Musical transcriptions: a creative and analytical exploration of aspects of music in text

Abstract

This dissertation addresses the meaning of a musical text and how music, when re- imagined or represented in text, acts as a significant shaping element. I define a musical text as one that incorporates music principles and thematic elements as part of its determined construction, affecting the way the narrative makes and communicates meaning. The investigation applies to the creative component of my work, Diary of a Song, and is the basis of the critical component in the musico-textual analyses of Sonata Mulattica by Rita Dove and Agua Viva by Clarice Lispector. Diary of a Song is a book- length work in prose-poetry on the subject of the art of singing. The musico-textual analyses adopt a case study approach, and I argue that all the texts are demonstrations of a musical text understood by the application of a framework of definition. The framework is informed by, the intermedial theories of Werner Wolf, the interart theories of Steven P. Scher, the musicological theories of Heinrich Schenker and the scholarship of Gunther Schuller. This musico-textual analysis is viewed through the balanced lens of a musicological and literary analysis.