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TWO MUSICAL SETTINGS of UGOLINO: TRAGEDY, IRONY, and the HERMENEUTICS of DANTE by DAVID ALEXANDER HEINSEN (Under the Direction O

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TWO MUSICAL SETTINGS of UGOLINO: TRAGEDY, IRONY, and the HERMENEUTICS of DANTE by DAVID ALEXANDER HEINSEN (Under the Direction O TWO MUSICAL SETTINGS OF UGOLINO: TRAGEDY, IRONY, AND THE HERMENEUTICS OF DANTE by DAVID ALEXANDER HEINSEN (Under the Direction of Susan Thomas) ABSTRACT This thesis seeks to merge the discourses of music theory (semiotics and narrative) and Dantean literary hermeneutics through the analysis of two musical adaptations of the character Count Ugolino (Inferno, Canto XXXIII). The adaptations, composed by Gaetano Donizetti and Francesco Morlacchi, are first discussed within the frame of their sociocultural context and corresponding critical reception. An analysis of the Morlacchi setting aligns with a tragic reading, and thus fits squarely into the 19th-century Italian understanding of the character, while the Donizetti can only be read ironically, yielding an interpretation that explores Ugolino through the lens of religion and morality. INDEX WORDS: Dante, Inferno, Ugolino, Gaetano Donizetti, Francesco Morlacchi, Musical Semiotics, Musical Narrative Theory, Hermeneutics TWO MUSICAL SETTINGS OF UGOLINO: TRAGEDY, IRONY, AND THE HERMENEUTICS OF DANTE by DAVID ALEXANDER HEINSEN B.M., James Madison University, 2007 M.M., University of Georgia, 2010 A Thesis Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of The University of Georgia in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree MASTER OF ARTS ATHENS, GEORGIA 2017 © 2017 David Alexander Heinsen All Rights Reserved TWO MUSICAL SETTINGS OF UGOLINO: TRAGEDY, IRONY, AND THE HERMENEUTICS OF DANTE by DAVID ALEXANDER HEINSEN Major Professor: Susan Thomas Committee: David Haas Emily Gertsch Electronic Version Approved: Suzanne Barbour Dean of the Graduate School The University of Georgia May 2017 iv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to thank my committee members – Dr. Susan Thomas, Dr. Emily Gertsch, and Dr. David Haas– for their support and encouragement from the initial planning through the finals stages of writing this thesis. Dr. Thomas, your brilliant insights and regular feedback were instrumental to the success of this project, not only for the cogency of my arguments, but also for the clarity and economy of my writing. Dr. Haas, your classes and seminars encouraged me to think outside of the box and promoted the importance of writing about musical structure in an engaging and detailed way. Dr. Gertsch, your guidance into the field of musical meaning has been invaluable, both to this project and, more importantly, my future. Your recommendations of articles and books, as well as our regular conversations, have completely changed the way I think about music and was the catalyst for shifting my career trajectory towards music theory. In addition, Dr. Emily Frey, although you were only at UGA for a short time, I am grateful for our regular talks about the field of musicology and your feedback on research papers. Furthermore, to the whole musicology department at the University of Georgia, thank you for taking a risk on this euphonium player that found himself drawn towards academic music scholarship, but was completely unsure of his own career path. Finally, I would like to thank my wife, Robin, for her patience during these last few months. I tend to develop blinders to real life when threatened by impending deadlines, but your understanding and management of my quirks enormously helped in the writing and research process – it would have been impossible without you. v TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ...........................................................................................................iv LIST OF TABLES .......................................................................................................................vi LIST OF FIGURES .....................................................................................................................vii CHAPTERS 1 INTRODUCTION ...............................................................................................1 2 DANTE AESTHETICS AND RECEPTION IN 19TH-CENTURY ITALY .....................................................................................27 3 THE TRAGIC UGOLINO: MORLACCHI’S SETTING AS AN EPISODIC READING ............................................................................49 4 THE IRONIC UGOLINO: DONIZETTI’S SETTING AS A SERIAL READING...................................................................................84 CONCLUSION ............................................................................................................................119 BIBLIOGRAPHY ........................................................................................................................124 vi LIST OF TABLES