DOCSLIB.ORG

Bricolage in the Music of Elena Kats-Chernin

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Bricolage in the Music of Elena Kats-Chernin Bricolage in the Music of Elena Kats-Chernin Jane Stanley The mature output of Australian composer Elena Kats-Chernin exhibits a proclivity for referencing a variety of sources including Klezmer, composers of the western canon and jazz. In pieces such as 77K Schubert Blues and Iphis, fragments appropriated from pre-existing works and genres (referred to here as 'found objects') are juxtaposed with one another and integrated into a new structural whole. When I interviewed Kats-Chernin in 1998,1 asked her about parody, appropriation and the absurd in music. Since that time my perspective of the composer's work has shifted from the frame of parody to that of bricolage. It was only a few months ago when I re-read my transcript of the interview that I was struck by how Kats- Chernin's words resonate with my most recent analytical viewpoint. Significantly, her comments highlight the necessity for a single term to denote the type of appropriation evident in her output. I would argue that the term bricolage meets this need. Bricolage is a term that has been used widely in the fields of anthropology, literary criticism, cultural studies and, indeed, music. It is generally accepted that Claude Levi-Strauss was the first to use the term in his account of myth creation in totemic cultures.1 A theorist in the field of structural anthropology, Levi-Strauss notes that in French a bricoleur is 'someone who works with his hands and uses devious means [in order to complete the task at hand] compared to those of a craftsman.'2 The Collins Robert French Concise Dictionary defines bricolage as 'odd jobs' or 'tinkering about.' Weidenfeld and Nicolson, translators of The Savage Mind, note that there is no term in the English vocabulary that is equivalent to bricoleur. They offer the expression 'Jack of all trades' as a close relation, but draw a distinction between this and the 'English 'odd job man,' or handyman.'3 The former of these implies a lack of commitment to any particular area of specialisation. The latter, I would argue, is more restricted in its definition, in that a handyman is generally one who carries out a range of domestic maintenance and repairs.4 1 Examples of totemic cultures are the Thompson River Indians, the Iroquois, and the Yukhagir. See Claude Levi-Strauss, The Savage Mind (1966; London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1972). 2L6vi-Strauss, The Savage Mind 16-17. 3LeVi-Strauss, The Savage Mind 17. 4 Indeed, in French, bricolage is used often in this sense. But Michel Butor, a French writer who in his work blurs the boundaries of literature and painting, describes this as 'the vulgar aspect of bricolage.' He states: 'Most men are bricoleurs. To tinker about [bricoler], they use the tools which are furnished them by department store chains.. .The other level is the invention of material. This is what I would like to call the gathering of significant objects, the recovery of what has been eliminated, thrown out...This is the phenomenon of the quest for lost objects, for the disdained object to which we will give a new life and a new dignity; we will be forced to look at it in a different way.' See Martine Reid, 'Bricolage: An Interview with Michel Butor,' trans. Noah Guynn, Yale French Studies 84 (1994): 26. 6 Context 20 (Summer 2000/2001) A bricoleur tends to collect elements 'on the principle that "they might always come in handy. "'5 Just like a 'Jack of all trades/ the bricoleur employs any of the elements that he or she has acquired over time to complete the task at hand. This may involve bending or even breaking the 'rules' in which a particular element is bound. These are the 'devious means' as described by Levi-Strauss. Levi-Strauss elaborates upon how a bricoleur draws his or her material from the surrounding environment: His universe of instruments is closed and the rules of his game are always to make do with 'whatever is at hand', that is to say with a set of tools and materials which is always finite and is also heterogeneous because what it contains bears no relation to the current project, or indeed to any particular project, but is the contingent result of all the occasions there have been to renew or enrich the stock or to maintain it with the remains of previous constructions or destructions.6 Genette adopts the term bricolage in his discussion of structuralism in literary criticism. He identifies the function of a critic with that of a bricoleur, explaining that he/she constructs new discourse from the 'debris' of pre-existing literary endeavours.7 That is, from a structuralist perspective the critic pulls apart literary works into their smaller component parts, whether these be quotations, themes, or turns of phrase, and rearranges these elements within the context of new theory. Of course, as stated by Levi-Strauss, the bricoleur is by very nature limited in the materials that he or she works with. In the case of the critic, he/she is restricted to the existing body of literary discourse.8 Indeed, my role as a musical analyst, prising out quotations of Kats-Chernin's works and piecing them together in order to support my theory, has much in common with the function of a literary critic. Each of us constructs new meaning from a pre-existing, finite 'universe' of signs.9 Bricolage has also been adopted by scholars in the field of cultural studies. John Clarke, in his work on post-war youth subcultures, emphasises the role of an object's history in the generation of new meaning. He describes the process of bricolage in semiotic terms: Together, object and meaning constitute a sign, and, within any one culture, such signs are assembled, repeatedly, into characteristic forms of discourse. However, when the bricoleur re-locates the significant object in a different position within that discourse, 5 Levi-Strauss, The Savage Mind 18. 