Biblioteca de la Guitarra y Cuerda Pulsada

This practice-based thesis investigates the changing role of a musician (a guitarist, and his instrument) from that of an accompanist to a protagonist in a body of works in the genres of Monodrama and Music Theatre. The folio of performances (and the works performed) has been curated to clearly trace the guitarist’s trajectory from an instrumentalist to a fully embodied acting musician. The works, their collaborative creation and performances are explored in an exegetic dissertation. The first part of the folio and this dissertation consists of a traditional melodrama for narrator and guitar by Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco, followed by a recent work by Alexander Schubert and my transcription of Fidélité for female harpist by Georges Aperghis, the latter two of which require the engagement of a Performative Acting Musician. The second part presents and analyses five case studies of Monodramas/Melodramas by Arturo Corrales, James Rushford, Erick Bongcam, David Chisholm and Daniel Zea that explore issues of isolation, illness, trauma and hysteria. These works draw upon early twentieth-century monodramatic traditions that explore an individual’s sense of alienation, and call for the participation of an Embodied Acting Musician. All the works presented in Part two have been premiered during the timeframe of this PhD.

The folio of performances is presented in the form of live recordings of the compositions discussed throughout the dissertation. It also contains two appendices, the first of which offers notes towards a performance edition of the first quire of Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco’s Platero y yo, op. 190 for narrator and guitar. The second appendix comprises my adaptation of Georges Aperghis’ Fidélité pour harpiste seule regardée par un homme.

1.Platero y yo (401.0Mb)

2.Sensate_Focus (219.9Mb)

3.In-Fidelity (49.41Mb)

4.BUG Bifem performance (353.3Mb)

5.Egyptian_Love_Poem (9.274Mb)

6.INTRALUX∏XEL_2016_Cité Bleue (469.1Mb)

7.THE EXPERIMENT - A Musical Monodrama (823.8Mb)

8.1.Kinecticut (67.87Mb)

Monodrama and music theatre as transformative artistic experiences: from a performative to an embodied acting musician/guitarist