Scribd Logo
Unggah

Selamat datang di Scribd!

  • Britten Article

    Diunggah oleh

    diegoemerith
    10 tayangan23 halaman
    Article

    Hak Cipta

    © © All Rights Reserved

    Format Tersedia

    PDF atau baca online dari Scribd

    Apakah menurut Anda dokumen ini bermanfaat?

    Apakah konten ini tidak pantas?

    Laporkan Dokumen Ini
    Article

    Hak Cipta:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Unduh sebagai PDF atau baca online dari Scribd
    Tandai sebagai konten tidak pantas
    10 tayangan23 halaman

    Britten Article

    Diunggah oleh

    diegoemerith
    Article

    Hak Cipta:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Unduh sebagai PDF atau baca online dari Scribd
    Tandai sebagai konten tidak pantas
    dari 23
    Come, heavy Sleep: motive & metaphor in Britten's Nocturnal, opus 70 “The prealing melancholy of Bite Noten nas ata othe guia senorita iappropriat in a eto John Dowland, uch summary remarks charactere what litle hat been tite about Bee's Nocturnal The reader escion might be one of pasive sgtement ‘ormildivtaton, but ther rately dislogue beat thee simi dicoure [Noctvnal afi John Dowlandis often pased every Brite cela with cant Alscussion or no mention at al. Ceti ite hasbeen added to Evans eli- able commentary, writen onl thee year after Brien dat, At thee schol fa, one asks, ignoring the music or the medium? oral its expediency, Evan’ emark begs «numberof fil questions In how many senses then, is Brit's work fer John Dowland? How is Nocturnal melancholic in fc, what are the comtucts of melancholy in music gen cnt and in the muse of Brien and Dowand in particule? And how may we locate the sonority ofthe guia inthe dicoure? “The stating point forthe answers well mown. Nocturnals st of wat ations on Dowland strong Come, hey Sleep delaying Ital statement of the theme ntl the end to give what ight be eld evr variation fr -umbered sections are non-tonal ut otherwise eather if tthe trctre and motvie material ofthe song. The surface workings of Bivens variation technique are clear enough fee that itis not my intention to givea detailed account of them here Moreover, Brite reluctance to specif the gente in his te =the wotk is not called Variations on'Come, hay Sep points to other Arving forces inthis music, and adaitional relationships between the utesong and the preceding sections Inthis arte thea, Intend examine melancholy 8 tpi (he po of luscl shore, sgesting that it satraes the core of Nota at every structural level sal fer to several ofthe movement of Nocturna but the focus of my argument wil be detailed comparison between the opening vi tion, Musing, and Bete’ transcription of Doan’ song "Come, Retry ‘Sleep tha appears onthe final pge ofthe sore. shal search for motive co- erence beneath the surface ofthe music, andatterpt to diply melancholic ‘ sephen Goes 20 Exuacs rom ets Nora ©1964, 19 by aber Mace a dey permision of Faber Msc Li, Queea Sue, London were 340, aE eae een it Mr oslo rn 9 Lanta es ‘snow She eh Fenton ray Secon rsa 8 a, The of en Be ecnhe ek Te i jen en Dent ie grate nin ‘Ramee ee hae st "hin te hen con ‘otvic archetypes working a several lees of compesitional organisation in ‘Masingly Inte lt to sections | turn tothe implications ofthe revere vat- ation form and attempt to define how two independent idioms ~ Dowland’, the gulta’s ~ become identified with Briten’s For tb one of the unique schivemeata ofthe masterpiece that iter idiom i pushed into the back rund, On the contrary: the more nak they arecsclosed in the mas ~ the quotation of a ete song, «chord onthe open rings ~ the more mow ingly ae we te ava that i Briel hand that strikes the open sting, and Britons vice chat sings Dowland to ws Despiteits comparative ciel neglect, Nowa (396) cecupisa pivotal po- sition in Brier’ output. Itefr back tothe many worts concerned with sleep ‘nd dreams, fram the Serenade for Tener, Horn anu Sra (1943 though Noe- turvei958) to A Miner Nigh?'s Drea (1960); andit looks forward the heterophonic melodie styeand melancholic atmosphere of lair works suchas Grew River (3964) and Death in Venice (973). Bans concedes that Nocturnal hasbeen somewhat overooked: (he plese dees fr higher pice inthe common view of Bites cheer than i hase sed ‘The few Brite scholars who mention Noctal at al often refer to insomnia rather than lp and dreams athe paychologicl orbit ofthe piee ‘Come Heavy Sle. i ot het in al il he end gesting tht lp aes at come fora lang whi, The preceding movements ae undoubedly mean to port the ais tage of nomi. Soon ts we aie the sap statement th og senso represent the repoeof dep and the preceding ight arto the changing Ren tr mented moods though nich the poet ha roped tod i Insomnia giving way to lep:trpting programme, solongas the sag atthe ced is heaed without the ward (Come, hy sep.) But Brien own state ‘ments about the piece and about dreaming in general are ambiguous. Britten admitted ina 1969 interview with Donald Michel, that Nocturnal "had some ver to me, disturbing images init He dd not sy what they were but went on to link these images with ‘the Dowland song, which of cours itself has very ange undertone in it Dovland was petson who peiaps even conscous)y reaied the importance of dreams Ebewher inte ntaview,Brten empha shed the inportace of deaming i his creative work ges a chance for Your subconscious mind to work when your conscious mind is happily asleep TET dont seep find that. in the morning am] unprepared for my net dys work? Howore, he wavoed that deer teleate many things which one ‘inks had baste nt be cles Evidently Bren depended on dreams in two ways. Inthe fist