Journal articles: 'Political aspects of Musical theater'

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Krouk, Dean. "The Montage Rhetoric of Nordahl Grieg’s Interwar Drama." Humanities 7, no. 4 (October 15, 2018): 99. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/h7040099.

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This essay explains the modernist montage rhetoric of Nordahl Grieg’s 1935 drama Vår ære og vår makt in the context of the playwright’s interest in Soviet theater and his Communist sympathies. After considering the historical background for the play’s depiction of war profiteers in Bergen, Norway, during the First World War, the article analyzes Grieg’s use of a montage rhetoric consisting of grotesque juxtapositions and abrupt scenic shifts. Attention is also given to the play’s use of incongruous musical styles and its revolutionary political message. In the second part, the article discusses Grieg’s writings on Soviet theater from the mid-1930s. Grieg embraced innovative aspects of Soviet theater at a time when the greatest period of experimentation in post-revolutionary theater was already ending, and Socialist Realism was being imposed. The article briefly discusses Grieg’s controversial pro-Stalinist, anti-fascist position, before concluding that Vår ære og vår makt represents an important instance of Norwegian appropriation of international modernist and avant-garde theater.

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O'Leary, James. "Oklahoma!, “Lousy Publicity,” and the Politics of Formal Integration in the American Musical Theater." Journal of Musicology 31, no. 1 (January 1, 2014): 139–82. http://dx.doi.org/10.1525/jm.2014.31.1.139.

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The achievements of Rodger and Hammerstein’s Oklahoma! (1943) are well known: since the musical opened, critics have proclaimed it a new version of the genre, distinguished by its “integrated” form, in which all aspects of the production—score, script, costume, set, and choreography—are interrelated and inseparable. Although today many scholars acknowledge that Oklahoma! was not the first musical to implement the concept of integration, the musical is often considered revolutionary. Building on the work of Tim Carter, I use the correspondence and press materials in the Theatre Guild Collection of the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library at Yale University to situate the idea of integration into two intimately related discourses: contemporary notions of aesthetic prestige and World War II-era politics. By comparing the advertising of Oklahoma! to the Guild’s publicity for its previous musical productions (especially Porgy and Bess, which was labeled integrated in 1935), I demonstrate that press releases from the show’s creative team strategically deployed rhetoric and vocabulary that variously depicted the show as both highbrow and lowbrow, while distancing it from middlebrow entertainment. I then describe how the aesthetic register implied by this tiered rhetoric carried political overtones, connotations that are lost to us today because the word “integration” has become reified as a purely formal concept.

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Milanovic, Biljana. "Politics in the context of the “Opera question” in the national theatre before the first world war." Muzikologija, no. 12 (2012): 37–61. http://dx.doi.org/10.2298/muz120202002m.

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Part of the history of the National Theatre in Belgrade in the decade before the First World War relates to processes of discontinuity in the professionalization and modernization of the musical section in this institution and its repertoire. It had to do with abrupt changes reflected in three short-lived phases: improvements in musical ensemble and opera performances (1906-1909), the annulment of these efforts and results with a return to the old repertoire, and then again a new beginning once more with a fresh attempt to establish the Opera (1913-14). These dynamics were affected by the social and political context. It was dependent on frequent changes of the Theatre?s management staff whose main representatives had mutually conflicting views on important questions concerning the functioning of their institution. Relations between them were strongly marked by contested political motives. Theatre managers were appointed by ministers of education who could also be relieved of their posts, and members of the management staff were always active in political parties. These facts acted as a decisive factor in their communication which was similar to the behaviour and customs of public political life where an opponent is seen as an enemy, not as a partner in solving common problems. Critical and polemical discourses on important aspects of organization and programme strategy of the Theatre were burdened by political rivalry which also found its place in discussions on the cultivation of music. Questions relating to music were considered in a declarative way, so that music was instrumentalized as a means of political empowerment. The facts about music in the National Theatre raise many issues related to aspects of modernization, national identification, transfers of ?high? and popular musical cultures as well as to other problems of social, historical and cultural contexts that were intertwined in the operation of the Theatre. The context of political problems in the National Theatre opens some important topics discussed in the text: the discontinuous process of the development of the musical ensemble and its repertoire in conditions of changing management staff; prominent musical professionals and ideologists of cultural life and their relations to the musical and dramatic repertoire as well as to their audiences; potential Belgrade audience reception and their reactions to the musical and dramatic repertoire of the National Theatre. An integral analysis of these may show inconsistency between ideological and artistic intentions of individuals and the needs of the audience during the course of modernization.

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Spivakovskyi, Oleksandr. "Ukrainian performances of small form operas in the era of the 2000s." Ukrainian musicology 46 (October 27, 2020): 75–85. http://dx.doi.org/10.31318/0130-5298.2020.46.234597.

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The purpose of the work. The article defines the role of the small form operas in the development of Ukrainian music and drama theatre of the 2000s. The research methodology is based on key provisions, concepts of music directing, developed during the twentieth century and their diversification in today's realities. Such general scientific methods as art history, history, analysis and synthesis, and comparative methods were chosen to compare Ukrainian productions of small form operas of the 2000s. The scientific novelty of the work lies in rethinking functioning of small opera forms according to the realities of modern Ukraine and elucidating the factors influencing their modern development and changes. Conclusions. The role of operas of small forms in the repertoire of Ukrainian musical theatres and artistic-theatrical projects is increasing under various conditions such as: socio-cultural and political conflicts of a new millennium, the role of operas of small forms in the repertoire of Ukrai-nian musical theatres and artistic-theatrical projects is increasing. The modern audience is the part of information society, which exists on its own, often developing at an accelerated pace, and it must be taken into account by the directors of musical theatre when deciding on the repertoire for subsequent staging of an opera. The relevance of the drama of the selected works, ideological and artistic qualities, aesthetic and educational aspects of the opera, as well as the assessment of creative and material possibilities for the realization of the idea of the play are essential, crucial elements that should be taken into consideration in order to ensure effective opera staging and production. In the 2000s, art and theatre projects enriched Ukrainian stage by conducting research and experimenting with the scope and subject of performance as well as with their genre and style, thus confirming and updating small opera forms.

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Makliuk, D. "Ivan Mazepa’s personality as a cultural symbol: historicalperforming aspects." Problems of Interaction Between Arts, Pedagogy and the Theory and Practice of Education 55, no. 55 (November 20, 2019): 61–76. http://dx.doi.org/10.34064/khnum1-55.05.

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Abstract. The article explores the image of I. Mazepa in the context of numerous sources devoted to the personality of the Ukrainian hetman in historical science, literature and music. The analysis shows that the ideas of the great Ukrainian in the works of art evolve: from a traitor to a patriot. If in the 18th – 19th centuries artists created this image being inspired by myths, then from the early 20th century and up to the present time the historical approach has been dominant. In this paper the author suggests performing aspect basing on the vocal and scenic image of I. Mazepa created by him on the stage of Kharkiv National Opera and Ballet Theater named after M. Lysenko. The interpretation of the extraordinary personality of the Ukrainian hetman gives the audience an opportunity to look at Mazepa from a historical perspective. It is noted that his image in this performance is not limited to a national vision, but acquires a universal character. I. Mazepa’s personality is of great interest to modern Ukrainians living both in their historical homeland and far beyond its borders. At present, contradictory assessments of Mazepa’s role in the chronicle of Ukrainian history require the establishment of historical and artistic truth. P. Tchaikovsky’s opera Mazepa is perceived as a fruitful material to search for a new interpretation of the image. It was first performed on the stage of Kharkiv National Opera and Ballet Theater named after N. V. Lysenko on July 2, 2017 to mark the 330th anniversary of Ivan Mazepa’s election as hetman of Ukraine. This fact gives a chance to bring into focus a relevant performing interpretation of the image of this outstanding figure in Ukrainian history. Among the numerous historians and literary critics cited in the article, we find a new interpretation of Mazepa’s image in contrast to music studies (N. Lupak’s dissertation). The method of analysis is conditioned by the creative practice of the KhNAOBTh and its own performance experience. The purpose of the study is to substantiate the reinterpretation of Mazepa’s vocal and scenic image in the production of the P. I. Tchaikovsky’s opera of the same name on the stage of KhNAOBTh named after M. Lysenko (2017) basing on the critical analysis of scientific historiography. The attitude towards I. Mazepa as a historical personality and a person has always been ambiguous. He combined the incomparable: on the one hand, he was a great military and political figure who fought for the creation of the Ukrainian state, on the other hand – a treacherous traitor; at his initiative, 26 Orthodox churches were created throughout Ukraine and, at the same time, he was an apostate devotee who took part in the destruction of Ukrainian cities and villages; a person capable of loving in the broadest sense of the word. He had everything that attracted and aroused great interest of writers, composers, artists, directors not only in our country but also far beyond its borders. And each author interpreted the image of Mazepa in their own way. In the 19th century, the image of the Ukrainian hetman fell into the area of artistic interests of M. Staritsky. He, like Voltaire and Byron, used the Western European legend of Mazepa in the novel “Mazepa’s Youth”, which was appropriate for its genre (historical-adventure). Naturally, the idea of “independent Ukraine” did not fit into Russia’s interests. In Tchaikovsky’s opera Mazepa (1883), based on A. Pushkin’s story (libretto by V. P. Burenin) everything is quite complex. It is important to note that many researchers of Tchaikovsky’s creativity believe that in Tchaikovsky’s Mazepa historical facts are sidelined while lyrical love scenes dominate. There were a number of questions when the image of Mazepa was ctreated in the original Ukrainian version of the opera on the stage of Kharkiv National Academic Opera and Ballet Theater named after N. Lysenko. The main one is how to maintain faithfulness not only to historical but also to the life’s truth? The times of the Hetmanate in Ukraine were silenced for about 300 years, and, in particular, the true life of one of its most famous representatives was unknown. But in order to create an image, it is important to know the smallest shades of your character’s psychotype. As the lyrical scenes of Mary and Mazepa are the central line in the opera, it is necessary to understand what kind of relationship they really had. Kharkiv stage directors of P. Tchaikovsky’s opera (director Armen Kaloyan and conductor People’s Artist of Ukraine Garkusha) sought to convey this very episode from the life of Mazepa, who openly loves his darling and suffers from having to cruelly deal with her father and hurt her badly. In addition, there was created their own version of the text (by Victor Marinchak, Svetlana Oleshko and Mikhail Barbara) and changes were made to the musical dramaturgy of the opera. The main idea of stage directors was to transform the content of the opera into another field – to reveal the image of the hetman as a significant figure in the history of Ukraine, which was much more important for Mazepa than the alliance with Peter I. The difficulty of creating a vocal and scenic image of Mazepa lies in its multi-vector character, which should not interfere with artistic unity and integrity: Mazepa-lover (in the tradition of Western European romanticism), Mazepastatesman (Ukrainian national tradition) and, at the same time, in the interpretation of Kharkiv theatre Mazepa-traitor had to be neutralized (an enemy that is characteristic of Russian imperial thinking). The motives of torments, sorrow and, along with this, the rebellious nature of the protagonist become considerable in the opera, rising to genuine symbolism. Thus, in the vast number of works dedicated to I. Mazepa, his image is not limited to the national framework, but acquires a universal significance. Conclusions. Analysis has shown the evolution of ideas about the great Ukrainian: from traitor to patriot and legendary hetman. If in the 18th century the image of the Ukrainian hero was interpreted in many ways by its creators on the basis of myths, then in the 20th – 21st centuries the historical approach prevails in understanding performing interpretation of Mazepa. The creation of a complex, extraordinary personality on the opera stage requires from the performer, in addition to knowledge of Mazepa’s vocal part, a thorough study of various axiological judgments. The above given interpretations of I. Mazepa’s image reflect the irreconcilable confrontation and “blood” belonging of one or another author to different systems of values of the worldview. Such interpretations indicate that the image of I. Mazepa is interpreted as a symbol, an archetype of the national opera tradition. Undertaking further study of the theme can involve performing analysis of Mazepa’s image on the stages of Kyiv and Odessa opera theaters with a view of understanding the performing principles when teaching young vocalists in the class of solo singing.

