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The role of the body in musical performance has recently received quite a lot of study. In most cases, the gesture is seen as subservient to the sound it creates: this is also the case in linguistic studies of gesture—the gesture usually “accompanies” the speech act, placing the visual second to the aural. Instrumental music in the twentieth century has seen an increase in the importance of the body in performance. Many works incorporate (either directly or indirectly) an element of theatricality in addition to the purely sonic content. Sofia Gubaidulina is one of many composers whose music features an increased attention to the body. In some passages of her compositions, practical bodily gestures—those movements of the body that are concerned with producing sound from one’s instrument—are actually more important to the work than the resulting sounds. In this paper, I examine some of these passages with a particular focus on Gubaidulina’s writing for cello and double bass. The first part of the paper offers a brief overview of gestural studies in music and linguistics in an effort to develop some terminology for use in the analyses. The second part of the paper provides examples of gestural symbolism in a number of Gubaidulina’s works for low strings. The final part of my paper examines Gubaidulina’s silent works—those in which gestures are prescribed but no sound results—and offers some directions for further study.

The Importance of Bodily Gesture in Sofia Gubaidulina’s Music for Low Strings