Guilt, Forgiveness, and Reconciliation in Contemporary Music
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IS SORRY REALLY THE HARDEST WORD? GUILT, FORGIVENESS, AND RECONCILIATION IN CONTEMPORARY MUSIC Ariana Sarah Phillips-Hutton Darwin College Department of Music University of Cambridge This dissertation is submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy September 2017 ABSTRACT IS SORRY REALLY THE HARDEST WORD? GUILT, FORGIVENESS, AND RECONCILIATION IN CONTEMPORARY MUSIC Ariana S. Phillips-Hutton Guilt, forgiveness, and reconciliation are fundamental themes in human musical life, and this thesis investigates how people articulate these experiences through musical performance in contemporary genres. I argue that by participating in performances, individuals enact social narratives that create and reinforce wider ideals of music’s roles in society. I assess the interpenetrations of music and guilt, forgiveness, and reconciliation through a number of case studies spanning different genres preceded by a brief introduction to my methodology. My analysis of Arnold Schoenberg’s A Survivor from Warsaw illustrates the themes (guilt, confession and memorialisation) and approach I adopt in the three main case studies. My examination of William Fitzsimmons’s indie folk album The Sparrow and the Crow, investigates how ideals of authenticity, self-revelation, and persona structure our understanding of the relationship between performer and audience in confessional indie music. Analyses of two contemporary choral settings of Psalm 51 by Arvo Pärt and James MacMillan examine the confessional relationship between human beings and God. I suggest that by transubstantiating the sacramental traditions of confession in pieces designed for the concert hall, these composers navigate the boundary between the aesthetic and the sacramental. Lastly, I contrast two pieces connected to reconciliation efforts in Australia and South Africa: I argue that the unified narrative of healing in Kerry Fletcher’s “Sorry Song” becomes a performative communal apology, whilst the fragmented, multi-vocal narrative of Philip Miller’s REwind: A Cantata for Voice, Tape and Testimony illustrates how an & Morgan 2014 i Word Template by Friedm reconciliation may be achieved through constructing a collective history that acknowledges the multiplicity of testimony in post-apartheid society. I conclude that these pieces provide a means for people to enact narratives of guilt, forgiveness, and reconciliation and point towards new areas of study on the multivalent relationship between contemporary music and memory. ii Word Template by Friedman & Morgan 2014 DECLARATION This dissertation is the result of my own work and includes nothing which is the outcome of work done in collaboration except where specifically indicated in the text. It is not substantially the same as any that I have submitted, or, is being concurrently submitted, in part or whole for a degree, diploma, or other qualification at the University of Cambridge or any other University or similar institution. In accordance with the Department of Music guidelines, this thesis does not exceed 80,000 words. Signed:_______________________________________________________ Date:_________________________________________________________ Ariana Sarah Phillips-Hutton, BMus, MMus Cambridge an & Morgan 2014 iii Word Template by Friedm For my mother, who first introduced me to music iv Word Template by Friedman & Morgan 2014 Now, we come to discover that the moments of agony (Whether, or not, due to misunderstanding, Having hoped for the wrong things or dreaded the wrong things, Is not in question) are likewise permanent With such permanence as time has. We appreciate this better In the agony of others, nearly experienced, Involving ourselves, than in our own. For our own past is covered by the currents of action, But the torment of others remains an experience Unqualified, unworn by subsequent attrition. People change, and smile: but the agony abides. Time the destroyer is time the preserver. —T.S. Eliot, “The Dry Salvages”, l. 105–116 an & Morgan 2014 v Word Template by Friedm ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I once wrote that the PhD was a breeding-ground for neurosis. I still believe that to be true to some extent, though the damaging effects of such neuroses appear somewhat diminished from the position of having submitted this thesis. My foremost weapons in the combatting of these have been the relationships, both intellectual and personal, that I have developed over the course of my PhD and I thus have many people to thank for their assistance in the undertaking of this ostensibly solitary research. Firstly, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to my supervisor, Professor Nicholas Cook, for his unfailing interest in and support of my work