GEISTERTRIO: Beethoven s Music in Samuel Beckett s Ghost Trio (Part 2) Michael Maier

Transcription

1 GEISTERTRIO: Beethoven s Music in Samuel Beckett s Ghost Trio (Part 2) Michael Maier This article continues my discussion of the complex role of Beethoven s music in Beckett s second television play. In the first part of my essay published in SBT/A 11, I analyze the musical structure of the second movement of Beethoven s Geistertrio that Beckett used in the play; indicate at what points in the play he introduced the musical passages from this movement; and, in referring to archival versions, describe the six stages it took to define and refine the role Beethoven s music was to play in Beckett s piece. In the second part, I will conclude my discussion with an examination of the role of music in Beckett s late television drama. 1 Summary of Part I Beckett changed the original title of his second television play from Tryst to Ghost Trio thereby emphasizing both the rendezvous of old ghosts that the play implied for him and the significance of Beethoven s Piano Trio in D major, opus 70, no. 1, The Ghost. Despite Beckett s surprising claim that Music always wins (qtd. in Worth, 210, in relation to Words and Music), music s victory over words is not my concern, but rather the contribution music makes to Beckett s exciting play. The second movement of Beethoven s Geistertrio, the Largo assai ed espressivo, consists of two parts with a coda, with the second part a varied and harmonically altered repetition of the first. The entire movement is distinguished by its lucidity of form and overall gloominess. As Beckett knew, Beethoven s slow movement has been associated with Macbeth, a title he referred to on his Tryst typescript. In analyzing the increasing emphasis that Beckett gave to Beethoven s music in Ghost Trio, I found six stages of development: (1) the introduction of separate musical segments; (2) a continuous course; (3) a constant intensification; (4) a temporal extension of the final musical passage; (5) the introduction of the cantabile subject to differentiate the final passage from the others; and (6) the foreshadowing of this ending. In focusing now on the role of music in Ghost Trio, I will examine it from three points of view: its relationship to the tradition of permutation in Beckett s œuvre; its function within the play and its 313

2 repetitions, and its self-presentation to the spectator in terms of music. My discussion is based on both the London production of Ghost Trio that Beckett supervised and the 1977 Stuttgart production that he directed himself. 1. Permutation replaced by music The play s first musical passage can be described as a succession of five appearances of the same melodic figure. The entries on different scale degrees, the changing tonal situation on the inside, and the straining toward different final notes (relative to the first note) give the fivefold repetition of this rhythmically unaltered figure an impressive cachet. This first appearance of the music continues the preceding series named by the voice: floor, wall, door, window, pallet pallet, window, door, wall, floor. In its introduction, the voice had shown the spectator the series of five light gray rectangles of different size and location, which each respectively for five seconds become visible against a dark background, by listing them first forwards then backwards. The fivefold musical series shares with the preceding series a constant number of equally shaped elements. However, there are also significant differences: Example 1: Beethoven, Piano Trio, opus 70, no. 1, 2nd movement, bars 19 25, violin The precise five-second-clocking of the shots on the rectangles gives way to rhythmically concise figures; the interchangeable light gray rectangles are offset by the individual figures inner tonal structuring; and the simple difference in location on the screen is replaced by the final interval s fivefold fluctuation in color (with a repetition of the c as climax in bars 24 25); at the same time a harmonic progression takes over from the forward and backward enumeration. [ ] Finally, the fivefold 314

