Taylor & Francis, LTD., Royal Musical Association Journal of The Royal Musical Association

Voices of the Other: Wolfgang Rihm's Music Drama "Die Eroberung von Mexico"
Author(s): Alastair Williams

Source: Journal of the Royal Musical Association, Vol. 129, No. 2 (2004), pp. 240-271
Published by: Taylor & Francis, Ltd. on behalf of the Royal Musical Association
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Journal of the Royal MusicalAssociation, 129 no. 2 240-271 ? Royal MusicalAssociation (2004); all rights reserved
Voices of the Other: Wolfgang Rihm's Music

Drama Die Eroberung van Mexico
ALASTAIR WILLIAMS
THE music and aesthetics of Wolfgang Rihm consistently touch o

themes in contemporary musicological and cultural debate such as subje
intertextuality and the aesthetics of modernism. In the music dr
Eroberung von Mexico these ideas crystallize in the topic of self an
whether expressed through the assertion of self; the loss of self; the d
self in relation to an environment; or the interaction of self with anoth
Broadly speaking, the score explores these states by demonstr
Cortez and Montezuma inhabit incompatible sign systems; by port
disintegration of self that each undergoes; and, finally, by searching f
of intersubjective understanding between the two figures. The topic of
other is raised in Die Eroberung not only through the colonial setting
but also through the multiplication of voices. For the Aztec king i
soprano, extended by two other female voices, and the Spanish conq
sung by a baritone, extended by two male speakers. Initially, these voc
are clearly defined; however, one of the most noticeable dramatic a
moments in performance occurs when Cortez changes this deline
joining Montezuma's vocal realm in the final act. Furthermore, by
his role he also enables the two characters to find a certain equilibr
unaccompanied duet that closes the score. By examining Rihm's und
of music as a medium, and by deploying the critical resources offered
Todorov, Jacques Lacan and Jacques Derrida, this article argue
Eroberung makes a significant contribution to understanding the m
by which self and other are constructed.
Following his fiftieth birthday in March 2002, marked in Germany by

of performances and premieres, Wolfgang Rihm now ranks as one of t
important (and prolific) composers currently working in Europe. He fi
to prominence in 1974 at the Donaueschingen Music Festival with M
Sektor IV for string quartet and orchestra, which attracted attention p
I wish to thank the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation for a research fellowship
me to conduct this research; the Music Department of the Humboldt University,
hosting this fellowship; and Hermann Danuser for the hospitality and advice he o
wish to thank the Paul Sacher Foundation, Basle, for allowing me access to th
Wolfgang Rihm, and to acknowledge the generous help given by Ulrich Mosch dur
An earlier version of this article was presented as a paper at the Foundation.
VOICES OF THE OTHER 241
for its concluding Mahl

Romantic orchestral gestu
(I974-5), while chamber p
1976) and Musikfiir drei S
ing references to Beetho
leading figure in a new g
that would push beyond
It is important to unders
to conventional modes of
that values intensity and i
new configurations of ex
drawn from Romantic o
composer himself might i
Rihm's music has never re
tendencies have emerged i
(1982-8), for instance,
ensemble piece Jagden u
showing how material can
A steady stream of stag
highlights include Jakob
of which explore types
human subjectivity is form
history places on us, and
roles. Die Eroberung von M
time, however, it also re
part of an ongoing engag
the inspiration for some o
the atavistic dance-theatr
danse' after the poem 'Tu
the Judgement of God. M
tion of scores, linked by
The Seraphim Theatre.2 rl
sounds, I997) serves as a
contains traces of ttude po
of Sdraphin-Spuren. Als
Seraphim Theatre is obviou
1 For references to Beethov

'Wirkungen Beethovens in d
Symposium Bonn 1984, ed. S
(pp. 8I-4, Io5-8).
2 For more on the group of S
Ober Wolfgang Rihms Sdraphin
Sacher Stifiung Basel 200I, ed.
242 ALASTAIR WILLIAMS
Approaches
Because Rihm's music operates on multiple levels of meaning, as this brief biog-
raphy might indicate, it resists a form of understanding that looks only at formal
musical processes. For this reason, the following discussion of Die Eroberung von
Mexico considers a range of signifying practices. After examining textual sources,
the discussion turns to Rihm's spatial conception of music, since this has a direct
bearing on dramatic events by dint of helping the listener to understand why
Montezuma becomes absorbed into the musical fabric. Equally significant are
Rihm's ideas on music as a medium in which we encounter unfamiliar aspects
of ourselves, not least because this perception of music reveals why Antonin
Artaud is so important to Rihm. The article then turns to Todorov's analysis of
the colonization of Mexico because it offers important insights on the mutual
incomprehension of two world-views which, it is argued, are present in Rihm's
music drama.
At this stage Lacanian ideas provide some light on how this incompatibility
is dramatized through the figures of Cortez and Montezuma. In musical terms,
this relationship is analysed most closely in the opening act by showing how
Cortez adapts Montezuma's material, and by drawing attention to the interplay
of augmented fourths and perfect fifths, and their associated pitch classes. The
analysis is framed by a comparison of the ways in which the voices of
Montezuma and Cortez are frequently extended by additional vocalists through-
out the drama. After the unsuccessful second-act encounter between the two
figures, both of them undergo significant mental disarray in the following act.
At this point Jacques Derrida's reading of the limits of representation in Artaud
helps to illuminate not only the loss of meaning experienced by both Cortez
and Montezuma, but also what draws Rihm to Artaud's theatrical vision. Finally,
the article ends by considering the forms of subjectivity explored in the final act,
and by asking what they contribute to modern explorations of identity.
Before I turn to the music drama itself, it may be helpful to say something
about the theoretical apparatus deployed in this article, noting in passing that
Todorov, Lacan and Derrida are all talking about sign systems.3 Derrida's
critique of Artaud proves useful because the dilemmas it articulates translate into
Rihm's setting of Artaud. For, musically speaking, Rihm is caught on the horns
of a dilemma similar to the one Artaud faced in his search for direct theatrical
expression: that is, Rihm is creatively aware of the ways in which music func-
tions as a symbolic network, yet simultaneously seeks something more direct
than symbolic communication. Hence, even without considering Derrida's
contribution to wider debates about deconstruction, it becomes clear that Rihm
is touching on well-rehearsed arguments about the way one can be neither
totally inside nor totally outside a sign system. While Rihm is undoubtedly
3 Jacques Derrida and Jacques Lacan are discussed in my Constructing Musicology (Aldershot,
2Oo1).
attuned to such issues, it i

his regular conversations w
Rihm mentions Lacan in
Lacanian ideas are deployed
tive tools for understand
Eroberung. This is becaus
the ways in which self rel
way in which self relates t
three mental registers int
acquainted dramatis pers
strong sense of the ways i
unfamiliar and foreign.
This [music theatre] has to do

freedom, and which at the sa
inner foreign land. Music is f
not know, before which I als
If this statement does lit

not be surprising; for if m
should be expected that all
suggests, rather, is that m
rewarding ways. And on o
this, Lacanian ideas also pr
between Cortez and Mon
figures can simultaneous
separate characters. A gen
nology is therefore requir
Lacan and his followers
the three just m registers
the real.6 The imaginary
identity as continuous wit
it refers, therefore, to a
symbolic, the stage at w
separate identity. This s
imaginary can now be acce
the real, needs to be distin
sense, perhaps, of pensio
nates here something prio
4 In a dialogue from 1995 Rih

