1 Performance of Saint Teresa of Avila in Spanish contemporary

1 Performa ’11 – Encontros de Investigação em Performance
Universidade de Aveiro, Maio de 2011
Performance of Saint Teresa of Avila in
Spanish contemporary classical music
Susan Campos Fonseca
SIBE Women's Studies in Music Research Group
musicologiafeminista@gmail.com
1
Abstract
I propose a paper presentation dedicated to the performance of Saint Teresa of Avila (15151582), her person, life and work, in Spanish contemporary classical music as result of a poiesis of
Christian mysticism and body politics. Both processes can be studied departing from the music
based on the writings of the nun, and her representations as cultural, political and mystical icon.
This research work requires a theoretical and practical knowledge, not only of historical
musicology, musical analysis and theory, but also of ethnomusicology and performance studies.
However, that this is a preliminary study, really a kind of “Directions for further research”, and
such does not have a specific argument.
There exists an extensive bibliography dedicated to the person and work of Saint Teresa of Avila,
but a comparative study related to the reception of her person and work in musical creation has
not been carried out. In the same way, the presence of musical and speculative practice in the
work of the nun have been documented, but not her representation and resignification in later
musical creation, or the possible relation of this phenomenon with the institutionalisation of this
woman as cultural Hispanic icon.
Key words: Performance, St. Teresa of Avila, body, mysticism, music.
1. Current and proposed research
Since 2006 I have been investigating the presence, reception and resignification
of poetry, forms, genres, and musical conventions of the Spanish Golden Age in
the musical creation of the 20th and 21st centuries (Campos 2009, 2010, 2011).
But inside the Project Hispanic Heritage Performance as Projected on the
Female Body (case studies), the first result of my research has been the lecture
1 Sociedad
de Etnomusicología-SIBE (Spain), Women's Studies in Music Research Group,
official web site: http://www.sibetrans.com/grupos.php /Group web site:
http://musicologiafeminista.ning.com/ 2 Performa ’11 – Encontros de Investigação em Performance
Universidade de Aveiro, Maio de 2011
“Between Left-led Republic and Falangism? Spanish women composers, a
critical equation”, presented in the Conference Encuentros/Encounters 2011
devoted to Music and Dictatorship during the Franco Regime, 1936-1975
(February 16-18) celebrated in the Center for Ideas and Society of the University
of California Riverside (UCR), under the direction of Dr. Walter A. Clark, and
published in Diagonal. Journal of the Center for Iberian and Latin American Music
(CILAM), of UCR.
My purpose with this research is to explore the politics of memory, and
embody/powerment as a critical equation between Memory and History,
Woman`s body and Nation, sense of the past and identity, because the status of
“ethnological” discourse of "historical" musicology includes women as creator in
the trilogy “nation, race, sex”. I refer to the theory of "contretemps" of the French
woman philosopher and historian Dr. Genèvieve Fraisse. According to her
theory, "women are for themselves and otherwise, ends and means. Currency
exchange, or still better, a medium of exchange in political history as well as in
historical theory." Fraisse proposed the need to "develop women`s historicity with
data that resist all thought about emancipation and subversion, the kind of
thought in which the woman remains an object, even when she becomes a
subject of history and of her own history." (Fraisse 2005)2
This theory proposed by Dr. Fraisse, shows why the facts form part of the cultural
and historical "imaginary", in this case, built around Saint Teresa of Avila, facing
a critical equation as a social performance. However, that this is a preliminary
study, really a kind of “Directions for further research”, and such does not have a
specific argument. Rather, I purpose is to suggest some possible arguments,
without entering into any of them. The purpose of my lecture for this panel, is to
introduce the project Hispanic Heritage Performance as Projected on the Female
Body(case studies), and must be understood as a work in progress departing
from
an
interdisciplinary
methodological
context,
to
include
historical,
2 Read
on the original: "las mujeres son para son mismas y para otra cosa, son un fin y un
medio. Moneda de cambio o, mejor aún, medio de cambio en la historia política tanto como en la
teoría histórica". (…) "elaborar su historicidad con este dato que resiste a todo pensamiento de
emancipación y de subversión, este pensamiento de la mujer que permanece como objeto,
incluso cuando se convierte en sujeto de la historia y de su historia." (Fraisse 2005) The
translation is mine). Performa ’11 – Encontros de Investigação em Performance
Universidade de Aveiro, Maio de 2011
3 philosophical, iconographical and literary research, as well as analytical and
theoretical music research. Thus, my work, focusing on contemporary classical
music3 comes in line with the studies of my colleagues Dr. Josemi Lorenzo
Arribas and Dr. Mauricio Molina, both historians, musicians and medievalists.
