The Innocent Pleasure : A Study on Luther's theology of music

The aim of the study is to examine Luther s theology of music from the standpoint of pleasure. The theological assessment of musical pleasure is related to two further questions: the role of emotions in Christianity and the apprehension of beauty. The medieval discussion of these themes is portrayed in the background chapter. Significant traits were: the suspicion felt towards sensuous gratification in music, music as a mathematical discipline, the medieval theory of emotions informed by Stoic apatheia and Platonic-Aristotelian metriopatheia, the notion of beauty as an attribute of God, medieval aesthetics as the aesthetic of proportion and the aesthetic of light and the emergence of the Aristotelian view of science that is based on experience rather than speculation. The treatment of Luther s theology of music is initiated with the notion of gift. Luther says that music is the excellent (or even the best) gift of God. This has sometimes been understood as a mere music-lover s enthusiasm. Luther is, however, not likely to use the word gift loosely. His theology can be depicted as a theology of gift. The Triune God is categorically giving. The notion of gift also includes reciprocity. When we receive the gifts of God, it evokes praise in us. Praising God is predominantly a musical phenomenon. The particular benefit of music in Luther s thought is that it can move human emotions. This emphasis is connected to the overall affectivity of Luther s theology. In contrast to the medieval discussion, Luther ascribes to saints not just emotions but particularly warm and tender affections. The power of music is related to the auditory and vocal character of the Word. Faith comes through hearing the Word that is at once musical and affective perception. Faith is not a mere opinion but the affective trust of the heart. Music can touch the human heart and persuade with its sweetness, like the good news of the Gospel. Music allows us to perceive Luther s theology as a theology of joy and pleasure. Joy is for Luther a gift of the Holy Spirit that fills the heart and bursts out in voice and gestures. Pleasure appears to be a central aspect to Luther s theology. The problem of the Bondage of the Will is precisely the human inability to feel pleasure in God s will. To be pleased in the visible and tangible creation is not something a Christian should avoid. On the contrary, if one is not pleased with the world that God has created, it is a sign of unbelief and ingratitude. The pleasure of music is aesthetic perception. This in turn necessitates the investigation of Luther s aesthetics. Aesthetic evaluation is not just a part of Luther s thought. Eventually his theology as a whole could be portrayed in aesthetic terms. Luther s extremely positive appreciation of music illutrates his theology as an affective acknowledgement of the goodness of the Creation and faith as an aesthetic contentment.

On Musical Self-Similarity : Intersemiosis as Synecdoche and Analogy

Self-similarity, a concept taken from mathematics, is gradually becoming a keyword in musicology. Although a polysemic term, self-similarity often refers to the multi-scalar feature repetition in a set of relationships, and it is commonly valued as an indication for musical coherence and consistency . This investigation provides a theory of musical meaning formation in the context of intersemiosis, that is, the translation of meaning from one cognitive domain to another cognitive domain (e.g. from mathematics to music, or to speech or graphic forms). From this perspective, the degree of coherence of a musical system relies on a synecdochic intersemiosis: a system of related signs within other comparable and correlated systems. This research analyzes the modalities of such correlations, exploring their general and particular traits, and their operational bounds. Looking forward in this direction, the notion of analogy is used as a rich concept through its two definitions quoted by the Classical literature: proportion and paradigm, enormously valuable in establishing measurement, likeness and affinity criteria. Using quantitative qualitative methods, evidence is presented to justify a parallel study of different modalities of musical self-similarity. For this purpose, original arguments by Benoît B. Mandelbrot are revised, alongside a systematic critique of the literature on the subject. Furthermore, connecting Charles S. Peirce s synechism with Mandelbrot s fractality is one of the main developments of the present study. This study provides elements for explaining Bolognesi s (1983) conjecture, that states that the most primitive, intuitive and basic musical device is self-reference, extending its functions and operations to self-similar surfaces. In this sense, this research suggests that, with various modalities of self-similarity, synecdochic intersemiosis acts as system of systems in coordination with greater or lesser development of structural consistency, and with a greater or lesser contextual dependence.

Aplicación de parámetros matemáticos en un trabajo multidisciplinario de composición musical asistida por computadora sobre una temática folklórica

Resumen: En el marco de un proyecto de la Vicerrectoría de Investigaciones de la Universidad de Caldas denominado “Resignificación músico-pictórica del mito de la Salamanca” surgió la conveniencia de aplicar y diseñar programas de fundamentación matemática que permitieran definir la estructura y el tratamiento acústico de la obra especialmente escrita para este proyecto. Principalmente nos basamos en la implementación de la Transformada Rápida de Fourier (Fast Fourier Transform) para el análisis de espectros armónicos y su modificación en vivo y en la utilización de un entorno de programación para procesamiento de sonido en tiempo real. El marco general de la investigación parte del enfoque de Regionalismo Crítico procedente de las propuestas de Kenneth Frampton referentes originalmente a la crítica de la arquitectura. El planteamiento como investigación mutidisciplinaria implica (1) una visión crítica de la substancia mítica y social subyacente, (2) una resignificación pictórica por medio de fotografía, animación y pintura, basada en la sustancia visual que contiene el mito, (3) un enfoque musical electroacústico, a partir del material que surge del folklor local, utilizando la intervención de instrumentos en vivo y procesamiento en tiempo real.

La retórica como metalenguaje en la composición musical barroca

Resumen: La idea de que los compositores barrocos planificaban su obra en función de las reglas de la retórica es común en los manuales especializados. No obstante, Brian Vickers descarta la posibilidad de su utilización como medio analítico en la música. Rubén López Cano considera la retórica como un metalenguaje y abre la posibilidad de aplicar el sistema retórico, propio del sistema lingüístico, a otro no verbal. En el presente trabajo pretendo demostrar cómo el aparato teórico de la retórica del barroco subyace en la composición musical de este período. Con el fin de ejemplificar esto, utilizo el análisis de una sección de la Pasión según San Mateo de J. S. Bach.