Az Eszterházy Károly Tanárképző Főiskola Tudományos Közleményei. 2002. Vol. 8. Eger Journal of American Studies.(Acta Academiae Paedagogicae Agriensis : Nova series ; Tom. 28)

Studies - Péter Egri: (Per)chance: Joyce and Cage

13-14, 17-18, etc.). Tonal and rhythmic ambiguities once again perfectly suit the nature of the dream and the quality of the text, which, with its lyric density, approaches free verse. If Joyce repeats his leitmotiv-like phrase ("How all so still she lay,") Cage also renews his ostinato-like motif (the six notes of B, B, E. B, A, and B in bar 12). When Joyce reduces his phrase into five syllables ("all the woods so wild,") Cage follows suit (the five notes of B, B, B, A and B in bar 8). With his musical means the composer can even do what the author can only suggest: that there is an inner connection between Isobel and the usual six syllables of the recurring motif. Joyce can lay a linguistic stress on the first syllable of Isobel's name, but Cage in bar 4 can and does set her name by a dotted quarter note followed by an eighth and a quarter note (B, A, B). The name's total time value then amounts to the length of six eighth notes: the duration of the six notes in bars 18 and 19 setting "as fain would she anon" (E, B, B, B, A and B). This may exemplify the way in which setting words to music can make explicit what is implicitly included in the text. The emphasis on Isobel's name is effectively expressed by its laudatory versions, repetitive incantations, melismatic forms and augmented appearances at the end of Cage's song. The Wonderful Widow of Eighteen Springs has been composed for voice and piano. A piano accompaniment may provide chordal support to the singing voice, but Cage's piano does not. The piano may play a figurative pattern to give harmonic underpinning to the voice, but Cage's does not. The piano may take over a part or the whole of the melody and may then complement the voice, but Cage's does not. The piano part may constitute a counterpoint, but Cage's does not. What does Cage's piano do then? The unsuspecting pianist (let us suppose he is a traditionally educated, pinch-hitting male turning over the first two stuck pages of the score quickly and nervously to sightread his part in a hurry) might wish to solve the riddle in an empirical manner and play the notes as he normally would. After all, under the stave of the voice, he can see the customary two staves for the piano. Before the singer's part the word VOICE clearly indicates what the composer wishes the singer to sing. Before the other two staves the word PIANO can be read. The voice and the piano parts are co74