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Samuel Beckett and Morton Feldman's ‘Text-Music Tandem’ in Words and Music

Samuel Beckett and Morton Feldman's ‘Text-Music Tandem’ in Words and Music Francis Hutton-Williams This essay explores the freedom that Beckett allowed for musical collaborations, a consideration that often surprises scholars given the notorious degree of control that he exerted on the stage.1 Specifically, it addresses the concept of a `text-music tandem' in the 1987 composition that Morton Feldman wrote for Beckett's Words and Music (1961). The relationship between Words and Music in the play ­ or between `Joe' and `Bob' as Croak calls them ­ is as perplexing as that of any of Beckett's better-known character couples. Less critical attention, however, has been given to their compassionate modes of alliance. The first part of this essay reconstructs the genesis of Words and Music from biographical sources that suggest a crucial interim between the play's composition and the creative stimulus it was intended to provide for the author's musical cousin, who had spent five months in recovery after a car accident in Little Bray. A reading follows which explores the effects of healing and renewal in the play's disassembling of operatic form. The second part of the essay analyses Feldman's contribution to the play in more detail, and the new partnerships that his music provides. Many composers have believed that http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Modernist Cultures Edinburgh University Press

Samuel Beckett and Morton Feldman's ‘Text-Music Tandem’ in Words and Music

Modernist Cultures , Volume 8 (1): 100 – May 1, 2013

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Publisher
Edinburgh University Press
Copyright
© Edinburgh University Press 2013
Subject
Film, Media and Cultural Studies
ISSN
2041-1022
eISSN
1753-8629
DOI
10.3366/mod.2013.0053
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

Francis Hutton-Williams This essay explores the freedom that Beckett allowed for musical collaborations, a consideration that often surprises scholars given the notorious degree of control that he exerted on the stage.1 Specifically, it addresses the concept of a `text-music tandem' in the 1987 composition that Morton Feldman wrote for Beckett's Words and Music (1961). The relationship between Words and Music in the play ­ or between `Joe' and `Bob' as Croak calls them ­ is as perplexing as that of any of Beckett's better-known character couples. Less critical attention, however, has been given to their compassionate modes of alliance. The first part of this essay reconstructs the genesis of Words and Music from biographical sources that suggest a crucial interim between the play's composition and the creative stimulus it was intended to provide for the author's musical cousin, who had spent five months in recovery after a car accident in Little Bray. A reading follows which explores the effects of healing and renewal in the play's disassembling of operatic form. The second part of the essay analyses Feldman's contribution to the play in more detail, and the new partnerships that his music provides. Many composers have believed that

Journal

Modernist CulturesEdinburgh University Press

Published: May 1, 2013

There are no references for this article.