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The Meticulous Irreverence of José Lopes e Silva: Some Comments on Two Staged Works

2023; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 42; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/07494467.2023.2239681

1477-2256

Isabel Pires,

Brazilian cultural history and politics

ABSTRACTThis paper aims to highlight the originality and irreverence of José Lopes e Silva’s (1937–2019) music theatre works. Lopes e Silva was an exceptionally talented guitarist and an extremely inventive composer. However, while his work as a guitarist has received wide international recognition, his work as a composer has been largely overlooked and seems to be somewhat forgotten. Drawing on documents from the Lopes e Silva collection, we will discuss some of his compositional practices by focusing on two of his music theatre works, No Jardim das Delícias (1991–92) and Canticum Joviale (1993). These works belong to a trilogy inspired by a Hieronymus Bosch triptych. The first work, Tentações (1990), appears to be lost. We will examine in particular Lopes e Silva’s complex compositional strategies for articulating the various elements of these music theatre works. These elements include an electroacoustic layer that works as a general script, and to which everything is related (instrumental music, choreography, lighting, and so on); texts (poetry and prose) written by Lopes e Silva himself; different types of music reservoirs; meticulous instructions for improvisation; detailed schemes for dancing and acting; graphic scripts and scores.KEYWORDS: José Lopes e SilvaNo Jardim das DelíciasCanticum JovialeImprovisationMusic Theatre Disclosure StatementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).Notes1 The birth certificate for Lopes e Silva gives his date of birth as 15 February 1937. However, according to notes written by him, which were found among his personal papers and later confirmed by his family, he was actually born on 25 December 1936.2 These photographs were selected from a vast body of images from a photo shoot conducted in 2015 with the purpose of creating an image gallery for the composer's website: https://joselopesesilva.wixsite.com/joselopesesilva.3 Original: ‘vanguarda é estar disponível, aberto para fazer o que me apetecer’.4 For practical reasons, I distinguish between the roles of guitarist and performer in this paper. However, it should be noted that the group of Portuguese composers and performers, which included Lopes e Silva along with Jorge Peixinho, Clotilde Rosa, Constança Capdeville, and others, all performed multiple roles whenever necessary. Although each member had their own primary instrument, they were all capable of playing percussion, acting, and reciting texts or singing.5 According to friends and family of Lopes e Silva, he participated in Darmstadt courses as a student but was also as a guitarist performing experimental works by various composers. However, the only evidence I could find was a registration form dated from 1976, found in the Internationales Musikinstitut Darmstadt digital archive (https://www.imd-archiv.de/detail/IMD-A100399-201700-03). Lopes e Silva himself mentions his participation in a 2012 interview (Graça and Lopes e Silva Citation2012) but does not specify any additional dates and, until now, it has not been possible to document his participation or determine the specific works and composers he performed.6 Lopes e Silva’s collection of documents from this period comprises numerous scraps of paper with thoughts, including reflections on music, gesture, performance, art in general, human relations, and life. Furthermore, the collection includes some poetry, but does not contain any musical scores, in either conventional or graphic notation.7 The Grupo de Música Contemporânea de Lisboa, founded in 1970, was the first instrumental ensemble exclusively dedicated to contemporary music to be created in Portugal. The ensemble is still active.8 José Machado is violinist and current artistic director of the Grupo de Música Contemporânea de Lisboa.9 Maria João Serrão is a soprano singer and performer specialising in music theatre. She has collaborated directly with Georges Aperghis, Tom Johnson, Vinko Globokar, Michael Finnissy, and Jorge Peixinho. As a close friend of Lopes e Silva and a performer of his works, her insights on Lopes e Silva’s work are essential to understanding some of his ideas. On this behalf, here is a highly relevant interview with her in Carolina Martins’ Master's thesis (Citation2022).10 For copyright reasons, we were not authorised to reproduce any of the scores here. However, one of Lopes e Silva’s most remarkable works is titled Cosmofonia Paradoxal (ca. 2012). The defining feature of this work is its size, or rather, sizes, since the graphic score ranges from very tiny to A0 paper size. Maria João Serrão, who was supposed to be one of the performers of