6 Levi-Strauss, The Savage Mind 17. 7 G6rard Genette, 'Structuralism and Literary Criticism/ Modem Criticism and Theory, trans. Alan Sheridan (1982), ed. David Lodge (London: Longman, 1988) 64. 8 Genette, 'Structuralism and Literary Criticism' 64. 9 Genette, 'Structuralism and Literary Criticism' 65. In regard to the creation of new meaning, Jean Duffy writes: 'Even as he acknowledges the limits of his materials, the bricoleur produces new patterns, whose semantic multivalence springs from the relationships between the parts and cannot be reduced to the significance of the sum of the parts' ('Cultural autobiography and bricolage: Claude Simon and Robert Rauschenberg/ Word and Image, 13.1 [January-March 1997]: 92). He argues that the processes of French author Claude Simon resemble those of a bricoleur. lie is drawing upon pre-existing materials and combining these elements into new meaningful arrangements' (92). Often the materials used by Simon are memories of his own life experience. Duffy adds that Simon's work is littered with literary, pictorial, mythological, historical and religious' references (93). Bricolage and Kats-Chernin 7 using the same overall repertoire of signs, or when the object is placed within a different total ensemble, a new discourse is constituted, a different message conveyed.10 There is for all intents and purposes a range of meanings, or a discourse, to which an object belongs. The bricoleur tends to place a found object in a context that resides outside pre­ existing discourse. That is to say, he/she uses the significant fragment in a way that is unfamiliar to an observer's understanding of it, as the new application has no historical precedent. Tension is created between the new context and the pre-existing identity of the found object. This tension develops into new discourse, as described by Clarke. A contemporary example of subcultural bricolage is found in rock music fashion of the late 1980s/early 1990s. Lead guitarist of the group Guns n' Roses, Slash, turned the top hat into a symbol of rebellion. On the subject of his top hat, Slash is reported to have said: Listen, I'm not saying I was the first rock'n'roller to wear a top hat onstage. But look, man, CC [DeVille, Poison guitarist] is the type of guy who probably didn't even know what a top hat was until he saw me wearing one. You know, I caught up with him one night in the Rainbow, and I told him quietly, 'If I ever see you wearing a top hat onstage again I'm gonna shoot you...' I tell ya, he freaked, man! And I mean, I don't own a gun.. .wouldn't know how to use one if I did. And I'm really not a violent guy at all. I just felt something had to be said. Sometimes you gotta draw the line for people.11 In this quote, Slash conveys his deep sense of association with the top hat. With each public wearing,12 he invests more of himself (his image and reputation) into this object, tacitly endorsing it as a symbol of his (public) identity. Historically, men have worn top hats with suits at formal occasions. They came to be emblems of respectability, wealth and gentlemanly status. In Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice, Mr Darcy epitomises all things gentlemanly.13 His wearing the top hat reinforces dominant and historically constructed associations with status and chivalry. However, worn by a 1jad boy7 rock musician who embodies everything that is anti-establishment and low-life,' the top hat is enriched with a new layer of meaning. It is turned into a site for the contestation of class, morals and status.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Trent 91; First Steps Towards a Stylistic Classification (Revised 2019 Version of My 2003 Paper, Originally Circulated to Just a Dozen Specialists)
    Trent 91; first steps towards a stylistic classification (revised 2019 version of my 2003 paper, originally circulated to just a dozen specialists). Probably unreadable in a single sitting but useful as a reference guide, the original has been modified in some wording, by mention of three new-ish concordances and by correction of quite a few errors. There is also now a Trent 91 edition index on pp. 69-72. [Type the company name] Musical examples have been imported from the older version. These have been left as they are apart from the Appendix I and II examples, which have been corrected. [Type the document Additional information (and also errata) found since publication date: 1. The Pange lingua setting no. 1330 (cited on p. 29) has a concordance in Wr2016 f. 108r, whereti it is tle]textless. (This manuscript is sometimes referred to by its new shelf number Warsaw 5892). The concordance - I believe – was first noted by Tom Ward (see The Polyphonic Office Hymn[T 1y4p0e0 t-h15e2 d0o, cpu. m21e6n,t se suttbtinigt lneo] . 466). 2. Page 43 footnote 77: the fragmentary concordance for the Urbs beata setting no. 1343 in the Weitra fragment has now been described and illustrated fully in Zapke, S. & Wright, P. ‘The Weitra Fragment: A Central Source of Late Medieval Polyphony’ in Music & Letters 96 no. 3 (2015), pp. 232-343. 3. The Introit group subgroup ‘I’ discussed on p. 34 and the Sequences discussed on pp. 7-12 were originally published in the Ex Codicis pilot booklet of 2003, and this has now been replaced with nos 148-159 of the Trent 91 edition.
