Publications
Article | The ‘Acusmaticity’ of piano music for the left hand: the case of Resignação, op. 39, by José Vianna da Motta
André Roque Cardoso, a doctoral student at INET-md, together with Helena Marinho, an integrated researcher at INET-md, published the article “The ‘Acusmaticity’ of piano music for the left hand: the case of Resignação, op. 39, by José Vianna da Motta”, recently published in the journal Per Musi. Available in open access.
The article supports the hypothesis that piano music for the left hand demonstrates acousmatic characteristics, based on Brian Kane's (2014) concept of 'acousmaticity', which establishes the principles for characterizing different acousmatic situations as opposed to the “static” state of listening to a sound whose source is not visible. The illusion of the action of multiple hands - in the repertoire for the left hand - creates a fracture in the expected link between the visual and the auditory that provides a particular listening attitude normally associated with acousmatic listening. The case study was Resignação, melody for the left hand, op. 39, by José Vianna da Motta.
The article supports the hypothesis that piano music for the left hand demonstrates acousmatic characteristics, based on Brian Kane's (2014) concept of 'acousmaticity', which establishes the principles for characterizing different acousmatic situations as opposed to the “static” state of listening to a sound whose source is not visible. The illusion of the action of multiple hands - in the repertoire for the left hand - creates a fracture in the expected link between the visual and the auditory that provides a particular listening attitude normally associated with acousmatic listening. The case study was Resignação, melody for the left hand, op. 39, by José Vianna da Motta.
Abstract
This article proposes the hypothesis that left-hand piano music evidences acousmatic characteristics, drawing on Brian Kane's concept of 'Acousmaticity' (Kane 2014), which outlines principles for characterising various acousmatic scenarios, contrasting with the "static" state of listening to a sound whose source is unseen (Kane 2014). The illusion of multiple hands at work in the left-hand repertoire disrupts the expected link between visual and auditory perception, fostering a specific listening stance often associated with acousmatic perception. As a case study, the work Resignação, melody for the left hand, Op. 39, by José Vianna da Motta, is analysed. A comparison with the composer’s arrangement for piano (two hands) and flute, Resignação, Op. 40, highlights the fulfilment of the conditions necessary to identify an acousmatic situation in Resignação, Op. 39.
Keywords
Acousmaticity; Left-hand; Piano; Resignação; José Vianna da Motta.