3 pointing-toward-something is supplanted by a fivefold standing-for-itself. The pars pro toto of the floor and the wall Having seen that specimen of floor you have seen it all and the representation of the outside world by means of window and door unite the rectangles into a signifying order that only the voice seems capable of clarifying. In contrast, with its basic motif and the transformations thereof, the melody appears to have an inner unity and a structure that point to itself. By means of a crescendo, a rise in pitch, and a cadence, the melody moves toward an emphatic climax in order to continue from there. In preferring a musical arrangement of five transformations of one theme to the succession of five geometric figures, Beckett is providing a late commentary on a basic aspect of his work, that is, his taste for permutation. [ ] In his essay on Beckett s television plays, Gilles Deleuze holds that permutation is characteristic of Beckett s langue I. Other commentators have even adduced Beckett s permutation games as an indication that in the twentieth century combinatory models replaced the biological and evolutionary models of the nineteenth century as basic thought paradigms (Kenner, 122; White, ). With the first musical passage of Ghost Trio Beckett can be said to be suggesting an alternative solution to a problem from his 1938 novel Murphy. As in the play, there is a structural problem in the earlier novel involving the ordering of five elements. In looking forward to a meal consisting of five different biscuits a Ginger, an Osborne, a Digestive, a Petit Beurre and one anonymous (Beckett 1957, 96) the hero Murphy asks himself whether his pleasure would be increased if instead of eating them in order of preference, he chose them at random, thus giving himself the prospect of one hundred and twenty possible combinations of eating the biscuits. By turning to the universal validity of calculations, Murphy wants to elevate himself above the happenstance of his subjective preferences. In Ghost Trio, too, an open and a closed solution are proposed as alternatives. However, now the greater aesthetic effect is assigned to the logical consistency of the melody s definitive development. Perhaps the introduction of the first two musical passages A and B, in which two aspects of the first subject s basic figure appear, was intended to bind the visual and acoustic figures together more tightly in order to strengthen the comparison between them. Concurrently, only two of the light gray rectangles, floor and wall, are announced in the introductory presentation, before being integrated into the general inspection of the familiar chamber. The last alteration in MS 2831, appearing on a gluedon piece of paper, concerns the actual sequence of these shots: the order floor, wall, wall, is changed to floor, wall, floor. 315

4 Owing to the comparison between the visual and acoustic figures that it provokes, the role of the musical passage cannot be limited to a mere introduction of the protagonist. His gradual apparition as a recognizably seated body out of the geometric forms of a dusty still life is matched by the music s emergence from the gray interior s constituent parts. The music, however, is much more energetic and lively than the protagonist who is introduced by the voice simply as the sole sign of life. Silently cowering, he appears as a mere sign, whereas the music becomes audible in its own right. Following its own independent rules, it cannot be limited to a simple link in the sequencing of actions. The protagonist will not start moving until he thinks he has heard something. The second musical passage as well follows upon a series: the succession of three stations that the protagonist inspects on his round through the room (door, window, pallet), before returning to his stool near the door. The third musical passage completes the series by answering one single action, that is, the view into the corridor. Finally, the fourth, fifth, and sixth musical passages are linked to the play in more complex ways. 2. Music s effect on repetition The third musical passage still needs to be more fully explained. By means of rhythmic concision and harmonic stringency, the main subject of Beethoven s Largo, Beckett s Macbeth theme, synthesizes its melodic movement with the legato performance of the violin s part. [Durch seine rhythmische Prägnanz und seine harmonische Stringenz faßt das Hauptthema von Beethovens Largo, Becketts Macbeth theme, eine fünfgeteilte motivische Folge zusammen, so daß daraus der einheitliche Zug der Violinstimme wird.] In the first and second musical passages, this theme accompanies the zoom towards the protagonist. The second subject, the cantabile, appears in the third passage. Although it is rhythmically very closely related to the first subject, it is clearly different in character: Example 2: Beethoven, opus 70, no. 1, 2nd movement, bar 19, violin part (upper); bar 83, cello part (lower) 316

