
An Inaugural Professorial Lecture by
Dr. Benjamin Dwyer, Professor of Music
‘Excavating the Irrational:
Gender and Tragedy in Music’
(Reflections on the chamber work Umbilical by
Professor Benjamin Dwyer)
With a performance of Umbilical given by
Maya Homburger - Baroque Violin
Barry Guy - Double Bass
David Adams - Harpsichord
Thursday 28th February 2013
Middlesex University
Grove Building – G274
The Burroughs
Hendon
London
NW4 4BT
Event Schedule
Grove Building II - G274
4:30pm - 5:30pm
Grove Building II - G274
Introduction by Melvyn Keen
Deputy Chief Executive of
Finance and External Relations
followed by Dr. Benjamin
Dwyer’s Inaugural Professorial
Lecture
5:30pm – 5:45pm
Break
5:45pm - 6:45pm
Grove Building II - G274
Recital in the Concert Room
6:45pm - 7:15pm
Grove Building, Atrium,
2nd Floor Mezzanine
Buffet and Drinks
Lecture
‘Excavating the Irrational:
Gender and Tragedy in Music’
(Reflections on the chamber work Umbilical by
Professor Benjamin Dwyer)
RECITAL
Maya Homburger – Baroque violin
Barry Guy – double-bass
David Adams – harpsichord
Umbilical
1)
2)
3)
4)
5)
6)
7)
8)
9)
Laius
Exorkismos
Oedipus
Eros
Plēge
Abyssos
Agon
Thanatos
Epitaphion
(harpsichord and tape)
(violin, double-bass and harpsichord)
(double-bass and tape)
(violin, double-bass and harpsichord)
(violin, double-bass)
(violin and tape)
(violin, double-bass and harpsichord)
(violin, double-bass)
(violin, double-bass and harpsichord)
Based on Oedipus the King, Sophocles’s version of the myth, Umbilical
circumvents textuality, telling the story through music. From the very
beginning, I wanted to foreground the perspective of Jocasta—Oedipus’s
mother and lover. In this manner, I hoped to both intervene in an
established ‘grand narrative’ and present a work tackling issues around
female agency, sexuality and immanence—aspects with continued
resonance in contemporary society. The title Umbilical is apposite, as the
umbilical cord is the connective tissue linking mother, father, and sonlover.
I wrote the music so it would carry the narrative of this new ‘version’ of
this well-known myth. In order to excavate the fundamental aspects of
plot and character, I reduced the dramatis personae to three—Laius,
Oedipus and Jocasta. By apportioning an instrument to each character—
violin (Jocasta), double-bass (Oedipus) and harpsichord (Laius)—and
writing solo pieces with tape for each instrument, the music reinforces
characterisation and plot. In order to make evident Jocasta’s role as
protagonist, I wrote music that intensively chronicles her psychological
and emotional states as they shift and transform throughout the course of
the story.
Laius: This is introductory music. Laius, king, father of Oedipus and
husband of Jocasta, is a spectre. He has been killed by Oedipus at the
crossroads outside Thebes, but his character haunts the play. Until his
killer can be found, the plague will continue to blight the city.
Exorkismos: Jocasta attempts to extract herself psychologically from
Laius. The Oracle had told Laius that if he had a son, the son would kill
him. The marriage between Laius and Jocasta was, therefore, sexless, as
Laius was avoiding this fate. Frustrated, Jocasta seduced Laius while he
was drunk, thereby conceiving Oedipus. This scene is situated around the
effects of Laius’s denial of Jocasta’s sexuality. Jocasta engages in a
psychological ‘exorcism’ of her dead husband, thus making way for her
virile new lover—Oedipus.
Oedipus: This music suggests Jocasta’s projection of a new sexual
awakening. Not knowing that her lover is, in fact, her son, she imagines
and indulges in the possibility of a new, more sexually fulfilling life. The
music, however, has dark overtones—with this new lover comes hidden
and unknown dangers.
Eros: This movement portrays the consummation of the sexual union
between Jocasta and Oedipus. Tentative at first, the solo violin suggests
Jocasta’s seductive advances. The brittle harpsichord indicates Laius’s
continued presence in the background. But it is the entry of the double
bass that initiates joy and pleasure. The movement unfolds towards
unfettered sexual bliss.
