Mythological Signification in Smetana s Tábor and Blaník and its Implications on Personal Compositional Output

Transcription

1 Victoria University o Wellington Ne Zealand School o Music Mythological Signiication in Smetana s Tábor and laník and its Imlications on ersonal Comositional Outut Exegesis and Comositional ortolio resented in ulillment o the Requirements or the course NZSM 598 Comosition artial ulillment o the Requirements or the degree Master o Musical Arts in Instrumental/Vocal Comosition ames A Skierka VUW ID: C Under the Suervision o Michael Norris Aril 1, 201

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3 Table o Contents I Mythological Signiication in Smetana s Tábor and laník 1 Introduction 1 2 Deining Literary Narrative and the Source Material 2 Reresentation o Literary Narrative in 19 th Century Comositions Aroach to the Analysis 5 1 Analysis o Tábor 2 Analysis o laník 12 Conclusions to Dra rom Tábor and laník 1 5 Alication to my on Comositions 1 51 Analysis o anus habet inem 1 52 Analysis o Crane and Otter 18 5 Analysis o Un trajet intérieur 20 inal Conclusion 21 ibliograhy 2 II Comositional ortolio 1 anus habet inem 2 2 Crane and Otter 5 Un trajet intérieur 9

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5 Mythological Signiication in Smetana s Tábor and laník and its Imlications on ersonal Comositional Outut 1 Introduction rom an early age, I as dran to music as a means o exression, a storytelling mechanism that transcends limitations o language comrehension A combination o music, and an active imagination, led me to create stories about the music I as laying, artly as a means to hel ith memorization, but also as a means to hel ith musical exression, to get absorbed into the musical realm, and just or the sheer enjoyment o creating something, seemingly out o nothing It is only itting then, that later on in lie, I as dran to mythological stories and their signiicance to the human exerience, in articular, those stories that are universal and transerrable among various cultures, even though they are told through a seciic language and associated ith a seciic cultural context In a combination o these to interests, I decided to examine ho mythology and music are interlinked, in articular, ho literary narrative can be reresented in instrumental music In this exegesis, I take a close examination o to orchestral tone oems by edřich Smetana, Tábor and laník, using them as a means to discuss the concet o musical narrative, and ho it may be relected in the ormal structure o a comosition The exegesis is accomanied by a ortolio o comositions that utilize mythology as their insirational oundation, draing lessons rom Smetana s comositions These to orks ere chosen because they are not tied to any dramatic, literary or oeratic ortrayal I anted to ocus seciically on literary narrative being exressed solely in instrumental ieces, avoiding ieces o music that rely on actors or singers, to exress their mythological stories, and to avoid the use o language as the exressive medium I also chose Smetana s orchestral orks as a ay to avoid other, erhas better-knon, examles o mythologically-insired ieces o music rom the same era, such as those by Wagner, Liszt, and Grieg What I hoe to learn rom this research overall, is an understanding o ho literary narrative derived rom mythological stories can inluence the ormal structure o a comosition, ho musical elements can exress literary narrative, and to bring an aareness o these concets to my on comositional outut

6 2 2 Deining Literary Narrative and the Source Material In my initial lans or the analysis o Tábor and laník, I anted to comare the original source material that Smetana utilized or his comositional insiration ith the comositions themselves, to ind arallels beteen the myths and the ormal structure o the comositions In essence, I anted to aly the literary narrative o the source material to the musical narrative Hoever, there are some issues that inevitably arose ith such an aroach The irst concern is one about literary narrative in music itsel While I ill avoid ading into the larger academic debate surrounding the issues o equating literary narrative ith musical narrative, I ould like to clariy hy I am alying literary narrative to Tábor and laník To begin ith, I use the deinition o literary narrative in its most simlistic and uncomlicated orm, as the lot o the literary source that the comoser is using While this may be roblematic or certain ieces o music that have no source material as their insiration or oundation, Smetana makes it abundantly clear in his rogramme notes and ritings that he intentionally comosed Tábor and laník to invoke the myths o the Hussite arriors as a means o aealing to a Czech nationalistic identity What e are examining in these to comositions, are the ays in hich Smetana utilizes the various musical elements such as gestures, motives, orchestration and the ormal structure, to imly a narrative, ithout the use o a lyrical or textual comonent directly in these ieces (such as a vocal comonent) The titles o these to ieces, also rovide textual cues to suggest a narrative, as their names are taken rom laces signiicantly imortant to Czech history and mythology While a non- Czech might not recognize the imortance o Tábor and laník, a Czech listener ill immediately recognize and call to mind the myths and stories associated ith those laces ean-acques Nattiez suggests that our inherent narrative listening strategies become activated rom verbal cues, hether it be a suggestive or signiicant title, to rogramme notes As he discusses in his article Can One Seak o Narrativity in Music: [N]arrative is not just ritten into the letter o the story The text is still a narrative in another sense: it has been imagined by the riter or the storyteller; it is reconstructed by the reader This is recisely the oint at hich there may be an analogy beteen literary narrative and music Titles such as L arenti sorcier or Von der Wiege bis zum Grabe indicate that there is an intention on the art o the comoser to ollo through a sequence o events and