place, sleep and dreams provided a welbpring of unconscious actvty and imagery that ‘kept hit composing esh and vit n the second pace, depended to some ‘tent on dreaming, rather than waking ie to Rep the cestve source at bay Senne ings might be tubing, bu the remained the province of hie wn conscious mind to be sublimated in pieces ike Nocural but never spoken of in word, Indeed Briten reserved some of his mos imaginatie and obscure sonorts for bis dreamscapes, The dream musie of Oberon in A ewer ‘Nights Dean combines the otherworlly sound ofthe countertenor voiee with sharp, harpsichord and cles to evoke the supernatural The aghtnarih in gery of Noctumeled Britten to predic tht the piece would not’be madly op ‘lr becaseitisthesrangestand remotes thing ~ bi then deems ae strange and remote, Temight be bes then, to speak of Necturna ot 0 much as an evocation of insomnia as in art's on genre of nigh mi a of the unconscious mind. “The extent o which this th world of deepng or waking depend onthe eub- ject. Hardly surprising. on this view that gatries are soofen tempted otra tothe models f depth peychology in forung an interpretation ofthe work, 5 Dowland clasia rhetoric Came, bar Sop th nage of tre Dt, “Aid lve pes my weary meping 9, Waser of ts dt tap beth ‘vd ery heart with Soon igh cre. Come apse my tied sag nou ‘Thar ving dis ee on me ee ‘By displaying the it stanza of Dowland’ song a a epgraph to his sore, Driten emphasis the importance of the tlatianshp between the ext and his ‘si. Tis evident hat he thought thatthe peefrmer shouldbe fly fist ‘withthe text eventhough itis never sung aloud in Nocturna, and by implica tion its melancholic mood and meaning The text is emotionally charged and saturated wih dark, melancholic in ‘gry This reflects not only the contemporary vogue for melancholy, bt also Dorland’s own melancholic disposition, Dowland ceri cubated a melancholy pubic persona He sgned hms “os doland de Lachrimae give hi pies tides sch a Semper Dowland ‘Semper Doles ‘Melancholy Gallia! and Folorn Hope Fancy and pep pred his publications with Latin motos sich a "Te ate which help al mankind cannot help ther mas” (the tile pge of Te Few Boake) snd “whom Fortune has not ese, he either rage o wep (the ile page of| acrimae so), it mst be emenbered tha ‘canchol wt sch a emo compli snd grave a problem atts tne tat it ccuped spat ofthe ate tion ofboth pine and philsophrs ho tempted ond is case and to prescribe remedies cher ysl o pi. In his Anatomy of Melancholy (1623) Robert Bustonidenifes no fever than ight-cight ‘res’ of melancholy. He goes on to suggest various conditions that contribute tothe Elizabethan melancholic state ~ soc changs, political ‘uncertainty, challenges te reigiousand ntl certains, uted ambi ‘le Deseyhtreop Dates rematetaps ‘ey pee dn wer ‘eg ta a ln pisces ma indoor ceed eg! ‘epi St rig “oghesep gute ‘owen elt doef Simp Ln Se 8a st ade Reseed Shea tnd ve ‘Shinty redopwnce sp teon Shea a Sri pi eg heen fi Dora ngeoaleed nt (Cloner roo tr to eof a Fnec'te nn atone 8 ‘aig sem etme Pecay Desund ones er Mee Gali eos “Wepeyn omen Foe ‘ten ee gay: "Bf Sn Send ot ofan 1 Thin at pat noma ated nee fie nd nse etn ‘dirham nt Ider purcnae eto ely eeiy ad ‘ole 2 ine ny ee SS] te dtnee edt SS SS hen hepowe ip el en Ae tty ep? I Wee oun mere a? That oe se ate = {nee tw elt SS Bunples Representation of clench n Dowd Yio, or jst fvdesicle mala. Burton and his contemporaries also tevog ised that melancholy was a peculiarly English complain that skemed ot to fect ‘thos ich Unted Provinces of Holland, Zealand, 8c: The Elabethans believed that melncholy'or‘lack bile was one of the four liquids ox humours {une in the body that corresponded with the four elemento inanimate ma. ter. Black ile ws considered tobe thick and henty an therefore encouraged ark moods tormented by morbid fears and deep sorrows; it was connected withthe elemen earth, with winter, with od age sifben byte) fBamel best oteee beep gag xunple> Nelachoie mai comtouts How does this melancholy manitistitelf in Dowland's mesic? Some of Dowlan's melancholic songtexte share similar phrases and image. Poulton Ara atention to some siking similarities between Dowland’ celebrated “Flow my Tear and te texts f"Mourne mourn, ys wih darhnes le and Darkness let me Dwell Ske suggests thatthe poems may have been writen bya sngle author and lists a numberof dose parallel of whch the follow cxampleis typical yo shadowe tat in darckacie del ‘Flow my Tes? In danse ere ode ‘Mane mourn, dy veh aks in lanes et mee del “tn darkness et me el? Iti perhaps handy surprising that cetin emotionally poweealimages recur in some of Dowland’ mearcholi songs Indeed, its the frequency of these images that helps to crystals the speieKitray sl of the poems. Given sch parllelsms bebween the texts of Dovelanas melancholic songs, are there, ‘one i led toa, sie medic or motive parlllisms that suggest mela hoy inthe muse A survey of Dovland’svongs ante music ees a wealth ‘of motivie connections. Example llusrates certain recurring melodic fag rents that ate associated wih melancholy. From these examples, Ihave ex- tracted Yarious motvic archetypes that might sugest diferent aspects of melancholy (Beample 2). ‘Gould there be a deeper semantic system in operation here or are these pa alse merely coinidenta? Pethaps the most approprise answer to this ‘question ie couched notin th: noion of ings, but athe historical art of Theorie Toa degre cacy imaginable today, here, in deference to clas fal traditions, remained cena tothe sethtic and theoretical concepts of ister art musie throughout he Middle Ags, the Renaisance, and the Baroque, The wae