Wolfgang Rihm, 'Kunst entsteh
Mosch, 2 vols. (Winterthur, I
5 Rihm, 'Musiktheater als Md
(p. 5I). The same volume also c

6 For a general account of Lac
after the process of sym

minds and bodies, exper
decade Slavoj Zizek, in h

has paid much attention
in the fad for vampire f
it involves encountering
case of Die Eroberung, f
protagonists can no long
Zifek has also been inf
this article, 'the big Oth
sition - the (presup)posi
that guarantees the ul
ence'.8 In this case it re
cation that post-struct
does not of course prev
type of ideology critiqu
pulling the strings', per
even though the big O
capacity it offers a w
concealed, if inconsist
trauma of embodying th
the demands of the big
Sources and synops

Die Eroberung von Mexi
Mexico: Music Theatre a
has been performed in
and Frankfurt am Main
plans for a Theatre of C
the same author's The
dating from 1937 by t
of Man; and a poem, o
Cantares mexicanos, or
around 1523.10 Artaud's
7 Slavoj 2ilek, Enjoyyour Sym

I992), 133.
8 Ibid., 58.
9 Ibid., 39.
10 See Gary Tomlinson, 'Ideologies of Aztec Song', Journal of the American Musicological Society,
48 (I995), 343-79, for discussion of the European 'technology of the alphabet' at work in these
songs. He comments that 'the transformation of spoken or sung Nahuatl into alphabetized
words - performed utterance into fixed inscription - enforces various regimes of Western
writing on the Nahuatl songs' (p. 367). He also considers recent attempts to overcome the euro-
centric categories once applied to Aztec literature, maintaining that Aztec singing has yet to be
restored in this manner.
worked-out drama; instead

tion of the Aztec civilizat
Cortez, the Spanish com
The structure of Rihm's
four acts entitled, respe
('Declaration'), 'Die Umw
('The Abdication'). The Se
and characteristics encoun
feminine (as does the cas
libretto (which Rihm te
gathered, in a mosaic-like
tions becoming sung text.
ing one stanza for each o
between Cortez and Mon
economically; neverthele
'Der Krieg wiirgt' ('The W
('Devastation').'
Rihm is a prolific writer
he has provided interest
including Die Eroberung
Tutuguri, he intended to
however, he became pre
probably because he was
which, by his own estima
was in taking the intera
typical formulations. W
describes Cortez and Mo
personae, as 'representativ
misunderstandings, intelli
short, a relationship'2 - a
enigmatic by Artaud's ri
narrative unfolding.
'Die Vorzeichen', with it
with the landscape, and to
(as yet) indistinct threat
side, with the semi-articu
vocal realm of Cortez, h
happen. This menace becom
to war, leading Montezum
" The sources for Die Eroberun

(CPO 999 I85-2, I992).
12 Rihm, 'Mexiko, Eroberungs
translation used is by Susan M
Die Eroberung. Since the boo
version. While 'Mexiko' (as use
in the score.
The second act, 'Bekenntni

Montezuma on a more perso
city. After an opening in whi
a scene in which Cortez becom
compelled to wage, wondering
of war; and this agonizing o
become trapped in machine-
taken from The Seraphim T
approach each other, and, de
to kiss his hand, this encount
protagonists lay down their w
deterioration ensues as Cort
figure of the Virgin Mary, w
machine, becomes increasing
point the character Malinch
through her gestures she in
communication between t
Malinche is given no words
'Malinche' learned Spanish a
In 'Die Umwailzungen' th
Montezuma's mind, describ
with all of its beasts in Mo
occupies three female voices)
becomes dispersed at this ju
too, undergoes extreme distur
brings forth a screaming man
paralysed body of Monte
'Ansprache' ('Address') - du
weapon - in which the three
entwine around one another
ing Paz setting (after which M
associated with Montezuma)
which opens with Cortez's d
The stage instructions for 'D
before a statue of Montezum
self. When we elaborate on t
becomes clear that he and his warriors suffer a loss of assurance after the abdi-
cation of Montezuma. As Montezuma's funeral rites become visible, the futility
of destructive behaviour becomes all too clear since, in an alteration of historical
facts, the Spanish and Aztecs engage in a mutual massacre. This scene of
complete nihilism becomes the base from which Rihm sets lines from Cantares
mexicanos, combining for the first time in this drama the male and female choirs.
Die Eroberung concludes with an unaccompanied duet between Cortez and
Montezuma, a setting of the final stanza of Paz's poem, which in the last line
speaks of 'inexhaustible love streaming from death'.
Material states
First I had to find its basic sound, the musical foundation of that which I wanted to bring
into relief. To this purpose I had to develop the sculpture of the desired sound, a sculpture
from which the sound would be articulated as if automatically. For me the specification
of instruments, their position in space, is not prior to the act of composition but the most
time-consuming phase of the compositional process.13
The specification Rihm arrived at is for three ensembles. Of these ensembles,