I propose to study the reception of the person, life and work of Saint Teresa of
Avila (1515-1582), but my complete research project also includes Sor Juana
Inés de la Cruz (1651-1695), the current state-of-the-art, antecedents and
consequences in Western music. Both processes can be studied departing from
the music based on the writings of these nuns, and their representations as
cultural, political and mystical icons. For this reason, this research work requires
knowledge of performance studies. However, my contribution in PERFORMA
2011 is to introduce our Project, and its objetives, such as:
1. To study the musical representation of different narratives, the use of
musical resources, and their efficiency in the representation of poietic
conceptualizations of the body and religious thought as sense of Hispanic
identity.
2. To examine in which measure these representations have influence on the
musical development of the sacred as performance according to a
previous iconographic articulation.
3. To analyse the resignification of musical conventions as Landscape, its
consequences, dialogue and contradictions, in relation to specific
traditions and cases.
4. To investigate the correspondence between different levels of musical
structuring of memory and body politics which have been used as
reference, and to reveal their ideological and aesthetic foundation.
And in my case, at the first level of this work in progress:
5. To locate the scores which have been created taking as a reference the
person and work of Saint Teresa of Avila in the chronological field of
contemporary classical music, for example in the music of Spanish
3 Contemporary
classical music can be understood as belonging to the period that started in the
mid-1970s with the retreat of modernism. However, the term may also be employed in a broader
sense to refer to all post-1945 modern musical forms. 4 Performa ’11 – Encontros de Investigação em Performance
Universidade de Aveiro, Maio de 2011
composer as Beatriz Arzamendi (1961), Consuelo Díez (1958), Leonardo
Balada (1933) or Gonzalo de Olavide (1934-2005).
There exists an extensive bibliography dedicated to the person and work of Saint
Teresa of Avila, for example, the studies of Margaretta Salinger (1949), Carole
Slade (1995), even a comparison with Sor Juana (Ogden 1984), or the portal
“Santa Teresa de Jesús” on the Biblioteca virtual Miguel de Cervantes (see
Online resources), but a study related to the reception of her person and work in
musical creation has not been carried out. In the same way, the presence of
musical and speculative practice in the work of both nuns have been
documented, but not their representation and resignification in later musical
creation, or the possible relation of this phenomenon with the institutionalisation
of both women (adding Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz) as cultural Hispanic icons
(Mexican/Latin American in the second case).
The same way, though there exists relevant bibliography on the relation between
mysticism and body politics, especially in women’s studies, for example in the
works of Caroline Bynum (1990, 1991), Jodi Bilinkoff (1989), and Sarah Coakley
(2000, 2002), but these have had a limited impact on Spanish official musicology,
regarding this period of investigation, with the exception of Dr. Lorenzo and Dr.
Molina’s works about women and music in Iberian Middle Ages, 4th – 16th
centuries. Saint Teresa of Avila is post Tridentine, but Lorenzo and Molina not
treat
“The Council of Trent” and the following period. These factors come
together in this work in progress, which will seek to understand the appropriation
of her personality and presence in musical creation as an extraordinary source
for the study of complex social performances in Spanish contemporary classical
music as part of Western music, still an experimental field of research.
