KEEP GOING: NARRATIVE CONTINUITY IN LUCIANO BERIO’S SINFONIA AND DILLINGER: AN AMERICAN ORATORIO by Matthew Heap BFA in Music Composition, Carnegie Mellon University, 2004 MMUS in Music Composition, Royal College of Music, 2005 Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of the Department of Music in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Composition and Theory University of Pittsburgh 2012 UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH School of Music This dissertation was presented by Matthew Heap It was defended on March 27th, 2012 and approved by James F. Knapp, Ph.D., Senior Associate Dean, Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences Mathew Rosenblum, Ph.D., Professor of Music, Chair, Department of Music Amy Williams, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Music, Department of Music Dissertation Advisor: Eric Moe, Ph.D., Professor of Music, Department of Music ii KEEP GOING: NARRATIVE CONTINUITY IN LUCIANO BERIO’S SINFONIA AND DILLINGER: AN AMERICAN ORATORIO Matthew Heap, Ph.D. University of Pittsburgh, 2012 Copyright © by Matthew Heap 2012 iii KEEP GOING: NARRATIVE CONTINUITY IN LUCIANO BERIO’S SINFONIA AND DILLINGER: AN AMERICAN ORATORIO Matthew Heap, Ph.D. University of Pittsburgh, 2012 The analysis component of this dissertation provides a discussion of a continuous narrative that develops during the course of Luciano Berio’s 1969 masterwork, Sinfonia. Previous analysts have tended to either limit their work to one movement of the piece or to undertake analyses that do a movement-by-movement technical study that does not really touch on overall meaning. Herein, I propose two narrative readings of Sinfonia. The first involves the conflict between music or text that is a signifier of one of three important elements: blood, fire, and water. The piece is defined structurally by the interplay of these elements, especially between referents to water and fire. As the work ends, it becomes clear that the elements of blood and death (which are present implicitly throughout) are closely linked. Secondly, I propose a programmatic narrative along the lines of the Heldenleben program, in which our hero-composer tries to start a piece, fails, and so looks for inspiration and enlightenment, first from a recent work, then from the masterpieces of the past. Finally, he continues his piece from where he ended in the first movement, and finishes it in a satisfying way, synthesizing materials from the previous movements. The two narratives come together in iv this last movement, and, as a result, the movement, and the piece, could be seen as an answer to the question of “What is the point of art?” I provide evidence for these narratives through a combination of analytical techniques. I also examine the context of many of the textual fragments that Berio uses to show patterns and relationships between disparate sources. The composition component of this dissertation, with a libretto by Darren Canady, is entitled Dillinger: An American Oratorio. It is set as an opera-oratorio, and deals with the last days of the American gangster John Dillinger as he struggles to settle down and leave his life of crime. The piece explores the complex American fascination for the outlaw and lone wolf. v TABLE OF CONTENTS PREFACE .................................................................................................................................... XI 1.0 INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................ 1 1.1 HISTORY AND BRIEF SURVEY OF PREVIOUS ANALYSES .................. 2 1.2 METHODOLOGY .............................................................................................. 3 1.3 THE NARRATIVE ARC .................................................................................... 5 2.0 FIRST MOVEMENT - BEGINNINGS ...................................................................... 7 2.1 TEXT ANALYSIS ............................................................................................. 11 2.2 MUSIC ANALYSIS ........................................................................................... 22 2.2.1 Methodology ................................................................................................... 24 2.2.2 Principles of Consonance and Dissonance in Movement 1 ........................ 24 2.2.3 Motivic Analysis ............................................................................................. 26 2.2.4 Climaxes ......................................................................................................... 42 2.3 CONCLUSIONS ................................................................................................ 43 3.0 SECOND MOVEMENT – REMINISCENCE AND EMBELLISHMENT ......... 46 3.1 CONNECTIONS................................................................................................ 47 3.2 EMBELLISHMENTS ....................................................................................... 52 3.3 CONCLUSIONS ................................................................................................ 58 4.0 THIRD MOVEMENT – LOOKING TO THE PAST ............................................ 59 vi 4.1 PREVIOUS ANALYSES .................................................................................. 60 4.2 MUSICAL QUOTATIONS .............................................................................. 63 4.3 THE NARRATION ........................................................................................... 71 4.3.1 Individual References .................................................................................... 72 4.3.2 Elements and the Climax .............................................................................. 76 4.4 CONCLUSIONS ................................................................................................ 81 5.0 FOURTH MOVEMENT – ATTEMPTS AT SYNTHESIS ................................... 83 5.1 MUSICAL AND TEXTUAL ANALYSIS ....................................................... 85 5.1.1 Text and Elemental References .................................................................... 86 5.1.2 Similarities between the Second and Fourth Movements .......................... 