The Sound of Struggle: A Study and Comparison of Expressive Musical Features From Works by "Dweller" Composers (1933 - 1956)
Loading...
Authors
Cochenet-Gallastegui, JoAnna
Issue Date
2024
Type
Dissertation
Language
Keywords
Dweller Composer , Physiological Response , Psychophysiological , Struggle , Symphony , WWII
Alternative Title
Abstract
In this document, I discuss specific musical features used for representations of struggle in tonal symphonic works from a selection of what I term "Dweller" composers (a category of composers defined by their life struggles and inability to move beyond or overcome them, getting stuck to "dwell" in the aftermath of the events surrounding WWII as it affected them) from different Nazi- and Communist-occupied territories in Europe and the Soviet Union. "Dweller" composers were in similar traumatic situations during the Third Reich until just after the death of Joseph Stalin, between 1933 and 1956, and evidence exists of struggle in their lives that is present in their music. I propose that both the inner thought and feeling processes (mental and emotional) and the corporeal processes (physiological and psychophysiological) respond to these features of tension found within the pieces in my study, showing a connection to the composer's expressive compositional plan and theorized personal state based on their life's experiences at the time surrounding the writing of their piece. I achieve this by noting measurements of both basic types of bodily responses to tension that are related to the musical features that would induce these kinds of responses. I find and assess those features in the scores and draw connections and comparisons between them, showing the devices are present in the sound worlds of these scores and that they are justifiably prominent and translatable as a sound of struggle .
Description
Citation
Publisher
License
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International