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Taylor, Millie. "Miss Littlewood and me: Performing ethnography." Studies in Musical Theatre 14, no. 1 (April 1, 2020): 65–76. http://dx.doi.org/10.1386/smt_00019_1.

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Joan Littlewood (1914‐2002) was a pioneer of theatre directing in the United Kingdom, most famous for her production of Oh What a Lovely War!. This article performs an ethnographic study of Miss Littlewood, a 2018 musical by Sam Kenyon, which documents Littlewood’s life and work using the style of the earlier show. Miss Littlewood’s plot reveals details of Littlewood’s life and work, while its form mirrors the montage techniques that she pioneered in Britain. The article uses interviews and rehearsal observations to document aspects of the process by which Miss Littlewood was developed. It reflects on the tensions that are revealed between that relatively luxurious process and Littlewood’s political and financial realities. Ethnography was an ideal method for documenting this process because it facilitated observation of relationships between the various works and demonstrated the fluidity and creativity of academic writing.

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Mitchell, Katie, and Mario Frendo. "A Conversation on Directing Opera." New Theatre Quarterly 37, no. 3 (July 19, 2021): 246–55. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0266464x21000142.

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Katie Mitchell has been directing opera since 1996, when she debuted on the operatic stage with Mozart and Da Ponte’s Don Giovanni at the Welsh National Opera. Since then, she has directed more than twenty-nine operas in major opera houses around the world. Mitchell here speaks of her directorial approach when working with the genre, addressing various aspects of interest for those who want a better grasp of the dynamics of opera-making in the twenty-first century. Ranging from the director’s imprint, or signature on the work they put on the stage, to the relationships forged with people running opera institutions, Mitchell reflects on her experiences when staging opera productions. She sheds light on some fundamental differences between theatre-making and opera production, including the issue of text – the libretto, the dramatic text, and the musical score – and the very basic fact that in opera a director is working with singers, that is, with musicians whose attitude and behaviour on stage is necessarily different from that of actors in the theatre. Running throughout the conversation is Mitchell’s commitment to ensure that young and contemporary audiences do not see opera as a museum artefact but as a living performative experience that resonates with the aesthetics and political imperatives of our contemporary world. She speaks of the uncompromising political imperatives that remain central to her work ethic, even if this means deserting a project before it starts, and reflects on her long-term working relations with opera institutions that are open to new and alternative approaches to opera-making strategies. Mitchell underlines her respect for the specific rules of an art form that, because of its collaborative nature, must allow more space for theatre-makers to venture within its complex performative paths if it wants to secure a place in the future. Mario Frendo is Senior Lecturer of Theatre and Performance and Head of the Department of Theatre Studies at the School of Performing Arts, University of Malta, where he is the director of CaP, a research group focusing on the links between culture and performance.

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Yan, Yang. "The activities of the Chinese orchestras of the traditional instruments of the new type in the 1960s - 1970s." Problems of Interaction Between Arts, Pedagogy and the Theory and Practice of Education 49, no. 49 (September 15, 2018): 198–211. http://dx.doi.org/10.34064/khnum2-49.14.

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Background. The article discusses one of the most complex and controversial periods in the development of the Chinese orchestra of traditional instruments of the new type – the 1960–70s. Since 1966, with the beginning of the Cultural Revolution, all conservatories were closed, and Western instruments and teaching materials were destroyed. Chinese musicians, unable to play classical music, were forced to work with folk songs and folklore in remote provinces. The objective assessment of this historical phenomenon makes it possible to evaluate it not only as a dead end on China’s path to modern progress, but also as an era of constructive innovations and efforts to make a real change in China’s cultural heritage. The specifics of the creative activity of orchestras conducted by conductors Li Delun, Huang Yijun, Li Guoquan, Yang Jizhen is highlighted. Objectives. The purpose of the article is to identify the specifics of the development of the Chinese orchestra of traditional instruments in the 1960s – 1970s, to determine the role of prominent Chinese musicians in the process of modernizing the orchestra and creating a national repertoire during this period. Research methods are based on scientific approaches necessary for the disclosure of the topic. The methodology is based on an integrated approach that combines the principle of musical theoretical, musical historical and executive analysis. Results. As soon as the Cultural Revolution began, the music centers in Beijing and Shanghai came under attack. Composers were deprived of their creative freedom, since all the works had to correspond to the political situation of the time. At this time, collective creativity in the genre of opera and ballet, written according to certain pattern and corresponding to the ideas of Mao Zedong, is widely adopted. As standards of “new art”, official propaganda put forward “exemplary” revolutionary performances – Yanbanshee, almost entirely based on the material of the period of the liberation struggle. The Central and Shanghai orchestras were also persecuted. The chief conductor of the Central Symphony Orchestra, Li Delun was arrested. Since 1963, the programs of the Shanghai Orchestra of Chinese Instruments have begun to reflect the country’s transition to the Cultural Revolution. In the compositions appeared more pronounced revolutionary ideals, showing the need for government reform. Such content was, for example, the orchestral suite "Revolutionary Song", created by the musicians of the Shanghai orchestra. Due to the policy of the Cultural Revolution after 1964, the orchestra completely ceased to perform. In 1964, works performed at a concert in honor of the nation’s birthday included revolutionary pieces such as “Praise to the People”, “Spring Gong Enhances Performance”, “Battle in Shanghai”, and others. Shanghai Orchestra Conductor Juan Yijun, composer Luo Zhongrong, one of the authors of the revolutionary symphony “Shatszyaban” was persecuted and sent to the countryside for forced labor. In 1966, as a result of the repressions, outstanding conductors Li Guoquan and Yang Jazheng died. The widespread distribution of orchestras in China is a paradox. “Exemplary Performances” played an active role in the distribution of Chinese symphonic music. Many amateur orchestras significantly increased their professional level and could perform individual symphonic works. Major symphonic works on revolutionary themes were also created: Qu Wei’s “The Gray-Haired Girl” symphonic suite (created by his ballet), Tian Feng’s “Five Cantatas to lyrics by Mao Zedong”, “Pipa Concert for Orchestra” and “Steppe Sisters” Wu Zujiang, Liu Dehai, Wang Yanqiao. Another genre was music for ballets (“The Red Women’s Battalion”, “The Gray-Haired Girl”). Conclusions. In the period from the 1960s to the 1970s, Chinese orchestral music was enriched with new genres that influenced its subsequent development. In spite of the fact that the main models of Yangbanshee are the opera and ballet genres, major symphonic works were also created: the symphony “Shatszyaban” (Luo Zhongzhong, Yang Muyun, Deng Jiaan, Tan Jingming); Qu Wei’s symphonic suite “The Gray-Haired Girl”; Overture “Festival” Xu Yang Yang, Pipa Concert with Orchestra “Steppe Sisters” Wu Zuqiang, Liu Dehai, Wang Yanqiao. In these compositions combine the traditions of Chinese musical art and European orchestral art, embodied the creative search for Chinese composers and performers to create samples of the modern symphony genre in China. Collective creativity was widespread: on the one hand, the efforts of several people created largescale monumental compositions, on the other hand, the individual author’s principle was leveled, which made it possible to “depersonalize” music. However, an understanding of the cultural aspects of Yanbanshee and its features in a political context is of great importance for an objective study of the development processes of musical art in China. Starting around the 1990s, the political thaw allowed musical works from the time of the Cultural Revolution, gradually returning them to the mainstream of the achievements of Chinese society. Since then, the Yanbanshee has a strong tendency to revive, enjoying the support of the population and continuing to be very popular in the theater, on television, and in the form of commercial and private entertainment.

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Kropova, Daria Sergeevna. "From Greek Tragedy To Opera-Film." Journal of Flm Arts and Film Studies 7, no. 2 (June 15, 2015): 62–72. http://dx.doi.org/10.17816/vgik7262-72.

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There are some common features between opera (film-opera and theater-opera) and the Greek tragedy. Hereafter a question arises: why theoreticians and artists try to revive tragedy - what is so important in ancient drama that remains actual up to date? The author argues, that musical drama (opera) is the successor to the Greek tragedy, whereas cinema exposes musical and ancient nature of the opera clearer, than theater. The author dwells upon new possibilities of opera: different ways ofcooperation between musical and visual constituents, differences between stage and screen operas; advantages of the film-opera. The screen adaptation of opera is very actual and has special aspects. It is obvious, that opera enriches cinema language and cinema reforms traditional theatrical musical drama. There is a number of works, which are devoted to the problem of the opera- film (mostly written by music experts), but there are no special research on the part of cinema theoreticians. Cinema-opera differs from theater-opera. Cooperation between image and music is defined by specific features of the camera. The opportunities of cinema are wider in some aspects and may advance reform of stage. Integration of arts in opera-film is connected with integration of arts in the Greek tragedy. The Athenian drama, grown up from ancient cults, is connected with ancient rituals. Since the ancient sources of drama find their reflection in film-opera, the latter reaches out these cults.

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Pankiv, L. "Formation of artistic orientations of senior pupils in the process of musical-theater activities: methodological aspects." Pedagogy and Psychology 45, no. 4 (December 31, 2020): 170–78. http://dx.doi.org/10.51889/2020-4.2077-6861.21.

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The article highlights the problems of artistic education of high school students in modern conditions. The essence and significance of the artistic orientations of the individual in the context of his spiritual development are considered. Taking into account the age and psychological characteristics of high school students, the role of musical and theatrical activity in the formation of artistic orientations of high school students as a value and selective attitude to art has been substantiated. The pedagogical conditions and methods of the formation of artistic orientations of senior pupils in the process of musical and theatrical activity are revealed. The distinguished methodological aspects of the formation of artistic orientations of senior pupils in the process of musical and theatrical activity are considered as the basis for the effectiveness of pedagogical work in this direction. It has been proved that the formation of the artistic orientations of high school students in the process of musical and theatrical activity opens up new opportunities for art education on the path of the spiritual development of youth.

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Devenport, Scott P., and Adrian C. North. "Predicting musical taste: Relationships with personality aspects and political orientation." Psychology of Music 47, no. 6 (August 13, 2019): 834–47. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0305735619864647.

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Based on their meta-analysis, Schäfer and Mehlhorn argue that the weak relationships identified indicate that personality is a poor predictor of musical taste. The present research challenged this by measuring personality aspects rather than the Big Five domains and also political orientation. A sample of 157 university students aged 17 to 55 years ( M = 24.60, SD = 7.63) completed measures of musical taste (Short Test of Musical Preference [STOMP-R]), personality (Big Five Aspects Scale [BFAS]), and political orientation (International Personality Item Pool [IPIP] Liberalism). Responses to the STOMP-R produced four factors, labeled Intense, Rhythmic, Established, and Mainstream music. Hierarchical multiple regression indicated that, in comparison to domains ( R2 range = .12–.23, p < .05), aspects of personality were better predictors of musical taste for three of four musical dimensions ( R2 range = .20–.28, p < .05). Both the aspect and domain models included political orientation. Conflicting correlational relationships within domains were responsible for weaker relationships at the domain level. Aspects of intellect, openness, assertiveness, compassion, politeness, and also political orientation were unique predictors of musical taste across the four dimensions. Personality aspects and political orientation were superior predictors of musical taste in comparison to personality domains. Future research should investigate these aspect-level relationships in more diverse samples.

