Vocal Timbral Patterns in Mauricio Kagel’s Choral Compositions from 1958–1982
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Abstract
The article is devoted to the choral music of Mauricio Kagel from the years 1958–1982, presenting an example
of one of the most radical phenomena in choral music of the second half of the 20th century. Most of the attention is
focused on examination of the vocal techniques which determined the composer’s choral writing. The article examines
the complex of the utilized vocal techniques (singing, Sprechgesang, declamation), the regulators of vocal soundproduction
(the character of vibrato, the indicators of the scale of the phonatory exhalation); provides a characterization
of the main articulatory techniques: both traditional ones for 20th century choral music (singing with closed mouth,
falsetto, whisper), as well as innovative ones, which demonstrated themselves for the first time in Kagel’s compositions
(singing with clenched teeth, singing with closed mouth while simultaneously pronouncing the text in a trembling
voice). The questions regarding Mauricio Kagel’s work with separate phonemes are highlighted. As part of the analysis
of the work “Anagrama” used the first attempt in Western European music of applying quasi-serial procedures to work
with a verbal text, stipulating the appearance in the score of signs of tables of the International Phonetic Association.
The present composition is examined as the first example of a new vocal genre – phonemic composition. Study of
compositions written by the composer during the first two decades of his life in Germany makes it possible to come up
with the conclusion about a consistent solution by the composer of a particular goal – the search for a new choral sound
capable of enabling choral music to continue its development, to lead it away from a state of stagnation, in which,
according to the composer, contemporary choral culture was existing.
The publication is prepared within the framework of scholarly project No. 16-04-50011, supported by the Russian
Fund for Fundamental Research (RFFI).
Keywords: Mauricio Kagel, Luciano Berio, Luigi Nono, choral music, post-war avant-garde, vocal timbral
patterns, phonemic composition.
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