On some iconic strategies in concept albums within the Italian singer-songwriter tradition
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Sebastiano Ferrari
Abstract
This contribution will focus on the recurring iconic patterns originating from the combination of music and lyrics within the Italian singer-songwriter tradition. The main work to be examined is Storia di un impiegato by Fabrizio De André, while some attention will also be paid to Il giorno aveva cinque teste; the latter is the first album originating from the collaboration between the poet Roberto Roversi and the singer and composer Lucio Dalla. The type of iconicity present in these works arises from the interplay of music, performance style and lyrics, proceeding from the meaning of the text towards the form of the music or the purposely created sound effects. Iconicity here may range from a more direct representation of the object (iconic image) to a more abstract reference to it (iconic diagram). Music seems to contextually corroborate the meaning of the words (parameters such as major and minor harmonies, rapid or slow tempos, constant or variable ranges of pitch and dynamics are taken into account) and to guide the listener’s attention whilst listening to the albums.
Abstract
This contribution will focus on the recurring iconic patterns originating from the combination of music and lyrics within the Italian singer-songwriter tradition. The main work to be examined is Storia di un impiegato by Fabrizio De André, while some attention will also be paid to Il giorno aveva cinque teste; the latter is the first album originating from the collaboration between the poet Roberto Roversi and the singer and composer Lucio Dalla. The type of iconicity present in these works arises from the interplay of music, performance style and lyrics, proceeding from the meaning of the text towards the form of the music or the purposely created sound effects. Iconicity here may range from a more direct representation of the object (iconic image) to a more abstract reference to it (iconic diagram). Music seems to contextually corroborate the meaning of the words (parameters such as major and minor harmonies, rapid or slow tempos, constant or variable ranges of pitch and dynamics are taken into account) and to guide the listener’s attention whilst listening to the albums.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- List of contributors ix
- Introduction 1
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Part I. Iconicity and conceptualization
- Iconicity by blending 13
- The Bashō code 25
- Iconicity in gotoochi-kitii ‘localized Hello Kitty’ 43
- Grammar-internal mimicking and analogy 63
- To draw a bow 引 83
- Spatiotemporal aspects of iconicity 95
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Part II. Visual iconicity
- From diagrams to poetry 121
- The iconized letter 141
- The semantics of structure 159
- Visual iconicity in Latin poetry 173
- Shared and direct experiential iconicity in digital reading games 191
- Iconicity, intermediality, and interpersonal meanings in a Social Semiotic Space 211
- Model and icon 233
- Degrees of indetermination in intersemiotic translation 247
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Part III. Auditory iconicity
- Sound, image and fake realism 263
- Opera, oratorio, and iconic strategies 275
- On some iconic strategies in concept albums within the Italian singer-songwriter tradition 295
- Iconically expressible meanings in Proto-Indo-European roots and their reflexes in daughter branches 311
- The lexical iconicity hierarchy and its grammatical correlates 331
- Author index 351
- Subject index 355
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- List of contributors ix
- Introduction 1
-
Part I. Iconicity and conceptualization
- Iconicity by blending 13
- The Bashō code 25
- Iconicity in gotoochi-kitii ‘localized Hello Kitty’ 43
- Grammar-internal mimicking and analogy 63
- To draw a bow 引 83
- Spatiotemporal aspects of iconicity 95
-
Part II. Visual iconicity
- From diagrams to poetry 121
- The iconized letter 141
- The semantics of structure 159
- Visual iconicity in Latin poetry 173
- Shared and direct experiential iconicity in digital reading games 191
- Iconicity, intermediality, and interpersonal meanings in a Social Semiotic Space 211
- Model and icon 233
- Degrees of indetermination in intersemiotic translation 247
-
Part III. Auditory iconicity
- Sound, image and fake realism 263
- Opera, oratorio, and iconic strategies 275
- On some iconic strategies in concept albums within the Italian singer-songwriter tradition 295
- Iconically expressible meanings in Proto-Indo-European roots and their reflexes in daughter branches 311
- The lexical iconicity hierarchy and its grammatical correlates 331
- Author index 351
- Subject index 355