the second and third are both visible in a shallow pit, occupying raked seating
with the strings at the top; ensemble 3 spills onto the stage. The alto and soprano
vocalists usually associated with Montezuma are situated in ensembles 2 and 3
respectively, in raised positions. Ensemble I, meanwhile, is distributed around
the remaining three sides of the auditorium not occupied by the stage, while the
recorded sounds are also spatially dispersed. The result, as Rihm's suggestive
remarks about omnipresent vocality indicate, is that the audience inhabits as it
were a space inside a melody. And this effect is enhanced through spatial distri-
bution, indicating what Rihm means when he refers to sound sculpture. He also
talks in a comparable way of Tutuguri, his earlier Artaud setting, when he speaks
of 'a music sculpture before us'.14 This conception is clearly at variance with
constructivist models of multi-dimensional objects because Rihm is less
concerned with creating static textures than with the idea of sound as tactile, as
plastic, as something to be moulded in his hands.
Rihm commented in I988: 'I am, then, a sculptor who takes material in his
hand and must bring it to life.'15 There is clearly a metaphorical dimension to
writing about music, a temporal medium, in this way; however, it is no coinci-
dence that this quotation is to be found in an essay which considers, among
other matters, Rihm's Klangbeschreibung (1982-7), an orchestral triptych of
monumental proportions, in which blocks of sound stand next to one another
in space. The sense of sound occupying both time and space is also character-
istic of Die Eroberung, however, in this context it also takes on a somatic char-
acter, most notably when Montezuma is depicted as a statue. Rihm reinforces
this somatic aspect when he comments that 'the whole machinery of linguistic
mechanics (breath, throat, lingual, labial, etc.) lies over the instrumental sound
like an acoustic film'.16 In this way, Rihm evokes the non-semantic dimension
13 Rihm, 'Mexiko, Eroberungsnotiz', 390.

14 'Notizen zur Tutuguri-Musik', Ausgesprochen, ed. Mosch, ii, 326-7 (p. 327; my translation).
15 Rihm, 'Improvisation tiber das Fixieren von Freiheit', Ausgesprochen, ed. Mosch, i, 90-8 (p. 94;
my translation). This quotation is also used by Mosch in an informative article on the influence
of painting on Rihm. Ulrich Mosch, '"... . das Dr6hnen der Bild- und Farbflichen ...": Zum
Verhiltnis von Wolfgang Rihm und Kurt Kocherscheidt', Brustrauschen: Zum Werkdialog von
Kurt Kocherscheidt und Wolfgang Rihm, ed. Heinz Liesbrock (Ostfildern-Ruit, 200oo), 70-87
(p. 73).
16 Rihm, 'Mexiko, Eroberungsnotiz', 388.
of musical
performance Rola
This feature is easily heard in
but beyond this it is also appa
The later music-theatre pie
inspired by Artaud's The Se
with Rihm speaking of 'inst
Such descriptions are char
condition of music, a matt
becomes ever clearer to me th
I write something down, I e
gives an interesting insight in
point for further reflection.
envisage music as a kind of un
fundamental than our exper
formation of subjectivity in
moreover), we find Rihm talk
notions of it as an active shap
'form does not exist a prior
state of change.'20 This inte
and music as a signifying p
suggests that one can think
susceptible to outside influen
and the other begins.
Both aspects are present w
position, or call, to which w
does Music "Say"? A Speech
tation with an audible expul
'The origin of all musical mea
in the audible other - perhaps
that music as an elaboration o
17 Roland Barthes, 'The Grain of th

1977), I79-89. For more on Barthe
Stofanova, 'Rauschen - Urklang -
singen, Gesell, la? rauschen . . . :Zu
(Vienna and Graz, 1997), 15o-66.
8 Rihm, 'Vorspiel auf dem Theaterz
lation).
19 Rihm, 'Ins eigene Fleisch ... (Lose Bliitter iber Jungerkomponistsein)', Ausgesprochen, ed.
Mosch, i, II3-zo (p. 119; my translation).
20 'Wolfgang Rihm in Conversation with Josef Hiiusler', trans. Stewart Spencer, interview in liner
notes accompanying recording ofJagden und Formen (DG 471 558-2, 200ooz), 8-13 (p. ni).
21 Rihm, 'Was "sagt" Musik? Eine Rede', Ausgesprochen, ed. Mosch, i, 172-81 (p. 181; my trans-
lation). Also in Offene Enden, ed. Ulrich Mosch (Munich and Vienna, 200oo2), 170o-82 (p. 182).
it invites human subjects t

of being addressed in the
seems less extravagant whe
music and finding that it
that sense of music as crea
by the extended vocal sou
Omens
Rihm and Artaud are concerned primarily neither with the history of M
nor with its politics as a modern nation; rather they are preoccupied with
location as an environment in which to play out the discovery self makes of t
Other in more general terms. The current interest in postcolonial stud
demands, however, that we examine why Artaud and (subsequently) Rih
should have chosen Mexico as the background for their artistic endeavours. Fo
it is a central theme of orientalism that another place, often the Middle
functions as a sort of unconscious where Western values can be project
without being acknowledged as such. As Bart Moore-Gilbert puts the ma
'the East is characteristically produced in Orientalist discourse as - variou
voiceless, sensual, female, despotic, irrational and backward. By contrast,
West is represented as masculine, democratic, rational, moral, dynamic
progressive.'23 In the field of opera, examples from this range of binary oppo
tions are to be found in Saint-Saans's Samson etDalila, Puccini's Madama Butter
fly and Verdi's Aida.24 Considered in this context, Artaud's Mexico (like Verdi
Egypt) functions more as a place where encounters with the Other can be play
out in a mysterious, mythical setting than as a modern nation.25 (And Ri
stage instructions for human sacrificial victims to be present at the openings
'Die Vorzeichen' and 'Bekenntnis' tend to reinforce this orientalist perspective
However, parallels with Aida go only so far because, in another sense, b
Artaud and Rihm are interested in shaking pre-established cultural attitu
Cantares mexicanos speaks of the despair of a defeated Mexico, while the Octa
Paz poem talks of a 'tempestuous silence' testifying to the nation's suffering.
beyond this humanitarian awareness, the whole concern with the question of
Other takes this music drama beyond the confines of nineteenth-century orie
talism. For while there is a certain familiarity in the idea of Montezuma's fem
non-European environment being colonized by Cortez's male, instrumen
22 For more on the idea of music inviting subjectivity, see Lawrence Kramer, 'The Myster
Animation: History, Analysis and Musical Subjectivity', Music Analysis, 20 (2001), 15
(p. I57).
23 Bart Moore-Gilbert, Postcolonial Theory: Contexts, Practices, Politics (London, 1997), 39.
24 For more on Samson et Dalila, see Ralph Locke, 'Constructing the Oriental "Other": Saint-
Saans' Samson et Dalila', Cambridge Opera Journal, 3 (1991), 26I1-302. Edward Said discusses
Aida in his Culture and Imperialism (London, I993).
25 For information on Artaud in Mexico, see Ronald Hayman, Artaud andAfter (Oxford, 1977),
chapter 7 (pp. 102-14).
Z5JO ALASTAIR WILLIAMS
approach to the world, we shall

