TRANSCENDENCE TOWARD PARADISE Amy M. Bell A Thesis Submitted to the Graduate College o Bowling Green State University in artial ulillment o the requirements or the degree o MASTER OF MUSIC August 2007 Committee: Elainie Lillios, Advisor Burton Beerman
ii ABSTRACT Elainie Lillios, Advisor Transcendence toward Paradise is a thirteen-minute, ive-movement iece or mezzo-sorano, lute, har, and viola. The selected text was excerted rom an Italian sonnet written by Michelangelo Buonarroti (147-14), which was set in its original language. William Wordsworth rovided a beautiul oetic translation, which I chose to guide my text setting. Dolce è ben quella in un udico core, che er cangiar di scorza o d ora estrema non manca, e qui caarra il aradiso. In chaste hearts uninluenced by the ower o outward change, there blooms a deathless lower, that breathes on earth the air o aradise. The text aears in its entirety only in the last movement, with earlier movements exloring a gradual reconstruction o the text rom its comonent arts. To accomlish this, the text was deconstructed into various syllables reresented in the score with the International Phonetic Alhabet (IPA). The irst movement s text contains only the shortest durations o syllables, denoting the highest level o text abstraction. As each subsequent movement rogresses, the abstract syllables gradually merge together and exand to orm words and hrases o the text. The thematic material or Transcendence toward Paradise originates rom the ith movement o the iece. Salient characteristics rom the last movement were shaed into variations based uon these eatures, which also relect the evolving characteristics o the text setting. This was accomlished through variation techniques including motivic and rhythmic deconstruction, augmentation, diminution, and registral dislacement, among others.
Dedicated to Pinotage. iii
iv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to thank my advisors, Dr. Elainie Lillios and Dr. Burton Beerman or their guidance and atience in heling me to comlete this iece. I would also like to thank the ollowing eole or roviding me with valuable inormation: Dr. Jane Schoonmaker-Rogers or her assistance in vocal diction, Mariella Zucchi-Bingman or kindly roviding a literal translation o the Italian text, Claudia Lasare-Mirono or her kindness in roviding an extensive reertoire list and advice on writing or this ensemble, Julia Bentley or her exertise on vocal writing, and Julie Buzzelli or her guidance on writing or har.
v Perormance instructions: tremolo and glissando simultaneously General: Intonation quarter shar quarter lat three-quarters lat three-quarters shar Feathered beaming staccatissimo Mezzo-sorano: rrr rolled r seed u slow down indeinite itch; Follow the contour o the line when indicated. In most cases, the X note heads generally relect rhythmic duration only, not inlection. Inlection must then be added according to the erormer s taste. Acting directions I. The Awakening You are an instrumentalist, not a soloist in this movement. Forced whiser means that syllables are heavily annunciated, using lots o air. The sotest oint must be subtle yet audible enough to be heard by the audience. soken- normal conversational tone creaky- rather evil sounding, rickety; use lots o inlection! continue in this manner until directed to change II. Illusions general state o agitation; luctuates rom angry to reserved ollow mood indicators as directed using erormance instructions located underneath the mood indicators whiser- not as heavily accented syllables orced whiser- louder, much more heavily accented seak- normal talking voice shout- as i angry, still holding back reak out- immediately and extrovertly angry sigh- as i annoyed; disarovingly
vi bickering- interaction between you and instrumentalists very imortant here; you are reacting to what they are laying; your tone o voice should be sarcastic, as i making un o the instrumentalists rantic- this direction does not aly to you so much, you are still reacting to the instruments; your anger becomes introverted, turns to sadness must use acial exressions- acting out the art through body language will also hel bewildered, uzzled- show conusion, shock o being hurt whining- childlike, stoming; think: I want.are we there yet etc; not getting your way, imatient exaserated- with rustration, almost as i giving u whimer- as i starting to cry, but holding back cry- use inlection, audible inhaling and exhaling sob- as i stricken with grie inhale as i caught o guard- not voiced or soken, airy sound, as i being ricked by a needle (gasing) same as beore, but louder- as i running into someone you didn t exect to see there at that moment, or hearing a loud noise all o a sudden that scares you angry- orceul, esecially with the accents mockingly- sarcastically, as i to onesel holding back sadness- almost as i in denial swell o emotion- vocalize the degree o intensity with which you eel this sadness inside yoursel excited- suddenly the clouds lit with resolve- determined, encouraged gathering strength- ighting back cla- hold u hands so audience can see you doing this (introducing anger back into the scene) irritated- take time, be deliberate almost as i bickering rustrated- short burst o anger, orceul release- almost as i walking away, whatever sort o attitude trying to calm down- moving on so as to distract onesel rom what you were eeling irritation- anger won t go away orced whiser- hiss- evil, as i at someone walking ast you that you desise introverted anger- as i walking o again, arms olded burst- the most intense oint o anger in this movement; exlosive; scream; use your voice
