Instrument and Character Relationships
“The harp is Ariadne’s instrument”[1]
The harp, however, is not the only instrument employed in the suite. Schafer had the idea for a suite for harp and percussion after Judy Loman relayed an idea of Toru Takemitsu’s to compose a piece for harp in which the harpist would have bells strung from their arms, to create “random” sounds when the harpist moves their hands to play.[2] Schafer liked the idea of random sounds, but upon experimenting with Judy Loman, for whom the suite was written, decided that this was too impractical, as they would hit the harp, hinder the player and would not actually be satisfactorily random. The idea of bells on the arms therefore developed into the ankle bells in Ariadne’s Dance. In addition to these ankle bells, the harp is surrounded by a bell tree, two cymbals, multiple finger cymbals or bells, two triangles, bongos, woodblocks, and crotales, in its own miniature labyrinth. [Practical side note for harpists, if crotales cannot be procured for practise, a glockenspiel will suffice). As this combination of instruments is so completely unusual, the relationship between the instruments must be discussed, as must the relationship between Ariadne and the other characters.
Schafer asserts that “touch is the most personal of the senses.”[3] I have always felt that the harp is one of the most personal instruments, and that the instrument and musician have the closest connection with one another. Not only is it a similar height to the player and is played by being brought into our personal sphere (similarly to the double bass and cello), but there is also no intermediary mouthpiece or bow between musician and instrument to interrupt or dilute the relationship. The fingers immediately create sound by touching and releasing the instrument. The only other western instruments that I can think of that have this in common are the guitar and hand percussion. Most of the percussion in the suite is played with the hands; sometimes the relationship is stretched by a beater. The harp is also played here in percussive manner, using extreme dynamics and percussive effects such as knocking on the soundboard, thunder effects, prés de la table and pitch bends.
Although stereotypically an incredibly lyrical instrument (lyre, lyra, lyric), harpists are always pursuing the elusive legato, which they can never truly achieve due to the nature of the sound. The string is plucked, resonates, and sound sustains for a while (for how long depends on to pitch and string length), but this almost immediately decays. This decay means harpists try to mask this by playing in a dynamic level within our decay so as to avoid accents in melody and other uses of technical smoke and mirrors. The luxury of breathing or blowing through the phrase for a simple sustain is unavailable. However, why should this be a weakness? Harpists, like percussionists, strike their instruments – the harp is inherently a percussion instrument. Both the harp and percussion are primeval instruments, that are common to every civilisation, having adapted over time, but still retaining their original essence. Why try so hard to mask the instrument’s core?
If we return to the question of identity, and characterise the instruments, if the harp is Ariadne, then which character is the percussion? Is it merely an extension of the harp, or does it represent a distinct entity? Is the harp in conflict with the percussion, or melding with it, or is the percussion simply a further exploration of the harp’s identity? And how does this reflect the relationship between Ariadne and her half-brother, Asterion, who retains his “divine spark”?[4]
Schafer focusses on the relationship between Ariadne and the Minotaur in Patria V in just as much detail (and, in my opinion, more interestingly) than the relationship between Ariadne and Theseus. Indeed, he says that “Ariadne seemed to understand her own strange affinity with him.”[5] This reflects the affinity between harp and percussion. If the percussion is used for both the Minotaur and Theseus, Schafer also states that he “intended to treat Theseus and Ariadne as equal… destined to blend in wholeness.”[6] This clearly illustrates the closeness between both percussion and harp and Ariadne and her counterparts, by either love or by blood. However, the harp is the prominent instrument, just as Ariadne is the prominent character here. In using other instruments, we simply illustrate and adorn her character further, similarly amplifying the capabilities of the harp. There is a moment where this is clearly seen in Ariadne’s Dance. The harp plays very percussive buzzed chords, which then moves into knocking on the sound board, and this rhythm is eventually translated onto the bongos. The percussion extends the harp.
Buzzed Chords
Knocking on board
Bongos
In inhabiting the harps inherently percussive nature, the music subverts the stereotypes of harp playing. The music feels primal; ancient and modern all at once. Similarly, this also gives Ariadne’s character more depth. Ariadne is an incarnation of the heroine archetype throughout the cycle. Indeed, in Schafer’s version of the myth in Patria V, she is more a “leading lady,” in control of her fate rather the mythical “damsel in distress” (although she still cannot escape her abandonment at the end of the suite). In showcasing the percussive nature of the harp, the suite leans into Ariadne’s power – innately hers and a force to be reckoned with.
Apollo vs Dionysus
Throughout the suite and by using both harp and percussion, there seems to be a “clash of Dionysian and Apollonian themes.”[7] Here are ideas on these themes for performers to consider. I do not believe they are portrayable explicitly through the music, but it is interesting to have this dichotomy in mind when preparing the suite.
