Tales 'like softest music to attending ears': a study of narrative procedure across musical genres, in works by Gounod, Prokofiev, Berlioz, and Tchaikovsky

Abstract

From the sixteenth century theorists have attempted to explain music's potential to represent emotions, characters, and situations. However, whether or not music can be used to 'tell' stories, and the process by which this might be achieved, is still a matter of some debate. Since the 1980s, the concept of narratology has been applied to music, as a way of examining the idea of music carrying a narrative. Narratology is rooted in the works of literary theorists such as Vladimir Propp, Roland Barthes, Gérard Genette, and Mieke Bal. Their theories have been picked up in the work of several musicologists, including Lawrence Kramer, Anthony Newcomb, Jean-Jacques Nattiez, Edward Cone, Elizabeth Paley and Peter Kivy. Until now, studies of musical narrative have only dealt with individual works or genres; the examination of the same narrative across a variety of musical genres has not been attempted. The present study explores the narrative process of a single underlying story in musical works from various genres. The objective is to discern and present the role or music in the telling of the Romeo and Juliet story, in works by Gounod (opera), Prokofiev (ballet), Berlioz (dramatic symphony), and Tchaikovsky (fantasy overture). Because of the diverse and complex nature of music, various methods of structural analysis are necessary in order to perceive and comprehend the method each composer chose to tell the story. From this, the part music plays in the presentational process of the story can be assessed. However, it is not simply a case of 'one theory fits all.' Within each genre, music takes a different function in the presentation of the story.