    [Show full text]
  • Williams, Justin A. (2010) Musical Borrowing in Hip-Hop Music: Theoretical Frameworks and Case Studies
    Williams, Justin A. (2010) Musical borrowing in hip-hop music: theoretical frameworks and case studies. PhD thesis, University of Nottingham. Access from the University of Nottingham repository: http://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/11081/1/JustinWilliams_PhDfinal.pdf Copyright and reuse: The Nottingham ePrints service makes this work by researchers of the University of Nottingham available open access under the following conditions. · Copyright and all moral rights to the version of the paper presented here belong to the individual author(s) and/or other copyright owners. · To the extent reasonable and practicable the material made available in Nottingham ePrints has been checked for eligibility before being made available. · Copies of full items can be used for personal research or study, educational, or not- for-profit purposes without prior permission or charge provided that the authors, title and full bibliographic details are credited, a hyperlink and/or URL is given for the original metadata page and the content is not changed in any way. · Quotations or similar reproductions must be sufficiently acknowledged. Please see our full end user licence at: http://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/end_user_agreement.pdf A note on versions: The version presented here may differ from the published version or from the version of record. If you wish to cite this item you are advised to consult the publisher’s version. Please see the repository url above for details on accessing the published version and note that access may require a subscription. For more information, please contact [email protected] MUSICAL BORROWING IN HIP-HOP MUSIC: THEORETICAL FRAMEWORKS AND CASE STUDIES Justin A.
    [Show full text]
  • Univeristy of California Santa Cruz Cultural Memory And
    UNIVERISTY OF CALIFORNIA SANTA CRUZ CULTURAL MEMORY AND COLLECTIVITY IN MUSIC FROM THE 1991 PERSIAN GULF WAR A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY in MUSIC by Jessica Rose Loranger December 2015 The Dissertation of Jessica Rose Loranger is approved: ______________________________ Professor Leta E. Miller, chair ______________________________ Professor Amy C. Beal ______________________________ Professor Ben Leeds Carson ______________________________ Professor Dard Neuman ______________________________ Tyrus Miller Vice Provost and Dean of Graduate Studies Copyright © by Jessica Rose Loranger 2015 CONTENTS Illustrations vi Musical Examples vii Tables viii Abstract ix Acknowledgments xi CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1 Purpose Literature, Theoretical Framework, and Terminology Scope and Limitations CHAPTER 2: BACKGROUND AND BUILDUP TO THE PERSIAN GULF WAR 15 Historical Roots Desert Shield and Desert Storm The Rhetoric of Collective Memory Remembering Vietnam The Antiwar Movement Conclusion CHAPTER 3: POPULAR MUSIC, POPULAR MEMORY 56 PART I “The Desert Ain’t Vietnam” “From a Distance” iii George Michael and Styx Creating Camaraderie: Patriotism, Country Music, and Group Singing PART II Ice-T and Lollapalooza Michael Franti Ani DiFranco Bad Religion Fugazi Conclusion CHAPTER 4: PERSIAN GULF WAR SONG COLLECTION, LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 116 Yellow Ribbons: Symbols and Symptoms of Cultural Memory Parents and Children The American Way Hussein and Hitler Antiwar/Peace Songs Collective
    [Show full text]
  • Reshaping American Music: the Quotation of Shape-Note Hymns by Twentieth-Century Composers