5 The violin has been replaced by the cello, and the rhythmic conciseness has given way to the melodic line s legato and the intensity of the notes on strong beats: d, c sharp, b flat. The violin continues with an a and completes the interval of a fourth. The recapitulative effect of this musical passage is caused by the ornamented minor second d-[e-d]-c sharp, which is answered by the violin and the piano so that the music is drawn together as in a fugato. The passage thereby has a calming effect on the rhythmic color and the pleasure in repetition of the first subject. In the London production, it was an insightful solution to have the cantabile subject appear only at the end: in this final image the repeated rounds of the protagonist come to a rest. It was perhaps owing to its impressive effect in the London production that Beckett came to move the cantabile subject inside his play as the third musical passage. Indeed, the cantabile s central position there is to be explained not only by its foreshadowing function but also by its own formal qualities. The cantabile s audible condensation corresponds to the contracted action at this moment of the play: as already mentioned, following the introduction s five positions and the first round s three, the second round is shortened to a look out of the door. Further, the cantabile introduces a changed acoustic perspective: unlike the first and second musical passages that become audible only during the zoom toward the protagonist, the third passage can already be heard at camera position A. This is an index of nearness other than spatial. The music leads the viewer to the position of the protagonist. But first it is interrupted by the voice commanding, Stop, Repeat : typical words for a Beckettian voice seeking to put off the ending of a story. At this point the voice is interrupting a musical passage that after repeated tries had found its final form. In fact the voice manages to induce a repetition. Nevertheless, it is the music that makes a break in chronology noticeable. As the Repeat is followed by a harsh cut to a close-up, the music jumps from bar 84 to bar 26 of the first musical passage. This interruption of musical continuity makes the visual cut appear to be likewise a suspension of time. At the beginning of the third act, one is not only in a Repeat (as the voice intoned), but one has taken a leap into a different dimension. It could be considered an inner view of things: (1) The voice falls silent. The following two-part musical passage the fourth takes the place of the silence formerly broken by the voice and in this manner demonstrates music s continuing nearness to the protagonist. (2) This realistically portrayed music contrasts with the formerly supposedly heard sounds. In the preceding act, after he had listened twice for sounds in vain, one saw the protagonist turn his head and bend his ear towards the cassette recorder, but nothing is heard, 317

6 neither sounds nor music. The same sequence is now repeated in the third act with audible music. In the Stuttgart production, this return to reality after being interrupted by an imagined acoustic impression is acted out realistically at the beginning of the third act: when the old man thinks he has heard something and presses the pause-button, the music stops; when he presses the button again the music resumes from that very point. (The fourth musical passage is thus split into two parts.) At this point in the play, hearing the music clearly signifies the protagonist s return-to-self, his being-with-self. (3) Scenically, the near shot focuses on the stool to which the protagonist always returns after his rounds and actions. Formerly, the zoom to this position was accompanied by the viewers admission into the realm of audible music; now the close-up signifies, in a broader sense, sharing the protagonist s point of view and perspective. The fourth musical passage is only the first in a realistically rendered series of the old man s perceptions: the creaking of the door and window, the drumming of the rain, the grating of the steps. This realism connects the viewers with the old man; it leads them to assume that they are hearing the music in the same way as this figure, whose supposed hearing of the awaited female figure they do not share and about whose relationship to the voice they know nothing. By means of this convergence the two appearances of the fourth musical passage are related to the third passage that is audible from position A. One is tempted to interpret the entire third act as an example of the silent being-with-self that Deleuze (68) describes as the replacement of langue II (with its silence a result of breathlessness). For at the end the cantabile returns and introduces the now uninterrupted finale. 3. Music s independent role The play s structure and everything that one sees and hears contribute to the music s effect on the viewers. The grayness and the grayness of the television screen, the monotony of the voice, the slowness of the performance, and the long sequences in complete silence constitute a background out of which the music emerges all the more luminously. The peculiar power of music to structure time [Die eigentümliche Macht der Musik, das Verlaufen der Zeit zu gliedern] cannot be more clearly demonstrated than by comparing an optical and a musical series at play s beginning. The difference between experienced music and acoustic impressions cannot be more strongly accentuated than by the change of acoustic perspective effected when the music suddenly becomes audible at position A. Finally, the difference between outer and inner world cannot be more clearly illuminated than by the protagonist s return to the music that concludes all of the actions. By the 318