pally deo the fact hat, for long ine, notated music was predominanly vocal and ths inextricably boon up with text. Even after the Fie of independent insromentl music, hetorcl principles stl dominated ‘compositional technique unt around oo, In 1637 Francs Bacon wrote that “There be In Musick certaine Figures, or Tropes aaa peeing with the PigoresofRhetriks and wih the fection ofthe Mine, and oer Senses? InPliabetian Englund the portrayal of melancholy ocupied a cent ole in sisal hers many ofthe above motive archetypes were in common usage by composers ofthe day. “The tear motive descent of perfect fourth whether accomplished by leap orby diatonic or chromatic spe) has long been astocated with ncrymase ‘motions Holman describes ¢ a's standard emblem of gi” and goes onto ‘explore the etymology of the motive drawing stention to2 number of impor- tant models, Dowland wes the motive ia a arty ofwayas can be sen in the examples above. The chromatic versions make ase of the theorcal gaze fe 4) gk sae ‘ep an od ‘guttin tine nine 7 Serre kn pm ree capi pins 0 shan ay Re of ‘pn Hln en Ici prea ure soto eee ese ny em Tht, ia Re ik ro sen eft "ore ese overs ney te yr te i esp eters i ei ‘yl teow ony “Gna han ee ay cate Teg fe (One enh Heater tecmen omelet gestern oe Seb oe oe ‘ipo ln ble haa ind nod Scent a athopra - movement trough semitonal steps o expres actions such as sadness, fear and terror. Whit al the above musical examples coud be sb jected to detated shetorial ana shall move on toa consieratien ofthe se of rhetorical gues in Dowland song Come, heavy Sleep a it appears in ‘Brten's Neca (Pease refer tothe score of the songion p74.) ‘Come, heavy Sle is saturated with falling fourths, ot only inthe voce, melody, but as in the bas line. I also contains many Petri gus as ‘ated with melancholy. Bar 9 offers a model example of mutati fou ~ the abrupt change in banmonic diection fr expresve purposes, This ceinedes ‘witha melody intensified bythe use of ephonesisorexlnmario—a shar gre, normally costacted with syncopated long not eloed by a alin fourth {and thes shorter nots capable of string up vehement emotions The ase latins in bars 7-8 nd wo-1 of are examples of parrheia~ the use of pungent Ianguage to reprchend heares fr some fault The sequential id tothe d ‘max in bars ra (alld variously gradations or anabasis) ithe asia equiralent of the Basi thetorel device auxesi which Henry Peachum senior describes as beng "when we make our saying grow and increase by an orderiy ‘lacing of words, making the later word abeayeexcede the forme, in ace of signftion. Pinal, Brite’ adaptation of the repent ofthe repriegnertes fhe efect ofan aposipess when as Peachum says,"ough some afecion, at of ear, anges sorrow, bashfulese and such ike, we break off out setch, be fore ital be ended 1H Bruen: The Language of Mure rasonyin th ey went century that msc historians edcoveredthe Imporanceof rhetoric. near mas An entire cipine that had ence been the common proper of ever educated mas hake tok rediscovered and eeconstrced during the intervening decades, nd only ni it begin ning to beundestoed, ‘iil the ealy music movernent was redisovering the constructs of rusia ‘eto, Briten was turing tothe retoialy based music of Dowd end Purell t provide model or hs own work. Pethaps then, twat no spi that Deryck Cooke's seminal work on musical hermeneutics, The Langage of Masi coined with thi reconsideration of old mut. In fact, if Cooke was aware ofthe precedent of clastic and neocssicl ‘eto he makes no mention oft He argues that each chromatic ep of the atone sales charged with spect, inherent emotional qualities (eg major sixth pleasure, hope minor sist, pin dsp amet) and he oes on to o- Inte several basic mlodie combinations of thee intervals that consigenty recur in specific emotional contexts throughout tonal musi, Paradonlly, Cooke suggests tat misc snot language at all~if langage is the arbray, but agreed association of symbols (sigs) with objects and concept (the ‘Signfed) ~ but something natural and objective not mstaphorial, but empit ‘ea not ef brain, but right brain In The Musca! Mind Job Sloboda discusses ‘musi sematin at length and he eaccinctly summarises Cooke’ ie Cocke invites uso jet the notin ofits neutral for muse He angus thatcertain moa se more stable than ther fr suggesting prtictlar em tionsby vite ofthe tonal rlaonship that hold between tele members ‘Cooke findings. then, mone or les coincide with the models provided by the ‘theories of musical rhetoric. Whether the emotional cosnotations of tain -meldieshapes are naturale clture-bound,thesrength and depth of Cooke's ‘esetch suggest thit an unin emotional ing francs has developed in Western tonal at mas Tewould appar tht all he melancholic motives tht {have denied fea ture pominentl in Cook's argument. Example 2, fo instance (8-7-8 ina ‘minor key), isofen used inthe context of lament: ‘ofall om the toi tothe Jominant taking in themourfl sino eeveth and‘anguished minors cleltexpessan incoming pint emotion, sm acepance of o ling ogre patie string and the desir con ete wt death, ‘The descending gute 3-2-1 (Example 2b) aio appeuts wo have melancholic implications partially when preceded by the lover dominant (5=4~! ample 2) ‘Tori fom theloverdamimntover the toi tothe moo hand al back to then. comeysthe aig of pussonste outburst of paifalemoton. hich docx pots fri, but il back inf acceptance low and es of git. Beng neither compte prot nor complete aeceplance it bs an ‘ectof rele sorove {All Cooke's observations and concasons ste backed up with a plethora of ‘rusia examples take from vel-nov canoniz works fom the st ire hun dred years. ‘esies