The Ghost: Opera – An Intersection of Greek Tragedy, Electroacoustic, and Spectral Music

Abstract

This exegesis accompanies the portfolio of ten compositions constituting The Ghost, an opera that explores points of intersection between Greek tragedy, electroacoustic, and spectral music. The interdisciplinary research is presented in Four Parts, structured according to Aristotle’s Four Causes: Material, Formal, Efficient, and Final. The music is written for soprano solo, baritones, ancient Greek auloi, cithara, flute, Chinese guzheng, clarinet in Bb, violin, cello, and 23 electronic instruments. Nine of the ten compositions feature ancient Greek and invented words, first written by myself in English, then translated with the generous assistance of linguists from Sydney and Cambridge University. Part One discusses the sounds of the ensemble used in the compositions. Of special note are three new sounds on the aulos, known as the instrument of Greek tragedy (~500 BCE), which were pioneered in The Ghost in collaboration with Barnaby Brown and Melinda Maxwell. Part Two presents a spectral composition framework through which these materials were shaped into the ten compositions. It is framed around a discussion of Gérard Grisey’s 19 consequences for spectral composition and his concepts of ‘music as a discourse’ and ‘music as a state of sound’. This discussion is rounded out by Romanian perspectives on spectral composition as expressed by Iancu Dumitrescu and Horatiu Rădulescu, alongside those of the proto-spectral composers Edgard Varèse and Iannis Xenakis. Part Three discusses the commissioned premiere of the work in Kraftwerk Berlin – the ex-power plant of former East Berlin – its audience, and my approach to conducting its performance as influenced by Sergiu Celibidache’s Zen-based conducting philosophy. It also contains sectional analyses of the ten compositions and discusses symbolic meanings pertaining to the performance and story. Part Four discusses theories of music and emotion by Aristotle, focusing on fear and how it is provoked through a specific combination of music and story: where story is most important and music is only a supplement that ‘prepares the way’ (προοδοποιεῖν) for the emotions found in the narrative. The exegesis concludes by aligning The Ghost with feminist and psychoanalytic readings of both opera and Greek tragedy. This follows the discussions in Parts Two, Three, and Four on the soprano solo: as the embodiment of the Jungian ‘Shadowed Anima’, she is the pivotal character of the opera and this is reflected in the parallel dramatic and narrative arcs of Act I into Act II.