How might the relationship between harp and percussion present a clash of Apollonian and Dionysian themes? The harp (or lyre) was gifted to Apollo by Hermes to placate Apollo for his indiscretion of stealing Apollo’s sacred cattle. [8] It became Apollo’s sacred instrument. As the god of music, poetry, medicine, truth and prophecy, Apollo was commonly associated with divine order. Homer says that the lyre reflects “serene contemplation of the universe.”[9]
Dionysus on the other hand was the god of wine, theatre, fertility, revelry, ritual insanity, religious ecstasy, and drunkenness. The clash between order and chaos is all too clear. Can we allocate the usage of the instruments to reflections of each god, that if the harp is Apollonian, the percussion is Dionysian? This seems too reductive, as the harp is used just as wildly as the percussion if not more so, especially in the solo movements. For example, in Dance of The Bull, the harpist portrays the Minotaur by playing glissandi on the bass strings, building tension to emulate a bull charging, followed by open octaves as quickly as possible, allowing the strings to buzz together.
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Is the struggle between order and chaos best seen in fact, in Ariadne herself, which the harpist then embodies? Ariadne feels the influence of both Apollo and Dionysus in her myth. Apollo was one of the patron gods of Crete[10], whom she abandoned, and she later married Dionysus (or Bacchus) upon her abandonment on Naxos. Another conflict between these themes is that of logic versus instinct, again directly applicable to her story, and to the suite. Movements such as Ariadne’s Dance feel logical, rhythmic and pattern based, whereas movements such as Dance of the Bull and Sun Dance are wild, instinctual, and ritualistic. It is difficult to say who is the most chaotic entity in this suite; the Minotaur, Ariadne, or perhaps the harpist themselves, encapsulating all?
Solo movements
In the two solo movements, Dance of the Bull and Ariadne’s Dream, no percussion is used at all. What is it about these “chapters” that does not need percussion?
Succeeding the spectacle of the percussion, the solo harp perhaps draws a more intense focus for an audience member. The “absence [or reduction] of acoustic or visual stimuli encourages greater intimacy.”[11] There are fewer distractions, fewer questions about where the sound is coming from. The heightened focus on the harp and harpist creates a more intimate space for performance, which serves to punctuate the drama.
The solo harp also reflects the lone characters in these moments; the bull in the labyrinth (potentially coming into conflict with Theseus), and Ariadne's dream whilst the conflict is occurring. If the harp is Ariadne’s instrument, then this perhaps reflects the human, where the percussion is the inhuman, the animalistic, or supernatural. It is interesting then that the most violent, animalistic movement of the suite (Dance of the Bull) is for solo harp. This possibly hints again at the duality of Asterion/Minotaur between human and monstrous, that his music is best expressed through the “human” harp being played in a percussive “inhuman” manner.
Both these moments in the story, however, do not directly involve Ariadne. Is the performer then channelling a different character in these moments or is what we hear her imaginings of the events? The harp is set apart from percussion here, just as she is isolated from the drama involving the other characters. We could view these as interludes, music which takes us out of her direct perspective and instead shows the audience events that are occurring from a third person view. Or we see these movements as Ariadne’s imaginings or witnessing the Dance of the Night Insects in real time – she can hear all these insects, so how is she reacting to them?
Ariadne’s Dream is filled with unease, the running rubato right hand fighting the rigid clock like left hand creates a queasiness. Bruno Bettelheim has described dreams as “the result of inner pressures which have found no relief, of problems, which beset a person to which he knows no solution.”[12] Is Ariadne regretting her choice to send Theseus into the labyrinth? Is this regret in terms of his safety, or that of her half-brother?
Next suggested navigation: Archetypes, Jung and the Dynamic Force
[1] R. Murray Schafer, Patria, The Complete Cycle, Ontario: Coach House Books, 2002. p.162
[2] Interview with Judy Loman, via Zoom, UK to Canada, 22nd December 2021
[3] R. Murray Schafer, The Soundscape: Our Environment and The Tuning of the World, Ontario: Destiny Books, 1993. p.11
[4] Schafer, Patria, The Complete Cycle, p158
[5] Schafer, Patria, The Complete Cycle, p.158
[6] Schafer, Patria, The Complete Cycle, p.156
[7] Schafer, Patria, The Complete Cycle, p.155
[8] Stephen Fry, Mythos, The Greek Myths Retold, Great Britain: Penguin Books, 2018. p.106
[9] Schafer, The Soundscape: Our Environment and The Tuning of the World, p.6
[10] The temple of Apollo Delphinios on Crete was built to honour the legend that Apollo appeared to Cretan priests as a dolphin and carried them across the sea to the oracle at Delphi.
[11] Schafer, Patria, The Complete Cycle, p.20
[12] Bruno Bettelheim, The Uses of Enchantment, The Meaning and Importance of Fairy Tales, London, UK: Penguin Books, 1991. p.36