the melodic presentations of melancholy dtcssed above, Cooke leo dicutses the melancolicefet generated by patiular note pairings. He ‘compares the metaphorical implications ofthe minor sling tthe dom Jinan and the minoe second fling othe tonic (Example 2) in thes terms Ie nor secon] teins obvi alin tht of the minor sit eis ‘mace dinonencin satiate the minor bt wheres the minor sith is den by somitona esen down tothe dominant, the minor second i dae by mitral tenon dow tthe tonic. This mens tat whereas the rior sth an epson ef argu aa context ffx the minor second Ian eesion of anguish ina contest of Balti other worth minor sth exrses an ative angns, the minor cond hopeless np ven outside these spect oal contents, the semitone has key expressive oe in the portrayal of musi melancholy. Cooke describes the effect produced ‘when diatonic descents (euch as 8-6-5) are filled in chromatic (Example 2) “The ft filing in the gait make the Uepairing dencent more wey, do incre the element of pin by eer pombe crema ean (One has only to think of he bas ine of Did' Lament fiom Pucells Dido anal ‘Aeneas ofthe opening of Dowland’ Porlors Hope anc (Example) to apre- ciate Cooke’ point. Ce Tetra St ie Mat a ies nef ep ofthe tet ‘eta icr Bites Cone oyster Devgan ewes akg a "ey dices sg sp dle saad ici ne nn ‘epsom ptt etyate Scruton mt sil et (Cooks thessadveses tonal masieony. Iie ime to retatn to Noctural and ask, ca his ideas be tanslated int Brien’ pos-tonalitiom®? Example 3 (00 P73 atempls to finda answer. At the heart ofthis exampe i earch fo the underlying motive structures which form an expressive undertow to Musing, Butt stating pint to be found in the Fist wo staes hich sha he melodic line and oesionaly the shyt) of Ming is derived from hat of ‘Showa qui We shal pursue this topic more uly in part, but the flo ing prekmiary obseretions are wll worth noting “nits asc canton, Brite’ line Reps to within atone and half ofthe oig- inalThe exetion isthe approach othe two cadences on cat bates and 36 (esha se why in part.) + Burs mv ae set an octave Tower than the rest of Musing). The four noes of “And wears myhear! ar expanded in bart elect a tamer to the register of Slow and aie. + Bats 2-24 based on the came material a bars 20-22, extending the ect ‘of anabassaleady described inthe theteicl summary of"Come, heavy Seep * Although Slow and quit fades awaits extra barby comparison with Masi, ‘is crucia tothe cle of he work + Both movements ae set pp~ and in both movement the dtinctive homo Phonic passage are se apart be pled pp. In Masngly,Friten fey adopts the shythm and carefully manipulates the tones and semitones of melodic ine of Come, heavy Sep to increate tempo ral and tonal ambiguity, He process the pitches by dividing the octave equally 5 minor this giving what we may cl Uiminishod- seventy fle. This - ter replaces theconfdent stability of Dowlanas diatoniclne withthe tonal fx of uncertain exploratory musings. Example 4 shows diminished filter at wore in the opening measures of Masi Very Agared and Marche wheres ample 3 falows the diminished fers all the way through Musing. sentially, Brien uses these filters to tanalate the masial language form 3 tonal to pot-onl idiom. ‘One ofthe hes to Bete’ post-onal tyes ability to transform tone! fiogments into matvic calls for non-tonal exploitation (more of this in Patt). Thc, even ouside atonal context the moti interval shapes that Brien uss corcespond to the melancholic melodie fegmens discussed ove. And they can rigger similar emotional sponses. _Masingly sutused with melancholic imagery and iconrlled by motives constructed fom three intervals taken from Dowiand’s song = the fling fourth and fling tone of heay sleep andthe ising semitone of tue Death: “Table soggess implicit emotional icp or each ofthe Interval ands comresponding retrial figure. Example stows how these moive el operate ata vary of depths of compositional construction. At the surface eve is possible to ace Brit's uprated aes Mii xampleg Dininibed Bes bles inter (Cal oie Th Langage fe Arcending ——_pathpaa ring angie ope a svn or tre Desh coy related tthe sighing, angie, desedng semitone Descending catabt ish ment cerning, tone ssepline of ex Descending tee motive Sept —sloe oni with let foueth —_(Cacvina) 4 recomposition of Dowland’s veal ine note by ate lines and 2). The next layer reveals chromatic ascents and whole-tone dscns that ate localised ‘enough tobe audible beneath melodic decoration (lies3 and). Lines shows the diminished fers drcusied above, which pervade the later put of the ‘movement. Below that, the final cadence notes ofeach pas can be slate, Tie an acrotc, to suggest the contour of the‘Coms, hery lep motive (ine 6). At a deper level (line 7) {have uncovered longer semitone sighs tht ‘map the underlying motivie structure and sit ore the pny ockng osiived. fourth that remembers the bipartite division of Musing. Melancholy inlets al eye from srice to structs like All ae wounded ll wep, 1 Vaiation form Asin several of Brien ther variation sets, Notumapaes the tating point =the theme ~ atthe end. Other examples include Ladimae for vila and pio, also based on a Dowland ltesong, and the Third Cello Suit, based ! Russian folkong nl ze eases the final theme so rites aniston ‘Of cours, tno exty mater fr postonal composer to quote tonal music without anomaly, and Britene reversed form isa response to this ict. There isa ropare betes Dowland’ language and Bites which ‘would be ail too appatent had Nocturnal followed the wadiional ordering. “Ait the tonal variation set of eater epochs, here cul also be sy Te dicrepncies, but the fact of tonality esred certain