Psychoanalytic Reflections on Modulation

Psychoanalytic explorations in music, from Ernst Kris, Heinz Kohut, to Stuart Feder, to Gilbert Rose, Michel Imberty, Zatkalik, Kontić, and many more, point to isomorphism between musical structures and processes on the one hand, and unconscious primary processes on the other, and demonstrate the role of primary process mechanisms (condensation, displacement, representation pars pro toto) in various aspects of music (thematic procedures, large-scale formal processes, elaborations of fundamental structures etc.). Little research, however, has focused specifically on modulations from that vantage. The present article aims to shed light on the ways in which different modulation strategies relate to the unconscious mind. The psychoanalytic perspective on modulation is itself multifaceted. As examples from Mozart and Franck will show, modulation can be viewed as interplay between id, ego and superego, or between primary and secondary processes; its effects can be experienced as traumatic splitting and integration, loss and its denial; recurring tonalities are akin to the return of the repressed content; the moment of modulation via a common chord involves the basic primary mechanism of condensation, and so on. While focusing on one specific resource of one specific (tonal) musical language, this article also endeavors to include a broader picture of the connections between music and psychoanalysis, and contribute to our understanding of the powerful effects of music, and its paramount role in our lives.