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Her em Iteru (On the Nile)

Roberts, Phillip Christopher
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1491818188450595

Abstract Details

2017, DMA, University of Cincinnati, College-Conservatory of Music: Composition.
Her em Iteru serves as the culmination of my studies into Egyptological musicology and archeological composition. The materials borrowed from Ancient Egyptian sources include the text, from the Papyrus of Ani, otherwise known as the Book of the Dead, from 1500-1400 B.C.E. and the Egyptian enharmonic scale, recorded by the Ptolemaic Greeks in a method that has since been translated and deciphered. Other materials reflect more closely my personal style as a composer, including a propensity for atmospheric slow movements emphasizing sevenths, and faster movements or sections containing a “groove” or ostinato. While the translations are provided, the piece is sung entirely in the Ancient Egyptian language. The first poem speaks of plowing one’s fields on the banks of the Nile, both worldly and in the afterlife where the rewards may be reaped. The second setting includes many utterance of the word “Ankh,” Egyptian for life. It paints the perspective of a mother after childbirth, thanking the Gods that both she and the newborn live. The opening and closing sections of this movement utilize notes from the only extant scale of Egyptian antiquity, to which ancient harps were tuned. These five notes make up the first chord played on the harp, evoking an atmosphere from thousands of years past. The third movement depicts both celebration and fear at the flooding of the Nile, a yearly event upon which Ancient Egyptians depended for successful harvest. Movement four serves as an interlude, with no vocal part, introducing much of the pitch and timbral materials of the final movement. The last of the set alludes to the Makhent boat, on which the Sun God Ra was said to ferry souls to the afterlife at day’s end. The ostinato evokes a slow barge flowing down the river, with its major seventh interval borrowed from the second, and mirror technique from the third movement. This intervallic mirror corresponds to a vowel palindrome seen in the words “Ra auaait.”
Michael Fiday, Ph.D. (Committee Chair)
Mara (Margaret) Helmuth, D.M.A. (Committee Member)
Douglas Knehans, D.M.A. (Committee Member)
39 p.
Music
Soprano; Music; Ancient; Egypt; Heiroglyphics; Song Cycle

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Roberts, P. C. (2017). Her em Iteru (On the Nile) [Doctoral dissertation, University of Cincinnati]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1491818188450595

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Roberts, Phillip. Her em Iteru (On the Nile). 2017. University of Cincinnati, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1491818188450595.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Roberts, Phillip. "Her em Iteru (On the Nile)." Doctoral dissertation, University of Cincinnati, 2017. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1491818188450595

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

ucin1491818188450595
342
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This open access ETD is published by University of Cincinnati and OhioLINK.
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