Luciano Berio - Connection and fusion of voice and instruments in Agnus and O King

• Grant number: 12/11705-2
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Master
• Start date: August 01, 2012
• End date: January 31, 2014
• Field of knowledge: Linguistics, Literature and Arts - Arts - Music
• Principal Investigator: Denise Hortência Lopes Garcia
• Grantee: Laiana Lopes de Oliveira
• Host Institution: Instituto de Artes (IA). Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Campinas , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Through this project we intend to explore the compositional elements and procedures inherent in the compositional language of Luciano Berio that enable and potentialize the connection between heterogeneous sound materials in works written for the human voice and instruments. We will do this through an analysis of two of Berio's works for this formation, O King (1967) and Agnus (1971). O King, initially written for voice and five instruments, was orchestrated and became the second movement of Sinfonia (1968); Agnus, in turn, is a chamber version extracted from the scenic work Opera (1970).In these works, we identify new alternatives for the interaction between vocal sounds with text and instrumental sounds. The tools for this, among other elements, are new approaches to the text, seen kaleidoscopically by Berio. The nuances of each phoneme, explored timbristically and texturally, are momentarily disassociated from their lexical meaning. In the instrumental part, the combination of expanded and ordinary techniques and timbristic and dynamic resources to create a connection between these universes apparently so distant from each other is noteworthy.On the basis of the inherent characteristics of Agnus and O King, we survey works by Brazilian composers using similar experimental vocal techniques as well as our own compositions synthesizing the experience gained in this research in exploring the sonority of the Portuguese language in experimental terms.

Academic Publications

(References retrieved automatically from State of São Paulo Research Institutions)

OLIVEIRA, Laiana Lopes de. The vocal writing in the works Aventures by György Ligeti, Agnus and O King by Luciano Berio. 2014. Master's Dissertation - Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Instituto de Artes Campinas, SP.