Density 21.5 by Edgard Varese : a case study of the value of semiology in music analysis
Esther Marie Pauw · SUNScholar (Stellenbosch University) · 1996
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This study attempts to determine the value of semiological analysis as understood and applied by Jean-Jacques Nattiez, in his analysis of Density 21.5 by Edgard Varèse. The initial aim is to determine whether semiology, understood to be the study of signs, can be of value in the analysis of the diversity of styles and compositions which have been composed throughout the twentieth century. The initial hypothesis suggests that the strengths of Nattiez's semiological approach are to be found in his thorough and rigorous analysis, which result from his dedication to taxonomic distributional methods of analysis. The weakness of his approach, however, is that he fails to demonstrate processes of signification or meaning in music, an aspect which musical semiology (particularly of the semantic type) attempts to address. The findings of this study are, firstly, that semiology is applicable to (any) musical analysis, including the analysis of twentieth century styles. Secondly, it is found that Nattiez's approach to semiology (particularly before 1990) represents a narrow, almost neo-positivistic methodology. where analysis is performed thoroughly and in a quasi-scientific manner. but where concepts such as "the sign" and "meaning" in music are barely addressed. This calls the semiological value of his analysis into question. A valuable contribution by Nattiez, however, is to be found in his formulation of the "tripartition". where analysis can be performed and categorised according to any level (and all three levels) of the tripartition, namely the "neutral" level the "poietic" level and the "esthesic" level. Such a model allows for the clarification of analytical procedures. The final chapter presents two opposing points of view concerning the issue of meaning in music: that of the so-called empiricists (like Nattiez) who, despite adhering to a semiological approach, prefer to avoid issues of meaning and signification, as opposed to the semanticists who view musical semiology as being analogous to the search for meaning in music.