ensuing drama.26
This instability is also there i
does not conspicuously deploy
of gueros) or attempt to wri
opening pages that there should
however, he does try to evoke
to be invaded by Cortez's Weste
scored for bongos, tom-toms
melody of a landscape that se
music starts while the audience
tor - the representative of a pa
It is better, therefore, to un
engaging orientalist tropes rath
Furthermore, despite my su
historical, it is possible (like R
this conflict with reference t
historians, why it was that M
since he was well informed of t
have defeated them when they
this question is an interesting o
figures who represent the Sp
Aztec world, he argues, is roote
place unless it has been proph
ordained rather than chosen.
been Word can become Act.'29
This, then, is the frame that Montezuma inhabits: one that provides him with
few resources for dealing with something as radically other as Cortez and his
Spanish forces. The consequence is that Montezuma's thinking becomes para-
lysed: he cannot interpret the information he is receiving in any conventional
way because the system of omens does not allow for something unexpected to
happen; indeed it seems likely that the omens were invented after the event as
a way of incorporating the Spanish into the existing system. Therefore, because
their system of human otherness does not have a place for the Spanish, the
26 Interestingly, these binaries are also explored in the Amazonian films ofWerner Herzog, Aguirre:
Wrath of God (I972) and Fitzcarraldo (1982). Music is an explicit theme in the later film, as the
character Fitzcarraldo attempts to build an opera house in the jungle. Moreover, both films
feature stills accompanied by the 'choir-organ' of Popul Vuh, thereby creating sound images that
serve to enhance the mythical quality of the jungle. I am grateful to Holly Rogers for sending
me a pre-publication copy of 'Fitzcarraldo's Search for Aguirre: Music and Text in the
Amazonian Films ofWerner Herzog',Journalofthe RoyalMusicalAssociation, I29 (2004), 77-99.
27 Rihm, Die Eroberung von Mexico, full score (Vienna, I991I), I (my translation).
28 Tzvetan Todorov, The Conquest ofAmerica, trans. Richard Howard (New York, 1984). This book
appears in the bibliography included in the score of Die Eroberung.
29 Ibid., 66.
VOICES OF THE OTHER z2I
Aztecs are inclined

than willing to expl
Montezuma is attun
he lacks the power
possesses, since he
what is effective - w
Thus Cortez disco
himself with their
might be persuade
lates the kind of in
about the strength
Cortez, in other wor
to use this knowledg
In this way Todoro
a collision between t
who are experts in i
in a particular wor
Todorov draws the
peans lost on the o
they destroyed thei
passage could alm
Horkheimer's Dialect
when instrumental
like this, Todorov's
also to the conditi
Eroberung, but als
Rihm's musical aes
between the comp
particular problem
environmental soun
chorale-style and c
Todorov's thinking
occupies. His omen
heard in the openi
talents quickly beco
nature imagery in
and yet avoid their
(see below). It seem
install the idea of
natural order of th
30 Ibid, 97.
31 Theodor Adorno and Max Horkheimer, Dialectic of Enlightenment, trans. John Cumming
(London, 1972).
32 Michael Kliigl briefly makes a comparable point in the unpaginated liner notes accompanying
the recording of Die Eroberung.
dream, as we shall see

Montezuma, who is no
Since Todorov's subje
makes of the other'33 -
understanding Rihm's b
in the ensuing discuss
and other by turning t
bearing in mind that t
the strangeness of self.
Soundscapes
Everything, even the sma
love for virtually monop
melos not restricted to th
Rihm's observation evo

tion supported by the
eroded by the spatial
time his comment sugg
sound structure he cr
for the music associate
and extended by a (very
has used multiple repre
figures in Die Hamletm
same opera in a way t
expansive qualities of
had attempted previou
a seemingly fluid stat
mingle with the orch
reading is supported b
pre-symbolic level of u
than to the formulatio
The stage instruction
various locations in t
suggesting that his vo
33 Todorov, The Conquest of

34 Rihm, 'Mexiko, Eroberu
35 In Harrison Birtwistle's T
myth are each represented
In Karlheinz Stockhausen's
mime artist, a singer and a
36 This article is designed t
commercially available; how
the score.
37 In keeping with the composer's view of Montezuma, discussed later, I refer to him with the
male pronoun, while accepting that use of the female pronoun could also be justified.
VOICES OF THE OTHER z53
Example i
(a) pitch-class collection in the recorded female choir, pp. 9-io , bars 145 -6I,
showing the main melodic and harmonic intervals extracted
I I[ _ 1
(b) Montezuma, p. O10, bars 156-
(c) Montezuma, p. Io, bars I60-2 ;

PP- 33-40, bars 339-90
proves rather apt, since neither

equal to the symbolic law it e
recorded female choir, whose rep
between bars 145 and 161, using
87-116). After two bars on f#'
ranging from c#' to g' (see Exam
which Montezuma appears, almos
Examples I(b) and 2), and event
thereby expanding the registr
within the same pitch-class co
contrasts a perfect fifth (f#
Accompaniment is minimal: th
E-F# timpani roll, while the c
timpani F#.
The fifth, with its history of harmonic expectations, here generates little
anticipation; instead it sounds merely empty, and is heard more as texture than
as harmony. Indeed, the first chord we hear in the piece (bar 7) is scored so that
its open fifths sound through. However, augmented fourths are also important
in this music, with an F#/C pedal introduced in the timpani at bar 52, and
continuing under Montezuma's first entry. This pedal obviously contributes to
the F# centre of the music, yet is clearly heard against the g' of the female choir
(P. 5, bars 89-93); and the proximity ofF# and G remains ubiquitous. The F#/C
augmented fourth does return later (see p. 45), but it is the C#/G augmented
fourth that becomes more prevalent, suggesting that the mix of open fifths and
Example 2. Rihm, Die Eroberu

1991 by Universal Edition A.G
Artaud ? Editions Gallimard,
Miinchen. Octavio Paz, 'Urgru
furt/Main. Cantares mexicanos ?
153 (Montezuma erscheint

MONTE-
ZUMA
S-Chor (
(vom
Band) A. (PP)
- (a)--
Perc. 1
Pere. 3
unregelmaBig
Pkn.
i? ?gr. Tr.
L Perc. 4 g
r gr. Tr.
( Perc. 5 _
L
augmented fourths is of more importance for this music than particular pitch
combinations.
Example 3 shows that Montezuma's lines become more articulate as his music
is set to nature imagery taken from Artaud. Gradually these lines are extended
and resonated by the other two female vocalists, in places becoming almost
indistinguishable from them in what might be called a super-voice. At the same
time, it is worth noting that this combined voice is also divided by a process of
deferral, evoking a form of subjectivity that finds reflections of itself, yet is at
the same time dispersed, eschewing rigid identity. (This sort of deflected
Example 2 continued
156 fieieff'zrppp poco pp