7 to ut existents orard ut only hen the listener decides to link the succession o sound events according to a lot does he build u the musical ork as a narrative 1 In the case o Tábor and laník, Smetana clearly has the intention o imlying a narrative, but it is u to us as listeners to make the link beteen these textual cues and the narrative The other concern I ish to discuss, is the question regarding the source material itsel What as the source that Smetana as using as his comositional insiration or Tábor and laník We kno he intended to invoke the Hussite myths, but as there a seciic version o the myths (such as a romanticized version, or a oetic retelling o the Hussite myths), that he as using as insiration Unortunately, it is unclear hich source Smetana consulted or these ieces The to most likely sources are the Manuscrit o the Queen s Court and the History o the Czech Nation in ohemia and Moravia by rantišek alacký The Manuscrit o the Queen s Court is a collection o ancient ohemian oems and songs, discovered in the early 1800s, although it as later determined to be raudulent around the time Smetana began riting Tábor and laník (late 188 and early 189) This leaves it an unlikely candidate or a source The ritings o alacký are more likely to be the source, as it is a highly detailed account o the history o the Czech nation, including accounts o the Hussite Wars hich ere irst ritten by alacký in 18 The main concern I have or considering this the deinitive source, is that, erhas, it attemts to be too historically accurate, hich ould exclude any o the mythologized elements o the story While it is certainly a thorough account o Czech history, I am unable to judge its historical accuracy The other concern I have ith alacký s riting, is that he took insiration rom an earlier riter, ose Dobrovský, ho rote a history o the Czech nation in 192 It could also be ossible that alacký s version o the Hussite Wars is shaed by Dobrovský s accounts o the Hussite Wars, hich, again, makes me onder about the historical accuracy, given that Dobrovský as also one o the irst riters to consider the Hussite Wars as something ositive, as oosed to the long-held belie that the Wars ere something heretical There is hoever, one more asect to consider The ritings o alacký and Dobrovský might not be the only source materials Smetana dre uon or insiration, i they ere the source materials to begin ith While it is quite ossible Smetana as amiliar ith the ritings o ean-acques Nattiez, Can One Seak o Narrativity in Music ournal o the Royal Musical Association, 1 Vol 115, No 2 (1990), 22

8 alacký, there is also the ossibility that accounts o the Hussite Wars have been assed don orally rom generation to generation It could be ossible that Smetana kne o these myths, just rom oral accounts, as oosed to any o the ritten accounts Certainly, given the imortance laced on these myths by the Czech eole, it is quite ossible that Smetana learned o these myths either in his youth, or over the course o his lietime Reresentation o Literary Narrative in 19th Century Comositions As Eero Tarasti mentions in Myth and Music, or 19th century comosers o musical orks insired by mythology, there is a kind o dichotomy beteen the comositional aroaches o to great comosers: Richard Wagner and ranz Liszt He maintains that Liszt s symhonic oem and Wagner s Gesamtkunsterk [are] to imortant models by hich to gauge the interrelationshi o myth and music in romantic culture 2 While the to comosers both used mythological subject matter as their insirational material, their aroaches or ortraying the literary narrative ere somehat dierent Wagner avoured an aroach that utilized leitmotis, recurring themes in the music that reresent various characters, ideas and locations These motis become associated ith individual elements o the story, and the musical elements o these motis can then be maniulated to reresent changes o state or their associated narrative element The literary narrative is ortrayed through the maniulation o these motis In essence, ideas about the literary narrative are ortrayed at the micro-level The aroach avoured by Liszt hoever, as to ortray ideas o the literary narrative on a more macroscoic level The literary narrative ould be reresented by the overarching moods and dynamics o the musical comosition Instead o emhasizing the minute details o the literary source, changes in the literary narrative ould bring changes to an entire section o the comosition, and subtle transormations o the thematic material are more indicative o the ormal structure o a comosition, as oosed to being maniulated or the sake o the narrative In Tábor and laník, hat e see is a reerence or the latter aroach, and e can clearly see the larger sectional divisions indicative o the literary narrative, hile the thematic material remains largely unaltered and is a unction o the ormal structure, not the literary narrative 2 Eero Tarasti, Myth and Music, The Hague: Mouton ublishers, 199, 11

9 5 Aroach to the Analysis To aroach the analysis o comositions that are linked to a literary narrative, it is imortant to irst look at hat the comoser s intention as or that iece o music While some comositions ill seem to be indicative o a literary narrative, and one might be able to aly a narrative to the iece, it is only the comoser that knos or certain hether or not they ere attemting to invoke a articular narrative In the case o Tábor and laník, and the hole o Má vlast or that matter, Smetana makes it clear through his rogramme notes and, to some extent, the titles, hich ieces invoke mythological stories (Šarka, Tábor, laník), and hich ieces relect on the natural landscaes o his homeland (Vyšehrad, Vltava, Z českých luhů a hájů) While e kno through his rogramme notes that Smetana as trying to invoke the mythological stories o the Hussite arriors, to determine the recise literary narrative or Tábor and laník, ideally e ould look at the original source material and comare it to the comositions themselves As mentioned reviously hoever, e do not kno or certain hat his source material as rom urther research into myths o the Hussite arriors and their lace in Czech history, e do kno the general outline o their story, and e can attemt to dra arallels beteen these stories and the to comositions by examining the various musical gestures, ormal structures, and other musical elements resent in Tábor and laník Hoever, this is very much here the most interretation and seculation occurs In the ritings o eter urkholder related to associative musical meaning, he discusses the concet o an Associative Model, here the listener s sense o hat the music means is created through a rocess o ive stes: 1 Recognizing amiliar elements 2 Recalling other music or schema that make use o those elements erceiving the associations that ollo rom the rimary associations Noticing hat is ne and ho amiliar elements are changed 5 Interreting hat all this means Vyšehrad is a bit o an excetion to this assertion While the movement is largely meant to be a relection on Vyšehrad castle, other scholars have suggested that Smetana does try to invoke the memory o the mythological bard Lubomír in this movement, reresented by the har motives, a common troe in 19 th century music to suggest a mythological character eter urkholder, A Simle Model or Associative Musical Meaning, Aroaches to Meaning in Music, Eds yron Almén and Edard earsall, loomington, IN: Indiana University ress, 2008, 9

