Thesis (MMus (Music))--Stellenbosch University, 2008. / This study consists of two parts. The first part focuses primarily on literature that
discusses the biography in general, and then turns its focus more sharply on the music
biography. A critical reading of three South African music biographies is conducted in
order to identify tendencies or patterns in the biographical writing of musicians,
especially performers.
The second part of this thesis consists of a biographical case study of Pack. This
particular biography makes no claim that it will not be faced with the same problems
illustrated in the general discussion on biography as a discipline, but rather through the
established critical frame claims to qualify and critically elucidate the biographical
writing pertaining to Pack. This case study will underline one of the defining elements in
the writing of lives of those figures who are considered less important, namely the limited
resource material that tend to replicate the themes and stereotypes inherent in
biographical writing. This practical problem causes an inevitable repetition of the
intellectual difficulties of biographical writing. The purpose of this biography, which is
the combination of different source materials and, is not necessarily to avoid these
“myths”, but to identify it by critical reflection. With this approach, it is not the
biography itself that becomes “critical”, but rather the reading and comprehension of the
biography.
Finally, the conclusion is reached that Betty Pack’s life as committed to paper and
memory displays various themes and topoi characteristic of the music biography in
general, rather than just the biographies of performers. The conventions of music
biography, as consolidated in the biographical descriptions of composers, thus still
provide the norms and forms for the biography of the performing artist.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:sun/oai:scholar.sun.ac.za:10019.1/1594 |
| Date | 12 1900 |
| Creators | Fourie, Marelise |
| Contributors | Muller, Stephanus, Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Dept. of Music. |
| Publisher | Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | Afrikaans |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Rights | Stellenbosch University |
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