vii III. The Promise o Sweetness distantly- ghostlike no acial exression- as i removed rom reality quivering- slow tremolo, not like mvts. I and II, rather shaking with ear questioning- use inlection creaky voice- evil, temting with doubt- tremolo like irst two mvts.; almost scared reluctance- saying yes but indicating otherwise through acial exression/body language with accetance- not liking what is haening but doing it anyway gingerly moving orward- being very careul not to get hurt; on guard enlightened- sudden lash o hoe illed with joy, longing- discovering a new desire enthralled- overjoyed IV. The Battle o Puriication tacet V. Sanctiication o Hoe with certainty and trust, being brave, acceting, eaceul International Phonetic Alhabet (IPA) vowels consonants ʌ as in mud ʃʌ as in shut ɪ as in nickel tʃɪ as in chick ɑː as in ather ɑːrrr as in art with rolled r oʊ as in note *all other consonants in movements I and II are to be ɔː as in alone or the ronounced as written in the English language ɛ as in bet eɪ u iː as in ate as in boot as in seen quivering with joyul tears- bittersweet, mixed emotions ecstatic- overlowing with joy hauntingly- as i an echo rom another world
viii Flute: Percussive sonorities key click - use G-key or A-key as striker (T) tongue sla close embouchure hole with both lis, strike ercussively with tongue while exhaling quickly and intensely lutter tongue Fingerings or timbral trills, multihonics oen closed trilled C A G F E D D# C (both key key key key key key key key lines) *Fingerings will aear above eected notes, unless the same ingering is reeated in close roximity to its irst aearance. * Thumb Bb is not used in this diagram * The lines at the end o the diagram reresent two o the three lowest itches o the lute. These lines will aear as shown only i these keys are being used (one line or the c# key, and 2 lines or the c key). * The b key, g# key, d trill key (abbreviated as tr in the diagram) and d# trill key will not aear unless they are to be used. timbre trill Natural harmonics: itch o harmonic ingering used Angle o lute: Normal B G # D D# C# (bottom key key tr tr key line only) slightly turned out slightly turned in
ix turned in as ar as ossible turned out as ar as ossible Har: all daming let u to erormer unless indicated otherwise dam semre non ar. or non ar.: luck all strings simultaneously until directed to do so otherwise.d.l.t. (rès de la table) lay near the soundboard sla on soundboard with oen hand l.v. dam with both hands (all sound) dam at seciic time let vibrate luck all at once areggiate deliberately rom bottom u areggiate deliberately rom to to bottom areggiate simultaneously in each hand as the arrows indicate luck all notes simultaneously within bracketed chord beore ollowing the direction o the arrow in the other hand areggiate with ingernail; alies to both hands when laced about treble cle Détachée (leave each string ater being lucked, do not dam) harmonic written octave lower than is to sound hand-sla: chord to be struck with let hand and let ring unless indicated otherwise edal diagrams are written below bass sta at beginning o each movement edal changes are indicated as letters: ex: G note cluster: lay all itches in range indicated by outer notes
x Viola: Bartók izz knock on body all harmonics are touch 4 harmonics, resulting sound is two octaves higher than lowest traditionally notated itch tremolo and gliss at same time
xi Program Notes My objective in creating this iece was to ind a small amount o text and use it in various ways, including traditional and nontraditional text setting. I wanted to ind a way to reveal the text throughout time without giving the whole thing away all at once. In doing so, I ound a text by Michelangelo that I elt aroriately exressed the hilosohical nature o this iece. His sculture the Pieta (in Rome) has always been a great source o consolation or me, and this quote rom his sonnet is something that I elt best described what the Pieta is about, namely that is one who ossesses urity within one s heart will not whither away with the assing events in this world. Instead, those who ossess urity on earth oreshadow the beauty o heaven. I used what he is best known or (sculting) as a rocess to reveal both text and music throughout time. This iece is a theme and variation in retrograde. In this way, the music reresents the rocess o sculting. The inal roduct is not revealed (nor is the comlete text) until the inal movement, just as the inal version o a sculture is not revealed until all chiseling, reining and olishing is comleted satisactorily to the artist s original vision.
xii Text or Transcendence toward Paradise Original by Michelangelo Buonarroti (147-14) Translation by William Wordsworth (1770-180) Dolce e ben quella in un udico core, In chaste hearts uninluenced by the ower che er cangiar di scorza o d ora o outward change, estrema non manca, there blooms a deathless lower, e qui caarra il aradiso. 1 that breathes on earth the air o aradise. 2 1 Buonarroti, Michelangelo. The Sonnets o Michelangelo. Translated by J. A. Symonds. London: John Murray, 192. First edition rinted in London: Smith, Elder & Co., 1878. 2 Wordsworth, William. The Works o Wordsworth. New York: Macmillan Comany, 190. First rinted in London: Macmillan, 1888.
