Subject Strategies in Music Acta Semiotica Fennica Approaches to Musical Semiotics Editor Eero Tarasti Associate Editors Paul Forsell 5LFKDUG/LWWOH¿HOG Editorial Board (ASF) Honorary Member: Thomas A. Sebeok † Pertti Ahonen Henry Broms Jacques Fontanille André Helbo Altti Kuusamo Ilkka Niiniluoto Pekka Pesonen Hannu Riikonen Kari Salosaari Vilmos Voigt Editorial Board (AMS) Daniel Charles Márta Grabócz Robert S. Hatten Jean-Marie Jacono Costin Miereanu Raymond Monelle Charles Rosen Gino Stefani Ivanka Stoianova Subject Strategies in Music A Psychoanalytic Approach WR0XVLFDO6LJQL¿FDWLRQ Susanna Välimäki Acta Semiotica Fennica XXII Approaches to Musical Semiotics 9 International Semiotics Institute at Imatra Semiotic Society of Finland 2005 This book is a publication of The International Semiotics Institute KWWSZZZLVLVHPLRWLFV¿ Telephone orders +358 5 681 6639 Fax orders +358 5 681 6628 (PDLORUGHUVPDLMDURVVL#LVLVHPLRWLFV¿ Copyright 2005 by International Semiotics Institute and Susanna Välimäki Cover design by Jorma Hinkka Cover illustration: Méduse, ou Vague furieuse by Lucien Levy-Dhurmer (1865–1953) Paris, musée du Louvre, D.A.G. (fonds Orsay) Reproduced by permission of Réunion des musées nationaux (c) Photo RMN / © Droits réservés All rights reserved Printed by Hakapaino, Helsinki 2005 ISBN 952-5431-10-X ISSN 1235-497X ACTA SEMIOTICA FENNICA XXII ISSN 1458-4921 APPROACHES TO MUSICAL SEMIOTICS 9 Acknowledgements A scholarly book is an effect of a researching subject(ivity)’s activity in schol- arly communities. In the end, the written words and thoughts result from dis- placement, condensation and transposition processes of various voices, those of WKHUHVHDUFKLQJVXEMHFW¶VVLJQL¿FDQWRWKHUVLQDQGRXWVLGHRIWKHDFDGHP\7KH practice of the bibliographical system in scholarly writing takes care of the obvi- ous, literary ones. The other part of the voices – those not explicitly credited in the text – derives from the social activities and discourses in the daily life of a researching subject during the years of writing. I am thinking here with gratitude especially of my colleagues and friends in the Department of Musicology and Institute of Art Research at the University of Helsinki, the Finnish Musicological Society and Ethnomusicological Society of Finland and their annual collabora- WLYHV\PSRVLXPVWKH,QWHUQDWLRQDO0XVLFDO6LJQL¿FDWLRQ3URMHFW,QWHUQDWLRQDO Doctoral and Post-Doctoral Seminars on Musical Semiotics, the Semiotic Soci- ety of Finland and International Semiotics Institute’s annual summer congresses on semiotics. The Department of Musicology in the University of Helsinki provided the institutional, material and intellectual needs for my research. It also offered me various posts and teaching possibilities and brilliant students to motivate and with whom to sharpen my own engagements with music research. I thank the Department head, Professor Eero Tarasti, for his support and for all the scholarly opportunities he offered me during my years at Vironkatu 1. I also thank Eero IRUKLVLQWHOOHFWXDOZD\RIHGXFDWLQJ\RXQJVFKRODUVLQDÀH[LEOHDWPRVSKHUHRI VFLHQWL¿FFXULRVLW\DQGRSHQPLQGHGQHVV:LWKJUDWLWXGH,DPWKLQNLQJRIWKH ODWH3URIHVVRU(UNNL6DOPHQKDDUDZKRVLJQL¿FDQWO\HQFRXUDJHGPHHYHUVLQFH my undergraduate studies, and who supervised, supported and inspired me at the beginning of my doctoral studies. I am deeply grateful to university lecturer, v docent Alfonso Padilla, who incessantly encouraged me in my research, ever since my attending his proseminar. Alfonso’s continuous, almost daily care, col- legial sharing, critical insights and friendship, have been crucial in all the stages during my research. To Professor Anne Sivuoja-Gunaratnam I am exceedingly JUDWHIXOIRUVLJQL¿FDQWVFKRODUO\DQGRWKHUGLVFXVVLRQVDWYHU\FULWLFDOPRPHQWV and for her collegial support and friendship. Discussions with Anne affected both WKHVXEVWDQFHRIWKHERRNDQGQROHVVLPSRUWDQWO\¿QDOO\KHOSHGPHWRJHWULG of it. As an external examiner she was a constructive critical reader whose com- PHQWVLPSURYHGVLJQL¿FDQWO\WKH¿QDOIRUPRIWKHERRN7R(PHULWXV3URIHVVRU Raymond Monelle, I am grateful for his being the most witty and eloquent exter- nal examiner that one can imagine. As a spirited writer and fascinating lecturer whom I much admire, I felt privileged to have his willingness to be involved with my work. 7KH¿QDOPRVWLPSRUWDQWVWDJHVRISXWWLQJWKH¿QLVKLQJWRXFKHVWRWKHERRN ,H[SHULHQFHGZKLOHIXO¿OOLQJSRVWGRFWRUDOUHVHDUFKSRVLWLRQVIRUWZRUHVHDUFK projects funded by The Academy of Finland’s Music and Media project under Professor Erkki Pekkilä’s management in the Department of Musicology in the University of Helsinki, and the Contemporary Music, Media and Mediation pro ject under docent, Dr. John Richardson’s management in the Department of Music at the University of Jyväskylä. I thank Erkki