Musicological Explorations, Vol. 09 (2008)
Permanent URI for this collection
This issue was first published in 2008 and later released digitally in 2009.
Copyright Policy
Authors retain the copyright for their articles published in Musicological Explorations. Any use, reproduction, or distribution of the articles must be done with the authors’ explicit permission and must include proper attribution to the original authors and the journal. For permissions, please contact press@uvic.ca.
Browse
Recent Submissions
Item The Prefiguratio Christi: Prefiguration in Introit tropes of Southern Italy(Musicological Explorations, 2008) Mak, Siu-YinThe concept of typological prefiguration is based on the Christian belief that components of the Old Testament are prophecies or symbols of those events in the New Testament that constitute the main tenets of the Christian faith. Within the context of the Mass, tropes in a prefigurative function manipulate Old Testament texts used in the parts of the Mass preceding Communion, reframing them to forecast the upcoming commemoration of Jesus Christ. Most commonly, this form of prefiguration occurs in tropes of the Introit, in which both psalm and antiphon texts are derived primarily from the Old Testament. My paper focuses on a representative sample of medieval Introit tropes from southern Italy are presented. In my analysis, I identify four primary forms of prefiguration are identified: nominal, analogical, contextual, and prophetical. Essentially, tropes may alter the original context of an antiphon in one or more of the following ways: by making a textual reference to Christ, by drawing parallelisms between Christ and the antiphon's original subject matter, by resetting and / or temporally displacing the antiphon, or by presenting the antiphon text as a quoted prophecy. Textual examples provided throughout the discussion illustrate these different methods of prefigurative technique and the resulting relationships created retroactively between original antiphons and the subsequent Communion. The diversity of these techniques, each with their various intrinsic complexities, offers insight into the heavy role of the prefigurative function in medieval troping practices.Item Musicological Explorations, Volume 9 (2008)(Musicological Explorations, 2008)Item Biographies(Musicological Explorations, 2008) Baron-Woods, Kristina; Mak, Siu-Yin; Robinson, DylanItem Distracting music(Musicological Explorations, 2008) Robinson, DylanThis article focuses primarily on the development of autonomous reception across the arts and music, and the associated assumption that the alternative to this pure contemplation, distracted reception, promotes a disengaged attitude toward the work under consideration. The particular conceptualization of distraction, in the context of this article contrasts the term's standard characterization as lackadaisical or careless, instead using the term in its capacity for critique of tacitly approved systems of reception as processes for uncovering transcendental signifieds. Distraction acts as a counteractive to normative, teleological, and structural regimes of contemplation. To re-cast distraction as a foil to directed and authoritarian viewing practices, the article provides a historical overview of distraction, tracing its development from the moralistic rhetoric of 18th century writings to the modernist debates on distraction in film and theater. By way of conclusion, the article considers works that employ distraction: John Cage's Musicircuses and R. Murray Schafer's The Greatest Show. In effect, distraction is examined as an act of complication, complicating both the efficiency and primacy of 'clear communication' promoted in formalist and structural listening practices, and objectivist discursive traditions. Ultimately, distraction acts as a method for wresting agential power from the artist in order to increase the agency of the spectator, who thereby is able to engage in reception as a continuous dialectic process of examination in which contradiction and polysemy are embraced instead of eliminated.Item Bassa Selim: Mozart's voice of clemency in Die Entführung aus dem Serail(Musicological Explorations, 2008) Baron-Woods, KristinaInitially requested by Emperor Joseph II as entertainment for visiting Russian royalty, Mozart's singspiel Die Entführung aus dem Serail represents the first comic opera of the composer's mature career in Vienna. For Mozart, the honor of having his opera performed in such company would have presented an opportunity to present his work to the Viennese court, an important event that, if successful, could potentially ensure royal patronage for years to come. Therefore, it is understandable that he wished to edify Joseph II before his guests. To achieve this end, Mozart and Johann Gottlieb Stephanie created in the role of the Turkish Pasha an "Enlightened Renegade," a character of great nobility who displays the ultimate show of power, that of mercy toward his worst enemies. By insisting on changes to Stephanie's libretto - including a new scene for the Pasha that shows him wrestling with himself over how forceful to be with his captive Konstanze, and the final scene which depicts his noble act of clemency - Mozart can be seen as attempting to curry favor with Joseph II and espouse ideals of the Enlightenment. However, since the opera's premiere in 1782, scholars have debated the merit of the Pasha's act of clemency, and have considered its artistic implication within the Singspiel genre, and its philosophical implication within the framework of the Enlightenment. While the motivations for the composition of the opera and the portrayal of an enlightened, magnanimous ruler may appear conflicting, the role of the Pasha undoubtedly offers a study of extreme power.Item From the editors(Musicological Explorations, 2008) Cecchetto, David; Hopper, Deborah