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Taruskin, Richard. "Crowd, mob, and nation in Boris Godunov: What did musorgsky think, and does it matter?" Studia Musicologica 52, no. 1-4 (March 1, 2011): 123–42. http://dx.doi.org/10.1556/smus.52.2011.1-4.9.

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When Musorgsky revised his opera Boris Godunov in 1871–1872 as a condition for its eventual performance in 1874, he made many changes that went far beyond what the Imperial Theaters demanded of him. Among these changes was the composition of a crowd scene outside Moscow, in which the rebellious populace hails the Pretender, to replace a crowd scene at Red Square in which a submissive, hungry crowd beg Boris for bread. The original scene came, like the rest of the libretto, directly from Pushkin’s eponymous play. The new scene reflected a new view of the historical events, and Musorgsky wrote his own text for it. The two scenes are ideologically at odds, particularly as regards their view of the Russian nation in relation to the Russian people. Moreover, the two scenes share the episode of the Holy Fool and the thieving boys, which Musorgsky transferred from the one score to the other. Obviously, Musorgsky regarded them as incompatible within a single production and thought he had made conflating them impossible. And yet, at the Bolshoy Theater in 1939, the two scenes were indeed played that way, inconsistencies and redundancies be damned. The Bolshoy production (which became widely known through recordings and film) might be written off, the way we tend to write off the art of the Stalinist era, as a politically motivated anomaly. But other productions, including one in San Francisco in 1992, and one that was mounted in 2010 at the Teatro Regio in Torino, have included both scenes without any such evident motivation, possibly because the Bolshoy production is now regarded by some as canonical. Is the historiographical contradiction involving our theme of Opera and Nation to be regarded as a blemish? If not, what considerations can be seen to outweigh it? Can Musorgsky’s political ideas be deduced from the work in which we assume they are embodied? And if they can be, should they be regarded as an aspect of the work that performers need respect?

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Taruskin, Richard. "Crowd, Mob, and Nation in Boris Godunov: What Did Musorgsky Think, and Does It Matter?" Journal of Musicology 28, no. 2 (2011): 143–65. http://dx.doi.org/10.1525/jm.2011.28.2.143.

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When Musorgsky revised his opera Boris Godunov in 1871–72 as a condition for its eventual performance in 1874, he made many changes that went far beyond what the Imperial Theaters demanded of him. Among these changes was the composition of a crowd scene outside Moscow, in which the rebellious populace hails the Pretender, to replace a crowd scene at Red Square in which a submissive, hungry crowd begs Boris for bread. The original scene came, like the rest of the libretto, directly from Pushkin's eponymous play. The new scene reflected a new view of the historical events, and Musorgsky wrote his own text for it. The two scenes are ideologically at odds, particularly as regards their view of the Russian nation in relation to the Russian people. Moreover, the two scenes share the episode of the Holy Fool and the thieving boys, which Musorgsky transferred from the one score to the other. Obviously, Musorgsky regarded them as incompatible within a single production and thought he had made conflating them impossible. And yet, at the Bolshoy Theater, beginning in 1927, the two scenes have indeed been played that way, inconsistencies and redundancies be damned. The Bolshoy production of 1939 (which became widely known and influential through recordings and film) might be written off, the way we tend to write off the art of the Stalinist era, as a politically motivated anomaly. But many other productions and most recordings since 1948 have included both scenes without any such evident motivation, indicating that the Bolshoy production is now regarded as canonical. Is the historiographical contradiction involving the theme of the conference at which this article was first presented (“Opera and Nation,” Budapest 2010) to be regarded as a blemish? If not, what considerations can be seen to outweigh it? Can Musorgsky's political ideas be deduced from the work in which we assume they are embodied? And if they can be, should they be regarded as an aspect of the work that performers need respect?

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MacDonald, Calum. "The Anti-Formalist ‘Rayok’ – Learners Start Here!" Tempo, no. 173 (June 1990): 23–30. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0040298200019094.

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Much of what follows concerns itself with issues which are inevitably (and properly) extra-musical. But the musical significance of the recently-exhumed and now partially recorded ork by Dmitri Shostakovich which seems to be called (or thought of as) Antiformalisticheski Rayok is worth stressing at the outset. This little cantata ‘for reader, four basses, mixed chorus and piano accompaniment’ could hardly be claimed as one of the Soviet master's major utterances: it is, rather, a particularly bitter and subversive satirical squib – much of its fascination stems from the explicitness and political discomfort of the attack, and the identity of its targets. On the other hand, it is a not unimportant contribution to a specifically Russian tradition of musical satire: it can be seen to be taking its place in – and rendering more intelligible – the development of Shostakovich's personal commitment to that tradition, as he moved from the zany and anarchic grotesquerie of his early film, ballet and theatre scores to the oblique but devastating critique of officialdom and philistinism that underlies such enigmatic pieces as the Preface to the Complete Edition of My Works, op. 123 and his very last song-cycle, the Verses of Captain Lebyadkin, op. 146. Rayok belongs in their company, but is neither oblique nor enigmatic: it represents, in an extreme vitriolic form, an aspect of Shostakovich's musical humour that could only express itself publicly through a protective mask of irony. The vitriol is here undiluted, because Rayok was written with no thought of publication: was indeed unpublishable at the time, and in the political conditions, under which it was conceived.

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Fedenko, Alevtyna. "The importance of M. Kropyvnytskyi’s children’s theater for the formation of a professional musical children’s theater in Ukraine." Aspects of Historical Musicology 19, no. 19 (February 7, 2020): 332–45. http://dx.doi.org/10.34064/khnum2-19.19.

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Introduction and statement of the problem. Before the revolution of 1917, artists, writers, musicians and teachers created a rich literary fund that could be the basis for professional musical children’s theater in Ukraine. That is why there is a need to study the children’s musical and dramatic heritage of the past, which is an inexhaustible treasury of cultural and educational ideas that can be creatively developed and successfully applied in modern conditions. The process of creative development of the genre of children’s musical performance is today one of the most pressing problems of professional theater for children, take in account its growing popularity, both in the world and in Ukrainian musical culture. The lack of scientific research that fully and comprehensively cover the scientific and practical significance of musical children’s plays by Marko Kropyvnytskyi for the development of musical children’s theater in Ukraine indicates the need for more in-depth researching of the chosen topic. In our research, we rely on the works and articles of authoritative experts – in particular, I. Franko (1910), M. Voronyi (1913), D. Antonovich (1925), P. Rulin (1929), I. Mar’ianenko (1953), P. Kyrychok (1985), N. Yosipenko (1958), P. Perepelitsa (1956), A. Novikov (2007; 2011), L. Moroz (1990). The vast majority of researchers noted the great merits of the artist to the national drama in particular and Ukrainian culture in general. Among the scientific works devoted to Kropyvnytskyi as a children’s playwright, one can distinguish the research by A. Novikov (2007), which focuses on the history of creation of the first children’s troupe in the country, which had no analogues in the history of the world theater, since the actors in it were peasant children. In mentioned critical and scientific works, the innovative features of the playwright’s creative heritage are outlined, attention is focused on the specifics of the genre and problem-thematic range, literary-aesthetic, socio-political, and pedagogical views. The literary and theatrical activity of M. Kropyvnytskyi has been thoroughly studied. However, there is still no work that comprehensively reveal his musical and dramatic creativity for children. The purpose of the article is to show the significant role of M. Kropyvnytskyi in the development of children’s musical theater in Ukraine based on the research of children’s musical and dramatic creativity by the artist. The research methodology is integrative. The work uses knowledge of various fields of art history and related sciences: history and theory of theater, music theory, music and theater psychology, vocal and theater pedagogy. Presentation of the main material. A great pride of the playwright is the foundation by him on the territory of his village Zatyshok of the children’s theater, “actors” in which were his own and peasant children. This event was and remains unprecedented, since nothing like this has been observed in the history of Ukrainian and European culture. The troupe consisted of peasant children aged 10–13. For performances, Kropyvnytskyi assigned the largest room (hall) in the old house, where, as in a real theater, the stage was equipped. The first performance, “Goat-Dereza” (“Koza-dereza”), took place on Christmas day, 1906. The playwright drew the scenery himself, and prepared the costumes together with the children. The play was a great success. A few days later, the children’s troupe was invited to a “tour” in the neighboring village, and the entire theater with the scenery on five carts went on a journey of six versts (Novikov, 2007: 33). In the children’s repertoire at that time, there was, in fact, only one work – the opera by M. Lysenko “Goat-Dereza” (“Koza-dereza”) (libretto by Dniprova Chaika). Ukrainian children’s repertoire did not exist at that time, and in 1907, Kropyvnytskyi created two plays for young performers based on folk tales – “Ivasyk-Telesyk” and “At the behest of the pike” (“Po shchuchomu velinniu”). The performances included vocal numbers composed by M. Kropyvnytskyi on the themes of Ukrainian folk melodies. In a letter to his good friend entrepreneur A. Suslov in January 1908, the writer, in particular, notes: “I have assembled a troupe of peasant children and I am staging in the villages: Goat-dereza, IvasykTelesyk, and At the behest of the pike (the latter both are my)” (Kropyvnytskyi, 1960: 530). Based on the plot of folk tales of the same name, he wrote original musical and dramatic works for children of great educational value. The plays are quite simple in meaning and clearly depict the images of all the negative and positive characters. The first represent such social vices as lies and insincerity, and the second are carriers of eternal positive qualities – sincerity, candor, hard work. The plays are written in an exquisite Ukrainian language, close to the oral poetic creativity. All this, as M. Yosypenko rightly notes, is evidence of “a serious approach of M. Kropyvnytskyi to the business of writing plays for children, a deep knowledge of the psychology of the young audience and its cultural and educational needs and demands” (Yosypenko, 1958: 265). The performances require participation of music, which organic include into the language range of the play itself. Music explains and complements the true meaning of the situation to the young audience. Ukrainian musical folklore material formed the basis of the musical solution of M. Kropyvnytskyi’s children’s performances. Most often, folk songs served as a means to create the image and were introduce before the dramatic action mainly by the method of self-presentation: performing a particular song, the characters showed certain traits of their nature. The songs help to reveal the inner world of the characters, to express their state of mind and moods; often they contributed to the creation of the necessary stage atmosphere: festivities, fun and jokes. A significant part of the characters could not be imagined without songs. Using some folk melodies, Kropyvnytskyi mainly wrote original music, close in melody to the folk-song sources. Solo numbers, ensembles, and choirs are organically woven into the dramaturgy of these plays. A clear reflection of the integrity and unity of the musical and dramatic process is the principle of end-to-end development of the main musical idea of performances. In preparation for productions of his children’s plays, Kropyvnytskyi wrote an orchestration for them also. Intending to put these plays on the professional stage, Kropyvnytskyi wrote down advice to future directors regarding the production of their children’s plays. He began to think of broader horizons for them. In the spring of 1910, small artists had to show their art to the audience of the neighboring county town Kupyansk. However, the premature death of the Ukrainian playwright did not allow this plan to be realized. The children’s troupe soon ceased to exist. Kropyvnytskyi children’s troupe and the repertoire he created for it became a prologue to the development of the Ukrainian theater’s creativity for young viewers. In nowadays from the repertoire do not go off the pearls of drama for children “Ivasik-Telesik’ and “At the behest of the pike”. Conclusions. Marko Kropyvnytskyi’s creative heritage and practical activities wrote the gold pages to the history of Ukrainian musical children’s drama and Ukrainian children’s theater. Children’s musical and dramatic works of the writer based on song folklore are the effective mean to educate positive attitude of young Ukrainians to folk tradition as well as to form positive nature traits: generosity, hospitality, goodwill, charity.

