Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

On Breath

2023; University of Wisconsin Press; Volume: 52; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1353/sub.2023.a900539

1527-2095

Kate Soper,

Religious, Philosophical, and Educational Studies

On Breath Kate Soper (bio) Kate Soper's video "On Breath" weaves together historical theories about breath from various perspectives: philosophical (Pseudo-Aristotle's "On Breath," Galen's "On the Uses of Breathing"), pedagogical (vocal treatises by Lili Lehmann, Manuel Garcia, and William Shakespeare), and metaphysical (Hildegard of Bingen's "Book of Divine Works"). The video can be accessed at www.youtube.com/watch?v=9i_Y1PePYd0 Spoken text by Hildegard of Bingen, Galen, Manuel García, Lilli Lehmann, Pseudo Aristotle, William Shakespeare (the vocal pedagogue, not the playwright), and Kate Soper: What is the purpose of breath? Is it thesource of the soul itself? Or not the sourceof the soul, but a kind of nourishment for it? Breath becomes voice through the operation of the will, and the interruption of the breath weakens the tone. As the emptying of the breath from thehollows of the brain makes one senseless,it must have some relation to the soul. Let us now proceed to the breathing exercises. Draw in a long breath, then release it in short bursts. That the purpose of the breath is not triflingis clear from our inability to survive for evena short time after it has stopped. Now exhale a long breath, and draw it in in short bursts. If life is the activity of the soul, and life isserved by breathing, how long will we remainignorant of the purpose of the breath? (It must be confessed that these exercises are extremely exhausting.) As long, I suppose, as we remainignorant of the substance of the soul. What, then, is the soul? [End Page 125] Sung text by Hildegard of Bingen from "Liber Divinorum Operum" ("Book of Divine Works"), with translation: Ego summa et ignea vis quae omnes viventes scintillas accendi(I am the supreme and fiery energy which all living sparks kindled)Sed et ego ignea vita substantiae divinitatis.(And I am the fiery life of the divine substance)Et cum aereo vento quadam invisibili vita quae cuncta sustinet,(And with the airy wind invisible life that all things sustains)Vitaliter omnia suscito.(vitally all things I quicken) Sicut etiam spiramen animae corpus...(As the breath the soul of the body)Firmando colligit ut non deficiat(remakes and strengthens it so that it does not die)Sic quoque fortiores venti sibi subjectos animant(So the stronger winds their subjects animate) Ego itaque vis ignea in his lateo,(I therefore am the fiery energy in these things)Ipsique de me flagrant(in each of them I blaze)Velut spiramen assidue hominem movet,(As breath is the cause by which man moves)Et ut in igne ventosa flamma est.(And in a fire flickering flame is) [End Page 126] Kate Soper Kate Soper is a composer, performer, and writer whose work explores the integration of drama and rhetoric into musical structure, the slippery continuums of expressivity, intelligibility and sense, and the wonderfully treacherous landscape of the human voice. Copyright © 2023 Johns Hopkins University Press and SubStance, Inc.