Orchestral Strings Teacher
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BLOG -Â PETER SCULTHORPE
Themes of Loss in the Cello music of Peter Sculthorpe
General Introduction
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This blog is the first in a series about the Cello Music of Peter Sculthorpe (1929-2014). Many major works of Peter Sculthorpe relate to the losing of something. The something in question could be of a personal nature to Sculthorpe, or the destruction of part of the Australian continent or its culture. How have these ideas of loss have been handled within the selected compositions?
A significant part of the blog is about Sculthorpe's attitude to the cello. As a cellist, I find this important. All of the themes in the cello works by Sculthorpe seem to deal with some form of mourning or lamentation. I am examining Sculthorpe's evident interest in connecting themes of loss with the expressive capabilities of the cello.
A short list of works by Sculthorpe to be discussed in this and subsequent blogs are Lament for Strings, Requiem for Cello, Threnody for Cello, Song of Tailitnama, Into the Dreaming, and Djilile. These pieces all have in them varying elements of tragedy and sadness. In one case, one theme has been used for two different purposes. Although Threnody is based on the opening theme of his orchestral work Kakadu, the two pieces describe entirely different types of emotions. Kakadu describes Sculthorpe's feelings for the land, its life and death, the change of seasons, whereas Threnody is dedicated to the memory of Stuart Challender, conductor of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra from 1987-1991, to whom Sculthorpe gave praise for his interpretation of Kakadu. Following are two recordings from Threnody - the fast version is similar to the menacing theme in Kakadu, and the second version is the way it has been modified to be more sombre and lamenting in Threnody.
Theme of Loss
The phrase "Theme of Loss" is a set of words with a very broad meaning. Some of the themes which will be discussed in this project will be death, lament, grief, loss, possibly anguish, remoteness, loneliness, tragedy, and sadness. The resultant combination of these themes and the depth to which they are explored by the composer in his music form part of the concerns of this series of blogs.
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Loss may be regarded as being of two forms, Sculthorpe's personal loss, and the anguish extending from this; and Isolation, where humanity is pitted against the elements of a harsh country, or where the culture of a people has been destroyed, forgotten, or made irretrievable. How do these two major forms of loss influence Sculthorpe, both personally and publicly, and his cello works?
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Context of the Cello Works
As all of the cello works have something to do with loss, what type of loss is portrayed? Requiem, Threnody, and Into the Dreaming are all based on personal losses of the composer. The circumstances in which the cello works were written, however, may be different. Into the Dreaming was not going to be a piece in memoriam to anyone, but that is what it turned out to be when a friend of Sculthorpe's died. The Requiem for Cello alone is based on similar emotional parameters as the violin/orchestral work Irkanda 4, but was written 18 years after it in 1979. Any other related works (in overall concept and/or motifs used) will be mentioned where necessary.
To begin with Melody, the subject of this blog.
How does melody contribute to the expression of "Loss" in the cello works of Peter Sculthorpe? Melody, defined from Groves' Dictionary is "Pitched sounds arranged in musical time in accordance with given cultural conventions and constraints."
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Melody is an important topic for discussion, because it forms a major component of Sculthorpe's cello music. As such, any analysis of Sculthorpe's music must sooner or later examine the melody. It is the chant-like qualities of his melodies that this blog will be commenting on. Specific focus will be on whether the melody contains any relationship to any particular extra-musical material related to themes of loss. Sculthorpe's works are "traditional" in that they do have elements which can easily be described as "melody" (and other sections which may be defined as "harmony"). This process can even be applied to his cello works which are not supported (accompanied) by another instrument (parts of Requiem and Threnody).
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Explanation of the terms "Ritual Chant" and "Instrumental Chant"
What is ritual chant? At a basic level, ritual chant is a melody which is attached to an established or prescribed procedure (a ceremony).[1] In Australian Indigenous culture, there are many ceremonies for many events in tribal life. Initiation ceremonies, hunting ceremonies, burial ceremonies: all of these ceremonies often have long and complex chanting associated with them. Sculthorpe's Song of Tailitnama is based on the Aranda Indigenous tribal chant of the same name. Unfortunately, the song was never fully recorded when the opportunity arose. It is estimated that approximately two-thirds of the song has been lost. What remains is approximately the first 50 stanzas of chant.[2]
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As with Australian Indigenous culture, Western culture uses music in a similar fashion to accompany various ceremonies, especially religious-based ones like the Requiem Mass. In Requiem, Sculthorpe combines certain stylistic cues of the Gregorian chant with his own personal compositional style.
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[1] The Macquarie Dictionary. Second revision, pp 1469.
[2] Strehlow, T.G.H. Songs of Central Australia, pp 419-427.