Performance March 13th

Kate Soper

b. 1981

“Cipher” from Ipsa Dixit

I. Jenny Holzer feat. Ludwig WittgensteinII. Pietro Bembo feat. Michael DraytonIII. Introducing Sigmund FreudIV. Guido d'Arezzo presents Sarah Teasdale (feat. Jenny Holzer)

Julia Johnson, soprano

Farrah O’Shea, viola

“Cipher” is the final movement of Kate Soper’s six-part chamber music/theater work Ipsa Dixit (2011). The title is a feminist adaptation of the Latin phrase, ipse dixit, which translates, literally, to “he, himself, said it”.  By altering this phrase to the feminine ipsa dixit, Soper changes the meaning to “she, herself, said it,” thus signaling a deconstruction of the idea that language and knowledge exist only within the realm of masculinity—the idea that  “he” has said it, and that, therefore, it must be true. In the title alone, Soper disrupts the idea that knowledge is a stable, unchanging entity, and posits instead, knowledge as action rooted in a dynamic, fluid exchange between people. This is a theme she explores throughout the larger work with varied instrumentation and through the texts of a host of philosophers and artists. 

In “Cipher,” for violin and soprano, Soper engages wit and irony, presenting scenarios that leave the audience befuddled, yet intrigued. For example, in the first movement, the violinist and soprano very seriously present the phrase “I came to language because I wanted to be explicit about things” while employing extended techniques that deliberately obscure clear transmission of the words. This pattern continues throughout the work, as phrases fail to add up to any larger sense of meaning, never giving the audience a sense of what it is that needs to be so explicitly communicated. A “cipher,” typically understood as a key to understanding, in this case reveals no deeper meaning other than perhaps the absence of meaning all together.