李元貞 | Yuan-Chen Li | University of Chicago (original) (raw)

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Papers by 李元貞 | Yuan-Chen Li

本檔案收錄了台灣作曲家李元貞的中英文簡介與作品目錄，包括管弦樂與協奏曲、室內樂協奏曲、室內樂、二重奏、獨奏、聲樂與器樂、改編、以及掛名校對的樂譜與即興作品。 The document in... more 本檔案收錄了台灣作曲家李元貞的中英文簡介與作品目錄，包括管弦樂與協奏曲、室內樂協奏曲、室內樂、二重奏、獨奏、聲樂與器樂、改編、以及掛名校對的樂譜與即興作品。

The document includes Taiwanese composer Yuan-Chen Li's biography in English and Chinese, and list of works for orchestra and concerto, chamber concerto, chamber ensemble, duet, solo, voice with instruments, arrangements, as well as credits to collaborative works and improvisatory​ works.

This paper delineates a musical phenomenon, which I term the “difficult voice,” and observes its ... more This paper delineates a musical phenomenon, which I term the “difficult voice,” and observes its use in three vocal compositions by Jewish composers written in three different post-Holocaust time periods: Chaya Czernowin’s (b.1957, Haifa) plotless and wordless opera Pnima...ins innere (1999); Meredith Monk’s (b.1942, New York) theater-opera Quarry (1976); and Arnold Schoenberg’s (1874, Vienna - 1951, Los Angeles) cantata A Survivor from Warsaw (1947). These compositions stage their climaxes through multiple moments of repetitions in which textures are often constructed through the simultaneous and homophonic play of several instruments, as well as the singers and/or the narrator.

My analysis shows these musical phenomena to function as the drive of the “difficult voice.” The difficult voice does not sing but only vocalizes and speaks (while other parts of the composition sing). They are important because, arguably, they are the manifestation of these composers’ creativity to integrate the apocalyptic scene of the Jewish Holocaust that they have only learned through secondhand accounts with their own issues, whether indirectly relating to the Holocaust or something else. Scenes of “going to die,” exodus, and destroying are depicted, all of which project massive anxiety and anger. The composition of such scenes results from the unspeakable and incomprehensible representation of the secondhand Holocaust which their authors had never experienced but with which they wanted to identify.

The case studies analyze the use of vocalization and of orchestration of repetitions in selected instances of the “difficult voice.” Several modes of the transmission of the Holocaust are located and explored: the unconscious, the general media, and communications that took place within the composers’ familial and public spheres. Beginning with a recent work, Czerowin’s Pnima … ins innere, this paper traces the difficult voice back to Schoenberg’s A Survivor from Warsaw, both locating this work as an inception of this kind of aesthetic response and showing that Holocaust trauma and the transmission of this particular trauma have been an ongoing and, to some degree, homogeneous issue across generations.

The thesis describes my compositional conceptions. At first, I propose that the fundamental iss... more The thesis describes my compositional conceptions. At first, I propose that the fundamental issue of musiking is to listen. My pursue in my music is to illuminate the void (i.e., emptiness and silence, "留白") in the presence of listening. Void, as a type of artistic concept and technique, is often found in Chinese art, as a type of expression of harmony. It is possible that listeners or viewers may be able to project their imagination onto the void, if effectively implied by minimal amount of the pitch materials (虛實佈白). Music or treatise on the concept and technique of the void are often those for the voice or for the plucked instruments based on the phonology and the psychoacoustic. Music composition "Tideleaf"(潮葉) for solo Pipa and "Intermezzo-Tsan"(間奏曲-參) for Guqin and 10 Western instruments are analyzed, showing the permutation of the elements, form, orchestration, and concluded by the discussion on the perception of time, sonic unit, and memory in these works.

本檔案收錄了台灣作曲家李元貞的中英文簡介與作品目錄，包括管弦樂與協奏曲、室內樂協奏曲、室內樂、二重奏、獨奏、聲樂與器樂、改編、以及掛名校對的樂譜與即興作品。 The document in... more 本檔案收錄了台灣作曲家李元貞的中英文簡介與作品目錄，包括管弦樂與協奏曲、室內樂協奏曲、室內樂、二重奏、獨奏、聲樂與器樂、改編、以及掛名校對的樂譜與即興作品。

The document includes Taiwanese composer Yuan-Chen Li's biography in English and Chinese, and list of works for orchestra and concerto, chamber concerto, chamber ensemble, duet, solo, voice with instruments, arrangements, as well as credits to collaborative works and improvisatory​ works.

This paper delineates a musical phenomenon, which I term the “difficult voice,” and observes its ... more This paper delineates a musical phenomenon, which I term the “difficult voice,” and observes its use in three vocal compositions by Jewish composers written in three different post-Holocaust time periods: Chaya Czernowin’s (b.1957, Haifa) plotless and wordless opera Pnima...ins innere (1999); Meredith Monk’s (b.1942, New York) theater-opera Quarry (1976); and Arnold Schoenberg’s (1874, Vienna - 1951, Los Angeles) cantata A Survivor from Warsaw (1947). These compositions stage their climaxes through multiple moments of repetitions in which textures are often constructed through the simultaneous and homophonic play of several instruments, as well as the singers and/or the narrator.

My analysis shows these musical phenomena to function as the drive of the “difficult voice.” The difficult voice does not sing but only vocalizes and speaks (while other parts of the composition sing). They are important because, arguably, they are the manifestation of these composers’ creativity to integrate the apocalyptic scene of the Jewish Holocaust that they have only learned through secondhand accounts with their own issues, whether indirectly relating to the Holocaust or something else. Scenes of “going to die,” exodus, and destroying are depicted, all of which project massive anxiety and anger. The composition of such scenes results from the unspeakable and incomprehensible representation of the secondhand Holocaust which their authors had never experienced but with which they wanted to identify.

The case studies analyze the use of vocalization and of orchestration of repetitions in selected instances of the “difficult voice.” Several modes of the transmission of the Holocaust are located and explored: the unconscious, the general media, and communications that took place within the composers’ familial and public spheres. Beginning with a recent work, Czerowin’s Pnima … ins innere, this paper traces the difficult voice back to Schoenberg’s A Survivor from Warsaw, both locating this work as an inception of this kind of aesthetic response and showing that Holocaust trauma and the transmission of this particular trauma have been an ongoing and, to some degree, homogeneous issue across generations.

The thesis describes my compositional conceptions. At first, I propose that the fundamental iss... more The thesis describes my compositional conceptions. At first, I propose that the fundamental issue of musiking is to listen. My pursue in my music is to illuminate the void (i.e., emptiness and silence, "留白") in the presence of listening. Void, as a type of artistic concept and technique, is often found in Chinese art, as a type of expression of harmony. It is possible that listeners or viewers may be able to project their imagination onto the void, if effectively implied by minimal amount of the pitch materials (虛實佈白). Music or treatise on the concept and technique of the void are often those for the voice or for the plucked instruments based on the phonology and the psychoacoustic. Music composition "Tideleaf"(潮葉) for solo Pipa and "Intermezzo-Tsan"(間奏曲-參) for Guqin and 10 Western instruments are analyzed, showing the permutation of the elements, form, orchestration, and concluded by the discussion on the perception of time, sonic unit, and memory in these works.