I was recently asked to give a talk about music and affect/emotion for a critical theory group here at the University of Illinois, and I took the opportunity to riff a little about a thing that I had noticed a bit back, but can’t really think of a way to make enough out of to write a full paper on.
It’s this: there are things in Morrissey’s songwriting that seem to present melancholy in ways that I think would be intelligible to 18th century German audiences/musicians in the know about their own affect theory. Check out the Smiths’ song “This Charming Man,” for instance, and Georg Philippe Telemann’s recorder concerto in C-Maj, third movement, Adagio (sorry, no free online version to link to). The Telemann is paradigmatic melancholy–it’s an adagio, in minor, makes extensive use of dissonance, especially appogiaturas, is composed principally of small intervals and lots of slurred articulations. “This Charming Man” is different in a number of ways (not least that the guitar, bass, and drum accompaniment is NOT melancholy–it’s peppy, reminiscent to me of bright Afro-pop from the time); but if you listen just to Morrissey’s vocal line, it’s really similar to the Telemann–it’s minor-mode-inflected, uses mostly small intervals, some slurred, and makes clear use of dissonant suspensions, particualrly “sigh” figures. And moreover, it’s paradigmatic Morrissey. Loads of his melodies sound really similar to this one. (Incidentally, I’m not sure I’d say that the lyrics are melancholy, though there’s a case to be made, probably). The big difference as I see it is that Telemann was composing within a tradition in which the representation of emotion in music was understood to be explicitly conventional, and Morrissey has composed within a tradition in which convention (though used) is mystified.
I’m wavering about what to make of this. It seems hard to imagine that Morrissey was aware of 18th c. German affect theory at the time he wrote songs for the Smiths; and in any case it seems so unlikely that he would have wanted to emulate that approach, if only because of its explicitly conventional orientation. So far my impression is that on the one hand, both are really writing within one mega-tradition–Tonal music in Modern Europe; and on the other hand, there are some things about the aspects of both pieces that sound melancholy that are iconic of the somatic experience of melancholy (i.e., “sigh” figures are somehow synaesthetically LIKE sighing). This second bit points in directions relating to music cognition that I really am unqualified to write about right now, but that I can’t wait to start reading up on.
This is very interesting, I wonder if you could even think slightly further back to 17th century vocal music, specifically Italian. I am by no means an expert, and of course it is difficult to REALLY know the singing technique back then, but there is a lot written on the use of Affects and ornamentation, the importance placed upon the words and emotions primarily. Monteverdi comes to mind, Barbara Strozzi also, there is a Strozzi piece I am working on which has these sighing lines, the subject is the torments of love and trying to sing in order to find freedom/peace from the pain… I’ll sing you the line if you like…
My delivery may be my interpretation but I think some things are obvious even if they are not written.
I would say you are on to something… even taking the idea of singing and linking to the natural human response to whatever the subject or line of the music would be. Could or would you feel a sigh? What is your initial physical/emotional response?
It reminds me of how Kurt Cobain used his voiced, a pressed growly sound, to add a certain feeling (anger, melancholy) in Nirvana’s music. In “Heart Shape Box”, I would say he is slightly under pitch (in the verses) due to the pressing or pushing down of the vocal mechanism. I think this is very effective considering the song which has a sad subject matter.
I hope I am understanding what your original point, a may have rambled on.
I really dig it that you made this connection between Morrissey and 18th century affect. I’m sorry I missed the talk but would love to read the paper. I think the points presented in the blog are right on, and would like to point out how cool it is that you have enough information about both topics to present an insightful comparison that could extend to many styles.
I’m also pleased that the first comment brought up the vocal affect of one of my personal favorite styles with a helpful description of how the sound is produced. We should also mention the range of representation conveyed in Eddie Vedder’s singing. Perhaps I’m impartial to Vedder over Cobain but over time Vedder has definitely explored different presentations of his voice to allude to many affect responses. I think part of Vedder’s success is that he conscientiously manipulates the quality of his vocal production to enhance the meaning of songs he sings, whether covers or Pearl Jam originals.
I look forward to hear more about how music cognition plays into all of this.