Plēge: This music provides the setting of the Oedipus story. Plague is
visited upon the city of Thebes because the murderer of Laius (Oedipus)
remains housed within the city-state. The music suggests a rat infestation,
a viral explosion. The plague brings our attention to the role of the gods
and the role of the city in this myth. I wanted to focus attention on the
societal taboo of incest—Jocasta’s and Oedipus’s sexual aberration—the
use only of violin and double bass and the further use of ‘their’ voices
(recently heard in Eros) suggests their role in the blight on the city.
Abyssos: Now cognizant that she has transgressed a fundamental taboo in
having sexual relations with her son, Jocasta faces the abyss.
Agon: Following on from Abyssos, Jocasta confronts the agony of her fate
in the wake of her transgression.
Thanatos: The tragedy is played out at this point: the rule of the city has
been broken, Oedipus is shown to be his father’s murderer, Jocasta dies,
and Oedipus gouges out his eyes with the metal pins that hold her dress.
The instruments, which begin in unison, diverge throughout the work,
portraying the separation of Jocasta from Oedipus in death (thanatos).
Epitaphion: This movement acts as a précis of the entire story, in
particular Jocasta’s painful psychological journey. Central to all Greek
tragedy is the notion of peripeteia—that moment in a play when nothing
will ever be the same again. Some have described it as a conversion of one
state of affairs to its opposite. In Oedipus the King, this is the moment when
the Oracle’s revelation that Oedipus had killed his father and married his
mother brought about the latter’s death and his own blindness and exile.
In the music, Jocasta is exponentially projected towards her fate. The
knowledge of her transgression creates the peripeteia—this is suggested in
the moment of sheer chaos in the music. All rationality has broken down.
The punishment has far exceeded the crime. What is left is tragic
aftermath.
Professor Benjamin Dwyer
As a prolific composer, a virtuoso guitarist and an innovative
researcher, Benjamin Dwyer's creative and critical work extends from a
broad base in performance and artistic practice.
Dwyer has given concerts worldwide and has appeared as soloist with
the RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra, the Irish Chamber Orchestra,
the RTÉ Concert Orchestra, the Neubrandenburg Philharmonic
Orchestra (Germany), the Santos Symphony Orchestra (Brazil), VOX21,
the Vogler String Quartet (Germany) and the Callino String Quartet
(UK). He is a recipient of the prestigious Villa-Lobos Centenary Medal
and the McNamara Gold Medal for Excellence. His latest CD (with the
Callino Quartet UK), Irish Guitar Works, was released in 2012.
Dwyer’s compositions are performed internationally, and he has been
the featured composer at the Musica Nova Festival 2008 in São Paulo,
the Bienalle of Contemporary Music of Riberão Preto 2009 (Brazil), the
National Concert Hall’s Composers' Choice (Ireland), and the RTÉ
National Symphony Orchestra's Horizons series (Ireland). In recent
years, he has completed a number of large-scale works. These include
Scenes from Crow (a chamber work based on the Crow poems of Ted
Hughes), Rajas, Sattva, Tamas: Concerto for Percussion and Orchestra, his
ground-breaking Twelve Études for guitar, and Concerto No. 2 for Guitar
and Orchestra, which he composed for the distinguished Brazilian
guitarist Fabio Zanon. He has written works for a number of renowned
soloists, including violist Garth Knox, pianist Ortwin Stürmer,
saxophonist Kenneth Edge, and guitarist Craig Ogden.
Dwyer is an elected member of Aosdána, the affiliation of creative
artists established by the Arts Council of Ireland to honour those artists
whose work has made an outstanding contribution to the arts. In 2009,
he was made an Associate of the Royal Academy of Music, London
(ARAM), and an honour bestowed upon those former students
deemed 'to have made a significant contribution to the music
profession'. He earned a PhD in Composition from Queen's University
(Belfast), and MMus in Performance from the Royal Academy of Music
(London), and a BMus (Hons) from Trinity College (Dublin).
Professor Benjamin Dwyer