10 This is to say, that hile I am analysing Tábor and laník ith the inormation I have about its construction and narrative, it is still my on interretation o the musical material Given the act that I am someone ho gre u in the Western musical tradition, amiliar ith certain elements and troes resent in the tradition, my recognition, ercetion, and interretation o amiliar musical elements may be dierent than someone ho is irst aroaching Tábor and laník, ho is only amiliar ith a dierent tradition A certain musical element may convey a seciic meaning in the Western musical tradition, but mean something comletely dierent in a non-western musical tradition Admittedly, I am not an individual o Czech ethnicity, and am not amiliar ith all o the mythology and musical traditions seciic to that nation irst-hand Any interretation I give regarding the analysis o Tábor and laník, is seciic to my associations ith the musical elements and the ay they are resented To urther our understanding o a iece o music, e could otentially exand the discussion and reer to the comoser s other orks to determine i there are any arallels beteen dierent ieces, reused gestures or musical elements that they avour to exress certain narrative ideas, or even looking at other comosers rom hom the comoser dre insiration or ideas, hoever, at this oint in time, I have only ocussed on Tábor and laník, and have not comared them to his other symhonic orks 1 Analysis o Tábor Tábor is based uon, and insired by, accounts o the Hussite Wars o the early 15 th century, in hich olloers o an Hus 5 took u arms against the armies o various Catholic nations ho sought to sto the sread o the suosed heresy reached by Hus In his rogramme notes or Tábor, Smetana briely discusses the structure and insiration behind the iece as being taken rom the ell-knon Hussite chorale, Kdož jsú oží bojovníci (Ye ho are the arriors o God): an Hus as a riest ho advocated or some reorms o the Catholic Church, and, ater his death, his 5 olloers took u the cause o these reorms, igniting the Hussite Wars The simliied version o events states that the radical Hussite olloers ere deeated by the Catholic nations and moderate olloers o Hus The ramiications o this loss, meant that the Czech eole ere then ruled by oreign oers, subjects to a monarchy and a aith that as not their on ose Dobrovský is erhas the irst riter ho began to change the vie that, instead o considering the Hussite arriors heretics, they ere seen as ighters or a ree Czech nation, ree o subjugation to oreign oers and interests This nationalistic ersective became increasingly oular in 19 th -century Czech lands, ith similar nationalistic movements occurring across various Euroean nations

11 The hole structure o the comosition comes rom this majestic song In the main stronghold, in Tábor, this song surely rang out most mightily and most oten The ork tells o strong ill, victorious ights, constancy and endurance and stubborn reusal to yield, a note on hich the comosition ends The contents o the ork cannot be analysed in detail or it embraces the Hussite ride and glory and the unbreakable nature o the Hussites While it is aarent that Smetana had some sort o narrative idea behind Tábor, unortunately his rogramme notes do not go into urther detail on the matter The last line is rather ironic given the circumstances, but ho do these ideals and concets esoused by Smetana maniest themselves in the music Ho does he utilize the chorale in his comosition, and hat are its imlications or the mythological narrative The chorale that Smetana is utilizing (Kdož jsú oží bojovníci) originally dates back to the early 15 th century (to 120 seciically, according to the Dějiny české hudby v říkladech, or History o Czech Music Examles), and in accounts o the Hussite ars, it as reorted to have been sung by the Hussite arriors themselves beore going into battle, ith such tenacity and earlessness that it struck ear into the hearts o those ho heard them aroaching ust as the tales o the Hussite arriors became mythologized and embellished over the centuries, so too did Kdož jsú oží bojovníci The version o the chorale that Smetana utilizes or Tábor and laník is not the original 120 version, but rather a version that comes rom over a century later, in Whether this as intentional or not is unclear Certainly Smetana s letters and corresondences do not indicate anything deinitive about this articular choice, although it is quite ossible that this later version as more common during the time hen Smetana comosed these to ieces (188-9), and ould robably have been more amiliar to his audience rantišek artoš, edřich Smetana: Letters and Reminiscences, trans Dahne Rusbridge, rague: Artia, 1955, 25 aroslav ohanka, Dějiny české hudby v říkladech, raha: Státní nakladatelství, 1958, 28 8 Michael eckerman, In Search o Czechness in Music, 19th Century Music, Vol 10, No 1 (Summer 198), 8 ig 1: Original 120 version o Kdož jsú oží bojovníci

