The establishment of a musical tradition : meaning, value and social process in the South African history of Handel's Messiah.
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Date
2008
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Abstract
Handel's Messiah occupies a unique position in the musical life of South Africa. No
item from the canon of 'classical' European choral music has been performed more
often, over a longer period of time, and in a wider range of social contexts. This thesis
seeks to answer two broad and interrelated questions: what were the social processes
which brought this situation about; and how were perceptions of Messiah's meaning
affected by its performance in social contexts markedly different from those of its
origins? I concentrate on the two South African choral traditions for which Messiah
has been central- those of the 'English' and 'African' communities - and on the
period from the first documented performance of any item from Messiah until the
emergence of a pattern of annual performances, which I take as a significant indicator
of the historical moment at which the music could be regarded as firmly established in
its new context.
The history of Messiah's performance and reception in South Africa is traced using
previous research on South African musical history and my own archival research and
interviews. Following the broad outline of 'depth hermeneutics' proposed by John
Thompson, I regard performances of Messiah as symbolic forms in structured
contexts, and I interpret them through an analysis of relevant aspects of Jennens's
libretto and Handel's music, of the discourse that surrounded the performances (where
examples of this have survived), and of the social contexts and processes in which the
performances were embedded. In examining the interactions of these different
aspects, I draw on a variety of theoretical and methodological strands within
musicology, cultural studies, and South African historical research.
The cultural value accorded to Messiah emerges as a central theme. As a form of
symbolic capital highly valued by dominant groups (the 'establishment') in the
relevant South African contexts, it became an indicator of 'legitimate' identity and
therefore of status. For both the English settlers and the emerging African elite (the
primary agents in the establishment of Messiah in South Africa), it could represent the
cultures in relation to which they defined themselves, towards which they aspired and
within which they sought recognition: respectively, those of the metropole and of
'Western Christian civilization'. In political terms, this had the potential both to
reinforce existing patterns of domination and to challenge them. Examples are given
of the ways in which, at different moments in its South African history, Messiah was
mobilized to support or to subvert an established political order, as a result of the
specific meanings that it was understood to convey.
Description
Thesis (Ph.D.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2008.
Keywords
Handel, George Frideric, 1685-1759. Messiah., Handel, George Frideric, 1685-1759--Performances--South Africa., Theses--Music.