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A Gestalt Music Analysis JYVÄSKYLÄ STUDIES IN HUMANITIES 39 Jaana Utriainen A Gestalt Music Analysis Philosophical Theory, Method, and Analysis of Iegor Reznikoff’s Compositions JYVÄSKYLÄN YLIOPISTO JYVÄSKYLÄ STUDIES IN HUMANITIES 39 Jaana Utriainen A Gestalt Music Analysis Philosophical Theory, Method, and Analysis of Iegor Reznikoff’s Compositions Esitetään Jyväskylän yliopiston humanistisen tiedekunnan suostumuksella julkisesti tarkastettavaksi yliopiston vanhassa juhlasalissa (S212) elokuun 12. päivänä 2005 kello 12. Academic dissertation to be publicly discussed, by permission of the Faculty of Humanities of the University of Jyväskylä, in Auditorium S212, on August 12, 2005 at 12 o’clock noon. UNIVERSITY OF JYVÄSKYLÄ JYVÄSKYLÄ 2005 A Gestalt Music Analysis Philosophical Theory, Method, and Analysis of Iegor Reznikoff’s Compositions JYVÄSKYLÄ STUDIES IN HUMANITIES 39 Jaana Utriainen A Gestalt Music Analysis Philosophical Theory, Method, and Analysis of Iegor Reznikoff’s Compositions UNIVERSITY OF JYVÄSKYLÄ JYVÄSKYLÄ 2005 Editors Matti Vainio, Department of Music, University of Jyväskylä Pekka Olsbo, Marja-Leena Tynkkynen Publishing Unit, University Library of Jyväskylä Jyväskylä Studies in Humanities Editorial Board Heikki Hanka, Department of Art and Culture Studies, University of Jyväskylä Toivo Nygård, Department of History and Ethnology, University of Jyväskylä Ahti Jäntti, Department of Languages, University of Jyväskylä Matti Vainio, Department of Music, University of Jyväskylä Minna-Riitta Luukka, Centre for Applied Language Studies, University of Jyväskylä Raimo Salokangas, Department of Communication, University of Jyväskylä Cover picture: The acoustical representation of the “bird’s voices” in Liturgie fondamentale (1:41.09-2:00, 1500 Hz). URN:ISBN:9513921816 ISBN 951-39-2181-6 (PDF) ISSN 1459-4331 ISBN 951-39-2143-3 (nid.) ISSN 1459-4323 Copyright © 2005, by University of Jyväskylä Jyväskylä University Printing House, Jyväskylä 2005 ABSTRACT Utriainen, Jaana A Gestalt Music Analysis. Philosophical Theory, Method, and Analysis of Iegor Reznikoff’s Composition Jyväskylä: University of Jyväskylä, 2005, 222 p. (Jyväskylä Studies in Humanities ISSN 1459-4331; 39) ISBN 951-39-2181-6 Diss. The aim of this study is to develop a Gestalt Music Analysis (GMA) theory and method that belongs to the field of cognitive musicology, music philosophy, and aesthetics. The GMA consists of three parts: theoretical, methodological, and music-analytical. I theorize analytic frames, and introduced a method by which the Gestalt of a composer’s music can be analysed and interpreted in the context of a philosophy of (musical) mind. Another aim of the study is to investigate the claim that a musical Gestalt is a representation of the composer’s inner creative process, and that said process can be analysed with the GMA. The results of the study revealed the composer’s inner creative Gestalt as a formulaic circular process, as emotional formulas of micro-structural findings, and as performance. The study also reveals the Gestalt quality of music as the “third dimension” of composition. The music is analyzed according to Gestalt philosophical theories, this is to say, theories of the conscious (musical) mind and phenomenology. Original Gestalt theory is derived from Austrian philosopher Christian von Ehrenfels’s essay, “Über Gestaltqualitäten” (1890), which sheds light on this entire study. Prof. Jukka Louhivuori’s formula theory of development and Prof. Marc Leman’s representation theory are the basic modern Gestalt theories used in the analysis. I developed and adapted these theories in analyzing compositions of the French chanter and composer, Professor Iegor Reznikoff. Therefore, both voice-analysis theory and spectral analysis play an important role in the GMA. The study has revealed that the method and theory were functional, providing answers to crucial questions. Formula analysis and its various parameters have revealed that creativity was based on unexpected formula Fe and the unconscious formula Ff, and their relations to the whole. The formula circle represents inner creative processes with content formulas that form a circular movement. The inner impulse x, or creative formula paradigm, was found from the frequency level of around 83 Hz (E) with a looping phenomenon, and was also hypothesized as a genetic formula at the micro-structural level. The Jubilus formula was the main manifestation of the inner creative Gestalt of Iegor Reznikoff, and it may represent his individual, audible, or visual experience of God or the sacral. The agent of the Gestalt was commonly the melismatic formula Fa with the vowel / a /, and the pre-Gestalt was mainly found from the formula content levels of Fc, Fd, or Fe with their movements toward