ait, gains which diferences in style could be celebrated withaut any fundamental, contradiction ‘Composers frequently bated set of variations or another composers theme (Beethoven's Diabel’ Variations op. 10, Bitten el Variations ono Theme of Frank Brg, op. 10) ora theme in a senclosed style (Bachis “Goldberg Varatons, uy 988). The cial etae of thse themes teirep granmatc nature, They are miniatures which achieve fl closure The vari tions do not continue the mu, standing ae they do ona quite decent level to the theme ~ not contnnation bat eption and commentary. In these ‘Thepupcnnc ne ele oie pepo ee {nun Tso ey be pe Sekt eprint ‘apes neat ‘erin: seal mn (cts ns en io rao me fev os pn ee Pisani cag Bet ‘opr iiatanasuy in fms cuerpo rates o ‘patti ap dion pga entre se “a fv prtemate sna a lh ‘hsm reheat sec hi en aed (See ep ar et ‘eine Se an, Ay fe ‘fe Od works, the sense of quotation matks surrounding te theme ofthe examina tion question elbwed by bilint and lengthy respons, nmisakabe ‘Nocturnals composed ag! the background ofthis aditioal variation foum, The most important effect of thsi hat the opening section and fs, rintion, Muringy, becomes provisional heme fr what fllows. The eu. lence scl in fe way Britten choose the same dynamic levels frei, 2p fd ppp, and asks for these dynamics at corresponding paces. The symbiwie reltlonship between Musing and lw and quit impies a eyeial rather than Tinea stractore tothe whole work "The fiat past of Nectar ie st of vations that move aay fom Musing whereasthe second pat moves toward Slow and quiet. The inital ‘lent contrat of dynamic energy generated by the auaposion of Mainly land Very aptted propel the work forward, The wave-like dynamic wings be- tween subsequent aiations gradually subside until the work reaches its stil, ‘zz, Dreaming cod Gently rocking These dynamic swings ate reminiscent of ‘eles of depth of sleep the sheration of orthadx (dep) and paraxial (hallow o dresnng) deep tat occurs several times during a night’ sleep As the night progreses the depth of orthodox seep gradually redaces until it merges wit the cycles of paradeical sleep jst before waking. Following tis ell centre, the balance of power shift decisively fom Mainly Sow ad quiet The pascal ground, absent throughout the firs five variations, saduzbrated tthe begining of Drang abet na mide vice and in non tonal, ltered context) and Gent racking use an unitered ‘sion of Dolan’ opening melodie phrate fr the fst ime. The dynamic sevng ofthe opening variations ae elected by the Psscalis, which rad sly energies snr, but inverted, dynamic discourse. This ime, therefore, the momen of most extreme contrast comes nota the beginning but a the tend, beeen the drth-rattl ofthe final climactic wave ofthe Pasacala and the serene tranqalityof Sow anu qui. “To lose variation se the dition was to round off with fina variation demonstrating a complex diciplin, ural a gue: Brien touches base with ‘thie tradition by ating the st variation of Noctarnal in bis signature form, ‘the pssacagli A final statement ofthe variation theme ss a aprheoss isnot ‘uncommon inthe saditiona form: oe thinks of Bach Goldberg Variations (ore the theme is repeated at the end verbatim but experietally a Formed), and Beethoven DibelVriaton whose ina minus ee to ep resent sbimated version af Diell’ orginal walt) In Noctua when we arrive at Dowlaal’s song, at Dowland’ se afer the variations the eft it rather diferent. The theme isnot heard but overhead: i be played sow and quiet asi rom 2 distance Isnt sung but played the instruments not Jute But ute; and aly dhe musi drifts aay atthe end eft incomplete and hanging onthe only most emote frm home. there isan analogous stie= ‘ure, itis Beethoven Dabell Variations, but in Britten's form iti the original rather than the tation which the goal ofthe mac In short, Noctua makes isl heard not a2 set of variations ona theme, bout as a theme on «set of variations. The sesul i suring: a sense of what Faold Bloom cal the return fom the dead in this anachronistic sequence, it Briten rcomposing Dowland, or Dowland veompesing snd dsl rien? To ask thie eemingly absurd question i to ative st the het of the Scand ers a Examples The pascal ground and its deviation question of aye, for Briten was, to borrow Bloons terminology, a strongcom poser one who embraced influences with such coaBidence tat sometimes itis ard not to ear the orginal in ight of the remake Are there not momen when Bach seems to borrow fom Brahms, Mahler from Shostakovich, and Parcel nis passcaglas, fom Brite? ‘We shall puri tht quotion by exploring what elements of Dowlands song ace already in spe, ead rade foe Bitten’ language, thatthe eer ‘of roles inthe work becomes natural, Of cour, the variations theres wi tell us what thew elements ae. The key to the mater ithe diference between interval and tonal witing. The writing is interval rather than tonal when a ‘motive i ued in various contets and anspostons, but the exact intervals fiom note to note remain fied. Very litle of ‘Come, hey Sleep can be i ported into Brite’s music without Some filtering. Bu in afew components Brien recognised particule inervalic properties that allowed him to we them unaltered, The pasacetia ground ‘Atermeneute account of the Passaglia would bean insidious undertaking. "Tosome listener itis the moa datrbing movement in the work to others the _most beaut. To bring the two rections together isto call the movement riphanicetaily there isamoment of epiphany when the obssive repeti-, tone ofthe pasacaglis grou dissolve into a benign accompaniments gure in Sioa quiet Exarple 9 "When the Passacalia begins itis the fst