Department of Music Lecture: Alexis Rose & Chinenye Okoro (Graduate student conference practice session)
"Naturlaut in the Anthropocene: The artistic landscapes of nineteenth-century environmentalism”
Alexis Rose, MA student in Musicology
In 1896, Gustav Mahler described his music as “always and everywhere...the very sound of Nature!” thereby invoking an idea deeply embedded within the Austro-German musical tradition: namely, the use of nature as a source of artistic inspiration. However, Mahler’s attention to modernization and industrialization in fin-de-siècle Vienna distinguishes his nature-inspired work from that of his predecessors. This paper will explore the overlapping motivations of proto-environmentalists with artists in late-nineteenth-century Germany and Austria, specifically considering conservationism, vegetarianism, and opposition to vivisection as it was influenced by the philosophies of Wagner, Nietzsche, and Schopenhauer.
Against this backdrop, I will analyze sections of Mahler’s Seventh Symphony (1904–5), arguing that it reflects a growing awareness of industrial antagonisms toward the natural world, as well as a dialectical entanglement of intensified belief in and disillusionment from nature as a refuge from the urban. While Mahler’s music has often been perceived as depicting and deeply connected to nature, the strong resemblances between the gestural language of the Seventh Symphony and the rhetoric of early environmentalists have gone largely unexamined. What is more, Mahler’s evocations of place (echoes and spatial-temporal manipulation) and his use of Naturlaut (birdsong and cowbells) have thus far not been considered in terms of the material conditions of ecological agitation in the second half of the nineteenth century.
Bio:
Alexis is pursuing a master’s degree in musicology at Washington University in St. Louis. She received a Bachelor of Music in vocal performance from the University of Mississippi. Alexis is interested in artistic responses to the Anthropocene, late- and post-Romanticism, particularly the music of Gustav Mahler, musical representations of nature and death as metaphysical ideas, and critical-theoretical writings of the Frankfurt School.
Colonialism and Festival Music: A Case Study of Women’s Participation in Eastern Nigerian Festivals
Chinenye Okoro, PhD student in Musicology/Ethnomusicology
This paper explores the impact of colonialism on festival music in Eastern Nigeria, with a special focus on women's participation. Colonialism reshaped indigenous African societies, including their cultural traditions. Eastern Nigerian festivals are crucial for preserving and expressing the region's cultural heritage, offering platforms for social, religious, and political communication, with festival music serving as a critical element reflecting cultural identity and values. However, this study contends that colonialism exerted a disruptive and diminishing influence on numerous festivals, yet the impact on the mmanwu festival manifest a more intricate and varied dynamic. Colonialism aimed to exert control and influence over African societies, leading to significant shifts in gender roles and societal expectations. It Introduced new social norms that included women in contrast to their prior cultural marginalization due to the patriarchal system of the Igbo society. This paper investigates the changes and limits in the mmanwu festival’s inclusivity.
Bio:
Chinenye Okoro is currently a doctoral candidate in musicology at Washington University in St. Louis, specializing in Ethnomusicology. Her research involves exploring themes such as African Women in Music, Traditional Music Festivals in African society, and the dynamics of music festivals in traditional contexts. Today’s paper delves into the intersection of Colonialism and Festival music in Southeastern Nigeria.