Die Komponiste van Genadendal
Date
2017-02-21
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University
Abstract
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Die sendingstasie van Genadendal, geleë in die Overberg streek, het ’n musikale erfenis wat in Morawiese kerktradisies gewortel is. Alhoewel die kerkmusiek-beoefening in Genadendal veral bekend is, was die sendingstasie ook vir lank ’n tuiste vir Westerse kunsmusiektradisies. Dit is vanuit albei hierdie musiektradisies waaruit die musici wat in hierdie tesis bespreek word, na vore tree; nie net as musici nie, maar ook as komponiste.
Die tesis bestaan uit twee dele. Deel Een is in Afrikaans geskryf en bestudeer die lewe en musikale werke van drie musici wat hulle musikale afkoms na die musiektradisies van Genadendal herlei: Sacks Williams, Dan Apolles en Dan Ulster. In Hoofstukke Twee, Drie en Vier word elke musikus bekendgestel en word hul musiekopvoeding en musikale uitsette bespreek met verwysing na die Morawiese kerkmusiektradisie en hul kennis van die komposisionele praktyke van Westerse kunsmusiek. Hierdie drie bruin, manlike musici staan in die Genadendal gemeenskap en in hul eie gemeenskappe bekend as komponiste, maar is nog nooit as sodanig erken deur die breër Westerse kunsmusiekgemeenskap nie. Die titel “komponis” het ’n Westerse geskiedenis wat ’n sekere soort toonskepper eien. Hierdie tesis ondersoek ten dele die grense van en beheer oor hierdie toekenning van die woord “komponis” aan Williams, Apolles en Ulster.
Deel Twee van die tesis is in Engels geskryf. Die besluit om dit te doen het ontwikkel uit ’n immer groter-wordende ongemak met my gebruik van Standaard Afrikaans en die wyse waarop dit my bespreking en verstaan gevorm het in die eerste deel van die tesis. In die tweede deel, ondersoek ek krities sekere aannames wat in Deel Een gemaak word, insluitende aannames oor die neutraliteit van taal, oor die wit eienaarskap van Westerse kunsmusiek, oor die gebruik van die benaming “komponis", oor die grense van subjektiwiteit in navorsing en oor die implikasies van strukturele keuses in akademiese skryfwerk.
Hierdie tesis wil uiteindelik ’n bewussyn skep van hierdie en ander bruin en swart musici wat deur apartheidswette verhoed is om hulle identiteit as komponiste vryelik en optimaal te ontwikkel deur opleiding en musiekstudie.
AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: The mission station of Genadendal, situated in the Overberg region, has a musical tradition rooted in Moravian Church traditions. Although Genadendal is renowned for its church music practices, it has also long been home to a rich Western art music tradition. It is from both these music traditions that the subjects of this thesis have emerged; not only as practising musicians, but also as composers. The thesis is divided into two parts. Part One is written in Afrikaans and studies the lives and musical output of three musicians that trace their musical lineage to the music traditions of Genadendal: Sacks Williams, Dan Apolles and Dan Ulster. In Chapters Two, Three and Four, each musician is introduced and the music training, background and musical output of each composer is discussed in relation to his connection with the Moravian church music tradition, alongside his acquired knowledge of Western art music compositional practices. These three Coloured, male musicians have been hailed and celebrated as composers by the Genadendal community, as well as by their respective communities, but have never been acknowledged as such by the broader Western art music community. The title of “composer” has a Western history of signifying a certain kind of musical creator. This thesis in part probes the boundaries of and control over the bestowal of the word “composer” to Williams, Apolles and Ulster. Part Two of the thesis is written in English. The decision to do this resulted from a growing discomfort of my own complicity with Standard Afrikaans and the way in which it shaped my engagement with my subjects in the first part of the thesis. In this second part, I interrogate core assumptions that I make in Part One, including assumptions about the neutrality of language, about the whiteness of Western art music, about the application of the moniker “composer”, about the limits of subjectivity in research and about the implications of structural choices in academic writing. This thesis wants to lead to an awareness of the existence of these and other musicians of colour who were prohibited by apartheid laws to freely express their identities as composers through furthering their training and studies in music.
AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: The mission station of Genadendal, situated in the Overberg region, has a musical tradition rooted in Moravian Church traditions. Although Genadendal is renowned for its church music practices, it has also long been home to a rich Western art music tradition. It is from both these music traditions that the subjects of this thesis have emerged; not only as practising musicians, but also as composers. The thesis is divided into two parts. Part One is written in Afrikaans and studies the lives and musical output of three musicians that trace their musical lineage to the music traditions of Genadendal: Sacks Williams, Dan Apolles and Dan Ulster. In Chapters Two, Three and Four, each musician is introduced and the music training, background and musical output of each composer is discussed in relation to his connection with the Moravian church music tradition, alongside his acquired knowledge of Western art music compositional practices. These three Coloured, male musicians have been hailed and celebrated as composers by the Genadendal community, as well as by their respective communities, but have never been acknowledged as such by the broader Western art music community. The title of “composer” has a Western history of signifying a certain kind of musical creator. This thesis in part probes the boundaries of and control over the bestowal of the word “composer” to Williams, Apolles and Ulster. Part Two of the thesis is written in English. The decision to do this resulted from a growing discomfort of my own complicity with Standard Afrikaans and the way in which it shaped my engagement with my subjects in the first part of the thesis. In this second part, I interrogate core assumptions that I make in Part One, including assumptions about the neutrality of language, about the whiteness of Western art music, about the application of the moniker “composer”, about the limits of subjectivity in research and about the implications of structural choices in academic writing. This thesis wants to lead to an awareness of the existence of these and other musicians of colour who were prohibited by apartheid laws to freely express their identities as composers through furthering their training and studies in music.
Description
Thesis (MMus)--Stellenbosch University, 2015
Keywords
Composers -- South Africa., Genadendal (South Africa), Musicians -- South Africa., Missions.