this composition, explains that it is intended to be improvised by an ensemble consisting of unspecified musicians and performers, following a similar approach to the improvisational practice employed by the Grupo de Música Contemporânea de Lisboa during Jorge Peixinho’s era in the context of painting exhibitions. Indeed, Lopes e Silva along with Maria João Serrão, had begun preparations for the premiere of this work at the time of the composer's death.11 Original: ‘cada vez que ele fazia um grafismo eram sempre diferentes […] ele estava sempre à procura de algo que ainda não foi dito, que ainda não foi feito, que ainda não foi visto’.12 Madalena de Azeredo Perdigão (1923–1989) served as the first director of the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation’s Music Department and also the Entertainment, Artistic Creation and Education through Art Department (ACARTE). She played a pivotal role in shaping the Foundation's engagement with the Performing Arts. Her contributions include establishing the Calouste Gulbenkian Orchestra, Choir, and Ballet, as well as setting up the Gulbenkian Contemporary Music Meetings (Encontros Gulbenkian de Música Contemporânea).13 Lopes e Silva is referring to the Grupo de Musica Contemporânea de Lisboa.14 Quadrifonia was a quartet comprising Carlos Franco (flute), Clotilde Rosa (harp), Maria João Serrão (soprano), and José Lopes e Silva (guitar). The group did not last long. It was founded in 1980 and stopped playing in 1982.15 Duo Lusíada compirsed Lopes e Silva (guitar) and Ana Paula Russo (soprano), which was active between 1983 and 1998.16 Gritarrista is a neologism coined by Lopes e Silva to refer to himself. It combines the words ‘gritar’ (to scream) and ‘guitarrista’ (guitarist). He also refers to himself as a ‘decomposer’ (descompositor) and ‘sound manipulator’ (manipulador de sons). He mentions these nicknames and expressions to refer himself in Graça and Lopes e Silva (Citation2012), and they are abundantly present in his handwritten personal notes.17 Original: ‘tinha uma ambição, uma ânsia por tudo aquilo que ainda não se tinha visto, que ninguém tinha visto, que ninguém tinha feito, que ainda não existia, portanto para ele nada estava feito, nada estava acabado. Era uma fonte interminável de ideias e de formas de se exprimir’.18 Original: ‘considero-me mais um descompositor. Eu não sei se na verdade se pode compor alguma coisa. A música não se pode segurar, ela desaparece. Desvanesse-se no silêncio’.19 Original: ‘Eu era muito amigo da Constança Capdeville; tínhamos a mania de brincar ao teatro musical. E eu toquei todas as obras que tinham guitarra e não só. A Constança gostava de improvisar e gostava muito da minha figura. Dizia-me: “Tenho uma obra nova, não sei se vou pôr guitarra, mas preciso de ti para tocar timpanos e cantar e assobiar, e depois bates com os pés no chão … ”. E depois com as fitas magnéticas é outra história’.20 The idea of ‘music theatre’ in Portugal was coined by Constança Capdeville and was inspired by her fascination with Pina Bauch's ‘dance-theatre’ and Mauricio Kagel’s ‘instrumental-theatre’. See for instance Pires (Citation2022) and Magalhães (Citation2020).21 Original: ‘Eu utilizo várias dimensões nas minhas obras, por isso é que eu lhe digo que não sei que nome devo ter. Não gosto muito quando dizem compositor Lopes e Silva. Eu a partir de determinada altura não me satisfazia em ser só compositor. Então eu pensei: além do som também há gestos. Eu, para criar som, tenho de fazer gestos e impulsos. Que são igualmente importantes. Isto porque gosto de o fazer’.22 A reservoir is a musical motif, gesture, or structure written for a specific instrument that should be played following a set of rules previously defined by the composer.23 Both works were premiered by the GMCL at the 16th and 17th Encontros Gulbenkian de Música Contemporânea, respectively. No Jardim das Delícias was created on 13 May 1992, followed by Canticum Joviale on 14 May 1993.24 So far, in addition to the references made by Lopes e Silva in interviews and programme notes, the most reliable document has been a recently found photocopy of the programme from the show’s premiere. Tentações was created on 12 July 1990 at the National Conservatory, with the collaboration of dancers from the Lisbon School of Dance, and the participation of the soprano Manuela Sá and the percussionist Catarina Latino, under the choreographic direction of António Laginha and Nuno Carinha.However, in the program notes that the composer wrote for the creation of Canticum Joviale, he mistakenly refers to Tentações as having been composed in 1991. This is an oversight from the composer.25 Original: ‘Canticum Joviale encerra um ciclo de três obras (Tentações, 1991; No Jardim das Delícias, 1992; Canticum Joviale, 1993) que foram criadas a partir de uma análise reflexiva da obra pictórica de Hieronymus Bosch.Sem querer abstrair de aspectos estético-filosóficos