Staging (Theatre) Music Reception: Voicing Unacoustics in Sophocles’s Trackers

Abstract

Ichneutai/Trackers by Sophocles is, probably, the first theatrical representation of the creation of music in European scenic tradition. This chapter embarks from the observation that the play not only deploys music as expressive tool but also thematizes music, establishing on-stage modalities for listening to theatre music. Although in this ‘originary musicotheatrical scene’ instrumental music is predominant, Thomaidis suggests that listening critically to voice helps us understand some foundational presuppositions of (European) theatre music. First, the chapter outlines general directions in the intersection of “theatre music” and “voice”. Then, it listens closely to the fragmentary text of the play as a vocal performance score and outlines 5 key functions of voice in the play in relation to music. These are: (i) voice as linguistic representation of music; (ii) voice as material backdrop to music; (iii) voice as a dramaturgy of listening; (iv) voice as more-than-human aural imaginary; and (v) voice as the staging of acoustic impossibility. With a primary emphasis on the latter, the final part of the chapter examines Mikhail Marmarinos’s 2021 production of the play. Here, Thomaidis probes what he terms as unacoustics, asking: what is the role of voice in the performance of music that is (supposed to be) impossible to hear or manifests itself in sonic terms beyond sensual comprehension?