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Savina, Elena G. "On the Issue of Forming Abilities of Interpersonal Interaction of Students under the Conditions of Musical-Theater Activity." Musical Art and Education 8, no. 2 (2020): 72–86. http://dx.doi.org/10.31862//2309-1428-2020-8-2-72-86.

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Interpersonal interactions of people in society not only regulate the processes of communication, but also have a significant impact on the formation of their personality traits. It is for this reason that the problems associated with interpersonal interaction do not lose their relevance, and the process of forming their skills in various aspects is studied by scientists and practitioners in the field of psychology and pedagogy. The first active and conscious interpersonal interaction skills begin to form in older preschool and primary school ages. This is due to the flexibility of perception, exceptional sensitivity to the emotional context and artistic creativity. However, older students at a new level of development of their affective and cognitive functions also encounter difficulties in interpersonal communication. The process of development and restructuring of interpersonal interaction skills lasts a lifetime. As is highlighted in the article, these skills are updated in a new way within the framework of university education, including in the preparation of future young teachers for organizing communication between schoolchildren. This article discusses the possibilities and functions of musical and theatrical activities of students at different levels of education as a contribution to the formation of baggage of interpersonal interaction skills, reveals the psychological mechanisms of their implementation in educational musical theater. A review of modern research aimed at studying the educational and developmental potential of musical and theatrical activities of children is presented, discussion questions are raised on organizing interpersonal interaction in the face of the challenges of the digital era, prompting the search for new forms in musical education in general and in musical and theatrical activities students.

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Shevelova, Oleksandra. "Children's and youth repertory of the modern musical theater in Ukraine: research problems of the director's concept." Ukrainian musicology 46 (October 27, 2020): 30–44. http://dx.doi.org/10.31318/0130-5298.2020.46.234590.

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The aim of the study is to determine the degree of research of the repertoire policy of the Ukrainian musical theatres in the context of works for children and youth; to emphasize the role of the director in selecting the appropriate techniques and artistic expressions aimed at young auditory. The object: children's and youth repertoire of modern Ukrainian musical theatre and its directorial incarnations, the nature of interpretations and their compliance with the young viewers' perception. The methodology implies the use of a system and analytical method, which allows carrying out theoretical and methodological generalization of scientific concepts, works and proposals of leading scientists in order to find a new scientific understanding of children's and youth repertoire of modern Ukrainian musical theatre. Functional-structural analysis makes it possible to determine the functional component of musical theatre and repertoire focused on the young audience, in particular, to form the principles and values of the influence of theatrical art on the individual. With the help of traditional methods of art research: genre, stylistic, interpretive approaches to directorial modifications of the repertoire in accordance with the modern requirements. The relevance of the study: exploring the little-studied topic of children's musical theatre in Ukraine, drawing the experts’ attention to the gaps that arise in the process of vector determination in the groups’ repertoire policy. The appeal to these aspects is signified by the need of finding the new directorial approaches if solving modern problems of children's and youth repertoire of musical theatres in Ukraine at the time of global changes in artistic culture. Art education of the young generation of the information technology era is an important component of comprehensive personal development. Findings and conclusion: the study of the problem of solving children's and youth subjects in Ukrainian musical theatres at the time of modern socio-cultural challenges allows us to state the lack of a systematic differentiated approach to the theme choice, directing techniques, artistic expression which are appropriate for the children's, teenagers’ and youth perception. The review of domestic and foreign researches on the chosen problems testifies to the existence of some separate developments in psychological and pedagogical, culturological, musicological, theatrical sciences. Unfortunately, there is still no comprehensive intersectoral scientific research that integrates the various achievement in order to create an artistically holistic performance for children and youth. The format of directorial incarnations of musical and theatrical performances of the specified repertoire implies the differentiation of directorial approaches to its interpretations in accordance with the peculiarities of the musical drama of works which are focused on the relevant audience. The further research prospects lay in the opportunity to identify examples of relevant works for the re-pertoire of the musical theatre in Ukraine and to establish the relevant directorial concepts that can be embodied in musical and theatrical performances aimed at children and youth audiences.

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Kholodova, M. V., and M. M. Chikhacheva. "OUTSTANDING FIGURES OF OPERA ART OF KRASNOYARSK: LARISA VLADIMIROVNA MARZOEVA." Northern Archives and Expeditions 5, no. 2 (June 30, 2021): 159–67. http://dx.doi.org/10.31806/2542-1158-2021-5-2-159-167.

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The study of the culture of various regions of Russia, including the musical culture of Siberia, is one of the intensively developing areas of modern russian art history and cultural studies. The history of the formation and development of the musical culture of Krasnoyarsk - one of the largest siberian centers — is a multi-faceted picture, already meaningful in a number of fundamental works, a series of scientific publications. At the same time, not all aspects of the musical life of Krasnoyarsk received comprehensive coverage, many of its pages are waiting for their researcher. The article presents the milestones of the creative biography of an outstanding singer, Honored Artist of Russia, professor of the Siberian State Institute of Arts named after Dmitry Hvorostovsky — Larisa Vladimirovna Marzoeva, whose name is known today far beyond Siberia. The focus of the author of the work is the way of becoming a talented artist, teacher in the musical and theatrical field, coverage of the activities of an outstanding person in the field of opera art. A talented graduate of the Leningrad State Conservatory named after N.A. Rimsky-Korsakov in 1978, at the invitation of the leadership, chooses a career in the only opening Krasnoyarsk State Opera and Ballet Theater (now bearing the name of the famous fellow countryman, baritone Dmitry Alexandrovich Hvorostovsky), the Siberian Theater has become a true "alma mater" for the singer, and her multifaceted creative activity has largely determined the development of opera art and marked an important milestone in the musical and theatrical life of Krasnoyarsk in the last third of the 20th — first quarter of the 21st century. The work presents materials of Krasnoyarsk periodicals and interviews with L.V. Marzoeva, on the basis of which the singer's contribution to the cultural life of Krasnoyarsk is analyzed, the results of her creative activities covering performing, pedagogical, musical and educational work are summed up.

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Laslavíková, Jana. "Sacrosanctity or Duty? The Reception of Beethoven’s Fidelio in the Context of the Cultural-Political Situation in the Second Half of the Nineteenth Century in Pressburg." Studia Musicologica 61, no. 1-2 (April 13, 2021): 81–97. http://dx.doi.org/10.1556/6.2020.00007.

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Staging Beethoven’s Fidelio in the second half of the nineteenth century in Pressburg drew on a long- standing Beethoven tradition prevalent in the town. Also, it stood at the center of protests against the growing influence of Hungarian theater in the newly constructed theater building since Fidelio was performed always at a time when the renewal of an agreement with a German-speaking director was being decided on (1889, 1892, 1895). The opera was staged with the participation of the choral societies and musical associations of the town. Its performances were held close to the annual festive masses of the most well-known association of Pressburg, the Church Music Association of St. Martin’s Cathedral (Germ. Kirchenmusikverein bei der Dom-, Kollegiats- und Stadtpfarrkirche zu St. Martin, Hung. Szent Márton Pozsonyi Egyházi Zeneegylet), where Beethoven’s Missa solemnis was performed. This enhanced the efforts of the supporters of the German theater to call Beethoven’s œuvre a carrier of “true art” and humanism and use it as a symbol of cultural identity in the discussions led about preserving the German season in the Municipal Theater (Germ. Stadttheater, Hung. Városi Színház).

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Goodman, Jane E. "Acting with One Voice: Producing Unanimism in Algerian Reformist Theater." Comparative Studies in Society and History 55, no. 1 (January 2013): 167–97. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s001041751200062x.

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AbstractScholars of democracy from Tocqueville to Habermas have long considered the proliferation of so-called voluntary associations as a sign of a flourishing civil society and as central to the rise of democratic modernity. I contend that the Algerian theatrical and musical associations of the reformist period anticipate another kind of civic history: a history of displays of unanimism in public life. I am interested in how and why Algerians learned to produce public displays of agreement for particular audiences (including themselves) at particular historical moments. I emphasize three factors that contributed to the production of unanimity: the achievement oftawḥīdor unity in the Islamic reform movement, vernacular practices of consensus-based argumentation, and French colonial legal and surveillance mechanisms. The essay engages theories of civil society, colonialism, and performance. It draws primarily on material from the French colonial archives for the city of Constantine, Algeria.

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Novianto, Wahyu. "PETA TEORITIK PENGKAJIAN TEATER: DARI TEORI STRUKTURALIS SAMPAI POSTRUKTURALIS." Acintya Jurnal Penelitian Seni Budaya 11, no. 2 (March 13, 2020): 129–38. http://dx.doi.org/10.33153/acy.v11i2.2755.

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AbstractThis article tries to map out the structuralist and poststructuralist theories as the basis of theater studies. So far, the studies of theater performed by theater academics have always been based on structuralist views; examining aspects of form, meaning, style and exclude the human aspects as forming agents of the structure. Structuralist view is antihumanist. It says that the sign has meaning when it is associated with other signs in a systematic unity of structure and not from its relation to the individu (artists). According to poststructuralist view, it is very possible to do a cultural study of theatrical text by looking at the interrelationship between one text and another outside, including social, cultural, literary, political, and other texts that are present randomly and overlapping (juxtaposition). Therefore, this theoretical mapping needs to be done in order to enrich the theater academics to conduct theater performances studies.Keywords: studies, theoretical map, structuralist, poststructuralist

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Berkutbayeva, Kamshat, and Aliya Mombek. "Synthesis of arts: theater curtain as an aesthetic category." Pedagogy and Psychology 42, no. 1 (March 30, 2020): 236–42. http://dx.doi.org/10.51889/2020-1.2077-6861.30.

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In training a specialist of creativity higher education institutions, knowledge of special aspects of theatrical art is importance. The subject of this article is the theater curtain, aspects of its application in various historical eras of the development of the theater as a cultural phenomenon. The author’s systematization of information about the theater curtain as an integral element of any theatrical production is based on a deep understanding of its role not only as a technical tool, but also as a spatial composition of the theater performance and the auditorium as a whole. The mentioned features may have a substantial, geographical, historical, political and functional character. Certainly, the theater curtain as an object of research is one of the most interesting phenomena of such a scientific field as art criticism. From her point of view, the theater curtain has come a long way in development in search of better stage and artistic expression, thereby representing a specific sign system. The study of the phenomenon of the theater curtain on examples of venues at the international level allows to take a fresh look at the genesis and current state of issues of the artwork of the productions of Kazakhstan theaters.

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Todi, Cristina. "The Analysis of Choreographic Concept in Merce Cunningham’s Creation." Theatrical Colloquia 10, no. 1 (May 1, 2020): 117–34. http://dx.doi.org/10.2478/tco-2020-0008.

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AbstractThrough this I intend to bring again to the attention of practitioners of stage, musical, choreographic and theatrical arts, Merce Cunningham’s contribution to the development of modern choreography. The constant searches of yesterday, today and tomorrow’s artists is and will be a priority for those who want to bring something new and revolutionize art. Today, we distinguish distinctly the phenomenon of transgression of borders between the stage genres, especially between theater, music and choreography. Choreography migrates towards theater and music and theater and music strongly infiltrate into choreography. This emulation intends to create a total show but can still give birth to some artistic experiments where the accent is placed on the very visual interpretation with an excess of body movement and with an acute absence of Thalia’s simple and natural truths. Cunningham’s proposal on the way of assuming the body, the space and the rhythm is another challenge for today’s choreographers. The way of using these aspects and of acknowledging the strange infinity of its possibilities of transcending the communication barriers, reconfigures the body of the dancer as a linguistic entity with values still unexploited. Initiator of the choreographic modernism, Merce Cunningham is still nowadays an important reference for young choreographers.

