Daniel R. Rothschild Thesis with Changes

The Descanter of Revelations: Singing as a Way to Life By Daniel Rainer Rothschild For Degree of Ph.D. – Arts November, 2016 School of Social and Political Science Department of Social Theory This thesis is being submitted as total fulfilment of the degree. !1 Abstract: In this thesis I argue that singing is a way of creating an ongoing identity that is founded upon a particular way of being that is opened up through singing. In order to do this I draw upon Western Classical singing technique in order to highlight that singing requires an entirely different use and engagement of the body than when one is speaking or not singing. By looking in depth at the way the body is attended to differently when singing, I am able to then draw upon Phenomenology, particularly the philosophy of Merleau-Ponty, to argue that when the body is utilised in a new way, a new way of being-in-the-world is brought forth. I call the way of being created by singing The Body-Bel Canto; Bel Canto is considered an ‘ideal type’ of singing, and I see its musical traits as descriptive of characteristics of the way of being I believe is awakened in any singing. I then look at some examples from Anthropology that highlight how singing can be transformative of one’s way of being. The second chapter argues that the new way of being that is awakened through singing can actually be committed to as a personally authored identity. I draw on Pascal and Kierkegaard in this chapter to underscore my argument that creating an identity of one’s own is a hard process and not something that has already happened before we have consciously chosen to do it. I give the name the Descanter of Revelations to the identity that is forged by singing. Chapter Three is an historiography that highlights how the traits of Bel Canto emerged historically. I use the tripartite structure of word-note-tone that constitutes most vocal music to argue that a shift of emphasis from word to note to tone led to tone being favoured in Bel Canto singing, and it is my argument that this is the most personal part of the tripartite structure; tone is where being resides. Finally I examine the life and poetry of Walt Whitman in order to highlight what the particular traits in my phenomenological analysis of being a singer look like. Whitman was awoken as a poet by the Opera, though I am arguing more specifically that Bel Canto singing awoke in Whitman a way of being that is analogous with Bel Canto and therefore his poetry describes for my thesis what it is like to be a singer. I then conclude by returning to what it means to be a Descanter of Revelations. !2 I, Daniel Rainer Rothschild, declare that this thesis comprises only my own original work toward a Ph.D.–Arts (Social Theory) and that due acknowledgement has been made in the text to all other materials used. This thesis is fewer than the maximum word count and is 78,000 words as approved by the Research Higher Degrees Committee. Daniel R. Rothschild. N.B. No part of the work toward this thesis has been carried out in collaboration. No work upon it has been submitted for other degrees or carried out prior to enrolment in this degree. No third-party assistance has been given in editing. This thesis was funded by a Government RTS Scholarship and a School Top-Up Scholarship. !3 Acknowledgements I would like to sincerely thank my supervisors John Rundell and Mammad Aidani. Without their ongoing support and invaluable insights, this thesis would not exist. !4 Contents Page Introduction…………..7 Chapter One: The Phenomenology of Singing……..16 1.1 Singing Technique and Phenomenology……22 1.2 Anthropological Examples………………….36 Chapter Two: On Becoming a Descanter: Pascal, Kierkegaard, and the Existential Dimension of Singing as Identity……….45 2.1 The Descanter … 46 2.2 The Revelation … 49 2.3 Commitment…….52 2.4 Pascal……………56 2.5 Kierkegaard……..73 2.6 Conclusions……..90 Chapter Three: Historiography of Bel Canto………94 3.1 Pre-Operatic Vocal Music…………………………………….95 3.2 The Florentine Camerata……………………………………..101 3.3 The Emergence of Opera…………………………………….110 3.4 The Importance of Words…………………………………….118 3.5 The Movement From Recitative to Aria – From Words to Notes…122 3.6 From Notes to Tone – Bel Canto………………………………131 3.7 Conclusions…………………………………………………….141 !5 Chapter Four: Whitman: The Body-Bel Canto………143 4.1 Whitman’s Radical Transformation……………….145 4.2 Whitman, Nietzsche, and the Need to Create……..152 4.3 Whitman’s Style, Nietzsche, and the Body………..162 4.4 Oratory……………………………………………..171 4.5 The Seashore……………………………………….182 4.6 Emerson……………………………………………193 4.7 Joy………………………………………………….202 4.8 Athleticism…………………………………………205 4.9 