Thinking music – musical thinking : an analysis of Isola 3a/4a/5a (Prometeo)
Pauline Driesen · Ghent University Academic Bibliography (Ghent University) · 2016
This paper presents a thorough analysis of "Isola 3a/4a/5a", one of the central parts of Luigi Nono’s ‘tragedy of listening’ "Prometeo". Up to the present day, these three islands have not yet been subject to in-depth analytical investigation. More importantly, however, an analysis of these islands offers a unique insight in the creative process of one of the most idiosyncratic composers of the 20th century. First of all, a study of preparatory sketch material for "Isola 3a/4a/5a" uncovers the compositional construction of these islands as a genuinely musical realization of the textual idea underlying them. After having abandoned his utopian quest for the salvation of mankind, Prometheus is now thrown back on a never-ending drifting at the sea of doubt. In other words, "Isola 3a/4a/5a" embodies the core concepts of Nono’s own socio-political self-understanding in this late period: the continuous questioning of so-called truths and stuck values, inspired by the work of Wittgenstein, Musil and Benjamin. The analysis presented in this paper shows how both Nono’s selection of pitch material as well as the rhythmical organization of "Isola 3a/4a/5a" were dictated by the same philosophical concepts. As such, these islands form a genuine example of how, as Nono used to say, musica è pensare: composing was an actual way of thinking for him. More precisely, it was his very access to a non-conceptual and as such open thinking. Special attention will also be given to the part of the live electronics. Nono’s singular application of the gate control in "Isola 3a/4a/5a" obliges its performers and listeners to adapt an utterly active mode of listening, open to the yet unknown and unheard. In sum, open to ‘the Other’. In this way, Nono’s music not only gives us an insight in his own way of thinking, but it eventually also instigates a new kind of thinking with its performers and listeners. Finally, as can be read in one of his sketches, "ascoltare diventa pensare" too.