MONTE-
ZUMA
Aa (a) - A - (a)
SS.(IPP)_
S-Chor
(vom - (a
Band) A()
-(a)-
Perc. 1
Perc. 3
r grr. ,Tr. m_ _
?Perc.5 "_____"__
mf ~ pp (cont.)
doubling is also characteristic of Gesungen

a near-contemporary score in which the son
tempting to hear the solo violin as another
is also enhanced by Rihm's extensive use
Montezuma's music, which are prominently
section currently under discussion. This voca
word 'Wind' steers the imagery towards fut
Turning now to Cortez, we find that his voic
tra, in this case by two male speakers. The eff
fluid realm ofMontezuma because we hear the
fined sounds, not as a direct continuation o
grunting speakers' sounds do have some affinit
ances of the female voices, and indeed share
Example 2 continued
159 t) P1'1
MONTE-
ZUMA
A
S. > alle: PPP (ausblenden)
S-Chor
(vom , (a A (ausblenden)
Band) A.- - alle: subito ff ( dppp)
(a- A
(15) Cymb. ant. LL lv.
Per . 1 f
(15) Cymb. ant. I lv.
OPerc. 2 extr
PP - f
(15) Cymb. ant. lv.
PiP -== f
Perc. 4
Pkn. -
9 Perc. 5 <
L
primarily they seem to register pain at the demands of the symbolic order, to
continue the Lacanian theme, instead of evoking the state of plenitude conveyed
by the female singers. For while they, too, designate a level of pre-symbolic
articulation, they signify not only an emergent subjectivity, but also a brutal-
ized, damaged, internal nature. They suggest, then, that Rihm's Cortez is ruled
by social obligations, yet becomes increasingly aware of, and damaged by, the
violence they do both to him and to those around him. And if for a moment
we switch terms away from Lacanian categories, and talk instead of the colon-
ized and the colonizer, then it becomes clear that Rihm's estrangement of Cortez
deprives the drama of a 'normal' mind-set from which to observe Montezuma.
From either perspective Cortez, too, is 'other'.
In his response to Montezuma's invocation of nature we hear at work a social
Example 3. Rihm, Die Erober

by Universal Edition A.G., W
? Editions Gallimard, Paris. G
Octavio Paz, 'Urgrund des Me
Cantares mexicanos ? by Vervu
,= 80
(in Stimmungsumschwingen)
277 3
MONTE- A _ ,tr" I .".. -... . 1'- .

ZUMA
Schat - - - ten von Wild - -

hoher
Sopran
(im Orch.)
Alt
282 > -
MONTE- 2
ZUMA
- pfer-den fer - ne Me - te - o-
pp --~ f ~ pppP ~-= if

hoher I I I
Sopran - -
(im Orch.) a
a - A
-P if ifff
Alt.
a - A
order that can tu

thing more defi
rated by orchest
Cortez's declama
38 Rihm sketches very

are not substantial. T
first passage from Ar
underlined. These wo
for Montezuma starts
later modified. The s
response to Montezu
Example 4. Rihm, Die Erobe

1991 by Universal Edition A
Artaud ? Editions Gallimard
Miinchen. Octavio Paz, 'Urgr
furt/Main. Cantares mexicano
CORTEZ 9
344 ?- accel..
S(Stimmlage)
2 Sprecher
1 [ Im-
im Orch. h.
2 m
F 1 (i e 3 Bongos)
O Perc. 2
3 Hrn
2, 3 3
Dpfr. auf
3 Pos._
2 E-Baisse
SEl. Org.
3 3 3 3 3 3
Pkn
Perc. 4 5 Buckelgong
"a3 3 3 3 3 3 3
6 Vcl.
a3
1 BK. ,
1 Kfg.
1 Tb.
) Harfe
Klay. *
A, A A ^ A
Perc. 5
1, 2~
4? Cb.
Example 4 continued
= 92
346
(ff) l r 3 -------
CORTEZ 9
h Me - - te- o - re ff>
2 Sprecher (nasal)
im Orch. (Mikro.) (nasal)
2
A (mit Druck)
@Perc. [ 1
2 a3> >s.
,' "> "> ">> a3 '
3 Hrn.
con sord.
3 Pos.
2 E-Basse f
) El. Org. _ ""

Pkn
1~~i 27" - Pp
Perc. 4
battuto salt.
6VcI". v v (non dim.)

6 Vcl. . . a 5 ord.
2-6 -': ___________ ____
p ______9 -----~--
1 BKl.
I Kfg.
1Tb.
1,6
) Harfe
mf '. > sfll
2eC3. 2 3, 4
260o ALASTAIR WILLIAMS
(Rihm asks for 'rohe, harte

Cortez's response; p. 33, bar
scape evoked by Montezuma,
Cortez's opening lines use trip
Montezuma's preceding utte
and C# associated with Mon
offset by the orchestral pitc
also heard, orchestrally, in
classes F# and C - the two pr
these two collections they for
estingly, these are precisel
concludes the act, generatin
sense of consistency than of
Appropriately, Cortez's secti
class C# or G: the two out
Montezuma's second entry (
F#/C pedal), and which, furth
the preceding statement by M
of Cortez. The same two pit
this section: they occur stron
after 'Spiegelungen' (p. 35, ba
(P. 37, bar 368), and return f
bar 385). As Montezuma assi
dete Erde schreit'; 'The wound
earlier utterances absorbs C
orchestra thickening and emb
It is important to underst
dramatically in the first ac
reserved for the encounter s
little by way of reassurance a
yet remain poles apart. Fro
implied by fifths (D/A) in th
this interval. A brief respons
leads to the neo-Baroque sec
becomes swifter'). The musi
orchestral parts, creating a f
exchanges between Montezu
the Austro-German Romantic
a sense of emotional directn
receives the past as somethi
to Montezuma; instead it is so
of formality and misunders
section ends with the former
orchestral chord, at whi
Montezuma breaks down
VOICES OF THE OTHER 26I
specifically, Montezum
to the mocking and m
Much of Rihm's mus
Todorov, that beset c
Other that is either u
lation failures; and it d
the security of another
ing hand is carrying
Malinche, the transla
encounter between Co
serving only to increas
relationship between C
actively articulates the
difficulties that beset
character emerges as a
is possible to understa
that are not fully tran
by which the self an
significance.
One obvious way in w
through the use of fe
forward, not least bec
Rihm states: 'He is no woman. He is Montezuma. We hear a woman's voice.'39
We do not, of course, have to accept Rihm's view on this matter; however, it is
of interest because it encourages us to understand Montezuma as a man inhabit-
ing a female vocal space, thereby breaking a rigid pattern of identity between
gender and sex. The other advantage of this formulation, from an orientalist
perspective, is that it encourages critical reflection on this score to extend
beyond any simple dualism of male colonizers and female colonized.
This said, a further issue that makes gender an important issue in this work
is the use of Artaud's The Seraphim Theatre: on the one hand, this text seems to
seek underlying attributes that would enable us to encounter these distinctions
in a direct manner, while, on the other, it experiences acutely the limitations of
these categories and their behavioural expectations. Both these aspects are there
in Rihm's setting: the former, broadly speaking, in the femininity attributed to
Montezuma's Aztec world, and in the masculinity ascribed to Cortez's conquer-
ing forces; the latter in the torment suffered by Cortez as he is driven to a certain
kind of behaviour by the categories imposed on him.
Excursus
Having examined the musical characterizations of Cortez and Montezuma, it is