12 8 ig 2: 150 version o Kdož jsú oží bojovníci In his rogramme notes or Tábor, Smetana discusses utilizing Kdož jsú oží bojovníci as the oundation or the entire ormal structure What e might exect is an elongated and embellished version o the chorale, hoever, this is simly not the case In their resective analyses o Tábor, rian Large and David Mead disagree ith the exact overall design Large suggests that the ormal construction, is a kind o musical alindrome, in hich the musical material in the second hal o the iece is a relection o the musical material in the irst hal 9 1st Line; 2nd Line; Chorale Comlete; rd Line // rd Line; 2nd Line; Chorale Comlete; 1st Line As Mead oints out hoever, in the second hal o Tábor there is a signiicant ortion o material derived rom the third line, in beteen the second line and the comlete chorale, hich signiicantly disturbs the arch orm imlicit in a musical alindrome 10 Mead suggests that the irst hal o Tábor is closest to bar orm, a ormal structure ith the attern A-A-, here the section is slightly longer than the the to receding sections combined He is quick to oint out hoever, that it does not ollo bar orm in a strict sense, as the second A section is not an exact reetition, and the section is roughly in equal length to a singular A section The second hal o Tábor is a nearly seamless lo running to not quite 00 measures (in a generally very ast temo) and over six minutes laying time The orm has oints o structural articulation, but these only slightly change the course o the lo ithout interruting it 11 9 rian Large, Smetana, Ne York: raeger ublishers, 190, David Mead, The Symhonic Structure o Smetana s Má vlast, diss, University o Texas at Austin, 199, Mead, 1

13 9 What I ould like to roose, at least or the uroses o linking the literary narrative to the comositional structure, is a simliied ormal design An introductory section, olloed by a statement o the entire chorale, is then olloed by a substantial transitional section that takes the iece to a restatement o the chorale, and a conclusion section Introduction - Chorale - Transition - Chorale - Conclusion In the introductory section o Tábor, hat e see is, in essence, a calling; an invocation or the arriors to aear This invocation has a secondary meaning hoever It is not just an invocation or the arriors to aear, but also an invocation or the Czech eole to unite, to anser the call to arms and ight o oreign rule The quiet and sarsely orchestrated oening, ith horns, lo strings and bassoons, creates a sense that this calling is coming rom a distance In the irst 2 bars o Tábor, e are hearing a constant reetition o a reeated d motive, emhasizing on the irst our notes o the chorale This correlates to an emhasis on the irst three ords o the chorale: Kdož jsú oží The ull irst line, Kdož jsú oží bojovníci, translates into You ho are God s arriors, or alternatively, You, ho are the arriors o God With the exclusion o the ord bojovníci, this has the eect o changing the meaning to something more akin to You ho are o God, or You ho belong to God This could be seen as being a ay to be inclusive to all o God s eole (in this context, all o the Czech eole), but the reeated d attern is also reinorcing the idea that Smetana ants Czech listeners to recall this articular chorale The underlying harmonic accomaniment is simly chromatic motion creating tension and a sense o momentum that is not rovided by the reeated d attern Ater these initial 2 bars, e inally have the resolution o the initial chorale line in bb 2 and 25 There are a number o reetitions o this resolution, and the number o reetitions corresonds to the number o reetitions o the irst hal o the line While roviding balance to the oening, this could also be interreted as a subtle indication that all o the calls that ere ut orth ere ansered These oening 1 bars are reeated, albeit transosed onto the minor dominant, ith a slight alteration at the end o the second iteration, an inclusion o the second hal o the chorale s oening line (bb 59-1) ar introduces the second line o the chorale, ith a choral assage in C major, hich seems a bit out o lace, given the militaristic and bombastic oening in the key o D minor Hoever, this chorale is meant to rovide a moment o eaceulness and tranquility

14 10 The second line o Kdož jsú oží bojovníci, hich is the basis or this choral assage, reads rostež od oha omoci a úajte v něho, or, ray to God and have aith in Him Narratively, it unctions as a moment o rest and contemlation, a rayer to God beore marching into battle, hich is reresented in the next transitional assage as scalar assages and ragmentary material o the irst line, ith some trumet calls in the background This transitional assage moves the iece into A major, the dominant key o the original D minor, but instead o resolving back to the original key, Smetana introduces the ull Hussite chorale in its enharmonic equivalent o D major The entire material u to this oint is introductory in nature Its overall unction is to set u the introduction o the ull chorale The ragmentary nature o the material suggests that there is no clear melodic or motivic material being develoed and maniulated that ould suggest otherise It hints at it, but never comes to ruition Hoever, it all still has a narrative unction The irst ull statement o the chorale begins in a triumhant ashion in D major This is reresentative o the zeal and deiance o the Hussite arriors (the ride and glory that Smetana reers to in his rogramme notes) as they sing this chorale beore going into battle In both the introductory iteration and this triumhant version o the chorale, the second line o the chorale, the rayer to God, is given the same instrumentation (clarinets and bassoons, ith a slight use o oboe) and is built on the same harmonies They are carbon coies o each other While this is entirely intentional, is there a narrative imlication, or is this merely the version that the audience ould be most amiliar ith While the introductory section ut orth the ragmented ieces o the irst and second lines o the chorale, it is not until bar 98 here e are inally given the third and inal line o the chorale 12 olloing this Grandioso section, there is a rather substantial and lively transitional section, initially derived rom the inal hal o the third line o the chorale ig a: Reduction o transitional material in Tábor 12 Third and inal line in the version o the chorale that Smetana uses as the comositional oundation The earlier version rom the 15 th -century, aside rom a e notational dierences, is structured slightly dierently In this earlier version, the irst e lines are reeated, and olloed by a chorus