and John for offering me research posts and for opening vistas of the future during the complicated transi- tional period that comes after the completion of a Ph.D. thesis. I also thank Erkki for his support during my doctoral studies and John for his kind backing, help and care during the last, hectic moments. Several people have commented on my manuscript or sections of it, which include articles and papers related to my research during the years of writing. In addition to my supervisors and examiners, I am grateful to all my colleagues, friends and family members for their interest in reading my texts and discuss- ing psychoanalytic music research. Special thanks go to Christian Holmqvist for his comments on the Tchaikovsky chapter. I also thank Christian for all the discussions and sharing of music, including his own. I thank Markus Lång vi for commenting on the Schubert and Tchaikovsky chapters and various other texts. To Professor Veijo Murtomäki I am grateful for his detailed comments on my engagements with Sibelius. To both Professor Robert Hatten and Profes- sor Anahid Kassabian I owe thanks for encouraging discussions concerning the overall frame of my thesis and the concept of musical subjectivity. Various people at the Institute for Art Research in the University of Helsinki have helped me in many ways, especially by being involved with my research and making daily academic life a rewarding experience. In particular I thank Erja Hannula for her exceptional willingness and ability to help both in concrete prac- tical ways and psychologically, and for her precious friendship and consistent support. Particular thanks also go to Jaakko Tuohiniemi, the most invaluable and sweetest librarian in the world, for helping me a thousand times in gaining access to books, articles and other research materials. Paul Forsell, who helped me in countless other ways, also patiently did the layout of the book. I also thank (and DSRORJL]HWR 3DXOIRUKLVKDYLQJEHHQP\RI¿FHQHLJKERUWKXVKLVEHLQJWKH¿UVW door for me to run to in times of trouble. I thank the following for help, collegial support, and valuable friendship: Irma Vierimaa, Seija Lappalainen, Harri Veivo and Merja Hottinen. Likewise I thank Kai Lassfolk, who helped me in harrowing moments of technological crises, Mikko Ojanen for also helping me with technological and library matters, Esa Lilja for listening to k.d. lang with me and for helping with the transcrip- WLRQVDQG.ULVWLDQ%DQNRY/LLVDPDLMD+DXWVDOR'ULQD+RþHYDU5LWD+RQWL$QX Konttinen, Jarmo Kuitunen, Petri Kuljuntausta, Antti-Ville Kärjä, Kari Laitinen, Luiz Fernando Nascimento de Lima, Markus Mantere, Dario Martinelli, Maritza Núñez, Kirsti Nymark, Juha Ojala, Elina Paukkunen, Sanna Rojola, Eila Tarasti, Jukka Tiilikainen, Juha Torvinen, Jussi Tuovinen, Helena Tyrväinen and Tiina Vainiomäki. I also thank Márta Schmidt for helping me with copyright matters, Päivi Juvonen for writing out my musical transcriptions, Tutta Palin for advice FRQFHUQLQJWKHSXEOLFDWLRQRILPDJHVDQG+HQULN5XVRSODQQLQJRI¿FHUIRUSRVW- graduate studies in the Faculty of Arts at the University of Helsinki, for guidance and help when the going unexpectedly got rough. Thanks go also to Henri Terho, vii Taru Leppänen and anonymous referees at the journal Musiikki, which published various articles of mine on the topic of my thesis, and to Janne Kurki, Eija Repo and Ritva Rautiainen for discussions on Lacan’s theories. I am indebted to Pentti Saaritsa and Hannu Heikinheimo for providing me material related to Pehr Henrik Nordgren’s TV-opera Alex from their own per- sonal archives, and to Helena Myllykoski at the Finnish Broadcasting Company / Yleisradio TV-Archive for her kind help with the material related to Alex, and to WKH)LQQLVK0XVLF,QIRUPDWLRQ&HQWHU,WKDQN%UHLWNRSI +lUWHOLQ:LHVEDGHQ Peters Edition Limited in London, Schott Musik International in Mainz, and Pehr Henrik Nordgren, for their permission to publish certain notated examples. I am gratuful to Elisabeth Molle and the Photographic Agency in Reunion des Musées Nationaux in Paris for their service related to Lucien Levy-Dhurmer’s painting Medusa on the cover of the book. Likewise I thank Professor Antonio Paolucci at The Polo Museale Fiorentino and The Cultural Ministry of Italy for permission to reprint Caravaggio’s Head of Medusa. My thanks go to the Finnish Broadcast- ing Company for giving me permission to use their photographs in the chapter on Alex. ,ZDUPO\WKDQN3URIHVVRU5LFKDUG/LWWOH¿HOGIRUUHYLVLQJDQGFRUUHFWLQJWKH language of the manuscript as well as commenting on it, and Michael Dutton for proof- reading. I also want to express my gratitude to International Semiotics Institute at Imatra and the Society for Semiotics in Finland for publishing the book in their publication series. To Jorma