Page Table 1.1: Narrative Archetypes, Almén, A Theory of Musical Narrative ..................................18 Table 3.1: Text and Temporal Descriptions of Canto XXXIII, lines 1-15 ..................................62 Table 3.2: Order and Transgression Chart for Morlacchi’s Adaptation ......................................65 Table 3.3: Paradigmatic Analysis of Morlacchi’s “Parte del Canto XXXIII dell’Inferno” .........66 Table 4.1: Paradigmatic Analysis of Donizetti’s “Il Conte Ugolino” .........................................95 Table 4.2: Order and Transgression Chart for Donizetti’s “Il Conte Ugolino” ...........................103 vii LIST OF FIGURES Page Figure 1.1: Dantean Reading Typologies, Hede, Reading Dante ................................................13 Figure 1.2: Semiotic Model for Expressive Meaning, Hatten, Musical Meaning .......................16 Figure 3.1: Morlacchi, “Parte del Canto XXXIII dell’Inferno,” mm. 1-31 .................................55 Figure 3.2: Morlacchi, “Parte del Canto XXXIII dell’Inferno,” mm. 48-54 ...............................58 Figure 3.3: Morlacchi, “Parte del Canto XXXIII dell’Inferno,” mm. 76-89 (reduction) ............68 Figure 3.4: Morlacchi, “Parte del Canto XXXIII dell’Inferno,” mm. 88-96 ...............................71 Figure 3.5: Morlacchi, “Parte del Canto XXXIII dell’Inferno,” mm. 117-128 ...........................73 Figure 3.6: Morlacchi, “Parte del Canto XXXIII dell’Inferno,” mm. 129-143 ...........................75 Figure 3.7: Morlacchi, “Parte del Canto XXXIII dell’Inferno,” mm. 228-239 ...........................78 Figure 3.8: Morlacchi, “Parte del Canto XXXIII dell’Inferno,” mm. 253-263 ...........................80 Figure 4.1: Donizetti, “Il Conte Ugolino,” mm. 8-20 ..................................................................93 Figure 4.2: Donizetti, “Il Conte Ugolino,” mm. 363-407 (reduction) .........................................97 Figure 4.3: Donizetti, “Il Conte Ugolino,” melody comparison ..................................................98 Figure 4.4: Donizetti, “Il Conte Ugolino,” mm. 136-147 (reduction) .........................................104 Figure 4.5: Donizetti, “Il Conte Ugolino,” mm. 330-344 (reduction) .........................................106 Figure 4.6: Donizetti, “Il Conte Ugolino,” mm. 191-204 ............................................................112 Figure 4.7: Donizetti, “Il Conte Ugolino,” mm. 236-241 ............................................................112 Figure 4.8: Donizetti, “Il Conte Ugolino,” mm. 205-228 ............................................................114 1 CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION From its medieval origins through our postmodern age, the Divine Comedy of Dante Alighieri has presented intellectual challenges to legions of students and scholars. On its surface, this tripartite metaphorical journey through Hell, Purgatory, and Paradise traces the transcendence of sin towards purification and salvation, but abundant complexities within its content and formal structure thwart the construction of further meaning. Dense webs of literary, theological, and political allusions lie within the narrative content, often obscuring the protagonist’s linear journey. The intricate structural topography of the three canticles provide additional analytical obstacles, as the nine circles of Hell, seven terraces of Purgatory, and ten heavens of Paradise do not clearly align sins with their corresponding virtues and thus obscure thematic parallels and contest the underlying logic of the poem. These complexities, among many others, have been examined through a rich tradition of literary hermeneutics that attempts to interpret the Divine Comedy in order to decipher its “enigma of meaning.”1 Interpretative efforts have led to a “veritable ocean of exegesis . an interminable and ever-growing mass of hermeneutics”2 that has become both the fountainhead and bulwark of Dante studies and collegiate Italian departments. Despite their academic ubiquity, Dantean hermeneutics are surprisingly insular, existing only within the bubble of literary and rhetorical scholarship, and 1 Jesper Hede, Reading Dante (United States of America: Lexington Books, 2007), 1. 2 Gianfranco Contini, “Philology and Dante Exegesis,” Dante Studies, with the Annual Report of the Dante Society, no. 87 (1969): 1. 2 very rarely crossing disciplinary lines. This is most unfortunate in consideration of the extraordinary number of artistic adaptations that the Divine Comedy has inspired – settings which have been examined in the scholarly discourses of art, music, and theater, but remain detached from the insights of literary criticism. From the infernal sculptures of Auguste Rodin to Franz Liszt’s symphonic setting of the poem, the creative potential embedded within the Divine Comedy has encouraged centuries of diverse and thoughtful adaptation. Dante’s vivid descriptions of his demonic and angelic
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