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The Study of Narratology and its Impact on Programmatic Music with specific practice in writing for the piano

Natalie Katherine Matias

BMus in Composition, The New Zealand School of Music, Victoria University,

2011

BMus Studies (Hons), The Conservatorium of Music, The University of Sydney, 2012

A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of requirements for the degree of Masters

of Music (Composition)

The Conservatorium of Music

University of Sydney 2014

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I declare that the research presented here is my own original work and has not been

submitted to any other institutions for the award of a degree.

Signed: ...

Date: ...

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Abstract:

This dissertation aims to provide analysis of aspects of the phenomenology that has

influenced the set of my four piano compositions in this folio. The study assesses narrative

stimulants as a basis for writing the works, aspects of morphology and narratology and the

application of the appropriate narrative spurs to these works. The folio includes purely

absolute to programmatic music, thereby exploring the realms of descriptive and

narrative music.

Composition Folio: Suite No 1., Notes from Underground, Zodiac Suites and Magic Tales.

Keywords: Suite No 1; Notes From Underground; The Zodiac; Magic Tales, Narratology.

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Acknowledgements:

I would like to acknowledge my supervisors Dr. Rosalind Page and Dr. James Wierzbicki. I

would also like to give a massive thanks to my pianist and mentor Natalie Sheludiakova, and

my recording producer Dr. Dave Lisick.

And I would also like to thank my friends Tony Lee and Denis Fortuyanov.

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Table of Contents

1. Introduction 1-5

Music and Emotion 6-9

Discussion of the Compositions 10

Alternate Studies 11-12

External influences 13-17

Discussion on Narrative Morphology 18-20

Thoughts in Musical Narratology 21-25

Closing Thoughts 26-28

2. Suite No. 1 29

Movement One 30-37

Movement Two 38-40

Movement Three 41-42

3. Notes from Underground 43-45

Discussion of Music 46-47

Movement One 47-48

Movement Two Frustration 49-51

Movement Three and Four 52-53

Movement Five 54

Movement Six Indecision 55-56

1.II. 57-58

Movement Seven Acceptance 58

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4. The Zodiac Suites 59-60

Impressions of the Zodiac 60-61

Movement 1 Fire (Aries, Leo, Sagittarius) 62-66

Movement 2 Water (Pisces, Scorpio, Cancer) 67-68

Movement 3 Air (Aquarius, Libra, Gemini) 69-70

Movement 4 Earth (Taurus, Virgo, Capricorn) 71-73

5. Magic Tales 74-76

Discussion of music and its adaptation of the text 77-79 1. The Introduction

2. Vasilisa the Fair 80-83

3. Baba Yaga 84-87

4. The Black Magician Tsar 88-91

5. The Tsar Maiden 92-93

6. The Tale of Ivan Tsarevich, the Firebird, 94-96 and the Gray Wolf

7. Coda 97-98

6. Conclusion 99-100

7. Bibliography 101-102

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Introduction

Music is unlike any other form of art. In a programmatic sense, like painting or sculpture,

music also contains a narrative, whether intentional or simply based on the individual

listening experience. Music is an art that exists in time,1 ever-changing and with the ability

to conjure an impression for the listener that is purely subjective. As Lanier writes:

Music, then, being free from the weight and burden of realism, its whole modus being different from that of imitative and plastic art.2

Music parallels the literary or spoken narrative form. However, whilst the spoken word

possesses descriptive qualities and enables the discussion of plot; music, through semiotics

and performance interaction, can only strive to suggest narrative. This study will look at the

structure of narrative, termed as narratology, believed to have developed out of Russian

formalist theory, which I will go on to later discuss in two chapters based on Narrative

Morphology and its relevance, also, to Musical Narratology. Programmatic music has been

one of the preferred means to convey a narrative, in which literary references co-exists with

musical practice. Programme music is a musical product that is developed through its

correlation with a literary text that in turn impacts the format and structure of the

composition. It is the study of narratology and programme music that has impacted on my

compositional interests in finding the means to translate the particular literary narrative text

into the musical score, and in understanding the function of narrative in music. As Benson

notes:

Music has been opened up for examination in all its textuality, its entanglement in the language that we cannot but use as we listen, respond, and disseminate.3

People wish to illustrate their experience of music through spoken language, but music

1 Halsey Stevens, forward to Form in Music, by Wallace Berry (Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, Inc, 1966), xi. 2 Sidney Lanier, Music and Poetry (New York: Greenwood Press Publishers, 1969), 16. 3 Stephen Benson, "For Want of a Better Term?: Polyphony and the Value of Music in Bakhtin and Kundera," Narrative 11, no. 3 (October 2003): 292.

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requires both the reflection of aesthetic perception and analysis. It is not enough to suggest

that a particular work makes me feel sad or want to dance; one must also understand

how the composer has constructed the piece in order to understand the composers musical

intentions. I focused on piano music, as I wanted to be able to trace my compositional

development throughout the process of writing four works. I believed that this would create a

consistency in my studies, working with the same musician throughout the project and I also

believed that it would be beneficial to myself to explore writing for the piano, which is an

expansive compositional instrument. This dissertation aims to expand on musical language,

through the aid of musical narrative, to absorb literature and to assess pre-existing

compositional styles (predominantly through a study of the Russian piano school). I wish to

explore how narrative can impact compositional writing by practicing via my own

compositions. So, how do we convey meaning in music? What are the pre-existing norms

that have allowed music to possess such narrative insight and values, and how have I

interpreted or embedded this thought within my own work? As Philip Ball argues:

Aaron Copland makes the insightful suggestion that the greatness of a composition follows in inverse relation to our ability to say what it is about. All this has left musicians themselves uncertain of what manner of art they are engaged in, and what, if anything, can be said with or about it. Is there meaning in music? Copland asked.4

Through the compositions present within this folio, I seek to understand pre-determined

notions regarding musical syntax and how it is manipulated. As a result, I redefine the use of

narrative constructs. This could even be described as a form of ekphrasis, especially in

regards to programmatic music and the ideas of narratology. As Richard Walsh says:

Narrative and music are temporal forms not because they persist in time but because they are articulated in time; that is, they give structure to the flux of experience. In turn, rhythm is our most basic experience of temporal structure.5

4 Philip Ball, The Music Instinct: How music works and why we cant do without it (Oxford University Press, 2010), 381. 5 Richard Walsh, "The Common Basis of Narrative and Music: Somatic, Social, and Affective Foundations," Story Worlds: A Journal of Narrative Studies 3 (2011): 56.

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