e sócio-culturais da época, procurei deixar-me envolver muito intensamente pelos ‘místicos e psicológicos’ que são constantes na obra deste célebre artista’.26 Oiriginal: ‘Algumas associações na época Medieval’.27 Original: ‘Relação instrumental com Inferno dos Músicos de Bosch (Música Carnal)’.28 Since the use of small instruments included in the Percussion list are optional and no music is specifically written for them, I am not sure what kind of instrument the composer is referring to here.29 Original: ‘um lindo céu azul’.30 Original: ‘o vinho que enlouquece até o deus Baco’.31 Original: ‘existe o heróico GMCL, que lutando contra monstrengos, fantasmas e vendavais, resiste e ‘encanta’ com a sua música’.32 Between 1992 and 1993, Portugal experienced a severe recession accompanied by numerous strikes across various sectors. It is worth noting that some of the writings by Lopes e Silva appear to be connected to the social tumults that swept through the country during this period.33 Original: 16) Enquanto os músicos saboreiam as frutas e se dirigem para os seus lugares Lopes e Silva dirige-se para o público e diz: (voz alta) 1) aqui as baleias segredam-nos contos de amôr [sic.] ! … 2) peixes viadores cantam-nos sublimes canções! … 3) girafa e elefantes brincam com jogos de computador! … 4) as aves falam e ensinam os homens a voar! … 5) todas as demais espécies são campeãs de ping-pong! … 34 The act of launching balls into the audience was confirmed by some of my colleagues who were present at the premiere.35 This is an original handwritten letter. When asked about this letter, António de Sousa Dias does not recall receiving any letter or collaborating with Lopes e Silva. It is possible that the letter was never sent.36 Fernando Ilharco Morgado is a poet and essayist born in 1929 in Coimbra, Portugal.37 Original: ‘O comandante e toda a tripulação deseja-vos uma maravilhosa viagem’.38 Original: ‘Evitei criar qualquer relação de paralelismo do Tríptico Jardim das Delícias […] com Canticum Joviale apesar deste estruturalmente também ser composto de três Vectores Comunicantes (som-música, palavra-poesia, dança-expressão coreográfica) que se interligam através de “espaços flutuantes”. No entanto é-me impossível evitar o “relacionamento afectivo” tão intenso e absorvente que cultivei ao longo destes anos com as múltimplas e fantásticas imagens com as figuras demoniacas e paradisíacas quase inimagináveis, bem como com a sensação de intemporalidade existente nesses maravilhosos lainéis e que com certeza interferem nos elementos mais “sensoriais e micro-estruturais” da obra’. (Emphasis in the original.)39 Such analytical demonstration is not my goal here, as it would require a dedicated publication specifically focused on the music analysis of Canticum Joviale.40 Original: ‘nuvem circular; acordes + evidentes; acordes característicos de percussão com crescendo; nuvens / ressonâncias e silvos’.41 ‘The Cosmic and Planetary Studies Centre has just informed us that our trip will take place under optimal conditions: Thus, the planned itinerary towards the Kingdom of Jupiter will be rigorously followed, with a mandatory stop at the Garden of Delights, Musicians' Hell, Sacred Lakes, and Gypsy's Paradise and Divine Birds. Our journey will be carried out in Solar Caravels and time ships, at an ultra-sonic cruising speed, and will have an approximate duration of 930 seconds’.‘O Centro de Estudos Cósmicos e Planetários, acaba de nos informar que a nossa viagem se realizará em óptimas condições: Assim será rigorosamente cumprido o itinerário previsto rumo ao Reino de Júpiter, com paragem obrigatória no Jardim das Delícias, Inferno dos Músicos, Lagos Sagrados e Paraíso dos ciganos [?] e Aves Divinas. A nossa viagem será realizada em Caravelas de Sol e naves de tempos, a uma velocidade cruzeiro [sic] ultra-sónica e terá a duração aproximada de 930” (segundos)’ (from the Lopes e Silva collection).42 For copyright reasons I cannot publish the complete sequence of the original verses of the text.Additional informationNotes on contributorsIsabel PiresIsabel Pires holds a Ph.D. in Esthétique, Sciences et Technologies des Arts and a DEA in Arts de la Scène et du Spectacle from Université Paris 8. Currently an Assistant Professor at Faculdade de Ciências Sociais e Humanas (FCSH), Universidade Nova, she coordinates the Master’s degree in Musical Arts. Within Centro de Estudos de Sociologia e Estética Musical (CESEM), Pires leads the Contemporary Music Research Group, the LIM (Computer Music Lab), as well as LaPRA (Audio Preservations and Restoration Lab). Her research primarily focuses on post-1950s music. As an expert in acousmatic and experimental music, she has published extensively and organised international scientific meetings, including the Nova Contemporary Music Meeting, and founded the NOVA Contemporary Music Journal. Her compositions encompass instrumental, acousmatic, and live electronics music.