and his generosity in sharing the fruits of his immense knowledge. His advice and guidance has been invaluable; moreover, his blisteringly quick email response time has provided a formidable benchmark for any of my future professor-student interactions. Secondly, I would like to thank my examiners, Professor Nicola Dibben and Professor Mervyn Cooke, for the time and effort they dedicated to reading this thesis. Their kind and thoughtful comments have shaped my thinking in the final stages of this project and their eagle eyes have greatly reduced the number of errors found in these pages. Thirdly, I am beholden to a number of individuals and institutions for their support, including to The Cambridge Trust for their financial support of my research. Amongst others, I am especially grateful to Philip Miller and Liza Key for their provision of materials related to REwind: A Cantata for Voice, Tape, and Testimony, and to David Wiseman and Charlotte Maseremule for information regarding translations. Finally, there are debts so deep that they could never be repaid. Thank you to my friends and colleagues who have been sounding boards, writing partners, editors, and fellow travellers across the topography of academic life: “summits of happiness and success, flat stretches of boring routine, and valleys vi Word Template by Friedman & Morgan 2014 of frustration and failure” (Bill Watterson, “Calvin and Hobbes”). Thank you to my parents, who have encouraged and supported me throughout my life, to my grandparents, whose generosity and commitment to my education has been unswerving, and to my siblings, who have provided much-needed listening ears and companionship. A special word of thanks is due to Carissa Phillips-Garrett for sharing our weekly Skype chats that wove the celebrations and struggles of our respective PhDs into discussions that ranged from the state of humanity to family news. Last, but not least amongst these myriads of debts is that which I owe to my husband, Alex, who has been unstinting in his belief in me through good times and bad. To all of you, named and unnamed, I am ever grateful. Changing ourselves. Surely that must be what we’re after when we look at pictures and watch movies and listen to music? It sounds more Californian than it really is. —Brian Eno, “Miraculous Cures and the Canonization of Basquiat” an & Morgan 2014 vii Word Template by Friedm CONTENTS 1 INTRODUCTION ..................................................................................... 1 1.1 A PERFORMATIVE TURN ..................................................................................... 9 1.2 A CONCEPTUAL TOOLBOX ................................................................................ 14 1.2.1 Knowledge and practice in the archive and the repertoire .................... 15 1.2.2 Tea or coffee? Meaning and affordance ................................................ 17 1.2.3 Betwixt and between: music and mediation ......................................... 20 1.2.4 Kinds, types, and sorts: genre ................................................................ 21 1.3 GUILT, FORGIVENESS, AND RECONCILIATION IN MUSIC .................................... 24 1.4 THE IMPERATIVE OF MEMORY AND THE GUILT OF THE SURVIVOR ................... 33 2 VICARIOUS GUILT: WILLIAM FITZSIMMONS AND PERFORMING CONFESSION ........................................................................................... 50 2.1 EQUAL PARTS SONGWRITER AND PSYCHOTHERAPIST ....................................... 55 2.2 THE CONDITIONS OF CONFESSIONAL PERFORMANCE ...................................... 63 2.3 CONFESSION AND CONSTRUCTING THE PERFORMATIVE SELF ........................... 67 2.4 WHO WANTS TO BE AUTHENTIC? ................................................................... 76 2.5 PERFORMING CONFESSION ............................................................................. 80 2.5.1 You, me, and we: the language of intimacy ......................................... 80 2.5.2 Recording the sound of honesty ........................................................... 86 2.5.3 Fitzsimmons in concert ........................................................................ 87 2.5.4 Selling a star ......................................................................................... 92 2.6 PERSONA AND STAR TEXT IN INDIE MUSIC ....................................................... 95 2.6.1 Positioning the audience ..................................................................... 100 2.7 STREAM AND SHOUT: FITZSIMMONS’S RECEPTION ONLINE ............................. 108 2.7.1 Communication as communion? ......................................................... 114 2.8 PRIVATE WORDS, PUBLIC EMOTIONS .............................................................. 117 3 HAVE MERCY ON ME: MUSICAL MEDIATION AND THE DIVINE .....