2. St. Teresa’s body as performance (an introduction in-conclusion)
“Mas busca la vida ante todo su cuerpo, el despliegue del cuerpo que ya alcanzó, el cuerpo
indispensable. Y busca otro cuerpo desconocido” (Zambrano: 2004, pag. 17). The
influence of
Saint Teresa of Avila in European spirituality is a research problem in itself
(Lavrin 2002). My goal is to introduce an enquiry: how is the body of this woman,
Performa ’11 – Encontros de Investigação em Performance
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5 first female doctor of the Catholic church4, performed in Spanish contemporary
classical music? But this goal involves understanding her historical person and
work as a complex performance, institutionalized during the Franco regime as
feminine and spiritual model (Richmond 2003), a factor that makes more difficult
the study of the musical performance of her writings, in this case, between 1952
and 2011.
In these practices, I can identify a constant, a kind of common narrative, with
added different aesthetics and compositional structures. However, before going
on to describe the initial appearance, only sketched here to illustrate this
narrative/performance, I refer to specific works: The Kitchen. Homage to Saint
Therese by Marina Abramovic (performance and photograph, 2010); Ecstasy of
St. Teresa (sculpture, 2010) by Alessandra Pohlmann and Cristobal Lehyt, and
Extasis de Santa Teresa (photography, 2009) by Victoria Diehl.
4 Saint
Teresa of Ávila was prominent Spanish mystic, Roman Catholic saint, Carmelite nun,
writer of the Counter Reformation, and theologian of contemplative life through mental prayer,
reformer of the Carmelite Order and considered, along with John of the Cross, a founder of the
Discalced Carmelites. In this regard, I note that, contrary to her beatification may suggest, one of
the least tolerated by Rome of Felipe II`s confessionalism was the imposition on the Spanish
monarchy to the reform of religious orders. Which culminated in greater control by the Monarch
through the General Orders. Parallel to this reform, appeared in Spain in the 16th century, a
religious movement as descalcez or recolección, which is aimed at espitirual radicalism, and a
return to the primitive observance of the Order (Jimenez 2008), St. Teresa was an active part of
this political and spiritual radicalism. Performa ’11 – Encontros de Investigação em Performance
Universidade de Aveiro, Maio de 2011
6 Fig. 1: The Kitchen. Homage to Saint Therese (2010) by Marina Abramovic.
Fig. 2: Ecstasy of St. Teresa (2010) by Alessandra Pohlmann/Cristobal Lehyt and
Extasis de Santa Teresa (2009) by Victoria Diehl.
These works mediate for an idea: St. Teresa as body of Christ. Remember for
example the film Teresa el cuerpo de Cristo (2007), by Ray Loriga and the
Spanish actress Paz Vega as Teresa of Avila, performance of the canonical work
of the painter and sculptor Gian Lorenzo Bernini, made between 1647 and 1651,
7 Performa ’11 – Encontros de Investigação em Performance
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by order of Cardinal Cornaro, to be placed where his tomb would be in the church
of Santa Maria della Vittoria in Rome.
The body as border is clearly represented here, the sexual and mystical element
coincides with the sacrificial act contingently to everyday life, figurative and
abstract, traditional and innovative consciousness. This condition can be
understood as liminal embody/powerment, as indicated by Diamela Eltit: “Double
hostage, the woman's body trapped in the category of the feminine, the female
has been the subject of the most compelling speeches in each one of the
historical times, which have reserved the last and only word to decide what is
inextricable: the body.”(Eltit 2007)5 This inextricablity condition can be identified
in the musical works of Spanish composers, organized in the following table:
Nº
YEAR
COMPOSER
TITLE
1
2011
Beatriz Arzamendi
ENSEMBLE
Alma, buscarte has en Mí
(1961)
2
2001
Amparo
Organ and 12
voices
Otero
(-),
arr. Miguel Gálvez (-)
Vivo sin vivir en mí : oratorio
basado en textos poéticos de Santa
Voice
and
ensemble
Teresa
[1. Obertura -- 2. Vivo sin vivir en
mí -- 3. Véante mis ojos -- 4. Nada
te
turbe
--
5.