15 11 ig b: Third line o the chorale This is largely unimeded (excet or a brie return o the choral assage, transosed, in bb 1-), until bar 18, here this transitional material shits to a constant reetition o A major chords, a transosition o the initial d attern to the major dominant o the oening key Hoever, instead o resolving to any sort o recaitulation in the oening key, it moves to the enharmonic minor (A minor), olloed by movement through numerous keys and their resective enharmonic minor airings There is a constant back-and-orth rom major to minor, a reerence to the battle beteen the heroic Hussite arriors and their enemies, until, inally, in bar 2, there is a clear indication that it has moved to the major key, making its ay to D major, hich is then olloed by a series o major chords leading into bar 290 This tonally major assage, articularly rom bb 28-89, is also less active rhythmically, than a signiicant ortion o the receding material Hoever, this is short-lived While the battle continues to rage on, there is a return o the ull statement o the Hussite chorale, a rallying cry o sorts, to try and kee the arriors rom being deeated, to mount one last stand against their oes The oening line o this second iteration o the ull chorale, ends on an A minor chord, as oosed to the earlier iteration hich ends the oening line on an A major chord This subtle change o harmony, is erhas, the strongest indication that the battle is not going in avour o the arriors That, and the underlying rhythmic activity o this second iteration, hich is increased rom the irst iteration, creates a sense o unease and urgency Even the second line o the chorale, hich had reviously held steady even in the midst o the battle (bb 1-; transosed don a ste rom the version o the second line in the ull statement o the chorale), has this sense o urgency The instrumentation has the melodic line layed by the lutes, oboes, and a single horn, hich is scarcely heard above the clarinets, bassoons, and horns simultaneously laying a countermelody, hile the strings are hurriedly laying the harmonic sonority The iteration o the third line o the chorale brings some stability to the assage, ith the inds and brass laying the same rhythmic melody, hile the strings continue the rantic harmonic underinning

16 12 The inal section, the conclusion o Tábor, is not really a coda in the traditional sense The last stand o the Hussite arriors is deicted in the constant rerain o the trumets and strings, the latter o hich is in a rhythmically diminutive orm rom the oening reeated d motive ig : Reduction o material rom the inal section o Tábor The much sloer chordal harmonies in the horns and oodinds create a sense o dread and oreboding While most codas end ith a rolonged edal on the tonic, Smetana urosely begins this conclusion ith the rolonged edal The harmonic movement, beginning in bar 9, is a uroseul continuation o the iece, hich, hen couled ith the reeated motive in the horns and brass (ragmentary material o the irst line o the chorale), is indicative o the arriors continuing on, or at the very least, their sirits continuing on It is not until bar 99, that e have a roer tonic edal to close the movement Hoever, due to the relatively short amount o time, and the lack o a roer dominant-to-tonic cadence, the iece does not come to a satisactory conclusion, at least, not hen it is layed on its on Instead, these inal ten measures, are meant to act as a continuation into laník 2 Analysis o laník While Tábor is airly straightorard and uncomlicated to analyse and interret, the movement o laník is a bit more comlicated As the inal tone oem in Má Vlast, Smetana not only ties in re-existing material rom laník s comanion Tábor, he also uses material rom the earlier ieces o Vyšehrad and Vltava, to bring the suite to a tight conclusion There are a number o myths surrounding laník (a mountain that has layed an imortant and central role in Czech history), but erhas the most ell-knon myth is the myth o the arriors o St Wenceslas ho slumber in the mountain, to rise u hen the Czech lands are in great eril, ighting or the reedom o the Czech eole Interestingly, Smetana links this myth ith the myth o the Hussite arriors, as described in his rogramme notes:

17 1 This is a continuation o the receding comosition Tábor Ater their deeat the Hussite heroes hide in laník hill and ait, in roound slee, or the moment hen they are to come to the hel o their country 1 While this connection beteen the to myths is intentional, it is unclear hether Smetana as the irst to link the to myths, hether the to ere linked by riters ho ere contemoraries o Smetana, or hether the to ere linked much earlier In any case, laník is similar to Tábor, in that they both share the chorale Kdož jsú oží bojovníci as their structural oundation, and narratively, in that the narrative o laník is a continuation o the events ater Tábor The same motives as in Tábor also serve laník as the oundation or the structure, i e Ye ho are Warriors o God On the basis o this melody (the Hussite moti) the resurrection o the Czech nation, its uture hainess and glory develos; ith the victorious hymn in the orm o a march, the comosition and thus the hole cycle o the symhonic oems My Country is concluded 1 The introductory 1 bars o laník eature the same oening moti as Tábor, derived rom the irst line o the chorale Kdož jsú oží bojovníci Smetana uses this unambiguous reerence to inorm the audience that e are still invoking the Hussite legends It is the atermath o the battle that took lace in Tábor Harmonically, this introduction reares us or the tonic key o the irst theme (via a diminished seventh chord), hich is also the tonic key o the revious tone oem The theme that begins in bar 15 should likely be considered a variation or, at the very least, a derivation o the irst line o the chorale, as they bear some striking resemblances to each other While the overall theme is very much like a march, this is not the same triumhant march that e heard in Tábor beore the battle, given the orchestration hich is largely just the string section, unctuated ith oodind igurations Rather, this is the march o a deeated orce, on their ay to their resting lace in the mountain While a e exclamations o the original motive occur, such as in bar 50 in the oodind section, they are very much alone in their sentiments They are the rebels ho still 1 rantišek artoš, edřich Smetana: Letters and Reminiscences, trans Dahne Rusbridge (rague: Artia, 1955), 25 1 artoš, 25

