New sounds, new stories : narrativity in contemporary music

Abstract

In this dissertation, I study the

relation between narrativity and contemporary composed music. The

purpose of this study is twofold. Firstly, in so doing, I am able to

articulate what musical narrativity is in a precise manner. Since many contemporary musical works question or problematize the notion of musical narrativity, the analysis of these works might be the key to identifying the limits of musical narrativity. Secondly, I argue that, in assuming a narrative listening stance, the listener’s comprehension of contemporary music might be enriched. Narrative understanding is a basic disposition that human subjects share. Thus, I expect that a narrative interpretation of contemporary, atonal works may lead to a greater understanding of these works, which are often regarded as being incomprehensible or ungraspable by many listeners (and by many musicians and researchers alike). In short: I maintain that the study of the narrative aspect of contemporary music leads to a greater understanding of both musical narrativity and contemporary music. Yet, although I mainly focus on the analysis of contemporary, instrumental musical works, the results of this study, are valid for all kinds of music, thus for both instrumental and vocal music, classical and popular, ancient and contemporary.