te tha this motive sear in its unfiltered version. There isa surface smarty with tw of Cooke’ mean ‘holiesemanti unite (Examples 28 and 2). However, the tonal implications are fot lear and minor i theless important of thre posite cnaies at work, {n‘Come, hea Sleep the motive ts contented as -7-8-5-4-3 in the major Gonian} tod, but inthe Pascal the ipresion of 6$-4-5-2-1in the phrygian mode dominates the patter of tones and semitones is ential inal hes cae, Peter vane allude oa tonal confit between C major and E hiya: ‘eelihesignal penny be ‘cb Bon pi! Birds eens ‘estrone onde ‘Simei Pegs asc ‘Ste pd eg ests tg tn sine epene inne enn oe semis ninety felioen- tenga ‘en yongaomaing ma (igen ns eer inp in ‘Breen ye 6 Tei of eon item 6 Sls rom C to E though the whit! not, cresting by spl means 3 Confit bese Yoni’ andl that prepares ora greater tons colt of ind Samii ror many drama Brien contexte ‘The culmination of his cont occu at ba 35 ofthe Passaglia, when the bass, ‘ote C competes with an Emajor chord to sound the climax of theentte work. ‘The pasacalia ground has. a simple symmetry aboat i: two semitones fankinga wholetone feagraent. Taking it from Dowland’ song, ten has 0 need o passthrough the fle of is own language. Again, the cling section rovdesa striking demonstration ofthis (bars 35-1), when the hee, beak Ing fee atlas fom the bons of incessant repetition, stated at many dierent pitches in prime form and in inversion and sometimes in a chain, Throughout {hia pstge interval atructue i never allered (Example 6). ‘The ground bassin the inal movement of Brite'sThied Stig Quartet e Tei symmetially constructed, moving entirely in whole-tonestps I en ‘beseen in Example ha its second hal fa sit interval inversion ofthe frst The whole-tonesteps (te extended to ince A B,CHCE) could eit in number of tonal contexts: C¥phrgian, E mixlydian, inian ard D Ian, ‘These ona ambiguities are neve stisfictoily resolved and the ending ofthe ‘work is notoriously enigmatic (Example 8). The much-discused last chord could bea Cl minor triad with «phygian second in the bas of, more plus biy.apottonal cadence with ech instrament cadencing i is own tonality — violin 1, E iajr) violin 2 CE (minor vols, A (major; ella, D (major! Ipdin) Each ofthese tonalies could be Implied bythe exsasve and inde- pendent use of ale depres I 2 and 3 in each part Hane Kel, the dedicate of the Tied Quartet, as tried to unravel the tonal thts ofthe fil cadence, When eur on (he Thid Quartet) a Spe. Lanse the iy forged en, or nono aunt the harmon bsckgron of the tition ierrapted cadence, and ventured thatthe ony pou verbal aneion of ‘hess unin note was, Thirst he en! Whereupon Donald Michel, theconpose's authored lograper counted tht in reply tthe cuetion what thi end mean, Briten had ad Tm oot dd yet Si Came, heey Shep ‘The opening four notes of Dowland’ melody held the hey to muh of Ho ‘ural Example ga shows the interval relationship that dominte the sor, “The prominent sighing fling fourth, on the word hear, is particularly significant gestae and one tat haunts the retin of the Dowland song an permeates many of Brite’ variations. This short phate provides the keel forthe speci, idiomatic harmonic lnguage that Briten has chosen for his guitar piece, Example 9b shows the derivation of the opening chord which features prominently in many of the movements (U,V and VI in particule) (Example). From this open-sting chord, Briten develops an informal lexicon of ‘chords for Nocrama basedon the coincidences between Dowland’ song and the interval quirks of gitar ting He has taken the rogue major tit in ‘the guitar’ otherwise quatal tuning and made a feature of it~ Brien com ost the gute. ‘sample 7 examin Bien, Sing Qua #3 op. sad Pascal (La Senna, rod ba. a rd -Bample Besa Brite, Sting Quartet 3, fh movment sing bas 2 Came ay Se? 1) tans ane gcement Tangata xamples Detain of he open stein chor fom the Cae, ey Se mative ana nt om b ‘evry eae Repeal er Sai Tet sven te ao ws, eamplew Quart bermeniey set an informal — taegbnre samples "The mage of ae Dest fn "The image of rue Dewi? ‘Whereas the Come, heavy Seep motive undergoes much transformation and fering throughout Nocturna Brite frequently wee the image of re Death motive in it original unflered form (Example 1) "ve at the oust this unfhered phrase dose not seem anomalous when Brien reproduces itn hrs 3~4 of Mlsingy within the context of ote filtered masi. In fc it would be beter to say that this one phrase defines nich of Brien’ melodic style for Musing ad Nocturnal in peerak to se segments fom diatonic sales, but to vary constant the accidental between sending and descending so that no tonal cenue predominates, » Flameny So far have refered to Dowlands musi 3s tons, and Brite’ as pos tonal Both terms are lose: Dowland stands a a tansitional moment in bistory ‘between the Renasance modes and Baroque tonality; Brite’ musle makes Frequent ws of tonal vocabulary but to very varied ends, depending cn the cxpresive context. ids are frequently etd in Nocturna long with the » Bape» Fas of major and For i acateeeoed amples) Benjamin Brite, Ely Budo. oping at iy Hehe ada dey rina oy eer Mic A ara harmonies we have sendy examined: but thee is aya prolonged tonal cetze, Nevertheless in purely tonal vrai sets the harmonic strue- ‘ae was paramount even bereits not fxgoten: Brien espose to the ha ‘monic relationships in Come, hey Sleep is one ofthe most imaginative fe turer ofthe wor. et us ist look at an exarple of Brien’ use of winds at its mos character- inc In Mingy, ba 16, be Fass together two rad, E major and F minor Understood a fusion of ys we can see thal the sale ptches