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Hambridge, Katherine. "Staging Singing in the Theater of War (Berlin, 1805)." Journal of the American Musicological Society 68, no. 1 (2015): 39–98. http://dx.doi.org/10.1525/jams.2015.68.1.39.

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Almost fifty years after the original event, Willibald Alexis’s historical novel Ruhe ist die erste Bürgerpflicht (1852) commemorated a musical performance that had taken place on October 16, 1805, at Berlin’s Nationaltheater. According to both Alexis’s reimagining and contemporary reports, after the closing “Reiterlied” of Schiller’s Wallensteins Lager a new war song was sung by audience and actors. The sensation this caused—in a city awaiting its troops’ departure for war against Napoleon—established Schiller’s play as a privileged site for political singing in Berlin and across German lands for the next decade. In this article, I account for this first occasion, its unusual press reception, and its influence by contextualizing it within a growing early nineteenth-century discourse on public communal singing, arguing that Berliners were self-consciously enacting French patriotic behaviors. As well as indicating longer-term continuities, I distinguish the political role attributed to war songs in this period from the more familiar Bildung-orientated discourse on choral singing and folk song. In contrast to established accounts that locate the emergence of popular political song in the volunteer movements of the Wars of Liberation and the national politics of the Burschenschaften and male-voice choirs, I suggest that these early performances show the official imposition of public political singing—as a kind of “defensive modernization”—in response to the Napoleonic threat. I thus revise our understanding of the establishment of singing as a modern political tool in German lands, and of the role of singing in the development of political agency and national sentiment more broadly.

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Maslennikova, Anzhela. "Opera and Choral Performance in Mykhailo Krechko’s Work." Scientific herald of Tchaikovsky National Music Academy of Ukraine, no. 130 (March 18, 2021): 131–42. http://dx.doi.org/10.31318/2522-4190.2021.130.231220.

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The article considers some aspects of opera and choral performance on the example of analysis of the theatrical period of creativity of one of the prominent figures of Ukrainian choral culture, founder of the choir of the State Children’s Musical Theater — People’s Artist of Ukraine, Professor Mykhailo Krechko (1925–1996). M. Krechko as the first chief choirmaster of the theater built his individual principles of work and theatrical traditions inherent in such a unique opera choir. SCMT is the second in the world and the only professional opera and ballet theater in Ukraine for children and youth).The established traditions and peculiarities of the choir’s work in SCMT are analyzed, based on the repertoire of the newly created Theater and the genre range of performances of choir artists (opera, ballet, musical, cantata and oratorio works, a cappella music performance).Formulation of the problem in general. The relevance of the chosen subject is due to the lack of basic scientific research into the life and work of the famous Ukrainian choral conductor M. Krechko. This is the first comprehensive appeal to the activities of an outstanding master of choral work, active propagandist and collector of folk songs, composer, publicist, teacher and music and public figure, who devoted his entire creative life to the development of national choral culture. A separate task is to study and analyze the basis of the traditions of opera and choral performance initiated by M. Krechko during his work at the State Children’s Musical Theater. Also, it is important to systematically study the methodology and means of educating opera choristers on the example of the work of M. Krechko. Analysis of research and publications to solve the problem. General characteristics of the life and work of Mikhail Krechko are examined in the works of O. Bench-Shokalo, M. Kravchuk, A. Lashchenko, L. Mokanu. The issues of choir and opera choir are analyzed in the works of L. Butenko, O. Letychevska, B. Pokrovsky, K. Pigrov, P. Chesnokov, which explores the functioning of the choir and the nuances of managing this process, as well as the work of specialists in the opera house.The problem of the specifics of M. Krechko’s work with the opera choir was not raised in the scientific literature, which determined the relevance of this article. The research materials of the archive of the “Kyiv Municipal Academic Opera and Ballet Theater for Children and Youth” — programs of performances and concerts, reviews; family archival materials of the Krechko family; publications by M. Krechko and devoted to the work of M. Krechko (booklets, articles in newspapers and magazines, author’s books and reference books). Also, below are a number of personal conclusions of the author of the article while working as a choir artist under the direction of M. Krechko.The purpose of the article is to study the life and work of M. Krechko as an opera choirmaster, his methodology and practical implementation of the multitasking of choir artists in a wide range of synthesis of arts in the opera house.Conclusions and prospects for further exploration in this direction. The article explores for the first time the theme of opera and choral performance in the works of the outstanding Ukrainian choirmaster — People's Artist of Ukraine, Professor Mykhailo Krechko. The above facts from archival materials and analysis of the maestro's artistic activity allow to learn more about the master's contribution to the choral art of Ukraine and its important role in the formation of the vector of development of the State Children's Musical Theater. Emphasis is placed on the specifics and universalism of the theatrical choir. Summarizing all the above, we can say that the modern creative life of the choir Kyiv Municipal Academic Opera and Ballet Theater for Children and Youth is fundamentally based on the high artistic principles laid down by the founder of the choir — Mykhailo Krechko. The Maestro’s great love for the Theater Choir, which he called his “swan song”, high performing skills and a wide range of genres of repertoire, education of followers and like-minded people, and deep traditions established by the choirmaster are a strong foundation and guide to new artistic victories.

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Suchowiejko, Renata. "The musical theater in Kraków and Lviv around 1900: Social functions and cultural meanings." Studia Musicologica 58, no. 3-4 (December 2017): 379–97. http://dx.doi.org/10.1556/6.2017.58.3-4.6.

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At the turn of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, Kraków was a flourishing city, both economically and artistically. During the period of Galician autonomy, Kraków was granted significantly greater political freedom than other Polish cities located in the Prussian or Russian partitions. For this reason it became an important center for cultivating national tradition. Lviv, as the capital of the Crownland of Galicia and Lodomeria, was one of the most important centers of scholarship, education, and culture in this region. The city was a multi-ethnic, multi-cultural, and multilingual conglomerate of Poles, Ukrainians, Jews, and Ruthenians. Lviv’s significance as an operatic center grew from the time when the German theater was closed in 1872 and a permanent Polish stage was created. This was a decisive moment for the development of the national opera, and Lviv became the main rival to Warsaw. The aim of this article is to present a general overview of the functioning of musical theater in Kraków and in Lviv, the two musical centers of Galicia. These cities were closely linked by institutional, artistic, cultural, and social bonds. In the artistic life a crucial part was played by the directors of the two city theaters, Tadeusz Pawlikowski and Ludwik Heller. Both made important contributions to the development of the opera.

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Parush, Adi. "The Courtroom as Theater and the Theater as Courtroom in Ancient Athens." Israel Law Review 35, no. 1 (2001): 118–37. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0021223700012103.

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To prevent any misunderstanding, I first would like to clarify that I am not a historian dealing with classical studies; my main disciplines are philosophy and law. However, following a seminar I gave dealing with several philosophical-legal aspects of Greek tragedy, and an article I wrote about the relationship between the concept of guilt in Oedipus Tyrannus and the principle of strict liability in modern criminal law, I have found myself in recent years becoming increasingly interested in the unique culture which emerged in Athens during the classical period, particularly in the 5th century BCE. In the course of that century, Athens was involved in many wars – against the Persians in the early decades, against Sparta (the Peloponnesian War) in the latter decades, and other “minor” wars. And yet despite these wars, during the 5th century BCE Athens was in a state of cultural-social-political ferment that left its mark on the whole history of western culture. In the course of that century, there was in Athens a burgeoning of independent-critical thought in the philosophical domain, nature and medicine were systematically studied, tragedies by the Athenians Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides were written and performed, and the democratic regime took shape.

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Naqvi, Erum. "Reinventing Ruhowzi." Middle East Journal of Culture and Communication 13, no. 1 (May 13, 2020): 28–48. http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/18739865-01301002.

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Abstract In the last few years, Tehran’s arts culture has seen the re-emergence of a thriving theater scene, including experimentation with various performance practices that were restricted in public forums for several years. In this article, I address a 2017 production called Gonbadgah which is a choreographed regional ethnic dance interwoven with classical music and staged as a story inspired by ruhowzi, the erstwhile cabaret theater of early twentieth-century Iran. Offering a genealogy of ruhowzi that traces its artists from from elite performers with royal patronage to low-brow urban entertainers in Pahlavi-era Iran, in this article I situate Gonbadgah as a production that aims to revisit the art form (one that much of today’s youth culture considers dated), and reframe it, leveraging the canon of ‘high’ classical music. As such, the production aims to cut across established musical hierarchies to offer a more egalitarian view of traditional arts for contemporary audiences.

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Maksimenko, K. A. "Music and choreography interaction in the stage dances of musical theater productions of the 17th – the first half of the 18th century." Aspects of Historical Musicology 14, no. 14 (September 15, 2018): 63–73. http://dx.doi.org/10.34064/khnum2-14.05.

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Background. One of the typical trends of modern musicology is the increasing interest in the problem of components dialogue in the synthetic forms of art. In the context of this global topic, the issue of music and choreography interaction in the stage dances of musical theater productions of the 17th – the first half of the 18th century is of particular interest. The connection of music and choreography in the art of stage dance of the 17th – the first half of the 18th century appears as a kind of continuation of the syncretic unity of ancient art seen through the prism of the professional experience of the creators of court musical and stage productions in the French classicism style. In the court operas, ballets and other types of performances such of the composers, as A. Kampra, J.-B. Lully, J. F. Rameau, the spirit of the antique art was reviving in its own special way representing the “ensemble of arts” in a miniature. The research objective is to identify the features of the combination and interaction of musical and choreographic arts in the stage dances of French musical and theatre productions of the 17th – the first half of the 18th century. The article uses the method of comparative analysis. This method allows to analyze the features and the ways of interaction between the elements of dance and musical syntax. Results. The art of choreography is a rhythm and plastic form of thinking and self-expression, which can reflect reality not only in its eventual plot related manifestations, but also to rise to the broad abstract generalizations. In view of its rather conditional nature, dance requires, to one degree or another, the interpretation of its content. In the 17th and early 18th centuries, the need for such an explanation increases significantly because of the great role of emblems and encoded content in various aesthetic and artistic phenomena. In the dance, the close relation to the court ceremonial, which did not allow the expression of emotions, initiated this feature additionally. For example, at that time one was believed that stepping a minuet means “drawing up secret signs of love”, which were recognized in movements, poses, facial expressions and gestures. In the Baroque Epoch the audience easily was recognizing the content of such dances, whereas for the modern observer and researcher it remains unknown. The dance moves and their combinations in stage dances of the 17th and early 18th century receive a specific meaning in the context of poetic, musical and dance phrases. However, first, the moves of dancers-performers were consistent with the music. As a rule, the result of making a choreographic production depended on the composer’s choice of the musical form. Most of the dances within the researched period were set to music in a two-part form. Less often we can find the samples in the form of a couplet rondo and ostinato variations. When making the dance productions, French choreographers took into account the features of other popular musical forms of the 17th –18th centuries. In some cases they emphasized or combined with their own author’s decision the symmetric basis laid down in the musical structure (the form of rondo), in others – they disclosed the effect of the continuity principle. An example of the embodiment of a choreographic idea set to music in the form of a rondo is the passepied production (fr. passé-pied) “La Gouastalla” realized by R. A. Feye to the music of the unknown composer. The choreographic composition consists of five dance periods corresponding to five sections of the musical form. A slightly different choreography scheme – ABCBC is combined with the symmetric scheme in the musical variation– ABACA. In this production the combination of the musical form and the choreographic composition is somewhat changed, however, this does not mean the complete neglect of the musical form regularities in the construction of the dance general plan. One of the aspects of the musical and choreographic arts combination in French stage dances of the 17th and 18th centuries is the connection with of the choreographic component of the latter with the tonal plan of the musical work. The tonal coloring of the music was reflecting in the formation of a choreographic drawing of dance, in the process of expressing in the movements of various emotions and feelings. Changes of tonalities, the most used of which, as a rule, a certain circle of images and affects, their own “character” carried along at that time, were associated with a variety of transitions in the emotional coloring of the dance. It is from such, emotional, the perception of tonality, the versions of the tonal plans of French dances follows, which are unusual for later canons of Viennese Classicism, in particular, with the violation of the harmonic sequence of T-D-S-T. Conclusions. Thus, the stage dance of the 17th and early 18th century is a peculiar form of embodiment of the “miniature ensemble of arts”, where dance moves and their combinations receive a specific coloring in the context of poetic, musical and dance phrases and certain allegorical meanings. Nevertheless, first and foremost, the moves of dancers-performers were consistent with the music. Obvious is the great dependence of the choreographic production on the musical form and its components – the rhythm as well as the tonal and harmonic plan, which combined with the choreographic elements, prompt the feelings transmitted in the dance, which give to it the life and inspiration.