Mezzo-sorano Flute Hauntingly q = 2 orced whiser Transcendence toward Paradise I. The Awakening Amy Bell Har Viola MNMOMNMN hand-sla izz. creeing orward m 7 H. m lz. sla on soundboard m A m knock on body
2 12 H. m (T) m m m with anticiation (izz.) m H. B 17 Floating détacheé - q = 72 timbre sub. ' soken timbre arco
22 timbre m H. m m H. C 2 lz. m creaky voice gliss. izz.
0 H. m m m soken ' timbre m 4 4 D H.
8 lz. m H. cresc. oco a oco arco m 4 soken m H. sla on soundboard gliss. m III gliss. sz sub. m semre non. ar. sz sub.
II. Illusions Mezzo-sorano Agitated q = 12 whiser cresc. oco a oco Viola izz. irritated orced whiser m annoyed seak m m 9 livid shout
7 1 reak out indeinite itch, still shouting 1 A Bickering q = 8 sigh m sung arco izz. m 19 m m arco izz. m knock m arco sul ont.
8 22 B Frantic q = 18 bewildered, uzzled use acial exressions imrovise reely m 2 whining imrovise reely lz. exaserated imrovise reely 28 m sub. sub.
9 1 sul tasto sub. whimer imrovise reely m sub. sub. sub. cry imrovise reely lz. sub. sub. C lz. sul ont. 40 sob imrovise reely inhaled as i caught o guard ibid, but louder sub. sub. sub. sub. lz. m m
10 44 D Freely q = 8 angry cresc. cresc. 48 mockingly holding back sadness swell o emotion excited with resolve m gathering strength cla irritated take time knock rustrated
11 0 irritated orced whiser release take time introverted anger sung lz. sz sz trying to calm down lz. E In a scurry q = 9 m sz m 4 ()
12 7 cresc. oco a oco cresc. oco a oco 70 lz. 7 burst, scream Teasingly, reely q = 9 izz. arco izz. m
III. The Promise o Sweetness 1 Flute Rustling, contemlative, with awe q = 72 Har Viola MMMOMMNM m m H. détacheé semre non ar.
14 9 H. distantly no acial exression whiser m F# H. 12 quivering voice m m
1 H. sung m m questioning use acial exressions creaky voice m m 1 18 H. with doubt tremolo m G lz. sz sz reluctance A sung sz lz. G# sz sz
1 2 H. with accetance m 28 H. gingerly moving orward B m
17 enlightened m illed with joy, longing niente m 7 H. F C D# m sz m
18 40 H. sz F# 42 H. D
44 19 H. H. D 47 m enthralled F m
20 H. 0 quivering with joyul tears creaky voice lz. m gliss. E H.
21 8 ecstatic H. sub. sub. 1 hauntingly whiser H. lontano
22 IV. The Battle o Puriication Har Sneakingly, with caution q = 2 NNMONNML Viola sul tasto ' timbre H. m F E A aggressive sul ont. m hand-sla m
2 9 A A temo - timbre timbre H. sub. m 1.. H. izz. arco m
24 1 H. sub. sub. m. semre non. ar. 19 H. F F# m
2 24 H. siccato (T). semre non ar. sub. m B 28 H. sub. semre non ar. m C# D sul tasto sul ont. izz. arco
2 H. semre non ar. m m D# 2 H. rit.
27 H. 9 C Mysterious q = 72 singing, ure little vibrato m semre non ar. F sul ont. sz izz. m m arco sul tasto 44 mysterious, loating lz. m H. m m
28 48 lz. rit. H. 1 H. C Floating q = 9 sul ont. m izz. arco m
H. sul tasto m semre non ar. lz. 29 9 D H. semre non ar. izz.
0 H. 2 semre non ar. harmonic on low c semre non ar. arco lz. H. 7 7 7 izz. 7 hand sla arco sul ont. l.v. attaca
V. Sanctiication o Hoe 1 Mezzo-sorano Flute Har Viola Freely q = 0 MNMOMNMM Introsective q = 72 deliberately izz..d.l.t. m semre non ar. m.d.l.t. H. semre non ar. arco
2 10 H. m m 14 H. ar. (normal) m m m m
H. A 18 rit. A temo q = 72 22 H. rit. m
2 H. B A temo q = 72 - timbre m 4 29 H. m m sul ont.
2 lz. m H. m m H. m rit. m
40 H. C A temo q = 72 very deliberately izz. m subito arco 44 rit. H. lz..d.l.t.
7 48 D A bit slower q = 8 m H. 2 rit. m niente H. m m