Publications
Publication details [#3022]
Brower, Candace. 1997. Pathway, blockage, and containment in 'Density 21.5'. Language Policy 22 (1) : 35–54. 20 pp. URL
Publication type
Article in journal
Publication language
English
Keywords
Abstract
No twentieth century work has inspired more metaphorical description than Edgard Varèse's 'Density 21.5'. Theorists have described it as having "energy," "impulse," "urge," and "climax"; as "holding back," "surging forward," "breaking out," and "shooting off in new directions." This paper will show how Mark Johnson's theory of embodied meaning provides a context within which it is possible not only to explain how the work translates metaphorically into motion, but to evaluate its coherence as a vehicle for metaphorical expression.
'Density 21.5' will be analyzed on the basis of the generic level metaphor MUSICAL EVENTS ARE ACTIONS. This metaphor is subject to elaboration through its entailments-inferences based upon our understanding of everyday actions. These allow us to explain musical events in terms of motion, goal-directedness, pathway, stability, force, counterforce, blockage, and containment. Questions that the analysis will address include: What constitutes a pathway of melodic motion? How are goals of motion defined? How is the success or lack of success of a particular musical action made clear to the listener? The analytical method works more satisfactorily for the first seventeen bars than for the work as a whole, suggesting that the metaphorical impulse that shaped Varèse's composition of this initial segment may have given way to more abstract procedures in the remainder.
(Candace Brower)