ABSTRACT
Musical instruments are symbolic objects. Visually arresting, each can conjure an abundance of historical, social and personal associations into a persuasive mythology and distinct identity. As such, the instrument ‘performs’ before a note is even played. In Sequenza II for harp (1963), these extra-musical acquisitions are manipulated into subject matter, directing specific musical material into an assertive character study, playful critique and cogent musical discourse. Filtering together a technically explorative agenda with contemporary cliché, the piece is prismatic, refracting the instrument’s relationship with composer, performer and spectator alike. While not overtly theatrical in the sense of Sequenzas III and V, it is nonetheless driven by more than the unfolding of purely musical processes, its rhetoric pressed by a desire to both use and abuse stereotype as its creative fuel. The harp is an especially willing partner in this, as its dominant associations have long framed it as an icon of romanticism, gentility and femininity, affinities which too often imply a subtext of superficiality, weakness and limitation. Berio here seeks to frame this frame, redrawing the instrument as dynamic, powerful and assertive. In this context, the piece becomes a statement within a broader discourse on image and instrumental mythology; on ‘the harpist’ as a musical caricature; and on history as a complex incendiary, sparking both modern creativity and modern musical prejudice. It is the purpose of this essay to examine these aspects in light of the context within which the harp acquired its primary iconography, taking in a brief overview of the instrument and Berio’s relationship with it, before moving on to a more detailed analysis of Sequenza II as an interweaving of artistic statement and instrumental study, with emphasis on its implications for the performer.