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McWhorter, John H. "Long Time, No Song: Revisiting Fats Waller's Lost Broadway Musical." Daedalus 142, no. 4 (October 2013): 109–19. http://dx.doi.org/10.1162/daed_a_00238.

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Just before he died in 1943, Fats Waller wrote the music for a Broadway book musical with a mostly white cast, the first black composer to do so–and the only one ever to do it with commercial success. Yet “Early to Bed” is largely ignored by historians of musical theater, while jazz scholars describe the circumstances surrounding its composition rather than the work itself. Encouraging this neglect is the fact that no actual score survives. This essay, based on research that assembled all surviving evidence of the score and the show, gives a summary account of “Early to Bed” and what survives from it. The aim is to fill a gap in Waller scholarship, calling attention to some of his highest quality work, and possibly stimulating further reconstruction work that might result in a recording of the score.

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Briand, Michel. "Paradoxes of Spectacular/Political Performativity: Dionysian Dance in Classical Greek Theater, Dubois’ Tragédie, Femen's Sextremist Protests, and Harrell's Antigone Sr." Congress on Research in Dance Conference Proceedings 2016 (2016): 27–37. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/cor.2016.5.

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In Athenian classical theater (especially in Dionysian choruses; the tragic in Aeschylus, Sophocles, or Euripides; the satyric in Euripides’ Cyclops; or the carnivalesque in Aristophanes), aesthetics, ethics, and politics intermingle in kinesthetic, musical, and textual pragmatics. This paper questions the reference to classical performativity (especially the gendered bodies it stages) in contemporary performances, from Olivier Dubois’ Tragédie (2012) (and the committed nudity it enacts) to Femen's sextremist protests and Trajal Harrell's Antigone Sr. / Paris is Burning at The Judson Church (L) (2012). These issues are central to the philosophy of performance, from F. Nietzsche's The Birth of Tragedy (1872) to J. Butler's and A. Athanassiou's Dispossession: The Performative in the Political (2013).

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Gaffney, Henry H. "Euromissiles as the Ultimate Evolution of Theater Nuclear Forces in Europe." Journal of Cold War Studies 16, no. 1 (January 2014): 180–99. http://dx.doi.org/10.1162/jcws_a_00435.

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This article builds on the analysis published by Kristina Spohr-Readman in the Fall 2012 issue of the JCWS about the decision in December 1979 by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) to deploy intermediate-range nuclear forces in Europe. Spohr-Readman's article drew heavily on declassified documents from NATO countries, but information from those who took part in the deliberations (of whom Gaffney was one) sheds further light on the matter and changes a few aspects of the story, particularly regarding U.S. officials' views of the utility (or lack thereof) of battlefield nuclear weapons.

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SMIGEL, ERIC. "“To Behold with Wonder”: Theory, Theater, and the Collaboration of James Tenney and Carolee Schneemann." Journal of the Society for American Music 11, no. 1 (January 16, 2017): 1–24. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s175219631600050x.

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AbstractDuring their partnership between 1955 and 1968, composer James Tenney (1934–2006) and artist Carolee Schneemann (b. 1939) engaged in what initially appear to be opposing modes of practice. Tenney developed theories concerning the perception of musical form and composed rationalized works based on carefully calculated algorithms. Schneemann, by contrast, was driven by spontaneity and sensuality, and her provocative artworks vehemently address sexual, gender, and political issues. This duality was especially evident in the mid-1960s, when Tenney was conducting psychoacoustic research at Yale University and Schneemann was producing her first theater events in downtown New York. Although his compositional productivity declined during this period, he participated in several of Schneemann's projects, scripted a few theater pieces of his own, and wrote extensive notes on artistic form as a perceptual model of physiological processes. Drawing from unpublished archival documents and personal interviews, this article provides an overview of Tenney's relationship with Schneemann and demonstrates how his simultaneous involvement in theoretical research and theatrical performance transformed his creative work. A close examination of Tenney's scores, journals, and correspondence reveals that he was deliberately exploring the distinctions between abstraction and collage and seeking to reconcile the apparent dualism of theory and theater.

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Griffin, Farah Jasmine. "Following Geri's Lead." Daedalus 148, no. 2 (April 2019): 13–22. http://dx.doi.org/10.1162/daed_a_01739.

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Drawn from a keynote delivered for Timeless Portraits and Dreams: A Festival in Honor of Geri Allen (Harvard University, February 16–17, 2018), this personal essay shares observations about Allen's intellectual and artistic leadership in diverse roles including bandleader, teacher, curator, and artistic visionary. In addition to discussions of Allen's music and recordings, this essay also focuses on her collaboration with the author and actor/director S. Epatha Merkerson, which resulted in two musical theater projects, Great Jazz Women of the Apollo (2013) and A Conversation with Mary Lou (2014).

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Zaslaw, Neal. "Scylla et Glaucus: A case study." Cambridge Opera Journal 4, no. 3 (November 1992): 199–228. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0954586700003773.

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The policies of centralisation pursued by Louis XIV and his ministers affected most aspects of French life and culture. From 1645 opera had been imported from Italy by Louis' minister Cardinal Mazarin, originally out of political motives. When it had become ‘naturalised’, assuming its characteristic French guise under the despotic direction of Lully's Académie Royale de Musique, it continued to serve political purposes. In return for a monopoly on theatre music, Lully saw to it that opera served not only as entertainment for the nobility and bourgeoisie, but also as propaganda for the state and for the divine right of the King. An incidental effect of these policies was that the number of French operas produced was small compared to the number in Italy. This was due to the monopoly; to the centralisation, which meant that with few exceptions ‘French’ opera really meant ‘Parisian’ opera; and to the lavishness of the productions, which made frequent changes of repertory impractical even with subsidies. Each première was an event of note, chronicled in official and unofficial sources – the archival documents, mémoires, correspondence, periodicals, pamphlets and books of the day. This profusion of documentation frequently makes possible a degree of precision about the history of early French opera that can rarely be attained for other national schools.

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Sikorska, Nataliia. "Secrets of the Alla Moda Theater’ Success: the Historical and political subtext of the first musical drama by J. A. Hasse." Scientific herald of Tchaikovsky National Music Academy of Ukraine, no. 128 (September 25, 2020): 161–74. http://dx.doi.org/10.31318/2522-4190.2020.128.215207.

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Filler, Susan. "Jewish nationalism in opera." Studia Musicologica 52, no. 1-4 (March 1, 2011): 499–506. http://dx.doi.org/10.1556/smus.52.2011.1-4.34.

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From the late nineteenth to the early twentieth century, the Jewish communities of Eastern Europe supported the development of musical theater in Yiddish. Given the difficulties of life in the shtetl, comprising isolation from non-Jewish neighbors, limited educational opportunities, poverty and political oppression, Yiddish opera functioned as a statement of Jewish nationalism. In this paper, I will discuss the historical conditions under which it was presented, including the following factors: effect of folk music styles documented in the field research of ethnomusicologists in Eastern Europe; topicality of subject matter in Yiddish opera as definition of the growing Jewish nationalist political movement; and identity and background of important composers and performers of the genre, and the effect of emigration to the United States on the style and content of their work.

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Beer, David, and Mark Taylor. "The Hidden Dimensions of the Musical Field and the Potential of the New Social Data." Sociological Research Online 18, no. 2 (May 2013): 11–21. http://dx.doi.org/10.5153/sro.2943.

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This article seeks to highlight what might be thought of as the hidden dimensions of the musical field and explores the potential of digital by-product data for illuminating the aspects of musical taste and preference that are difficult to see with traditional social science methods. It suggests that the limitations of existing field analysis create what might be thought of as darkened areas of music consumption that may remain outside of the gaze of the interested social scientist. The paper briefly discusses some of the analytical problems associated with this lack of visibility. In response this article focuses upon the specific example of Last.fm and looks to make use of the by-product data that this particular website accumulates about individuals’ everyday music listening practices. From this specific example the article provides some substantive observations about the contemporary musical field and uses these to offer insights into the potentials and limitations of using by-product data in the analysis of (the musical) field. This article specifically questions the boundaries drawn around genre in the study of field, and looks at how these might be reported upon in alternative ways using new forms of data.

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Pluzhnikov, Victor. "«Forgotten name... Yakov A. Rosenstein»." Aspects of Historical Musicology 16, no. 16 (September 15, 2019): 90–105. http://dx.doi.org/10.34064/khnum2-16.05.

