Musical quotation in Richardson/Morlock’s Perruqueries (2013): humour as a vehicle for social commentary

Abstract

Quotation, one of the most common types of borrowing, has a rich history in the western art music tradition. Composers often cite other musical works as a creative tool, resulting in intertextual relationships between two pieces. The six songs of Perruqueries (2013) for soprano, baritone, and piano, with lyrics by Bill Richardson (b. 1955) and music by Jocelyn Morlock (b. 1969), focus on wigs and people’s obsession with them. Richardson either draws from real or fictional characters to write witty lyrics about wigs, while Morlock cleverly quotes well-known music of the past, recasting famous themes in humorous contexts. Drawing on Metzer’s work on quotation as a cultural agent (2003), I argue that Richardson’s lyrics and Morlock’s setting invite the listener to engage with current discourses on the role of physical appearance in our society through humour.