7 strong impression it creates at its appearance, music captivates the listener; by the assurance of its gestures, it transforms a camera movement into a musical intensification, and a sitting there is transformed into an enthrallment to music. It is music that creates the image. Not only does music react contrapuntally to the different events that impinge from the outside, but it also creates the coherence that offers the opportunity for an effective interruption. Even after the appearance of the messenger, the protagonist returns to the music again and again. One is tempted to say that the music draws the play as a whole in its own direction. Whereas in the beginning it was the zoom that determined from which point the music would gradually become audible, already in the first version of the final image, it is the music that, audible from camera position A, determines the course of action. In the Stuttgart production this audible [ ] at A is placed into the middle of the play in connection with the cantabile. In paying attention to the length of the musical passages, one notices the careful disposition of the three longest, each lasting two minutes: the first comes after six minutes, the second five minutes after the first, the last eleven minutes after the second; in between there are four short inserts, each about fifteen seconds long. Beethoven s slow movement is divided into two parts and a coda that is intended as the final climax. Beckett endeavored to bring out this intensifying structure in his play. He does not, however, attempt to musicalize the form in the way that novels have been written in sonata form or poems in the form of fugues. Beethoven s form becomes apparent in Beckett s play via the recurring attention the protagonist pays to the music. The music neither underscores nor comments on the play, instead it isthe protagonist who time and again turns his attention to the music. He recalls Beethoven s music with the help of his cassette recorder, just as Krapp in Krapp s Last Tape assures himself of the meaning of long forgotten words with the help of his dictionary, or as Clov in Fin de Partie searches for a long forgotten world through his telescope. Perhaps it was the new medium of television that led Beckett to realize his old idea of freeing the music of his radio plays from its role as accompaniment by raising it to the level of an independent agent. Endgame s Me to play is accomplished not by the music of Words and Music or of Cascando; only Beethoven s music appears with the determination of this gesture. In Ghost Trio Beckett charged music with an independent role. The change of the play s title was a gesture of reverence towards music s independence. With it Beckett ratified what the title Tryst announced: the keeping of a rendezvous of long duration. 319

8 Note 1. Translated from the German by Viola Scheffel. This two-part article is a shortened, revised, and translated version of a longer essay (Maier 2000). I would like to express my thanks to Angela Moorjani for extensive editing of the two parts of the translated version. Works Cited Beckett, Samuel, Murphy (New York: Grove P, 1957)., Ghost Trio manuscripts and typescripts: ms 1519/1, ts. 1519/2, ms. 1519/3, ms. 2829, ms. 2833, ts. 2832, ms. 2831, ms. 4407, Archive of the Beckett International Foundation, U of Reading., Geistertrio, dir. Samuel Beckett, perf. Klaus Herm and Irmgard Först, Süddeutscher Rundfunk, 1977., Ghost Trio, dir. Donald McWhinnie and Samuel Beckett, perf. Ronald Pickup and Billie Whitelaw, British Broadcasting Corporation, 1977., The Complete Dramatic Works (London: Faber and Faber, 1986). Deleuze, Gilles, L Épuisé, in Quad etautres pièces pour la télévision, by Samuel Beckett (Paris: Minuit, 1992), Kenner, Hugh, Art in a Closed Field, in Learners and Discerners: A Newer Criticism, ed. by Robert Scholes (Charlottesville: UP of Virginia, 1964), Maier, Michael, Geistertrio: Beethovens Musik in Samuel Becketts zweiten Fernsehspiel, in Archiv für Musikwissenschaft 57 (2000), , Geistertrio: Beethoven s Music in Beckett s Ghost Trio, Part 1, in SBT/A 11, Samuel Beckett: Endlessness in the Year 2000/ Fin sans fin en l an 2000, ed. by Angela Moorjani and Carola Veit (Amsterdam and New York: Rodopi, 2001), White, Harry, Something is taking its course : Dramatic Exactitude and the Paradigm of Serialism in Samuel Beckett, in Samuel Beckett and Music, ed. by Mary Bryden (Oxford and New York: Oxford UP, 1998), Worth, Katharine, Beckett and the Radio Medium, in British Radio Drama, ed. by John Drakakis (Cambridge and New York: Cambridge UP, 1981),

9 12. vieil aller vieux arr ts ~Ridders (A. & H. v/d Kraan) 321

10 imagine si ceci un jour ceci un beau jour imagine si un jour un beau jour ceci cessait imagine ~Trois animaux une question (Marc Brusse)

11 14. en face le pire jusqu à ce qu il fasse rire ~Grosser Geist (Thomas Schütte) 323

12 à elle vide lui pur d amour ~Femme abri (Robert Couturier)

13 16. pas à pas nulle part nul seul ne sait comment petits pas nulle part obstinément ~Secret lives in a public body ( Henk Visch) 325