As part of the Arts and Humanities Colloquium series, Colgate University Visiting Assistant Professor of Music Kyle Hutchinson gave a presentation Tuesday, Feb. 18 on his analysis of three pieces of music: the 1909 opera “Elektra” by German composer Richard Strauss, 1932’s “Piano Sonata in E Minor” by African American composer and pianist Florence Price and the 2003 musical “Wicked,” written by American Stephen Schwartz. From these works, Hutchinson selected a few moments and motifs to analyze for their musical elements as well as their meaning beyond the music.
Before his presentation, titled “From ‘What?’ to ‘Why?’ in Music Theory,” Hutchinson emphasized that his analysis was not just about the concrete elements of music theory which most people associate with analyzing music — including keys, scales, harmony and rhythm — but also about why those specific elements were chosen and how they can be interpreted in their dramatic or historical contexts.
“Beyond asking ‘what,’ music theory is just as interested in the question of ‘why,’” Hutchinson said.
To this end, Hutchinson blended psychological, dramatic and historical analysis with music theory, offering that knowledge of music theory can provide new insights into not just the structure of a piece of music but its meaning.
“My analytical interactions with these works intersect with issues of psychology, African American cultural heritage and dramatic structure, and invite the audience to consider how an in-depth understanding of music and theory can reveal subtle yet meaningful connections between sounds, people, ideas and societies across eras, genres and cultural practices,” Hutchinson wrote in the abstract for his talk.
The presentation began with a discussion of “Elektra,” specifically the “Elektra chord” which accompanies the entrance of the titular character. Hutchinson began by analyzing the chord itself, especially the notes that construct it, and then explained why the chord was chosen to represent Elektra.
In the opera, based on Sophocles’ tragedy “Electra,” certain notes, chords and keys come to represent other characters in the drama. The musical elements which come to be associated with these characters are represented, in symbolic form, by the notes of the Elektra chord. Hutchinson proposed that the dissonance of the chord and its inclusion of the major characters of the opera in symbolic form was an intentional way for Strauss to convey Elektra’s psychological state.
Considering Florence Price’s “Piano Sonata in E Minor,” Hutchinson integrated a social and historical interpretation. He drew attention to the fact that Price had faced discrimination as a Black woman working in classical music and that her piece — a classical form — attempted to meld traditional with her personal background by making use of traditionally Black musical styles.
As with “Elektra,” Hutchinson said that the specific musical choices made in “Piano Sonata in E Minor” were not just conventional, but could be interpreted as significant beyond the music. He said that Price’s use of a motif that includes three pitches — A, C and E — permeates the structure of her piece and represents cultural influence on and reinterpretation of the traditions of her medium.
“In these remarkable parallelisms, Price cultivates what I see as a synthesis between her artistic and cultural heritage infused into the musical forms within which she was working,” Hutchinson said.
In the final section of the talk, Hutchinson analyzed the popular musical “Wicked.” He noted that the “unlimited” motif, heard in the song “Defying Gravity” featuring the protagonist Elphaba, is a reference to the film version of “The Wizard of Oz,” upon which the musical is based. Specifically, he explained that the motif contains the first four notes (the first degree of the key, followed by the same note an octave higher, followed by the seventh and fifth degrees) of the song “Somewhere Over the Rainbow,” performed by Judy Garland in the film.
The motif also appears in re-arranged form during other songs like “Wonderful” in what Hutchinson interpreted as a more dramatic context. In the song, the Wizard of Oz attempts to manipulate Elphaba, which Hutchinson said can be represented by the manipulation of her motif in the musical structure of the song.
Hutchinson closed the talk by reiterating the importance of music theory not just in describing the language of music, but in interpreting the way that language is used. For some student audience members, this message was a novel application of some of the things they had learned or discussed in previous coursework.
Sophomore Jeremy Stoll, a music major, found parallels between the talk and a music class he had taken.
“The presentation was a really good reminder of the things I learned in Music 301,” Stoll said. “We talked about all these things in that class, and what really stood out to me was how looking at the chord analysis and structure of pieces can really show how in-depth and detailed the composer is in creating their music, whether it is connecting different characters in a musical, paying homage to another work or incorporating their cultural background in their work.”
Senior Rania Chowdhury was also affected by Hutchinson’s style and passion for the subject. She, though not a music major, found the talk nonetheless indicative of Hutchinson’s intended message, that music theory can illuminate meaning beyond the music itself.
“[Hutchinson’s] talk was incredibly compelling. His enthusiasm for music theory was contagious. I really enjoyed the part of the presentation where he discussed how different notes in a chord structure can correlate with characters in a play,” Chowdhury said. “The presentation opened my eyes to the ways music theory can communicate a narrative parallel to the main storyline in a play. It is so interesting to see the way differing sensory experiences interact to produce certain emotional states in an audience.”
