In search of a musical subject in serial music: analytical examples from the oeuvre of the Finnish composer, Einojuhani Rautavaara

Abstract

The problem of subject is studied within the frame of A.J. Gremas's theory of uttered enunciation (énonciation énoncée). An author can create in the work of art simulated imitations of the enunciation, including also its subject or persona. Likewise, Umberto Eco claims, an author can be manifested in the utterance as a textual strategy, more precisely as a recognizable style or idiolect. Textual strategies for creating the author's musical simulacra or portraits are demonstrated in Einojuhani Rautavaara's twelve-tone pieces, written during 1957–1965. The most significant common factor within the corpus is a morphologically constant melodic figure. Its occurrences can be interpreted as signs of the author, signs of his aesthetic presence in his works. But at the same time the little gestalt acts as the main catalyst for motivic processes, as the internal hero or the subject of the composition.

KEY WORDS:

• Musical semiotics
• serialism
• Rautavaara