Sobre
aquellas
palabras "Dilectus meus mihi" -- 6.
Coloquio amoroso -- 7. Ya vienen
el alba -- 8. ¡Oh hermosura que
excedéis! -- 9. En la festividad de
los Santos Reyes -- 10. Vuestra
soy, para vos nací -- 11. Pues nos
dais vestido nuevo -- 12. Dichoso el
corazón enamorado. Vivo sin vivir
en mí -- 13. No sé, Niño hermoso,
qué he visto en ti]
3
2000
Consuelo
(1958)
Díez
Nada te turbe
Reciter
and
string
orchestra
5 Read in the original: “Doble rehén el cuerpo de la mujer atrapado en la categoría de lo
femenino, ese femenino que ha sido el objeto más imperioso de los discursos que, en cada uno
de los tiempos históricos, se han reservado la última y la única palabra para decidir aquello que
resulta inextricable: el cuerpo.” (Eltit 2007). The translation is mine. 8 Performa ’11 – Encontros de Investigação em Performance
Universidade de Aveiro, Maio de 2011
4
1992
José Manuel Adrán
Véante mis ojos
(-)
5
Voice
and
organ
1985
Manuel
García
[published
Morante (1937)
Exclamaciones (1569)
Voice
and
piano
in 1989]
6
[published
Juan Francisco Briz
in 1989]
Briz (1950-1996)
Ocho tocatas para órgano y
recitador sobre poesías de San
Reciter
and
organ
Juan de la Cruz, Félix Lope de
Vega, Santa Teresa de Jesús
7
8
[published
Emilio López de Saa
in 1983]
Páramo (1926)
[1982,
Gonzalo de Olavide
revised
in
Véante mis ojos
Voice
and
piano
Estigma
(1934-2005)
Chorus
and
orchestra
1983]
9
1981
Jesús
Mª
Muneta
Búscate en mí, Op. 41
Chorus
Martínez de Moretín
(1939)
10
[1970,
Leonardo
published
(1933)
Balada
in 1972]
11
Las Moradas : transparencia
musical de la obra de Santa Teresa
de Jesús
[1952,
Juan María Thomas
Vihuela Teresiana
published
Sabater (1896-1966)
[in Villancicos españoles para un
in 2004]
Mixed chorus
and
chamber
ensamble
Chorus
Nacimiento Barroco]
Table 1. List of Spanish musical works based on St. Teresa of Avila`s texts (1952 to 2011).
Sylvia Tan in Religion as Art (2009) edited by Steven Loza, indicated several
points on this matter: 1) “Art as experience of the sacred”; 2) “Art mediates
sacred experience through the work of symbol”; 3) “[A]rtworks […] have the
potential to mediate the sacred with everyday life experience because they work
symbolically[…] This figure “[St. Teresa in this case] brings the tradition into
everyday life”; 4) “The artistic encounter of the sacred also inspires a renewed
concept of self in relation to the sacred.” (see Tan, in Loza 2009:128-129)
As can be seen in Table 1, the performance of St. Teresa of Avila is based on
specific texts (St. Teresa 2006, 1996) that refer to a type of embody/mediation
with the sacred. Similarly to Virgin representations, as in the case of Tan study of
9 Performa ’11 – Encontros de Investigação em Performance
Universidade de Aveiro, Maio de 2011
the Guadalupan cult, the nun performed a type of mystical embodiment which
refers to an identity, a tradition. In any case it should be noted that contemporary
classical music does not have a continuous presence in everyday life, in contrast,
is a kind of exceptional experience. Also not all works located were written to
perform the same function: some play a devotional purpose within a specific type
of ecclesiastical commemoration (Thomas, Muneta, Adrán, Otero) and some are
created as concert pieces (Arzamendi, Díez, Balada, Olavide, for example).
