Mirrors

Abstract

The trope of reflection foregrounds the idea that art is not a representation of reality but its remaking as a heterotopic space (Foucault). Two river paintings of Monet and Matisse’s The Open Window (1905) are explored as studies in the nature of vision and looking, anticipating Merleau-Ponty’s exploration of visuality and our perception of the world. Music since Debussy does something similar, as is shown in Saariaho’s two ‘Nymphéas’ pieces and in Boulez’s Constellation-Miroir from the Third Piano Sonata. The idea of a threshold is explored musically in relation to works from Fauré’s song cycle Mirages (1919) through to Grisey’s last work, Quatre chants pour franchir le seuil (1998). The idea of mirror reflection finds a musical parallel in the idea of sound and echo, central to the development of electro-acoustic music.