2014 Theses Doctoral

Lists, reliquaries and angels in the music and the modern world/ Tombeau pour New York

Tallgren, Johan

Umberto Eco states that the list is the origin of culture, a way of making infinity comprehensible. Lists and catalogues are a way of creating order though history. I am currently, as a composer, working on a piece for choir using a list of angels as its text. Lists of angels deal with infinity, the list as such converges the three different monotheistic religions under the same roof. In my research I have tried to create a short overview of the history of lists in music, along with the musical presentation of angels in music - a subject that has fascinated many composers.
Composers of last century such as Arnold Schoenberg, Oliver Messiaen and Karlheinz Stockhausen, to mention just a few, dealt with the representation of the angelic and divine in their music. Their different religious backgrounds suggested different strategies in their works dealing with angelic subjects.