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Reconstructive Postmodernism, Quotation, and Musical Analysis: a Methodology with Reference to the Third Movement of Luciano Berio’S Sinfonia

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Reconstructive Postmodernism, Quotation, and Musical Analysis: a Methodology with Reference to the Third Movement of Luciano Berio’S Sinfonia Reconstructive Postmodernism, Quotation, and Musical Analysis: A Methodology with Reference to the Third Movement of Luciano Berio’s Sinfonia A dissertation submitted to the Graduate School of the University of Cincinnati in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Division of Composition, Musicology and Theory of the College-Conservatory of Music by John Wesley Flinn M.M., University of Cincinnati, 1996 B.M., Morehead State University, 1994 June 2011 Committee Chair: Steven J. Cahn, Ph.D. Reconstructive Postmodernism and Musical Analysis: A Methodology with Reference to the Third Movement of Luciano Berio’s Sinfonia ABSTRACT The problem of analysis of postmodern works has generated many different analytical techniques, most of which concentrate on either structure or meaning. This project is an attempt to create an analytical technique that will examine both structure and meaning. Thus, it attempts to answer the following questions: How does quoting a piece of music change its meaning? How can an analyst compare the same or similar material in disparate contexts? What are the technical, musical and extra-musical markers of certain tropes or ideas? Finally, what methodologies or tools can be used or created to effectively carry out these analyses? This study will culminate with an analysis of quoted materials in the third movement of Luciano Berio’s Sinfonia for 8 voices and orchestra (1968 - 69). Postmodernism is historically viewed through the lens of deconstruction, as explicated by Michel Foucault, Jacques Derrida and others; this approach promotes the idea of “incredulity toward metanarrative” and usually concentrates instead on technical aspects rather than meaning. This study instead concentrates on Frederic Ferré’s reconstructive model of postmodernism, which has its roots in ecology. In this model, disparate elements of a piece of music - including quotations from other musical works - are examined as if they were life forms and landscapes interacting with each other. This approach allows the analyst to create graphs showing how the life forms from a quoted piece of music alter and are altered by the landscape of the quoting piece. Chapter 1 is a brief examination of the history of quotation in music, including authoritarian versus anti-authoritarian uses of quotation. In Chapter 2, the project looks at the development of iii postmodernist thought and compares deconstructionism to reconstructionism. Following that, there is a discussion of postmodernism and quotation in music, and an overview of the literature on discontinuous forms. Chapter 3 gives background on the concept of irony, drawing upon the work of D. C. Muecke, Richard Rorty, Linda Hutcheon and others. Chapter 4 develops the methodology using Ferré’s reconstructive postmodernism as a model and the concept of “timbral space” or “orchestrational space” as a launching point, and Chapter 5 applies this methodology in an analysis of the third movement of Luciano Berio’s Sinfonia through formal, motivic and harmonic structure. The final chapter details the conclusions - there are moments of high, medium and low levels of irony in the work, based on the number of parameters (form, motive, harmony) that are altered in the transfer. The graphic analyses present yield many interesting pieces of data about the work, and the methodology can be adjusted to look for other important information in a given piece of music. iv Copyright © 2011 Wes Flinn. All rights reserved. v ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Thanks are given to the following publishers for permission to use score excerpts: “Diminished Fifth” from Mikrokosmos by Bela Bartok. Used by permission of Boosey and Hawkes. Violin Concerto by Alban Berg. © 1936 by Universal Edition. Renewed. All Rights Reserved. Used by permission of European American Music Distributors, LLC, U.S. and Canadian agent for Universal Edition. Sinfonia for 8 Voices and Orchestra by Luciano Berio. © 1972 by Universal Edition (London) Ltd. Renewed. All Rights Reserved. Used by permission of European American Music Distributors, LLC, U.S. and Canadian agent for Universal Edition. Five Waltzes for Piano by Benjamin Britten. © 1970 Faber Music Ltd. Reproduced with the kind permission of the publishers. All rights reserved. The Unanswered Question by Charles Ives. Used by permission of Peer International Corporation. “General William Booth Enters Into Heaven” by Charles Ives © 1935 Merion Music. All rights reserved. Printed with the permission of Carl Fischer, LLC on behalf of Theodore Presser Company. “Farben” from Five Pieces for Orchestra by Arnold Schoenberg. Copyright © 1952 by Henmar Press Inc. Used by permission of C. F. Peters Corporation. All rights reserved. “Farben” from Five Pieces for Orchestra by Arnold Schoenberg. Arranged for 2 pianos by Anton Webern. Copyright © 1913. Used by permission of C. F. Peters Corporation. All rights reserved. vi I would also like to thank my dissertation adviser, Dr. Steven J. Cahn, and the members of my committee: Dr. Catherine Losada, Dr. Miguel Roig-Francolí, and Dr. Edward Nowacki. Their patience and insights strengthened this document immensely. Thanks also are due to the faculty, staff, and music students at Northern Kentucky University, Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts, and Clayton State University for the constant support and understanding. Dr. Robert Zierolf of the University of Cincinnati has been a mentor and role model for nearly two decades. Dr. Joel Plaag of Lyon College provided additional editing and moral support. Dr. Mike Berry of Texas Tech University served as a sounding board, as did Craig Doolin, Dr. Bill Howard, Aaron Kerley, and Dr. Nathan Long, all of Cincinnati. Amy Kendall of Providence, RI tracked down a hard-to-find article. Michael and Lauretta Philhower, the best in-laws anyone could ask for, provided not only intangible support but a place to stay during the many trips to Cincinnati during the final stages of this process. My parents, John and Linda Flinn, never stopped believing in me, even during those many times that I did. I can never repay them for the many sacrifices they have made for me over the years, but I hope that the completion of this project is a step in that direction. Finally, I must acknowledge my wife, Amanda. There simply aren’t words to describe what she has put up with while I have been working on this, so I will simply say this: I love you - and thank you. vii Reconstructive Postmodernism, Quotation, and Musical Analysis: A Methodology with Reference to the Third Movement of Luciano Berio’s Sinfonia TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract ............................................................................................................................. iii Copyright notice .................................................................................................................v Acknowledgments ............................................................................................................ vi Table of contents ............................................................................................................ viii List of tables/examples .......................................................................................................x Chapter 1 A brief overview of quotation and analytical problems ............................1 1.00 Introduction ..............................................................................................................1 1.01 On quotation .............................................................................................................2 1.02 Listening to music, and listening to other music ......................................................5 1.03 Other uses of musical quotation .............................................................................12 1.04 Analysis of quotation .............................................................................................14 1.05 Conclusion ..............................................................................................................17 Chapter 2 Background and ideas .................................................................................19 2.00 Introduction ............................................................................................................19 2.01 Postmodernism: the worldview ..............................................................................20 2.02 Frederick Ferré and the ecological model ..............................................................27 2.03 Postmodernism in discontinuous forms; Berio ......................................................31 2.04 Conclusion ..............................................................................................................39 Chapter 3 Irony ..............................................................................................................40 3.00 Introduction ............................................................................................................40 3.01 Some interpretations of irony .................................................................................41 3.02 Musical irony and musical meaning .......................................................................49 3.03 Conclusion ..............................................................................................................53 viii Chapter 4 Developing the methodology .......................................................................54 4.00 Introduction
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