18 1 exclaim their deiance Eventually the arriors reach their destination, here they ill slee until called uon, as the theme becomes soter, and elongated in the inal measures o this irst section (bars 1-9) The next section o laník is the small intermezzo that Smetana describes in his last sentence o rogramme notes on the movement: As a small intermezzo there is also a short idyll contained in this ork, a sketch o the landscae around laník, a little sheherd-boy rejoices and lays (oboe) and the echo ansers him 15 There is a brie transition beteen the revious section and this ne section The oboe melody that is initially resented (bb 0-80) is misleading, or, rather, the irst hal o the melodic material resented is misleading, as it only serves a transitional unction to move toards the true melodic material in bb 8-80 This true melody, derived rom the second line o the chorale, becomes the oundation or the ne section (bb 8-18), canonically imitated by the horn, and later, clarinet, an octave belo the oboe These are the echoes that anser the sheherd-boy In his harmonic analysis o Má vlast, Mead asserts that the movement o the bass line, to a rolonged makes this section imitative o the bagies, citing Michael eckerman s discussion on recurring symbols to ortray the olk ethos I am not entirely convinced that this assage is indeed imitating a bagier, due to the delicate and loing nature o the melodic material The transitional material beteen the second and third sections (bars 19-1), seems to be a variation on the second line o the chorale, although more rhythmically active, very dierent harmonically, and a dierent unction narratively This is the transition beteen the beautiul, serene astoral scene, and the introduction o something much orse The third section, aears to be thematically unrelated to any revious motis or themes resented in either Tábor or laník In some ays it seems like a large transitional section: the inconsistent hrase lengths, the incessant trilet quaver rhythm, and the harmonies hich move through a donard circle o iths all combining to create a eeling o uneasiness Narratively, hoever, e can surmise that this assage is analogous to the trouble and turmoil that beell the Czech nation ater the deeat o the Hussite arriors, the 15 artoš, 25

19 15 centuries o rulers rom a distant throne Although it seems as i this thematic material is unrelated, I ould like to osit that it is actually derived rom a variation o the second line o the Hussite chorale The contour o the assage is very similar to the second line o the chorale, i it ere ritten out in reverse The rising second, olloed by the rising ourth in this assage, recalls the alling ith and alling second at the end o the second line The movement by thirds in the chorale has a similar contour to the movement ound in the assage rom the earlier discussion regarding Tábor, e kno the symbolic nature o this assage as being a rayer to God, and u until this oint, has been treated rather careully, ithout much variation erhas Smetana is imlying that the oreign rulers are equal to this bastardized version o the rayer to God, that is to say, they are unholy or unit to govern the Czech eole erhas this is too much conjecture on my art, but it seems odd to me that hile the themes and motis ound in Tábor and laník are all largely derived rom Kdož jsú oží bojovníci, that this ould be the one major theme that is unrelated otentially, it could also be derived rom the oening o the third line, a rising line that has the outline o a rising ourth to a rising second (i e disregard the second note o the hrase), the inverse o the rising second to a rising ourth The ourth section, is erhas the most imortant art o both Tábor and laník It is the climax o the to ieces, and erhas, o the entire Má Vlast suite Thematically, the material is derived rom the third line o the Hussite chorale In the same ay that laník can be considered to be in our sections, so too can this articular section The irst three statements o this march theme are continually interruted by transitional material in the enultimate hrase until inally, in the ourth iteration, the march is able to be heard in its comlete orm, ith its inal note signalling the start o the coda This is the symbolic reresentation o the resurrection o not only the Hussite arriors, but the Czech nation The thematic material begins sotly, ith a solo horn above staccato strings, beore moving to the clarinets above izzicato strings and staccato bassoon Ater the interrution o this initial resentation o the theme, the second iteration becomes stronger, orchestrated ith the entire oodind section, hile still retaining its delicate quality Eventually, the third iteration (bar 28) is the exlosive triumh o the climax, ith the ull orchestra laying the thematic material This climactic moment reresents the emergence o a strong, roud, and indeendent Czech nation The interruting material ater the climax is largely derived rom

20 1 the same material as the march theme While arts o it seem harmonically unsettled, hen the theme returns or the ourth iteration in bar 2, it is clear that any roblems that ere there, have been resolved The coda, beginning in bar 89, is a summation o the entire cycle, and is excellently described by Mead: Smetana seeks to bring together in a single moment ohemia s ast and uture The ast is reresented by the to rimary motives rom Vyšehrad, the resent and uture by the Hussite chorale This moving and bracing conclusion conjures an image o the Czech eole, having seen this vision o a blessed uture, rushing to meet it, erhas even at a run The music ends as they disaear rom sight 1 What I hoe is clear rom my analysis is that both ieces are structured the ay they are as a unction o the literary narrative laník is divided into our sections (ith a short introduction and coda), each ith their on narrative unction, hile Tábor is divided into a quasi-binary orm ith a substantial transitional section in the middle, bookended ith an introduction and coda Conclusions to Dra rom Tábor and laník What I hoe this analysis shos, is that both Tábor and laník are structured the ay they are as a unction o their resective literary narratives Tábor is divided into a quasibinary orm ith a substantial transitional section in the middle, bookended ith an introduction and coda, hich airs ell ith the overall literary narrative o a battle and the events receding and succeeding it laník, reresentative o the atermath o the battle eatured in Tábor, ith the deeated arriors retreating to the mountain, and the darkness that bealls the Czech eole until the restoration o their nation, is divided into our distinct sections denoting the changing o this narrative over time Each o these sections is airly ell-deined by the nature and quality o the motivic material resent, hich reresents the broader ideas o the literary narrative, such as in the oening o Tábor here the reeated d motive deines the introduction, the invocation or the arriors to aear, but is not used in the same manner anyhere else in the remainder o Tábor or laník 1 Mead, 15-8

