Narrativity, discourse situation and the opening of Elgar's cello concerto in E minor, Op. 85

Abstract

This chapter approaches the idea of music narrativity within the scope of comparative discourse stylistics. Considering the music score as a text, The author discusses if the understanding of a music piece as a story implies its perception also as a piece of narrative fiction. To do so, discourse situation in verbal narrative fiction (Leech & Short, 2007) is transmuted into music narrative (Steiner, 1996) . The lack of a narrative voice, the crafting of the story through dramatic interaction and its performative dimension suggest that our perception of a music piece may shift away from narrative to dramatic discourse.