Date of Award
Winter 12-22-2025
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Arts (MA)
Department
Music
First Advisor
David Fulmer
Second Advisor
Shafer Mahoney
Academic Program Adviser
Yayoi Uno Everett
Abstract
a warm embrace amongst isolated tears behaves as an ekphrasis of Paula Rego’s triptych The Pillowman (2004). An anecdotal interpretation of Martin McDonagh’s titular play The Pillowman (2003), Rego addresses the story of the Pillowman through her father’s depression. This piece effloresces from the trace of the Pillowman into considering the remnants of suffering exhibited in both works by Rego and McDonagh.
The trumpet has been ontologically oriented to fanfare and pomp by peripheral structures of imperial order. The trumpet and the nation-state are intertwined through militaristic imposition. What does it mean to strip away the power of juridical dominance and shed such oppressive brashness into a diaphanous sonority? This piece reflects on the authoritarian setting of McDonagh’s play in conjunction with the fatal consequences of our reality as of today, where the trumpet is re-oriented to perform subtle, sighing tones that ask for catharsis through tears. The title, “a warm embrace amongst isolated tears” is a phrasal synopsis of the Pillowman’s story, particularly his demise by his own design. His existential purpose was to assist in the suicides of those suffering through temporal manipulation, yet this very vocation festered his own suffering.
The Pillowman should not be distilled as a story of solace through self-inflicted death, but rather an enunciation of isolation that permeates in authoritarian society, and the warm embrace of loved ones allows togetherness where loss and loneliness is ever-expected.
Recommended Citation
Dreyer, Gia, "a warm embrace amongst isolated tears" (2025). CUNY Academic Works.
https://academicworks.cuny.edu/hc_sas_etds/1382
