Dissertation Index
Author: Tong, Chee-yee, J. Title: Separate Discourses: A Study of Performance and Analysis Institution: University of Southampton Begun: October 1990 Completed: October 1994 Abstract: This thesis attempts to reconstrue the issue of analysis and performance in order that performers can play a genuine part in the discussion of it. Its premise is that musical performance can never be adequately portrayed in words by either analysts or performers, and its prime concern is to identify the root issue(s) underlying recent debates in defining the inter-relations between analysis and performance. One of these, I contend, is the lack of authentic discourse in academic musical writings: writers do not normally attend to the fictional status of words about music. Consequently, most studies of performance by analysts distort performance by moulding it according to analytical terms. With this in mind, I endeavour to expose the limitations of structuralist approaches to performance which see performance primarily as interpretations. This is achieved through critiquing contemporary theoretical literature on analysis and performance, and through commentaries on selected recordings. The discursive nature of musical writings is then enhanced through a reading of performers' own writings and a case study of different discourses on a performance attribute, the rubato. Keywords: performance, analysis, discourse, structuralist, performer, writer, rubato, Chopin TOC: Chapter I: The Question of Discourse in Music Analysis and Musical Performance Chapter II: Literature Review Chapter III: Comparisons of Recordings of Chopin Chapter IV: On Performers' Writings Chapter V: Rubato Discourses Contact: 15 Clements Street, Coventry CV2 4HW, U.K. Phone: (01203) 445263 e-mail: cjt@soton.ac.uk |