The Construction of Humor in a Guitar Performance by Pavel Steidl in Light of Semiotics

Abstract

In this paper we investigate how the construction of meaning occurs in a solo guitar performance, taking into account the forms of expression at play, such as sounds, gestures, facial expressions, relationship between enunciator and enunciatee, as well as their levels of relevance and the contextual conditions of the enunciative scene, in order to understand the relationships between these available manifestations and the force that organizes this common project. We analyze the audiovisual record of a live performance by Pavel Steidl (2010) playing the piece Lambada für Elise, a work of his authorship. In order to operationalize the analytical developments, some basic concepts from Claude Zilberberg's tensive semiotics (2006, 2011) are used, more specifically the correlations between the intensive axis (that of sensibility) and the extensive axis (that of intelligibility) in the perception of the discursive elements at play. Finally, we note the importance, in the case of our analysis, of considering the performance beyond musical sounds, as well as in its dialogue with tradition and history, to understand the construction of the humor that marks this performance.