A dissertation submitted for the degree of Master of Music
in the Wits School of Arts, Faculty of Humanities,
University of the Witwatersrand
Johannesburg, 2014 / Kevin Volans’s music has generated much international recognition and attention. As a result,
his influence is increasingly evident in the work of younger composers. As yet, little research
has delved deeply into Volans’s music at the technical level. His piano etudes consist largely
of transcriptions, paraphrases and variations of a wide range of his previous work. So, as a
microcosm of his oeuvre, they provide the ideal opportunity to understand his unique
compositional voice. A twofold, overarching question informs this study. What historical
conditions produced Kevin Volans’s etudes and how are they constructed?
In response to this question, this dissertation presents a written analysis of Kevin Volans’s
piano etudes using the notions formulated by Michel Foucault (1926-1984) in his genealogies.
The genealogical theoretical framework accommodates a multiplicity of analytical approaches
while providing the tools to synthesise a plurality of findings. The author has used Foucault’s
genealogical model to underpin the analysis of both the historical context surrounding the
etudes and the scores themselves. The goal is to gain a thorough understanding of the musical
material of the etudes in terms of the ideological landscape which produced them.
Part one of the dissertation lays out the broader epistemic conditions which produced the
etudes. The initial two chapters trace nodes of influence in parallel spheres: the ideological
and musical landscape of Volans’s life and issues surrounding the genre of the piano etude are
juxtaposed to set the scene for the textural analysis. The third chapter of part one traces the
transcription sources and outlines the most distinguishing characteristics of the etudes.
Together, these spheres yield the epistemic conditions within which the textural analysis can
take place. The three chapters in part two focus on the scores of the etudes. They each deal
with the organisation of the material by applying slightly different existing and modified
analytical parameters. Chapter 5 analyses the stratified, almost sedimentary forms evident in
the etudes. By mapping out levels of non-hierarchically layered groupings of material in the
etudes, strong reference points within the structure of each are identified. Chapter 6 takes a
semiotic viewpoint, reading the musical images through the lens of metonymy, metaphor and
allegory. The final chapter seeks to understand the organic and mechanical composition
techniques used in the etudes. The conclusion reunites the scattered findings of the preceding
chapters by tracing the genealogical web of power relations between them. This web of power
relationships represents both the internal and external dynamics at play within Volans’s
etudes.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:wits/oai:wiredspace.wits.ac.za:10539/15841 |
| Date | 07 November 2014 |
| Creators | Watt, Michael |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Format | application/pdf, application/pdf |
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