formula Fa. Performance analysis bolstered results by examining the tension Gestalt in performance formulas. The Gestalt quality, or third dimension of the music, was found in individual consciousness with a meaningful moment between two forms. As a result of collective consciousness, the Gestalt quality was revealed by “inside” and “outside” experiments of the compositions, which we may say refer to the human being, Gestalt, or God. From the present study we can conclude that all musical components of the analysis express the philosophical-aesthetic Gestalt phenomenon of musical dualism: high and low voices, upwards and downwards, mental and physical, mind and body, spirit and earth, as well as God and the mundane. Key words: Cognitive Musicology, Gestalt Theory, Music Philosophy and Aesthetics, Voice Analysis, Iegor Reznikoff Author’s address Jaana Utriainen University of Jyväskylä, Finland Supervisor Prof. Jukka Louhivuori Department of Musicology University of Jyväskylä, Finland Reviewers Prof. Mauri Kaipainen Tallinn University, Estonia Prof. Ilkka Taitto Sibelius-Academy, Finland Opponent Prof. Mauri Kaipainen Tallinn University, Estonia FOREWORD A meaningful moment in my studies led me to Gestalt music analysis about five years ago. The problem of finding scientific answers with the method and theory in turn led me to cognitive musicology, music philosophy and aesthetics, as well as computer music analysis. When attending heard a lecture about Western musical history, a meaningful clause seemed to leap out at me: “there are few musicians that do not shout to be heard in this world”. This seeming trivial incident brought me to the world of Iegor Reznikoff’s music of quiet yet powerful voices. Finally, the spectral representation of “invisible” music affected me so greatly that it resulted in this dissertation as somehow being essential to my development as a musicologist. Between those moments and the present study, I have written on Gestalt analysis in several essays, studies, seminars, papers, and theoretical and methodological outlines, in addition to doing fieldwork on the harmonic chanting of Reznikoff and participating in the recording of a CD of his chants. My being an art teacher and constantly interacting with creative persons spurred me to look deep into the mystery of the power of human creativity in music, and in art generally. Many people receive my warmest greetings. Firstly, I express my gratitude to Professor Jukka Louhivuori in the Department of Musicology at Jyväskylä University. With his scientific support this book came real. I owe my thanks also to my supervisor Alfonso Padilla in the Department of Musicology at Helsinki University, for his guidance to find scientific answers to my musicological questions. Prof. Ilkka Niiniluoto, in the field of theoretical philosophy, helped me to clarify my views of Gestalt philosophy. Cognitive musicologists, Prof. Marc Leman and Prof. Louhivuori, inspired me to generate my own view of Gestalt music analysis. Sakari Lukkarinen gave me a proper analytic tool and advice in the field of spectral analysis. Pauli Laine receives my warmest thanks for to his willingness to discuss, read, and comment my texts and thoughts. Cognitive musicology revealed to me the limits of scientific functioning, and convinced me that the best future research will involve cooperation among several fields in the explication of music. To Iegor Reznikoff I give flowers, for discussing his music and my research aims. Also, his chanting groups and friends receive my gratitude for their cooperation in this study, and my thanks also to Aija-Leena Ranta who helped me make modern notations of Gallican chant. I give my warmest thanks also to my friends, who participated in various experiments and encouraged me in my studies. Thanks also to Martine Vornanen who helped me in the French translations, as well as Richard Littlefield, for his revisions of the English manuscript. I wish to thank Helsinki University, for making available its many resources and economic support. I owe thanks to Painokotka and Ari Halinen who helped me in the typesetting of the manuscript, as well as thanks to Matti Mäkelä for his graphic design. The research foundations of Kotka receive my thanks, as well, for their support of the present study. There have been many uphill battles as an adult post-graduate student during the dissertation process. An Asian philosophical view, concerning Japanese Gestalt music analysis, gave me inner strength. For example (anonymous): “writing is like a water in the river, it begins somewhere, and ends somewhere in due form and due time”. This is like the research process: when a question arises, you must study it. And when you have the answers, they “write themselves”. Finally and foremost my
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