now possible to elaborate further on their links with Die Hamletmaschine, a
39 Rihm, 'Fremde Begegnung', Ausgesprochen, ed. Mosch, ii, 392-6 (p. 392; my translation).
landmark in Rihm's
by Heiner Miiller, w
the text. Since Miille
it is not surprising t
maschine to Die Erob
is worth noting th
exchange with the
conceptual affinitie
Die Hamletmaschine.
The fifth, and final, act of Die Hamletmaschine opens with three screaming
men who subsequently 'accompany' Ophelia's lines (or rather Elektra's lines,
since Ophelia opens the scene with 'Here speaks Elektra') with sounds embody-
ing a mixture of desire and control at their most atavistic, while two of these
figures, dressed in doctors' coats, attempt to envelop Ophelia in gauze bandages.
In the second scene we encounter the dispersed female vocality associated with
Montezuma (the chronology is of course the other way round). Here Ophelia's
voice becomes gradually absorbed into the sonorities of the three female vocal-
ists, described as 'Ophelia doubles', and then the female choir.41 The effect is of
a diffuse presence, which stands in contrast to Ophelia's bleak withdrawal of her
reproductive powers - 'I take back the world which I gave birth to.'42 Rihm's
own description of Act 5 speaks of'world as woman, female space', and of'domi-
nation of space as woman', adding that Ophelia transcends the mechanization
of Hamlet. The mind-set Ophelia transcends, however, is chilling: she finishes
the opera by singing 'When it walks through your bedrooms with butchers'
knives you will know the truth.' The dense semiotic codes concerning European
history that pervade Die Hamletmaschine prevent precise comparisons with Die
Eroberung, and yet it is striking that none of the three Hamlet figures, unlike
Cortez, gains access to the immersed vocality that Ophelia and Montezuma
attain. Because, as we shall see, Cortez does find a way of mingling with
Montezuma's sonic space, he also finds a way of eluding the forces that mecha-
nize him in a way denied to the three Hamlet figures.
Self as other
Hitherto, I have aligned Montezuma with the imaginary; however, as a king he

is very much an embodiment of the symbolic. Indeed for the people of his
kingdom his body is a personification of the big Other, that is, it personifies the
sense of nation, law and language with which the subjects of the kingdom are
40 For more on Miiller and Artaud, see Marc von Henning's Introduction to Theatremachine, ed.
von Henning (London and Boston, I995), vii-xvii (p. xii).
41 Martin Zenck is working on the topic of'doubles' in Rihm. Paper given on 14 September 2002
at the conference 'Komponistenportrait Wolfgang Rihm: Ausdruck, Zugriff, Differenzen' in the
Alte Oper, Frankfurt am Main.
42 Marc von Henning's translation from 'The Hamletmachine', Theatremachine, ed. von Henning,
85-94 (p. 94).
supposed to identify. As menti

figure, he did not want to be
the order he represents. Signi
the beginning of the 'Bekenn
Montezuma's acoustic space an
experiencing doubts at this s
able to use his own social c
Montezuma. This pragmatism is
two figures do share is a col
figures, therefore, undergo a
cannot accept, that the big Oth
with consistent meanings - do
In 'Die Umwailzungen' the sign
cating his bewilderment at ev
of omens; accordingly we no
subjectivity which everywhere f
ing voices unable to comprehe
state embodies Todorov's argum
something outside its own fram
information not for greater kn
Musically, the zodiac section con
class, A, intensifying the sense
followed by a section marked
recognizably triadic shapes, t
versions (p. 152, bar 251). The
this music might offer, thereb
Arriving too late to prevent
forth a screaming man: perhap
a staing of Artaud himself- cer
war.43 His appearance leads to
syllabic articulation with words
he who can encounter social e
however, since he disappears in
is ambiguous, for in one sens
of dysfunctional values, while i
representative of a cultural kno
rate it precedes a change in stat
third Paz verse with Montez
wounded. Here the three fem
writing once more entwine a
return to the plenitude of the
One way of understanding t
to be a human subject, in an
43 The screaming man also appears in
dispersed into the music

presence, so it is absorbed
although the violence of his
a character occupying the fa
as a witness to a mode of in
powers of communication w
Before examining how suc
the fourth act, I want now
tic masculinity buckles un
(pp. 78-9) is found in the
become trapped in repetiti
swaying in a trance, ritualis
'minnlich, neutral, weiblic
gen' a recorded orchestral pa
a sense of the machine-like
linity. Interestingly, the fin
other, is less repetitious and
a certain distance from the
tive rhythms are not exclus
the rhythmic patterns at th
with the Aztec world) are un
more like an emergent state
of the social fabric.
Artaud and representat

It is not only the theme o
desire for a language that sp
of the sacred and mystic th
being sufficiently canny to
reveal an underlying prese
in an argument which can
music might relate to Art
Artaud, according to Derri
artificiality of traditional
combined in an utterance in
seeks an immediacy that t
there is an essential core o
this supposition is that it as
from the ways in which i
mechanics of signification.
44 Speaking of female character

triumph over plots that turn aga
Musicology and Difference, ed. R
Writing at a formative time in his c

to destroy imitation, that is, to creat
of life, but life itself, without the dil
Derrida locates the problematic met
ing that this writer, unlike many of
one cannot escape representatio
comments, 'Artaud kept himself as cl
and impossibility of pure theater.
presence, has always already begun
penetrated.'4G This, then, is the limit
And Rihm captures something of t
begins before it has begun. But it has
allowed to be an acting person.'47
It is not surprising that there shoul
since his writings sometimes invok
the constraints of representation; in
plays straight into Derrida's reflectio
is relevant when Rihm talks about
theatre, to make its events into mu
Artaud ever intended to stage his C
impossibility of music, to switch term
if he does not do so entirely in the
we have the same issue of trying to c
to go beyond signs to life itself, an
5 There are two essays on Artaud ('La par

