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SOUND, MEANING AND MUSIC-DRAMA IN LACHENMANN'S DAS MÄDCHEN MIT DEN SCHWEFELHÖLZERN

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 March 2014

Laurence Osborn
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Abstract

This article argues that Das Mädchen mit den Schwefelhölzern demonstrates a unique approach to music-drama that stems from the perceptual capacities of listeners, and their desire to search for meaning in what they hear. Beginning with the claim that Das Mädchen mit den Schwefelhölzern can be viewed as the culmination of an aesthetic project begun at the point of Lachenmann's emergence as a distinctive voice of the European avant-garde during the 1960s, the article first examines two major aspects of Lachenmann's aesthetics – musique concrète instrumentale and aura – outlining a composing philosophy that has been at the heart of Lachenmann's practice throughout his career. The article claims that Lachenmann sought to establish a rejuvenated semiotics, freed from cultural baggage and tied to the perceptual and cognitive capacities of listeners. Drawing upon the studies of Naomi Cumming and Luke Windsor, it outlines a theoretical framework that takes into account this composing philosophy and its implications, applying it in analyses of various excerpts from Das Mädchen mit den Schwefelhölzern. My analysis illuminates a music-drama that forms around the interplay of internally represented images and sensations, the emergence of which is facilitated by a musical language that prepares sounds to take on certain types of meaning. The article concludes with a brief discussion of the possible implications this has for audience members.

Type
RESEARCH ARTICLES
Information
Tempo , Volume 68 , Issue 268 , April 2014 , pp. 20 - 33
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2014 

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References

1 Lachenmann's fascination with Ensslin, and his alignment of her with the central character of his opera, is discussed in an interview with Klaus Zehelein and Hans Thomalia. See Thomala, Zehelein and, ‘Sounds are Natural Phenomena’ in accompanying booklet, Das Mädchen mit den Schwefelhölzern, Staatsopernchor and Staatsorchester Stuttgart, Lothar Zagrosek (Kairos, 2002), CD 0012282KAI, pp. 39–41.Google Scholar

2 Gudrun Ensslin, cited by Griffiths, Paul, ‘It is Cold’, in accompanying booklet, Das Mädchen mit den Schwefelhölzern, SWR Vokalensemble Stuttgart, SWR Sinfonieorchester Baden-Baden und Freiburg, Sylvain Cambreling (ECM Recordings, 2004) CD ECM18589815118, pp. 17–22.Google Scholar

3 See Clarkson, Austin, ‘A Note on “...zwei Gefühle...”, Musik mit Leonardo’, Contemporary Music Review, 24/1 (2005), pp. 53–5CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Grella-Mozejko, Piotr, ‘Helmut Lachenmann: Style, Sound Text’, Contemporary Music Review, 24/1 (2005), pp. 57–75CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Lazkano, Ramon, ‘“Two Feelings” with Lachenmann’, Contemporary Music Review, 23/3 (2004), pp. 39–41.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

4 The recordings are listed in footnotes 1 and 2.

5 Lachenmann, Helmut, ‘The “Beautiful” in Music Today’, Tempo no. 135 (1980), pp. 20–24CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Lachenmann interviewed by Ryan, David, ‘Composer in Interview: Helmut Lachenmann’, Tempo no. 210 (1999), pp. 20–24CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Heathcote, Abigail, ‘Sound Structures, Transformations, and Broken Magic: An Interview with Helmut Lachenmann’, Contemporary Music: Theoretical and Philosophical Perspectives, ed. Paddison, Max and Deliège, Irène (Farnham: Ashgate, 2009), pp. 331–348.Google Scholar

6 Lachenmann, ‘The “Beautiful” in Music Today’, p. 22.

7 Lachenmann, ‘The “Beautiful” in Music Today’, p. 23.

8 Lachenmann, Helmut, ‘On Structuralism’, Contemporary Music Review vol. 12, part 1 (1996)Google Scholar, p. 102.

9 Ryan, ‘Composer in Interview’, p. 21.

10 Lachenmann, ‘On Structuralism’, p. 100.

11 Lachenmann, ‘On Structuralism’, p. 98.

12 Lachenmann, ‘On Structuralism’, p. 98.

13 Lachenmann, ‘On Structuralism’, p. 100.

14 Lachenmann, ‘On Structuralism’, p. 98.

15 Cumming, Naomi, The Sonic Self (Bloomington : Indiana University Press, 2000)Google Scholar. See especially chapter 2, ‘Listening Subjects and Semiotic Worlds’, pp. 43–71.

16 Cumming, Sonic Self, p. 66.

17 Cumming, Sonic Self, p. 66.

18 Cumming, Sonic Self, p. 118.

19 Nonnenmann, Rainer, ‘Music with Images: The Development of Helmut Lachenmann's Sound Composition Between Concretion and Transcendence’, trans. Hoban, Wieland, in Contemporary Music Review, vol. 24 no. 1 (2005), pp. 1–29CrossRefGoogle Scholar, here p. 5.

20 Windsor, Luke, ‘Through and Around the Acousmatic: The Interpretation of Electroacoustic Sounds’, in Music, Electronic Media and Culture, ed. Emmerson, Simon (Aldershot: Ashgate, 2000), pp. 7–35Google Scholar, here p. 7.

21 Gibson cited in Windsor, ‘Through and Around the Acousmatic’, p. 21. See Gibson, James, The Senses Considered as Perceptual Systems (Boston : Houghton Mifflin, 1966).Google Scholar

22 Windsor, ‘Through and Around the Acousmatic’, p. 17.

23 Windsor, ‘Through and Around the Acousmatic’, p. 22.

24 Windsor, ‘Through and Around the Acousmatic’, p. 22.

25 It is interesting that Lachenmann has written no electroacoustic music apart from the early piece Szenario, composed in 1965 while he was working at the electronic music studio at the University of Ghent. It is possible that following the development of his mature style, Lachenmann saw no need for the use of electronic sounds, despite the aesthetic alliance between the two styles. It can also be inferred that Lachenmann saw electronic music, like much European music of the time, as too evasive of the ‘aesthetic apparatus’ to be considered seriously.

26 Nonnenmann, ‘Music with Images’, p. 5.

27 Lachenmann, cited in Nonnenmann, ‘Music with Images’, p. 18.

28 Nonnenmann, ‘Music with Images’, p. 20.

29 Ryan, ‘Composer in Interview’, p. 24.

30 Nonnenmann, ‘Music with Images’, p. 22.

31 Griffiths, Paul, Modern Music and After, 3rd Edition (New York: Oxford University Press, 2010)Google Scholar, p. 394.