21 1 5 Conclusions to aly to my on comositions The receding analysis o literary narrative in Tábor and laník has rovided me ith ideas on ho to aroach ortraying literary narrative in my on comositions, articularly ith ocussing my attention on the structure o the iece to relect the overall mood and overarching narrative o the insirational material It has given me ause or thought in regards to comositional orm, and otential strategies to aly to my on comositional outut The larger discussion surrounding the aroaches taken by Liszt and Wagner has also been beneicial, as it suggests that there is more than one ay to aroach the issue hich I hoe to urther exlore in my ork The comositional ortolio that accomanies this riting, is an attemt to exlore a coule o dierent aroaches to literary narrative and all o the comositions that I have created over the course o this study, have been in an attemt, in some caacity, to create music that invokes the essence o the mythological, or mythologically insired, sources that I consulted or insiration or the sake o clarity, I shall discuss the comositions individually, and exlain the comositional choices I made to invoke a sense o the mythological, or ho the mythology inluenced my comositional design choices 51 Analysis o anus habet inem anus habet inem is based on a Latin text by Ovid, rom the introduction o his second book o asti One o the reasons or this as or a desire to enter the comleted iece to the 1th International Cometition o Choral Comosition Seghizzi 2015, out o Gorizia, Italy, hich requested that entries reerably be based on a text by Ovid, Horace, Virgil or Catullus As such, I chose this articular assage rom Ovid asti, knon in English as the ook o Days, is a collection o books, in hich a narrative character asks the gods hy they commemorate certain days o the calendar year, and hat the signiicance o those commemorations are The English translation or the art o the text I chose to set: anuary is done, and the year advances ith my song As the second month runs, so let the second book or the irst time, my verses, sail ith more canvas, Your theme, I recall, has been slight until no I ound you ready enough servants o love, When I toyed ith oetry in my youth,

22 18 No I sing o sacred rites and calendar days: Who ould have thought it ould come to this 1 As e can see in the text, the themes resented in this assage discuss the assing o time, aging and lie not turning out the ay the character envisioned it ould, hich is also a subtle reerence to Ovid s on journey through lie All o this still has an underinning o the central theme to the entirety o asti: a siritual or religious connection In comosing anus habet inem, I had to kee in mind that this as not just a relection o Ovid s on lie, but as also a relection on religious rituals To achieve this ideal, there is a recurring rhythmic and harmonic assage that serves as a kind o religious chant (or, at the very least, is hat I equate as unctioning like a religious chant), hich is olloed by a quiet, relective assage dominated by a solo vocal line, hile the other voices rovide a slo harmonic underinning The essence o anus habet inem is this duality beteen religious contemlation and one s on relection on lie 52 Analysis o Crane and Otter The string quartet Crane and Otter came out o an attemt to take a more literal aroach to mythological narrative, a more Wagnerian aroach, i you ill, in hich certain motis are equated ith certain characters and situations This string quartet is based on a myth o the Assiniboine eole, describing ho the crane got its black and red markings and ho the otter is able to live underater during the inter As such, I decided to try a more literal aroach, subscribing a dierent character o the myth to each o the our instruments in the quartet: the Mother Crane, the Young Crane, the Otter, and the cold (ho becomes ersoniied by the god Osni ) There as no articular reason hy I chose this myth, other than out o sheer interest and the act that its straightorard narrative alloed me to take a dierent aroach rom anus habet inem Similar to the continual narrative ound in laník, here the our unique sections reresent dierent arts o the narrative, to create the ormal structure, I sectionalized the myth into our arts that I thought reresented the major lot oints o the overarching literary narrative, and created the motivic material to best reresent these sections The oening section (bb 1-) is meant to invoke a conversation beteen the characters o the Mother Crane, Otter, and Young Crane, reresented by the violins and viola, 1 Ovid, asti, trans AS Kline, oetry in Translation, AS Kline, oetryintranslationcom, Web

23 19 in the bleakness o inter To reresent this motivically, there is an interlay beteen the viola motis (Mother Crane), the echoing o these motis in the second violin ith tremolo (Young Crane), and the layulness o the izzicato irst violin (the Otter) This interlay o the viola and irst violin creates a conversation beteen the to instruments until the viola art ades aay (bar 0) and leaves the to violins alone together The oening cello line (reresenting the bleakness o the inter), and its subsequent reetition, unctions as a harmonic underinning to this oening section ig 5: Oening measures o Crane Otter eginning in bar 8, the beginning o the second section meant to reresent the kidnaing o Young Crane, the cello art becomes the ersoniication o the cold: the god Osni Since the character reresented by the viola has momentarily let (the Mother Crane has lon south or the inter), the viola takes over the harmonic material, at least until the irst climactic moment o the iece (bb -9), Osni s killing o Otter, ater hich the cello and second violin remain The section beginning in bar 0, corresonds to the art o the myth here the Young Crane is let alone to attend to the ire o Osni, continually stoking it or the god As such, I tried to reresent the ire ith the increased rhythmic izzicato assages o the cello, viola, and irst violin, accelerating and decelerating at slightly dierent oints to create a randomized rhythmic assage The ourth section (the concluding section) beginning in bar 2, is meant to signiy the return o the Mother Crane character, and their subsequent visit ith the other otters Some motivic material rom the oening section, reresentative o the various characters, is reiterated, and a quasi-chorale section brings the iece to a contemlative and harmonic close