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Problem statement. Conductor is considered to be one of the most prestigious occupation in musical field, so there has always been a certain interest to its history. But, despite a large amount of literature, there are no musicologist’s scientific works, with the systematized and generalized materials on training conducting staff in Ukraine in the 1920s – 1940s. This is partly due to a shortage of primary documents at a difficult historical period: most of them were destroyed by the employees of state institutions before being evacuated behind the lines during the Second World War; the other part was burned down during the hostilities; the third one was lost in the territories temporarily occupied by the fascists. The most important information was restored in the postwar years on the basis of personal documents of the musicians and memoirs of the contemporaries. The names of many other talented performers, who were not high ranked in the hierarchy of Ukraine musical culture, were forgotten. Research and publications analysis. Dealing with this article, the author relied on the research of three scientists. For example, the episode devoted to the history of the Kuban State Conservatory is based on the materials of the book by V. A. Frolkin, PhD in musicology, Professor of Piano Department of Krasnodar University of Culture and Arts. (Frolkin, 2006 : 70–89). The Kharkov period of Ya. Rosenstein’s activity is based on the article by E. M. Shchelkanovtseva, PhD in musicology, Department of Orchestral String Instrument of I. P. Kotlyarevsky Kharkov National University of Arts (Shchelkanovtseva, 1992 : 178–179), as well as the memoirs of conductor S. S. Feldman (Feldman, 2006). Ya. Rosenstein activities in T. G. Shevchenko Kiev Academic Opera and Ballet Theater of the Ukrainian SSR was described in research of Yu. A. Stanishevsky – Doctor in musicology, Professor. (Stanishevsky, 1981 : 533–534). The objective of this article is to create Ya. Rosenstein’s complete and non-biased biography, to analyze various aspects of his activity, and, as a result, to revive the name of a talented musician who was at the forefront of Ukraine musical pedagogy. This is the urgency and novelty of this study. Core material. Yakov A. Rosenstein (1887–1946) – a cello player, conductor, professor. In1907–1912 he studied at St. Petersburg Conservatory specializing in cello. Until February 1917, he had served as a cello player in the Royal orchestra of the Imperial Mariinskyi Theater. During the Civil War, he moved to Yekaterinodar (Krasnodar), where in 1918–1919 he was a director of Russian Musical Society Conservatory. October 1, 1920 witnessed the opening of Kuban State Conservatory. The university was funded from the budget of the People’s Commissariat for Education, so the training of all students was free. Ya. Rosenstein taught the cello class. But at the end of 1921, the Kuban Conservatory was deprived of state funding, and in summer of 1922 the university was reorganized into the Kuban Higher Technical School. (Frolkin, 2006 : 74–89). In autumn of 1923, Ya. Rosenstein moved to Kharkov, where he was a cello player in Russian State Opera orchestra. Later Ya. Rosenstein became a theater conductor. Also, he was engaged in pedagogical activity: in 1925 he became a dean of the instrumental faculty of Kharkov State Higher Music and Drama Courses, and in 1926 he became the head of the courses. According to E. M. Shchelkanovtseva, since 1927, Ya. Rosenstein had been teaching at the Music and Drama Institute (currently – I. P. Kotlyarevsky Kharkov National University of Arts) – Professor of cello class, chamber ensemble, orchestra class, conducting; in 1929 he became an Academic Director. (Shchelkanovtseva, 1992 : 179). Opera-symphonic conducting class at Kharkov Music and Drama Institute, which was opened in autumn of 1927, is a merit of Ya. Rosenstein. During 8 years, he had been training such conductors as: P. Ya. Balenko, M. P. Budyansky, I. I. Vymer, F. M. Dolgova, K. L. Doroshenko, D. L. Klebanov, B. T. Kozhevnikov, V. N. Nakhabin, V. S. Tolba and others. In 1926–1927, the Orchestra of Unemployed Musicians in Kharkov was transformed into the First State Symphony Orchestra of All-Ukrainian Radio Committee, which in autumn of 1929 was integrated with the Ukrainian Philharmonic. In 1929–1932 Ya. Rosenstein acted as a chief conductor. Then he was replaced by German Adler, a graduate of German Academy of Music and Performing Arts in Prague, and a world-famous conductor. In 1937, this musical group was the base for creation the State Symphony Orchestra of the Ukrainian SSR in Kiev (nowadays the National Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine). (Pluzhnikov, 2016 : 358). In 1935–1941 and 1944–1946 Ya. Rosenstein was a conductor of T. G. Shevchenko Kiev Academic Opera and Ballet Theater of the Ukrainian SSR. According to S. S. Feldman, there he brilliantly showed himself in the ballet performances “Swan Lake” and “Sleeping Beauty” by P. Tchaikovsky, “The Fountain of Bakhchisarai” and “The Prisoner of the Caucasus” by B. Asafiev, “Lilaea” by K. Dankevich and “Raymonda” by A. Glazunov (Feldman, 2009 : 102). In summer of 1941 the War began, and the theater troupe was evacuated to Ufa. In 1942–1944 the United Ukrainian State Opera and Ballet Theater was created on the basis of the Kharkov and Kiev theaters in Irkutsk. More than 650,000 people visited 785 performances conducted by N. D. Pokrovsky, Ya. A. Rosenstein and V. S. Tolba in Krasnoyarsk, Irkutsk and other cities! In June 1944, the theater troupe returned to Kyiv, and in 1946 Ya. Rosenstein died. He was buried at Baykove cemetery in Kyiv. Conclusion. The creative personality of Ya. A. Rosenstein, a cello player, conductor, teacher, one of the organizers of the First State Symphony Orchestra in Ukraine and the creators of the Kharkov school of orchestra conducting, deserves more attention on behalf of the scientists, musicians and all non-indifferent people. There is hope that Ya. A. Rosenstein’s memory will not be forgotten, and the name of this talented and noble person will take its rightful place in the annals of Ukraine and Russian musical culture.

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Serov, Iurii Eduardovich. "Music for the ballet “The Twelve” by Boris Tishchenko in the context of the revival of Russian symphonic style of the 1960s." Человек и культура, no. 4 (April 2021): 59–72. http://dx.doi.org/10.25136/2409-8744.2021.4.36269.

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The subject of this research is the symphonic works of the prominent Russian composer of the late XX century Boris Ivanovich Tishchenko (1939–2010). The article analyzes the composer's first major ballet based on the poem “The Twelve” by A. Blok, which was requested in 1963 by the outstanding Soviet choreographer L. Yakobson for production design in the Kirovsky Theater in Leningrad. The author examines such aspects of the topic as Tishchenko's innovative role in the revival of Russian symphonic style in the second half the XX century, interrelation between music and poetry in the orchestral compositions of B. Tishchenko, as well as strong influence of the literary concepts upon the development of his symphonic style. Special attention is given to the topic of B. Tishchenko's succession of the great Russian symphonic tradition. The main conclusion lies in the thought that B. Tishchenko's ballet “The Twelve” is the first truly contemporary ballet performance in the Soviet musical theater. The author’s special contribution to this research consists in comprehensive examination of the works of the prominent Russian composer that have not receive due attention of the musicologists. The novelty lies in demonstration of the important role of Boris Tishchenko in the overall process of the revival of the Russian symphonic music of the 1960s on the example of the ballet of his early period. Developing his original artistic concepts, Tishchenko symphonized the ballet performance, paving the way for many Soviet composers in this direction.

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Pliushchenko, M. Yu. "“Jazz Slide” by M. Tovpeko – A. Strilets: Aspects of the original source interpretation." Problems of Interaction Between Arts, Pedagogy and the Theory and Practice of Education 53, no. 53 (November 20, 2019): 124–44. http://dx.doi.org/10.34064/khnum1-53.08.

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Background. This article is devoted to the actual issues of musical interpretation in connection with one of the most common genres of modern art – genre of transcription in its various aspects. These questions are considered in aspect of genre specificity of transcription as the work with dual authorship that determines a special methodology of such musical samples study, the need of the comparative analysis of the original and transcription versions, the study of principles of composition and artistic interpretation, the manifestations of the performing characteristics in it. This field of creativity encourages researchers to study the principles of artistic thinking, inter-style communication, and virtual creative dialogue between the authors of the original and the version at all levels of musical content and form using the samples of transcriptions. The example of such approach is the given research, which studies the mechanisms of musical interpretation creation in the genres transcription and arrangement in aspect of the contemporary composing and performing practices. The object of the study is the creativity by a bright representative of the Kharkiv school of the playing on folk instruments, Andrii Strilets, the subject of consideration in this article are his orchestra transcriptions-arrangements. The purpose of the research is to determine the principles of interpretation and inter-style dialogue in the genre of transcription on the example of the musical piece “Jazz-slide” by M. Tovpeco for two accordions in the arrangement by A. Strilets. For the first time in musicology this composition becomes an object for the theoretical analysis in aspect of the artistic interpretation and inter-style dialogue in genre of transcription-arrangement. This determines the relevance and scientific novelty of the study. For the first time also, the research is focused on the multifaceted creative activity of the talented Kharkiv musician A. Strilets, which combines the various directions – composition, conducting, bayan performance and pedagogy. Results of the study. The list of the works by A. Strilets includes dozens of positions, in particular, the orchestral opuses – about 40, the vocal pieces – more than 40, there are also the dance music, vocal-choreographic compositions and others. Composer prepared for publication the author’s collection “Concert works for bayan”, which will be a musical presentation of his work. Pedagogical work of the musician is successfully combined with the performing activity. A. Strilets is a talented accordion / bayan performer (the winner of all-Ukrainian and international competitions, among them, the prestigious international competition “Vogtland Music Days” in Klingenthal, Germany; participant of tours as a bayan player-performer in Belgium, Germany, Poland, Ukraine) and conductor. He worked as a conductor at the Kharkiv City Theater of Folk Music “Oberegi”; he made a significant contribution to the creation of the “Slobozhanskii Big Academic Song and Dance Ensemble” (2011), which he conducts nowadays, and also acts as an author and arranger of a significant part of the musical repertoire of this ensemble. Being the head of the folk instruments orchestra, musician directs his actions, first of all, to improve the performing level of the musicians, to expand the concert repertoire and the genre diversity of the performed compositions, to change and complete the instrumental compositions. The study also highlights several signs of the pedagogy of A. Strilets. As a teacher, he encourages in his class the independent thinking of the performer and the searching of a reasonable interpretation, provides the information about stylistic features of works for fully disclosing of its content, he takes into account the analysis of their dramaturgy and form, carefully relates to the reproduction of author’s remarks, aims from the musicians the task of the most accurate composer’s intention disclosure. These pedagogical principles project onto the compositional features of A. Strilets’ works, which are clearly demonstrated in sphere of his arranger’s work. The study specifies a number of basic composer principles and methods used by A. Strilets in the transcription-arrangement of “Jazz Slide”. 1. First of all, the arranger updates the timbre-texture complex of the original, redistributing certain content and form-building components in the musical “space” and “time”, giving them new configurations, which leads to strengthening or, in opposite, leveling (down to rotation) of their original dramatic functions – general and minor, solo and accompanying, monological and dialogical, ensemble and orchestral, melodic, harmonic, rhythmic and others. 2. The sound-texture aspect demonstrates both smallest and systemic changes of musical and expressive complex of the original – from the separate elements to their cumulative action, which contributes to the genre-style qualities transformation of the work, strengthening the through development in it, up to the presence of signs of symphonization. 3. Hence, the genre concept of the work is updated, and it leads to the emergence of a new genre quality – “concert-ness” – and to the consolidation of the concert status of the work (which becomes similar to a concert for two accordions / bayans with an orchestra). The quality of “concert” is also achieved due to the growing role of soloists, in particular, the strengthening of solo replicas in the orchestra (separation of elements of the original melodic themes and distribution them to orchestral groups), which leads to the polyphonization of the musical facture, emphasizing (new coloring) some features of the melodic lines of the soloists and like other. 4. At the level of harmony, on the one hand, the emphasis of its original content, on the other hand, the search of its melodic potential is observed. 5. The rhythmic parameter of sound-facture complex contributes to the enhancement of genre-style semantics of the original source, taking into account its jazz “filling”. 6. Comparative analysis of the original and version reveals signs of a method of composer interpretation that involves a creative component in arranging, supplementing, and rethinking the content of the original. Conclusion. In course of studying it was found that the arranger, at the preserving of the structure of the original piece – a contrast-composite form, updates the procession-dynamic and dramatic sides of it, primarily due to the action of the timbre-texture complex as the key interpretative factor in creating of the orchestral version of the original. The prospect of the research. The considered issues require, of course, the further research – both from the point of view of the artistic significance of genres, arrangement and transcription, in particular, for orchestras and ensembles of folk instruments, and in the aspect of the action of mechanisms of artistic interpretation and the features of the transcription process, which naturally combines composer and performing arts. The work of the talented Kharkiv musician Andrii Strilets who is one of the most prominent representatives of the Kharkiv school of folk instruments, deserves a separate study.

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Lehkun, Oksana. "LITERATURE AND MUSICAL LIFE IN KREMENETS UKRAINIAN GYMNASIUM (1918–1938 YEARS)." Scientific bulletin of KRHPA, no. 11 (2019): 112–18. http://dx.doi.org/10.37835/2410-2075-2019-11-13.