Closure of Representation') in Writing and
1967 (the other two are Speech and Phenome
international reputation. In Derrida's opini
cally, between the sixth and seventh essays
volume can be seen as one in which the ear
sively applied in the last five essays. (This in
tion to Writing and Difference, London an
be seen in the two Artaud essays, which as c
Derrida's intervening work on origin and su
of Cruelty'. The position of these two chapte
to Derrida's most influential ideas. A lat
paintings, 'To Unsense the Subjectile', ap
Secret Art ofAntonin Artaud, trans. Mary
6I-I48. It takes up Derrida's recurrent theme
is subjected in the process of forming subje
46 Derrida, Writing and Difference, 249.
47 Rihm, 'Mexiko, Eroberungsnotiz', 39I.
48 The issue of whether Artaud ever intende
Zuber, 'Von der Imagination zur Konkre
Wolfgang Rihms Musik-Theater Die Eroberu
- Medialitiit, ed. Christopher Balme and Jlirg
comes between us and th

because Montezuma's mus
the whole process of d
repetition associated with
enced as a depleted subjec
sive, mechanistic repetiti
of madness; and since the
easy to speculate that it
attracts Derrida's attention.
In the earlier of the two Artaud essays in Writing and Difference - 'La parole
soufflide' - Derrida discusses madness in Artaud in terms, once more, of the
boundaries of signification, arguing that Artaud's desire to discard the written
work in favour of something that is made in real space amounts to a pursuit of
a metaphysics that is a form of madness because it presses against the limits of
representation. This, then, is the theme that so often arises in Derrida's work:
the madness evoked when Artaud proclaims 'I speak from above time.'49 Simul-
taneously, however, this stance offers a critique of what Derrida calls 'the meta-
physics which lives within difference, within metaphor and the work, and thus
within alienation';50 a critique because such a metaphysics is by its nature alien-
ated, yet does not perceive itself as such. The sweeping nature of this claim is
narrowed somewhat when Derrida comments (implicitly acknowledging the
work of Michel Foucault in doing so) that 'the concept of madness, quite simply,
is solidified only during the era of the metaphysics of a proper subjectivity'.51
Understood like this, the space Artaud seeks to occupy outside what Derrida
calls the metaphysics of proper subjectivity is the space the latter deems to be
madness.
Because both madness and Artaud are recurring themes in Rihm's work, it is
not surprising that the types of dilemma described by Derrida above are active
in his music, even though some of the composer's writings suggest that music
can access exactly the kind of presence that Derrida finds so problematic.
Returning to Die Eroberung, we have seen that both Cortez and Montezuma
undergo forms of insanity: the roaring signs of the zodiac in Montezuma's head
constitute one type, while the continual problems Cortez experiences with the
expectations of gender categories constitute another, the latter eventually
assuming crisis proportions with the appearance of the screaming man - perhaps
an embodiment of Artaud himself.
Voices
Nor does Cortez rid himself entirely of the screaming man in the fourth act. It
will be recalled that at the end of 'Die Umwlilzungen', before the Paz setting,
49 Quoted by Derrida, 'La parole soufftle', Writing and Difference, I69-95 (p. 193).
50 Ibid., 193.
51 Ibid., 183.
the dying Montezuma recal

textures continue in 'Die Ab
of Montezuma whose head, th
a seemingly bizarre occurr
certainly relates to the prev
and is also significant for un
that Cortez comes to occup
lines, the vocalized orchestrat
and contralto that had hither
of musical place was clearly
200ooi production by the two
in 'Die Abdankung' to the st
ated with Cortez.)
So are we to understand th
associated with Montezuma
Montezuma's head, as it were,
of sorts is provided by an ide
dream, a dream that is destro
own illusion. What are we t
has come to be associated w
ary sphere of Montezuma i
illusion. Another way of und
off the screaming man who e
without any mechanisms for
This figure experiences
Horkheimer's
at Dialectic
the terrible cost ofEnlightenment.
of a damaged that
internal nature. Notthe conquest perhaps,
surprisingly, of naturetheis achieved
solution to this conflict offered in the penultimate scene, where for the first time
we hear the male and female choirs together, is ambiguous. For are we, on the
one hand, to understand that this moment evokes a belief system that can
communicate with the world, and in which gendered categories become less
restrictive? Or are we, on the other hand, to hear the voices modelling a form
of subjectivity that lives on after a permanent schism between humanity and
environment? The words certainly speak of little more than empty survival after
the destruction of a civilization. We should not forget, of course, that this is a
setting of a text from Cantares mexicanos, itself a trace of a song in which the
materiality of voice and the materiality of the world might have coincided in a
way we cannot fully imagine.53 A more immediate trace is Bach's chorale
52 These instructions are taken straight from the German translation ofArtaud's text. The sketches
include a copy of this text, marked up by Rihm, with the above instructions underlined, and
the words 'triumen', 'Leichenbegingnis' and 'Schlacht' encircled on the same page. Rihm's
underlining and encircling of various words suggests that he seized on particular ideas for
dramatic and musical purposes.
53 Tomlinson makes this point in 'Ideologies of Aztec Song', 379.
writing, here signifyi

In any case, this mus
the artificiality of the
Elsewhere in Die Ero
Montezuma do manag
bility, even though th
companied, except f
additional Bb and B
('mute'). While this
Montezuma's opening
Montezuma's plenitud
tal writing (see Exam
three Paz verses, each
realm of Montezuma
identity, they almost
the falling pattern u
quently, the closing v
enced with Cortez p
interactive line.
Do the categories of m
has suggested, into a
androgyny, an overcom
the obligations of pred
cation with nature t
convergence is suggest
which indicates that
together Cortez and M
draws on Baroque and
the sense of someth
(which this scene follo
5 Bach is, of course, a majo

commissioned by the Inte
('Are you weary of your s
certain resonance with th
that concludes Deus passu
55 Rihm told Zech in an u
linearen Kontrapunkts: Ein
1917); see Christina Zech, Z
Adriana Hiilszkys Bremer
Hochschulschriften, 36/1
use of, or reference to, tr
'Verwiistung' chorale, wh
sketched, as is 'das temp
Montezuma meet in pers
56 See Zech, Zum Geschlec
57 This diagram is on the
contained in an uncatalog
these additional Eroberung
Example 5. Rihm, Die Erobe

