“Music and Representation”
Ronda, 2010
The attempt to “translate” music to other disciplines (mostly the fine arts but also others such as mathematics) has always been seen as something natural that is immediately occurring, where music, for example, in its most original form as song, is interpreted in a particular narrative.
When music is sung, its representation more or less immediately and objectively appears. The music would “play” on a previous representation (a libretto, poem, etc.). For some thinkers, this need to express song in images and representations is the origin of Greek tragedy, the source of all subsequent types of musical representation, including modern opera. Additionally, the consideration of purely instrumental music opens the debate on the general nature of this “translation” of music in its representations. At what point does this translation of music in its representations become objectified? What type of relationship is this? This Music Philosophy Conference, therefore, attempts to foster debate on these questions.
Although philosophers and poets will also be present, given the theme of this year’s conference, we wanted to emphasize the role of those whose work is accomplished primarily on the stage, including singers and directors from among those most representative of our artistic landscape.
Participants/Lectures:
Tomás Marco – Music as a Representative Symbol
José Antonio Sainz – Newton’s Third Law: The Principle of Action and Reaction in the Director’s Gestures
José Iges – New Heterotopias for Musical Representation
Francisco Jarauta – Hofmannsthal–Richard Strauss: Metamorphosis
Pilar Jurado – Rossini and His Coloraturas
Gotzon Arrizabalaga – Musica and Representation: A Weak Relationship
Víctor Gómez Pin – The Root of Deception: A Moral Lesson from Mozart and da Ponte
José María Sánchez-Verdú – Of aura, Reflection, and Shadow
Francis Wolff – The Two Models of Musical Semantics: Language and Image