Canter, David Victor (2023) Resolving the Stravinsky Paradox: Aspects of Character for Original Musical Compositions. Doctoral thesis, Liverpool Hope University.
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Abstract
A sinfonietta is presented of original compositions, consisting of seven movements, as well as a prologue and epilogue, exploring themes from The Seven Ages of Fatherhood. It has its basis in researching aspects of character, as experienced within the overarching narrative of being a father. Each of the seven stages explores different aspects of musical character, drawing on various musical forces, reflecting different parental events. This supports the perspective that musical work typically has a narrative impetus. As Aristotle pointed out, narratives are driven by the character of the protagonists. Although this does not necessarily imply a programme in the usual musicological sense.
The development of an approach to composing music is described as an introduction to the portfolio of original compositions. This approach emerges out of grappling with The Stravinsky Paradox. Igor Stravinsky stated categorically that music could only refer to itself. But paradoxically he went on to compose pieces with titles such as Fireworks and
Homage to JFK. This paradox encapsulates a central debate in musicology about whether music is about anything, expresses anything, or is what Wagner dismissed as ‘absolute’, when there are no verbal components.
As a composer this paradox poses particular challenges to understanding what it is that is actually being composed, with implications for the appropriate processes of creating a musical work. Is composing merely an exploration of mathematical and mechanical possibilities? If not, how can a composer approach the activity of determining musical
forces and all the details from pitch class set to overall structure and form?
These considerations draw attention to the different ways in which composers choose to resolve the paradox. These are as varied as Xenakis’ complex mathematics or Debussy’s rich harmonies. A personal approach is explored in the original portfolio of music submitted here. This derives from the hypothesis that the challenge of developing a piece of music, can be dealt with by identifying the character of that music. It is proposed that character in music can be seen as a combination of four ways of relating to music. These are derived from Carl Jung’s four levels of relating to the world; sensation, emotion, cognition and intuitive/mystical.
By elaborating these four modes as contributing to musical character through, analogy, metaphor, association and intuition a basis for composing is developed. Illustrations are presented of the application of this to early works. These provide the basis for the creation of the works in the portfolio. Although the effectiveness of the original compositions must speak for themselves, they do support the central argument that musical character, embedded in implicit narratives, resolves the Stravinsky Paradox.
| Item Type: | Thesis (Doctoral) |
|---|---|
| Additional Information and Comments: | Copyright © The Author 2023. Original content in this thesis is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0) Licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/). A copy can be downloaded for personal non-commercial research or study, without prior permission or charge. Any third-party copyright material present remains the property of its respective owner(s) and is licensed under its existing terms. Access may initially be restricted at the author’s request. |
| Faculty / Department: | Faculty of Creative Arts & Humanities > School of Creative and Performing Arts |
| Depositing User: | Matthew Adams |
| Date Deposited: | 30 Jun 2023 07:55 |
| Last Modified: | 30 Jun 2023 07:55 |
| URI: | https://hira.hope.ac.uk/id/eprint/3977 |
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