Psychoanalytic and Musical Ambiguity: the Tritone in Gee, Officer Krupke

Abstract

The poignant and timeless Broadway musical West Side Story is viewed from the standpoint of taking musical forms as psychoanalytic data. The musical configuration of notes called the tritone (or diabolus in musica) is taken as a sonic metaphor expressing ambiguity both in musical vocabulary and in mental life. The tritone, which historically and harmonically represents instability, is heard throughout the score and emphasizes the intrapsychic, interpersonal, and social dramas that unfold within and between the two gangs in West Side Story. Particular emphasis is given to the comic but exceedingly sober song Gee, Officer Krupke. Bernstein's sensitivity to the ambiguity and tension inherent in the tritone in West Side Story is conceptualized as an intersection of music theory and theories of mind; this perspective holds implications for clinical practice and transports psychoanalytic concepts from the couch to the Broadway stage and into the community to address the complexities of love, hate, aggression, prejudice, and violence. Ultimately, West Side Story cross-pollinates music and theater, as well as music and psychoanalytic concepts.