Voice and Lyrics in Sacred Music: A Semiotic Analysis of Songs

Abstract

This paper examines a modern composition for male vocal quartet — “Eu quero olhar”, by Jader Santos —, based on Tatit’s theoretical model of semiotic analysis of songs, in order to find the syntactic interactions and conceptual operations revealed by the understanding of Christian songs. Most studies on contemporary sacred music have analyzed its sociological and theological surroundings, thus establishing gospel music as a preferential object of research. Our goal is to understand the internal mechanisms of this music. In this light, the musical sample we have chosen, due to the degree of sophistication of its lyrics, melody and harmony, establishes a distinct ground for analytic observation. Music analyses seldom highlight the lyrics. However, those lyrics could also be investigated taking into consideration the aesthetic totality, in which the text, the melody, the harmony, the rhythm, and the arrangement interwine as indispensable musical elements. Besides, the theoretical pattern of music analysis researched by Luiz Tatit, which emphasizes the study of compatibility between melody and lyrics, allows for the identification of the tensive values at work in the construction of meaning of a song.