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The article deals with literary and artistic life at the Kremenets Ukrainian Gymnasium named after Ivan Steshenko. On the basis of archival materials the teaching staff of the educational institution, which functioned in the territory of the Second Rzeczpospolita, was studied. The author notes that the main component of state formation in the years of the Ukrainian People's Republic was the formation and development of Ukrainian national education and culture. The first step in implementing the national school reform was the creation of conditions for the introduction of the Ukrainian language in high school and the opening of new Ukrainian gymnasia. Numerous documents stored in the State Archives of the Ternopil region (351, «Private Ukrainian Gymnasium of Joint Training in Kremenets»), reveal the activity of the educational institution and confirm its prominent role in the educational life of the Ukrainian population of Kremenets. The researcher emphasizes the pedagogical skills of the teaching staff of the Kremenets Ukrainian Gymnasium, and the understanding of the important role of education in the process of preserving national dignity and spirituality contributed to the formation of students' professional and intellectual development. In its activity, the Ukrainian gymnasium has repeatedly faced difficulties: lack of funding, lack of premises adapted properly to educational needs, lack of appropriate material and technical base, but it became the center of high culture and education. The content of the first issue of the handwritten literary and artistic magazine "Youth" was analyzed, on the basis of the memoirs of the student of the gymnasium and the editor of the almanac U. Samchuk, the names of the members of the literary circle were established. The main aspects of the cultural-artistic collaboration of the teaching staff and the students' collectives of the gymnasium with Prosvita Society are revealed. The musical activity of high school students was traced and the programs of concert performances were explored. Based on the memories of former students of the gymnasium, the repertoire of the theater circle under the direction of G. Berezovsky was considered, and the study of high school students at the School of National Dances V. Avramenko was analyzed. The names of well-known writers and public figures who studied in the Ukrainian gymnasium were established.

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Glatthorn, Austin. "In the Name of the Emperor." Journal of Musicology 35, no. 1 (January 1, 2018): 1–41. http://dx.doi.org/10.1525/jm.2018.35.1.1.

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In July 1786 Prince Carl Anselm of Thurn und Taxis concluded that he had no choice but to dissolve his Italian court opera. This owed in part to the success of the German theater, which had been established in 1784 to rival the Prince’s Hoftheater and contest his position as the Holy Roman Emperor’s representative to the Reichstag in Regensburg. New evidence challenges the prevailing view that the dissolution of the Taxis’s court opera marked the end of the family’s musical patronage and involvement in Regensburg’s cultural life. In the face of opposition from other Reichstag officials, the Thurn und Taxis continued their investment in music and theatrics, appropriating outdoor spectacles of a kind popular earlier in the century to project imperial power. The prince affirmed his position as the emperor’s representative in such older displays of affluence and standing but updated them to suit contemporary tastes. Carl Anselm’s musico-political theatrics around 1789 demonstrate that although Italian opera failed to articulate the legitimacy he intended to project, his culture of political representation conducted in the name of the emperor endured well into the twilight years of the eighteenth century. To understand the continued musical patronage of this contested and middling prince is to appreciate more fully the methods by which music, spectacle, and politics were negotiated during a transformative period in European history.

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BULLOCK, PHILIP ROSS. "Staging Stalinism: The search for Soviet opera in the 1930s." Cambridge Opera Journal 18, no. 1 (March 2006): 83–108. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0954586706002114.

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With the exception of Shostakovich's Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District, Soviet opera in the 1930s has been relatively little studied. Yet this was an era in which opera was vigorously promoted as an ideal Soviet form after more than a decade of criticism from radical proletarian groups. This article considers three main aspects of Soviet operatic culture in the 1930s. First, opera's emotional power was valued as a way to mobilise mass opinion and the opera house was increasingly seen as a highly ideological site. Second, whilst most of the work in founding a Soviet repertory was carried out at Leningrad's Malyi Opera Theatre, Moscow became increasingly involved as the decade continued. Third, Soviet opera was highly dependent on adaptations of socialist realist novels. This phenomenon of ‘transposition’ is seen here as an attempt to invest scores with an unimpeachable political message. Moreover, transposition was an ideal method of regulating ambiguous literary texts by condensing their cardinal features in dramatic form. Although the story of Soviet opera was largely one of failure, its study sheds important light not only on the development of the Russian operatic tradition, but also on the dynamics of Stalinist culture.

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Brooks, Daphne A. "“A Woman Is a Sometime Thing”: (Re)Covering Black Womanhood in Porgy and Bess." Daedalus 150, no. 01 (October 2020): 98–117. http://dx.doi.org/10.1162/daed_a_01836.

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This essay reexamines the legendary opera-musical Porgy and Bess by first tending to its origins in the dual phenomenon of early 1920s racialized sonic experimentation and the Southern literary conceits of DuBose Heyward, author of the 1925 novel Porgy on which the theater production was based. It traces the ways in which Heyward and George Gershwin's undertheorized fascination with “the vice of Black womanhood” effectively shaped the form and the content of a work often referred to as “America's most famous opera,” and it ultimately considers the ways that Black women artists navigated, complicated, and transformed the charged aesthetics of a Porgy and Bess. Their performance labor ultimately subverts an archetype whose novel roots threatened to circumscribe their representational and artistic possibility.

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Abramov-van Rijk, Elena. "THE ITALIAN EXPERIENCE OF THE HOLY ROMAN EMPEROR CHARLES IV: MUSICAL AND LITERARY ASPECTS." Early Music History 37 (October 2018): 1–44. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0261127918000025.

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The Italians had conflicting sentiments regarding the visit of the Holy Roman Emperor Charles IV in Italy in 1355: from the enthusiastic expectations of the impact the Emperor would have on the local political life to contemptuous scepticism and even to overt disdain. Two Italian Trecento madrigals have traditionally been considered to refer to this visit: (1) the three-voice polytextual madrigal Aquil altera/Creatura gentil/Uccel di Dio by Jacopo da Bologna, seen as related to Charles’s coronation with the Iron Crown of Lombardy in Milan; and (2) the two-voice madrigal Sovran uccello by Donato da Firenze, considered a celebratory piece for Charles’s coronation as well. This essay explores the relevant historical contexts, Milanese for Jacopo’s madrigal and Florentine for Donato’s, with a view to placing both pieces.

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Barnard, Alex V. "‘Waving the banana’ at capitalism: Political theater and social movement strategy among New York’s ‘freegan’ dumpster divers." Ethnography 12, no. 4 (November 25, 2011): 419–44. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1466138110392453.

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This article presents an ethnographic study of ‘freegans’, individuals who use behaviors like dumpster diving for discarded food and voluntary unemployment to protest against environmental degradation and capitalism. While freegans often present their ideology as a totalizing lifestyle which impacts all aspects of their lives, in practice, freegans emphasize what would seem to be the most repellant aspect of their movement: eating wasted food. New Social Movement (NSM) theory would suggest that behaviors like dumpster diving are intended to assert difference and an alternative identity, rather than make more traditional social movement claims. Through the lens of social dramaturgy, I engage with New Social Movement theory by arguing that unconventional tactics like dumpster diving can also have strategic components, serving to project a favorable image of movement organizations, recruit new participants, and achieve a positive portrayal in the mainstream media.

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Galella, Donatella. "Being in “The Room Where it Happens”:Hamilton, Obama, and Nationalist Neoliberal Multicultural Inclusion." Theatre Survey 59, no. 3 (July 27, 2018): 363–85. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0040557418000303.

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The two white male cosponsors, a Democrat and a Republican, dressed as King George and Hamilton, respectively, as they rapped the resolution in the state senate. InHamilton, chief creator Lin-Manuel Miranda stakes out space for an immigrant from the Caribbean who was in the room where the United States of America was founded. Based on Ron Chernow's biography,Hamiltonfollows the struggles and successes of Alexander Hamilton in a story largely told by his nemesis, Aaron Burr. The musical opened Off-Broadway at the Public Theater in 2015 and subsequently moved to Broadway. With its Founders Chic historical approach, hip-hop aesthetic, and multiracial cast, this Broadway blockbuster has earned substantial commercial and critical acclaim from across the political spectrum. Former President Barack Obama joked, “Hamilton, I'm pretty sure, is the only thing Dick Cheney and I agree on.”

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GEARY, JASON. "Reinventing the Past: Mendelssohn's Antigone and the Creation of an Ancient Greek Musical Language." Journal of Musicology 23, no. 2 (2006): 187–226. http://dx.doi.org/10.1525/jm.2006.23.2.187.

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ABSTRACT In 1841, Sophocles's Antigone was performed at the Prussian court theater with staging by Ludwig Tieck and music by Felix Mendelssohn. Commissioned by King Friedrich Wilhelm IV, this production aimed to re-create aspects of Greek tragedy by, among other things, using J. J. Donner's 1839 metrical translation and having an all-male chorus sing the odes. Mendelssohn initially experimented with imitating the purported sound of ancient music by composing primarily unison choral recitative and limiting the accompaniment to flutes, tubas, and harps; but he quickly abandoned this approach in favor of a more traditional one. Yet despite his overall adherence to modern convention, he did employ several strategies to evoke ancient Greek practice and thus to meet the unique demands of the Prussian court production. Highlighting important distinctions between verse-types in the original poetry, Mendelssohn retained a vestige of his initial approach by composing unison choral recitative to indicate the presence of anapestic verse while turning to melodrama for the lyric verse of the play's two main characters. In addition, he reproduced the poetic meter by shaping the rhythm of the vocal line to reflect both the accentual pattern of Donner's translation and, in some cases, the long and short syllables of Sophocles's Greek verse. Owing largely to the irregular line lengths characteristic of Donner's text, the music is marked by conspicuously asymmetrical phrases, which serve to defamiliarize the otherwise straightforward choral styles being employed to convey the various moods of Sophocles's choruses. In the opening chorus, Mendelssohn alludes to the familiar sound of a Mäännerchor accompanied by a wind band, thereby suggesting the ode's celebratory and martial associations while recalling his own Festgesang written for the 1840 Leipzig festival commemorating the 400th anniversary of Gutenberg's printing press. The listener is thus presented with a thoroughly recognizable musical idiom and yet simultaneously distanced from it in a way that underscores the historical remoteness of ancient Greek tragedy.

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MASSEY, DREW. "Leonard Bernstein and the Harvard Student Union: In Search of Political Origins." Journal of the Society for American Music 3, no. 1 (January 15, 2009): 67–84. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s1752196309090051.

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AbstractIn spite of the publicity generated at times by the politics of the mature Leonard Bernstein, the roots of his entanglement with political causes have been little-explored. As part of a larger collaborative project investigating Bernstein's ties to Boston, this article traces his role in the Harvard Student Union's theatrical productions. These shows were important because they represented some of Bernstein's earliest efforts at writing and directing for the theater. Bernstein worked on two shows sponsored by the Union: the production of Marc Blitzstein'sCradle Will Rockin 1939, during Bernstein's senior year at Harvard, and that of Aristophanes' playPeacein 1941, two years after he graduated. Although the Harvard Student Union was a major progressive political force on campus, Bernstein's relationship with the group appears to have been surprisingly casual. Examination of archival materials surrounding the productions, as well as selected interviews from the larger collaborative Bernstein project of which this article is but one part, reveals Bernstein as a man who was primarily interested in the Harvard Student Union insofar as it was an organization amenable to supporting his musical activities. As the heat of Bernstein's celebrity cools with time, such findings are an important aid in avoiding drawing overly deterministic conclusions about the significance of Bernstein's affiliations while ignoring his own immediate aims, political or otherwise.

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Journal articles on the topic 'Political aspects of Musical theater'

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