma, W.J.T. Mitchell’s writings on the lives and desire of pictures and Derrida’s ‘hauntology’, locating facial concealment as a tipping point between control and power versus their lack. Responding to the objectification of the detainee, the research traces a line from Hegel’s concept of Entäusserung (‘alienation’), to Lukács and Adorno’s totalisation of reification, into contemporary writings on ethics and aesthetics by Jacques Rancière, Simon Critchley and Boris Groys. It explores disappointment as an inevitable outcome of the current political landscape, raising questions around the position of art within this “disenchantment tale”. Commenting on the work of painter Michäel Borremans and ‘relational’ artist Thomas Hirschhorn, the thesis examines opposing aesthetics that acknowledge this melancholic state. Expanding the theoretical framework led to new strategies for praxis. Processes of deliberate reification, an awareness of failure’s inevitability, and interaction with a vocabulary of objects and materials occasioned a shift from an emphasis on painting to an installation-based approach. This facilitated irrational juxtapositions of text, image and object, aiming for poetic reflection from within a reified construct. Insertion of the artist’s body into the work and its progressive transformation via photography, collage and painting, initiated a visual dialogue with the image, as the image-body became both subject and object. Informing this new trajectory and facilitating a reconsideration of the crossover between art, politics and ethics, were the practices of Medical Hermeneutics and Lygia Clark, and Jane Bennett’s concept of enchantment. The research argues for the value of aesthetic experience in the service of possibility.