Chiaroscuro…………………………………………211 4.10 Conclusions……………………………………….218 Conclusions………………………225 C.1 A Song Apart………………………..227 C.2 Summary……………………………229 References………………………..242 !6 Introduction Singing is a seizing of possibilities. To release the singing voice out of the body is so much more than a melodic rendering of the speaking voice with some musical attributes added such as rhythm and pitch. It is a declaration and actualisation of one’s ability to transcend the given structures of one’s being-in-the-world and enact a new way of being. Singing is no argument. It is an act in which the singer must comport his or her body and compose him or herself in a way that allows the optimal delivery of a mode of expression that is entirely different to speaking. The drawing in of more breath, the tension of the diaphragm, and the coordination of the whole body in producing the singing tone all facilitates a transformation. In that very moment, the transformation of the body enacts a transformation of the singer’s being-in-the-world beyond the conceptual logic of the natural attitude; it breaks fixed forms, and the world is seized in a new way. Victor Hugo writes: ‘To sing seems a deliverance from bondage’ (1930:71). The deliverance is from the limitations of an identity that has not sung, and thus singing begins as a cry, as Ernst Bloch writes, ‘a cry expressing an urge and appeasing it at the same time’ (Bloch, 1985:196). In the moment of singing I enact my deliverance and bring to expression that which was latent. I author it. What is expressed is mine; it is a way in which I may seize upon my ‘ownmost possibilities’ (Heidegger, 1962:318). As Heidegger (1962:33) states: ‘only the particular Dasein decides its existence, whether it does so by taking hold or by neglecting’. To sing is to take hold of existence. !7 This thesis is an attempt to show that the act of singing is a way of actualising a new way of being-in-the-world that is resonantly rich with personal significance and meaning. Singing involves a transformation of one’s physiology, which is unequivocally concomitant with a transformation of one’s being-in-the-world. Singing is not speaking, and thus the production of the singing tone enacts a different engagement with one’s body and one’s being. By looking at the act of singing through the lens of existential phenomenology, I will argue that singing opens up new horizons of possibility because the body is utilised in a new way. Further, I will argue that the ways of being opened up through singing are both more authentic and more poetic than when one is speaking. Singing reveals possibilities that can be considered more authentic because the sound is self-authored – it is not merely the given tone of the speaking voice but the personally cultivated tone of the singing voice out of one’s body as instrument (an instrument ultimately no one else can play) – and more poetic because the sounds, tones, and range of the voice in singing takes it beyond the everyday usage inherent in the ‘natural attitude’ or taken for granted assumptions associated with speaking, thus creating wider interpretive horizons than those associated with the usual use of the words we speak. It is my intention to argue that this opening of possibilities is inherent in any singing, not only that of professional singers.1 More specifically however, because I am writing a phenomenology of singing, the primary argument is therefore that while existential 1 It has become apparent to me during the course of writing this thesis that an important question many people have is “can anyone sing”? It seems, however, what is actually being asked here is “can anyone sing well”? My answer to this is that phenomenological sensitivity toward cultivating particular existential traits invoked through singing will no doubt have bearing on the quality of tone in one’s voice. But whether this endows a person with the properties of musicality beyond tone-deafness and listenability beyond private practice is not, of course, affirmable. !8 possibilities I find to be awakened in the singing act are available to all, singing is a particularly prime way of cultivating them. This particular way of being that I argue is opened up through singing is potentially present in those who do not sing. However, I am arguing that singing is a unique act that opens up a certain way of being, and therefore it is more than simply a musical act. Singing is a way of cultivating certain existential traits that I believe are manifested when a person sings, and if these seized upon, can potentially be a path to a transformation of identity, which I call The Descanter of Revelations.

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