from Ear sand F minor (melodic tending) complete sal cromatc et with two notes Fepeated; natural and GH(4) (Example 2a. In the verti arangementof the ‘hord in bar 6, thet isa perfect snmntay around the GHA whic at fl ‘ram between the two tonalite (Example 35). The tonal tension between F Ghd Band Cand , looks ahead tothe phygin pssscaga ground “There are many exanplescf thie Kind of bitonality in Brien; ily Buds rence in these minorwthin-major relationships. Peter Eras cies Erwin Stein notion of an Urmotvin the works ‘Sin yas able to demons ow many [melodie] shapes (nthe opr ‘could beefed back to ar Uri which, itappenrs the composes Was ot fly conscos)eonsiting of amongst he his the ior within jor hit f the ope opening bas. (Example “The celsa ostinato that acempanies Oerone nue in A Midsummer Nights ream isbuil on toallyeymmtrical segments of major and FE minor while the remaining four pitches othe complete chromatic setae gradually ded bythe glockenspel. Homever,priaps the most striking an dct eleva example stan fom the endo the prologue to Peter Grimes where Peer and um pate De Chet a tng rods ahs aera item ‘este tego np me Bete ti al ial & ee) Sst Be oom Iyeeersfor agp ois gen hi Pein ™ uampie ng Dupe uronic roressinsin Sow adit and Mining (hs) Tha Be pec sone fr te ect he ced ot ein rt len Orford arf alone onthe tage afer the courtroom emp. len singe in optimistic E major he line cuning the tonic iad with ite decoration, while Peter sings in datkF minor. Both voices use GECAS) a he regia Noor and ceiling of thee phases, and they fish ona unin E. ‘The useof the Emajoe chord in bar 6 of Musing isstriking for several sons; it marks the end of the opening monody, it receives the softest dynamic 50 far, ppp and it contradicts the sonority contrast that Dowland utes in bis song (se below), The quer delay ofthe F minor superimposition allows ime for E msjr tobe heard with pure caity before its sono i middie. The ‘moment is aso thymic very important as Evans reat: {he opening of he second stain preserves the dramaing homophony hate same str ofthe ng ‘So much for Brite’ own haronie‘style! To what extent was he able to im: port harmonic progresios,camera-eady fom Dowland song? Asa mater of fact this sme phase (bars 16-18), borrows, of al thing, the ih elation- ship that forms the terminal harmonies of the phrase itis based on ‘Come snd possess my ted thought-worn sou! (se Example). In Masinglythe results & simple Vol eadence, but in the upper voce the ¥ fom the Fminor-E major fusion persists, keeping traditions only at by by a ished, Dominant to tonic isthe defining tlationship of tradonal tonal, Brite’ subversion ofthe progression her is managed with the confidence of mastery, bt at only one other place in the work docs he attempt to repeat the progestion. The pice it Gey rocking ari, which ie ikewite a paraphrase of Come and possess my ized thought-wor sul For tw bathe mse oe cites between C minor an ts dominant, G aon, while open strings con tinue the ital commentary that characterises his variation ‘Theis one more harmonic borrowing in the passage under discussion in ‘Masingly. We have seen (in Example 3) that Britten's melody Tne keeps 0 ‘ithina tone and ba f the orginal staying ony to complete the fist train fon (ari) The rest sa 3-2-1 eaentl descent in C majo, which i in stanly conteadcted by the B major chord inthe next ar. This pasage rep ‘aes the pivotal tertiary lt that ocers at the equivalent point in Dowlands song, where there isthe jxtapostion ofa G major cadence at the end ofthe vere anda B major chord that begins the retain, Diana Poulton draws ate Hi to thesubie colour change that aks pace this point ‘amples Pesci bars; anchor es ‘eye Dowland makes se fhe knoe of th special sano ofthe ate sith moving fect. The Bt wordrof ine fou, sous sgh so eis, a fl se with «chord of ej a chord whch om the tei ‘ral compoed of note on the ope strings giving clear inging ai “Thiswil support considerblevoime of one om the singe The net ine gin on mij chord which byte positon af th notes onthe sings ‘ofthe instrument fas a some ror mated fone colo If he singer “rop is yi match the trl ange of quality ia the accompaniment the repeated notes ofthe avcation to erp then akon akin of hushed ur gene eceptionilly expressive ofthe notional charged sentence: Com & pose ny ted thoughts wornesoue, ‘That ang dtl how on me estou Brten transposed the song down to rom late pitch to guitar itch) 0 mi ror this ionic effect inthe guitar version ofthe song on the final page of ‘Nocturnal, This kind of sudden teriry harmonic ol asa recognised feature ‘of eta in Downes masical language aswell s Brite “The resultant justapostion ofthe ride of Band Gi (in Slow ened qui) in fooms the Patsacali, ain Example hen it manfss itself a avert fi sion. More complex i Example 6, which iutates the zal lima of the ‘work To understand this pastge Fly e need to ad the iad of C majo tow of Band Gk The example sggertthat the diferent member notes of he tive trindsactas an armature forthe aparently wild transposons of he pas- scala ground. Inthe fst ar of the passage (bat 35 the various statements tf the hexachond tke their eve fom the lactic chord itself (see the dotted Dnt ii mpeg (pe ope eatin dpa Sg tr hn ‘nian iccoioner (oes ce ott cf on eehdoedg prec dh oad iether ‘yttewmneet tr who ons went ete ein Un ci sent tsb ches cate ya leche yd er Tacnlngent omnes amplesy Passaglia round and goternnghuronies om works wha store. Therese, the tice rads provide anchoring pitches a fara igh point ofthe section (b»). The falling thre hexachords form abridge to the ‘next E major chord leaping down by major and minor ints