1991 by Universal Edition A
Artaud ? Editions Gallimard
Miinchen. Octavio Paz, 'Urg
furt/Main. Cantares mexicano
(pp)
17 3 t]
MONTE-
ZUMA
, I I . - I
to - ben - de Stil - le, e - wig,
CORTEZ . , I I
to - ben-de Stil - le, e - - wig, um -
21 3
21 3- -- 3 ---I
A , , +# ,
urn- riss - los, un - er - schoipf - ii - che
- riss- los, un - er-schpf - i - che
Lie - - - be, der Tod ent - stromt.
When we apply Lacanian terminology

be understood as a vision of the sym
porous to each other, suggesting that t
influence on the symbolic order. For
they wrap around each other in a way t
nor dissolved. It could also be that th
Other as a place that guarantees consist
towards each other,

Todorov's concerns, th
other and the world ar
priate for words attes
Self and other
The theoretical appara

in different, though n
succinctly, Todorov d
addresses the inconsi
subjectivity as an in
however, all three of
can be fully replete b
completion.
With the overlapping of landscape, female vocality and the Lacanian imagin-
ary in 'Die Vorzeichen', the musical material Cortez and Montezuma share
serves only to demonstrate that their perceptions of themselves, of their environ-
ments and of each other are incompatible. And, as one would expect from
Todorov's historical reading, incomprehension is confirmed only when the two
characters meet in the next act. In 'Die Umwlilzungen' both figures are driven
to madness by the knowledge, as analysed by Derrida, of unanchored inconsis-
tencies in the sign systems they occupy. And, finally, in 'Die Abdankung' the
two protagonists intersect in their search for a means of communication. This
scheme is of course reductive and does full justice neither to the battle scene in
the last act nor to the sense of shock conveyed in the following 'Verwiistung'.
Thus the fourth act is not a solution or resolution in any conventional sense;
rather it is an acknowledgment that the discontinuity between self and other
represents an opportunity to (re)define self. This happens in various ways: in his
dream Cortez is able to enter, albeit in a somewhat tortured way, Montezuma's
vocal environment; in the 'Verwiistung' male and female choruses acknowledge
and try to reconcile a damaged nature; and in their final duet Cortez and
Montezuma achieve a degree of intersubjectivity. Cast like this, self becomes a
form of subjectivity that can communicate not only with nature but also with
other subjectivities instead of merely being a mechanism for establishing protec-
tive boundaries.
These patterns of signification take place on various levels: not only between
the characters (and performers), but also between the subject positions of the
music and those of the listener(s). And when Lacan's registers are considered as
dramatis personae at a more general level, then Die Eroberung enacts a greater
58 Concluding a discussion of Primo Levi, Zilek comments: 'Such a heroic acceptance of the
nonexistence of the Other is, perhaps, the only thoroughly ethical stance today, in art as well
as real life.' Slavoj Zifek and Mladen Dolar, Opera's Second Death (New York and London,
2002ooz), 223.
VOICES OF THE OTHER 27I
fluidity between the sym

in everyday experience. It
this is done is through
provide security, they als
be modelled only at an aus
life. For this reason, the w
significant than any mess
the final duet. Put anoth
to embellish, in a musical
and incomprehensibility t
ABSTRACT
This article explores the theme of self and other in Wolfgang Rihm's music dra
Eroberung von Mexico. After examining how the vocal distinctions between Monte
and Cortez serve to dramatize the mutual cultural incomprehension of these two
acters, it considers how each of them becomes mentally deranged. Finally, it trace
each figure subsequently searches for a means of communication in the last ac
analysing Rihm's understanding of music as a medium, and by deploying the c
resources offered by Tzvetan Todorov, Jacques Lacan and Jacques Derrida, this
argues that Die Eroberung makes a significant contribution to understanding
mechanisms by which identities are enacted.

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Voices of the Other: Wolfgang Rihm's Music Drama "Die Eroberung von Mexico"

Author(s): Alastair Williams

Voices of the Other: Wolfgang Rihm's Music

THE music and aesthetics of Wolfgang Rihm consistently touch o

Following his fiftieth birthday in March 2002, marked in Germany by

for its concluding Mahl

1 For references to Beethov

attuned to such issues, it i

This [music theatre] has to do

If this statement does lit

4 In a dialogue from 1995 Rih

(p. 5I). The same volume also c

after the process of sym

decade Slavoj Zizek, in h

Sources and synops

7 Slavoj 2ilek, Enjoyyour Sym

worked-out drama; instead

" The sources for Die Eroberun

The second act, 'Bekenntni

The specification Rihm arrived at is for three ensembles. Of these ensembles,

13 Rihm, 'Mexiko, Eroberungsnotiz', 390.

17 Roland Barthes, 'The Grain of th

it invites human subjects t

approach to the world, we shall

Aztecs are inclined

dream, as we shall see

Rihm's observation evo

33 Todorov, The Conquest of

(b) Montezuma, p. O10, bars 156-

(c) Montezuma, p. Io, bars I60-2 ;

proves rather apt, since neither

Example 2. Rihm, Die Eroberu

153 (Montezuma erscheint

156 fieieff'zrppp poco pp

doubling is also characteristic of Gesungen

S. > alle: PPP (ausblenden)

Example 3. Rihm, Die Erober

MONTE- A _ ,tr" I .".. -... . 1'- .

Schat - - - ten von Wild - -

pp --~ f ~ pppP ~-= if

order that can tu

38 Rihm sketches very

Example 4. Rihm, Die Erobe

) El. Org. _ ""

6VcI". v v (non dim.)

mf '. > sfll

(Rihm asks for 'rohe, harte

Having examined the musical characterizations of Cortez and Montezuma, it is

Hitherto, I have aligned Montezuma with the imaginary; however, as a king he

supposed to identify. As menti

43 The screaming man also appears in

dispersed into the music

Artaud and representat

44 Speaking of female character

Writing at a formative time in his c

5 There are two essays on Artaud ('La par

comes between us and th

the dying Montezuma recal

writing, here signifyi

5 Bach is, of course, a majo

Example 5. Rihm, Die Erobe

- riss- los, un - er-schpf - i - che

Lie - - - be, der Tod ent - stromt.