24 20 5 Analysis o Un trajet intérieur Un trajet intérieur (A ourney Inard) is by ar the most ambitious roject I undertook over the course o this year, and is insired by the mythological concet o the hero s journey oseh Cambell describes the concet thus: The standard ath o the mythological adventure o the hero is a magniication o the ormula reresented in the rites o assage: searation - initiation - return: hich might be named the nuclear unit o the monomyth A hero ventures orth rom the orld o common day into a region o suernatural onder: abulous orces are there encountered and a decisive victory is on: the hero comes back rom this mysterious adventure ith the oer to besto boons on his ello man 18 While I had a articular heroic myth in mind or this iece, I reer to kee that a secret as I do not ant the listeners o this iece to think about a articular hero, but rather, I ant the listeners to derive their on myth or story rom the music; a kind o exercise in discovering onesel, or taking a journey inards Unlike Tábor and laník, hich invoke seciic myths rom their titles alone, I did not ant to invoke any articular myth in the minds o the listeners or Un trajet intérieur to reresent the rites o assage o searation, initiation, and return, I olloed a similar structural design to Tábor Although dierent in terms o the narrative subject matter, Tábor ollos a similar narrative ormula in that there is a journey to a seciic oint, a transormative event that haens, and a return journey that is altered rom the event that has unolded In Un trajet intérieur there is an introduction o 20 bars, a string chorale that rovides a sense o comort, stability and amiliarity In essence, a sense o being at home The accelerated areggiated moti in the iano rovides the orard momentum that signiies the beginning o the journey, but is also incredibly imortant to the core o the iece, similar to ho the oening d motive in Tábor gains signiicance as that iece unolds In the irst main section o Un trajet intérieur (bb 21-2), the areggiated moti becomes the core o the harmonic landscae, roviding a constant rhythmic underinning that can be adated to rovide momentum, or to rovide a contemlative background, hile the sustained harmonies in the strings and oodinds move around it The oboe and cor anglais rovide a sense o a melodic line, derived rom the movement o the irst violins, although it is meant 18 oseh Cambell, The Hero ith a Thousand aces, rinceton, N: rinceton University ress, 198, 0

25 21 to invoke a sense o movement and direction as oosed to being a true melodic line The climactic moment in bar suggests a movement toards a harmonic area that is dierent than hat has come reviously beore it, hoever the areggiation igure still remains in a transosed orm, keeing the music in a similar harmonic area A simle melody in har, iano, and oboe, roels us toards a climactic moment that signiies the entrance into a ne, distinct harmonic area While the receding material has largely been based around an (01) itch-class set (an octatonic subset), this ne harmonic area is based around its comlement (2589te), or (0159) hen ut in its rime orm The mythological signiication then, is a movement toards an oosite I the receding material is considered light, then this ne harmonic area is darkness Hoever, it does not comletely reveal itsel just yet In this ne section (bb -100), initially there is a sarsity to the string harmonies, ith a major quality to the chord itsel, hile the oodinds take turns laying a melody reminiscent o the earlier areggiated moti in the iano (bb 1-20) The sloness and sarseness o this assage, gives the assage a sense o oreboding and uneasiness, hile the seetness o the oodind melodies are meant to be reresentative o the idea that the darkness is beckoning one toards it through the use o seet ords (similar to the concet o the Siren s song in the Odyssey by Homer) This assage is the calm beore the storm, leading to the reveal o the darkness that comes in the next section (bb ), a section deined by its chaotic and conused nature, a culmination o earlier motivic and melodic ideas resented earlier in the iece The last section o Un trajet intérieur (bb ) is very much similar to the irst main section (bb 21-2) Ater a brie transitional eriod ater the climax o bar 119, the chaos and conusion is resolved to the sustained harmonies in the strings and oodinds, ith the iano roviding the stable areggiated harmonic underinning as seen reviously This inal section brings the journey, and the iece, home again inal Conclusion As stated reviously, hat I anted to learn and take aay rom this research, as an understanding o ho literary narrative derived rom mythological stories can inluence the ormal structure o a comosition, ho musical elements can exress literary narrative, and to bring an aareness o these concets to my on comositional outut While the analysis o

26 22 Tábor and laník has been interesting, there is much more that I can take aay rom examining these to ieces urther (and the hole o Smetana s reertoire), in terms o treatment o harmonic develoment, motivic develoment, and orchestration techniques I eel that this brie discussion has only scratched the surace o some o the issues, concerns and aroaches one may have ith the concet o literary narrative in music, and it is something that I lan to exlore urther going orard Hoever, ith all o that being said, this research has given me ne ideas on ho to aroach comositions based on mythological and literary sources, and has heled me ocus more on the structural asects o my on comositions It has alloed me to urther examine the relationshi beteen mythology and music, aording me the oortunity to take an in-deth look at some o my ersonal interests, and given me ideas and concets to exlore urther in the uture