from satement to statement. Once the E major chord has been reached the Gi-B-C armature «comes back int fore, extending in Slow aa que "The addition of C mor to the comple of triads i anything bur abiary. Fiat fal itl be remembered that the tertiary harmonic progression from Eto Gt belongs to Slow and quit in Muingly ts presented a C to E (bats 1s-16%n Example 4) Secondly ~ and this o0 we have already seen = ition becween Cand Eis implicit inthe pssacagia ground. Example 17 completes, the picture that as been emerging throughout tht scion, The ground cmbodies the relationship betwen C and E, js tit origi in Come, hey Sleep embodies the rationship betveen End Gf. The st bar of the Passe cagla andthe fist bar of Slew and quiet make up «crucial moment woen the two relationship are t Inst head in secession, As Example ib sgt he two hexachord presented in this order eam be thought of indeed head 35 ‘continuous sae with registal transfer fome toe. Last cach of these ak Ties 3 major hid aay frm the other two al thee dividing the octave ‘equal This ia characteristic example of Brite’ way of pattoning tonal space ina non-torlfsion by Exed intervals. Theres sa eel harmonic strvtare which, by governing as it does the outer sections, can be sid to ‘encompass the whale work “The tanition from the Passacagla to Slow ad ques not ony the pasing of ‘one section nto the next ~itis the passing of alte variations int the heme, ‘nd indeed of Briers music into Devan. I is here that Brien works ‘guns hisown background; 25 the previous sections hare established it Far in the bridging-over between sections there have Bren wo elements: 1) a nking ides, slays consisting of pitches, bu frequently incorporating rhythm alo: and (3) a pause or comma, separating ne variation fom the next. course, the entre Pasacagla is abou nothing but thelink berween itself and Slow ad qe = the ground bss Having converted it atthe cia ito ‘continuous semiqaver in al registers Britten takes whole page to retarn (o its original repster and shythmie contour, together with its anointed E major chord “Throughout the variations Briton has wed the guitars characteristic rolling ofchords as @ motivic element, nd this epated B major chor receives the most elaborate epeggiation ofall ~ afte al itis the ony pestect triad thats reread (asa etl sonoity, without the interference of ther nots) inthe "ations asthe frat chord tobe hear in Musing and isthe last 1 be hearin the Pasacaglin. Nowa it bridge into the musi of Dowland Beiten at ast omits the pause, The notation here iteling: Brite doesnot mark low fad quiet separate section, withthe ting roman numeral and preceding ‘double bar that et paral the preceding sections, Rather, it sem that we ate to understand the Pasacagla and Dowland’ song as one continuous section, ‘And all ofthis does more than contradict our accumulated expectations of ‘Brite’ fora: it contradic the traditional Boundaries of raiaton form to the ‘maximum, closing the four centuries’ gap between two composers. [came Slee' has wo sis of which the second shoul be epee, ‘bt each variation leave incomplete thi repealing ay though nde pis and pag othe ne approsch of he eng variation. When the ‘eps of Dowland own second tin fds ot, howeer to the end f the ele work, is the eleven of bio, We saw eae that Briten signals the close of the work quite preci by sulding an extra bar by compsison with Musing. This inal bar ofthe works {0 ideaied a tobe virally unperformablePehaps, inthe hard medium of recording, it cannot be reaied at al. As Brite’ dotted ines indicate he ‘usc hasbeen sloring continuously for seven bars and the dyamnclevel has sunk below ppp. The notated glizando ie almox impossible achieve at this fempoand dynamic, an the final note sin parentess is prhops onl ima inaryavsul reside, the medium haing dsotvedint sence before the note could sound ‘Underneath the double baline Bite indeats a lvays the provenance ofthe work ‘Aldeburgh = Now th, 963" The reference othe seaside town which Briten made his home reminds 5 tat neither melancholy. nor hep tna dreams, can encompass the range of topics tat this music evokes. There fare many others the cae (Gent rocking), the bated (Marcie. Phe ithe int the background isthe sound ofthe ‘rten became known asthe retest English compose since Parcel pty becaue he dre attention aay om the picturesque notion of pastoral musi, towards another aspect of national identity: muse ofthe cosine, sanded susie ee masi Ino for nothing that Peter Gries emans his mos a- ‘mous work and paps thete sno music of Bites which does nt heve the und ofthe ts somewhere inte background Nostra to, tea rome tins be hearin the curving, orpamested lines ofthe Pasacoglia adi the ame movement's organicton into thie climactic waves, ike the Passaglia of Peter Gries Inthe Pascal, the ue of «ground bas refer to Pucel, before moving leper int the pst twatde Dowland towards mlanchaly pure and distil. “The ornaments inthe opening rele as much to Purcell aso these, Ofcourse, there night musi, to: pethape the most disturbing moment ia Nocturnal ‘comes atthe intrusion ofthe ghostly pztcato passage atthe climax of the sec- ‘ond eve I isevident that or Bite the night, the past andthe ea represent Stat yt hen Sree ‘hn an on i Fnfeutwa ster ein fcc dap ng Senn tere Sn qu Te of ea ip, ice ety ices tenia pe complex of eetve sources. All thre ate metaphors for the submerged for the unconscious nits diferent aspects. They are hard to seperate, for that is property of unconscious content. in tht artic, have ben purposely pr tal by exploring Nocturna elatonshp with Doland and the pst i be

    Anda mungkin juga menyukai