88 5.1.3 Similarities between the First and Fourth Movements .............................. 91 5.2 CONCLUSIONS ................................................................................................ 94 6.0 FIFTH MOVEMENT – FINISHING THE PIECE ................................................ 95 6.1 TEXT ANALYSIS ............................................................................................. 97 6.2 MUSICAL ANALYSIS ................................................................................... 109 6.2.1 Motivic Analysis ........................................................................................... 110 6.2.2 The Monody and the Climax ...................................................................... 127 6.2.3 The Ending ................................................................................................... 129 6.3 CONCLUSIONS .............................................................................................. 131 7.0 I FEEL THE MOMENT HAS COME FOR US TO LOOK BACK ................... 133 APPENDIX A ............................................................................................................................ 139 BIBLIOGRAPHY ..................................................................................................................... 142 8.0 DILLINGER: AN AMERICAN ORATORIO ...................................................... 145 vii LIST OF TABLES Table 1: Beginnings in the First Movement ................................................................................... 9 Table 2: Rain Imagery and Musical Consequences ...................................................................... 21 Table 3: Form of Movement 1. ..................................................................................................... 23 Table 4: Regular Rhythms in the First Movement ...................................................................... 33 Table 5: Elemental References and Connections between Musical Quotations in the Third Movement. .................................................................................................................................... 64 Table 6: A Structure of the Fifth Movement. ............................................................................... 96 Table 7: Punctuating Attacks in the Fifth Movement. ................................................................ 121 Table 8: Fire Signifiers ............................................................................................................... 140 Table 9: Water Signifiers ............................................................................................................ 141 viii LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1. First Movement Chords. ................................................................................................. 8 Figure 2. Sinfonia I:48. ................................................................................................................ 16 Figure 3. Permutation material and first permutation. ................................................................. 18 Figure 4. Voice Leading between Chords 1 and 2. ....................................................................... 27 Figure 5. Linear Analysis of the First Movement ........................................................................ 32 Figure 6. Piano and Keyboard Angular Motives .......................................................................... 35 Figure 7. Monody from M. 125-128. ............................................................................................ 37 Figure 8. Two higher levels of reduction. .................................................................................... 39 Figure 9. Flute Solo, M. 144-147 ................................................................................................. 40 Figure 10. Pitch Cycle for Movement 2........................................................................................ 47 Figure 11. Soprano line, M. 1-4. .................................................................................................. 48 Figure 12. Flute, M. 15 ................................................................................................................. 51 Figure 13. Vertical Configurations in the Pre-Climactic Section of Movement 2. ..................... 55 Figure 14. Comparison between La Valse, Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9: II, and Der Rosenkavalier. ............................................................................................................................... 67 Figure 15. Interplay between Agon, La Mer, and the Mahler Scherzo. ........................................ 69 Figure 16. Opening Alto line from Mahler’s Symphony no. 2, mvt. 4. ...................................... 84 ix Figure 17. Vocal Pitches in the Fourth Movement. ..................................................................... 89 Figure 18. Comparison between Climactic Figures in the Fourth and Second Movements (piano). .......................................................................................................................................... 90 Figure 19. The Four Harmonic Aggregates in the Fourth Movement. ........................................ 92 Figure 20. Comparison between Chords from the First and Fourth Movement. ......................... 93 Figure 21. Comparison between the monody of the First Movement and the opening of the Fifth. ..................................................................................................................................................... 111 Figure 22. Linear Analysis of the Fifth Movement ................................................................... 117 Figure 23. Movement Five – Higher Levels of Reduction. ....................................................... 122 Figure 24. Links between Musical Lines in the Fifth Movement ............................................... 124 Figure 25: Movement between Chords 1 and 2 (5th mvt.) .......................................................... 130 x