Ce travail de thèse cherche à s’interroger sur la pratique du pianiste soliste, interprète de la musique dite « pure » ou absolue. Nous nous appuyons pour cela sur plusieurs réflexions psychanalytiques à propos de la musique. En psychanalyse, la musique vocale ou instrumentale est abordée à partir de l’objet de la « pulsion invocante » qu’est la voix. Nous concevons la « voix instrumentale » produite par le pianiste et son instrument comme étant une prothèse de la voix chantée humaine. Nous nous appuyons également sur la notion d’« humain augmenté », apparue dans les années 1990, pour faire l’hypothèse que la musique pour piano est une voix augmentée. L’objectif du pianiste est de pouvoir s’exprimer à travers ce que nous avons nommé la « voix prothétique augmentée ». Pour s’exprimer à travers cette « voix prothétique augmentée », le pianiste doit d’abord faire transcender son propre corps, car le support de cette voix est ses gestes corporels. / This thesis seeks to question the practice of a piano soloist – the interpreter of so-called “pure” or absolute music – drawing on several psychoanalytical reflections about music. In psychoanalysis, vocal or instrumental music is approached from the object of the “invocative impulse” – the voice. We perceive the “instrumental voice”, produced by the pianist and his or her instrument, as being a prosthesis of the singing human voice. We also draw on the notion of the “augmented human”, which first appeared in the 1990s, to form the hypothesis that music for piano is itself an augmented voice. The objective of the pianist is to be able to express him or herself through what we have termed the “prosthetic augmented voice”. To express him or herself through this “prosthetic augmented voice”, the pianist has to, first of all, transcend his or her own body. This is because the support of this voice is in fact his or her own body gestures.

This study investigates certain existential themes found in the work of Austrian director Michael Haneke. As such the focus is on the existential philosophy of Martin Heidegger, specifcally Heidegger’s notion of Being as always being-towards-death. There are six flms under discussion – the three flms comprising his Vergletscherung-trilogie (Der Siebente Kontinent, Benny’s Video and 71 Fragmente einer Chronologie des Zufalls), and his later flms Funny Games, La Pianiste, and Caché. Michael Haneke has been lauded as “Austria’s most esteemed and most controversial active flmmaker” (Frey 2003:1), a director whose work transgresses the boundaries of mainstream flm in terms of both its form and content. In fact, the director argues, he is responsible for “rap[ing] the spectator to independence”. Haneke’s work features a solid measure of existential themes, examining the alienation and isolation of the individual, the despair brought on by the monotony of modern society, and the seeming meaninglessness of man’s existence. This study aims to show that much of Haneke’s existential thought can be drawn back to Heidegger’s concept of Being, and the various ways in which Being is constituted. Focusing particularly on the notion of Being as being-towards-death, two other constitutive elements are also included – Being as always being-in-the-world and Being as always being-with-others. Being-in-the-world is examined on two fronts, looking at Haneke’s treatment of the public space, and of the domestic setting of the home. Beingwith- others is likewise elucidated in terms of the perspective Haneke offers on society as Heidegger’s Das Man, and the more intimate relationships within the family unit. By coupling these elements with Heidegger’s notions of thrownness, anxiety and the nothing, this study thus investigates how Haneke’s rendition of being-in-the-world and being-withothers inevitably, and fundamentally, means being-towards-death. / Dissertation (MA)--University of Pretoria, 2012. / Visual Arts / unrestricted