However, in both cases are identifying a type of thinking connected to a mysticalpoietic phenomenon known as “silent music” (Rey 2010), in communion with
several literary and iconographical testimonies from the 16th and 17th centuries
of embodiment ecstasy, offering reelaborated allegorical complexes that expand
into the human body seen as a musical microcosm (Robledo 2007:1), in
resonance with the sacred. Consider the example of Bernini's St. Teresa
compared with an engraving of Johann Melchior Gutwein representing Saint
John of the Cross`s mystical ecstasy experience at death:
Fig. 3: Bernini's St Teresa and Gutwein’s St. John of the Cross
6
6 Read
in the original: “Sobre un dibujo de I. A. Bergmiller. Impreso en Apparatus Sacri Honoris
Primo Carmelitarum Discalceatorum Parenti Seraphicae Virginis ac Matris Theresiae à Jesu Filio
Primogenito S. Joanni à Cruce Post ejus solemnem in Vaticani Colle Apotheosin adornatus.
Augsburg: Joannes Strötter, 1727. El autor se esconde bajo la expresión “A devotissimo filiorum
Performa ’11 – Encontros de Investigação em Performance
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10 This silent music as matris of quiet mysticism in the Spanish tradition (Rey 2010)
is a historical reality as body performance, present inclusive in the reflection of
post-war Spanish philosophers such as María Zambrano (Campos 2011). Put
together, the scores introduced for this study built a complex Landscape related
to this tradition, and my purpose is give an idea of the extent of this research
project. Unfortunately I can not deepen in this paper an analysis using specific
examples of the localized scores (I have already exceded the 3000-words); I
hope to reflect this in future activities and scientific publications.
Acknowledgement
I am very gratefull with the Juan March Foundation (Spain), where I had access
to the musical works mentioned in this paper, and to Dr. Josemi Lorenzo Arribas,
Dr. Mauricio Molina and Dr. Elisabeth Le Guin (UCLA), their advice and
recommendations. Dr. Le Guin proposals about the possibility of a “carnal
musicology” (Le Guin 2005) as field of study have been an inspiration for this
research project.
References
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Campos Fonseca, Susan (2011) “Between Left-led Republic and Falangism?
Spanish women composers, a critical equation”. Diagonal. Journal of the Center
for Iberian and Latin American Music (CILAM), University of California, Riverside
(in press).
suorum Collegio augustano”. En la página siguiente al grabado se imprime un elogio en dos
partes que glosa en latín las virtudes del santo utilizando la terminología musical.” (Rey 2010). 11 Performa ’11 – Encontros de Investigação em Performance
Universidade de Aveiro, Maio de 2011
Campos Fonseca, Susan (2011) “La pregunta por un método filosófico posible
en sentido musical”. Antígona: Revista de la Fundación María Zambrano, 6,
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Sangre de David Rosenmann-Taub (una introducción)” in Lolo, Begoña (ed)
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12 Performa ’11 – Encontros de Investigação em Performance
Universidade de Aveiro, Maio de 2011
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Performa ’11 – Encontros de Investigação em Performance
Universidade de Aveiro, Maio de 2011
13 Unpublished sources
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Author´s biography
Philosopher of culture and musical director. Her work, devoted to the philosophical history of
music, music and literature, contemporary classical music and jazz in “the Americas” and Spain,
have been published by prestigious international journals and collective books. She`s "100
Latinos" Award 2007 (Spain) and the Corda Award 2009 (New York). Coordinator, with Josemi
Lorenzo, of the Special issue on Women's Studies, Gender, Feminism, and Music of
Transcultural Music Review, 15 (2011), Campos is Director of the Women's Studies in Music
Research Group of the Society for Ethnomusicology (SIBE) of Spain.