    RESHAPING AMERICAN MUSIC: THE QUOTATION OF SHAPE-NOTE HYMNS BY TWENTIETH-CENTURY COMPOSERS by Joanna Ruth Smolko B.A. Music, Covenant College, 2000 M.M. Music Theory & Composition, University of Georgia, 2002 Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of The Faculty of Arts and Science in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Ph.D. in Historical Musicology University of Pittsburgh 2009 UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH ARTS AND SCIENCES This dissertation was presented by Joanna Ruth Smolko It was defended on March 27, 2009 and approved by James P. Cassaro, Adjunct Assistant Professor, Department of Music Mary S. Lewis, Professor, Department of Music Alan Shockley, Assistant Professor, Cole Conservatory of Music Philip E. Smith, Associate Professor, Department of English Dissertation Advisor: Deane L. Root, Professor, Department of Music ii Copyright © by Joanna Ruth Smolko 2009 iii RESHAPING AMERICAN MUSIC: THE QUOTATION OF SHAPE-NOTE HYMNS BY TWENTIETH-CENTURY COMPOSERS Joanna Ruth Smolko, PhD University of Pittsburgh, 2009 Throughout the twentieth century, American composers have quoted nineteenth-century shape- note hymns in their concert works, including instrumental and vocal works and film scores. When referenced in other works the hymns become lenses into the shifting web of American musical and national identity. This study reveals these complex interactions using cultural and musical analyses of six compositions from the 1930s to the present as case studies. The works presented are Virgil Thomson’s film score to The River (1937), Aaron Copland’s arrangement of “Zion’s Walls” (1952), Samuel Jones’s symphonic poem Let Us Now Praise Famous Men (1974), Alice Parker’s opera Singers Glen (1978), William Duckworth’s choral work Southern Harmony and Musical Companion (1980-81), and the score compiled by T Bone Burnett for the film Cold Mountain (2003).
    [Show full text]
  • UCLA Electronic Theses and Dissertations
    UCLA UCLA Electronic Theses and Dissertations Title Yiddish Songs of the Shoah: A Source Study Based on the Collections of Shmerke Kaczerginski Permalink https://escholarship.org/uc/item/6x72f9t5 Author Werb, Bret Publication Date 2014 Peer reviewed|Thesis/dissertation eScholarship.org Powered by the California Digital Library University of California UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA Los Angeles Yiddish Songs of the Shoah A Source Study Based on the Collections of Shmerke Kaczerginski A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Philosophy in Ethnomusicology by Bret Charles Werb 2014 Copyright © Bret Charles Werb 2014 ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION Yiddish Songs of the Shoah A Source Study Based on the Collections of Shmerke Kaczerginski by Bret Charles Werb Doctor of Philosophy in Ethnomusicology University of California, Los Angeles, 2014 Professor Timothy Rice, Chair This study examines the repertoire of Yiddish-language Shoah (or Holocaust) songs prepared for publication between the years 1945 and 1949, focusing its attention on the work of the most influential individual song collector, Shmerke Kaczerginski (1908-1954). Although a number of initiatives to preserve the “sung folklore” of the Nazi ghettos and camps were undertaken soon after the end of the Second World War, Kaczerginski’s magnum opus, the anthology Lider fun di getos un lagern (Songs of the Ghettos and Camps), published in New York in 1948, remains unsurpassed to this day as a resource for research in the field of Jewish folk and popular music of the Holocaust period. ii Chapter one of the dissertation recounts Kaczerginski’s life story, from his underprivileged childhood in Vilna, Imperial Russia (present-day Vilnius, Lithuania), to his tragic early death in Argentina.
    [Show full text]
  • Translating, Adapting, and Performing Opera in Eighteenth-Century Cosmopolitan Europe: Lorenzo Da Ponte at the King's Theatre" (2017)
    University of Pennsylvania ScholarlyCommons Publicly Accessible Penn Dissertations 2017 Translating, Adapting, And Performing Opera In Eighteenth- Century Cosmopolitan Europe: Lorenzo Da Ponte At The King's Theatre Lily Tamara Kass University of Pennsylvania, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations Part of the Comparative Literature Commons, Music Commons, and the Other Languages, Societies, and Cultures Commons Recommended Citation Kass, Lily Tamara, "Translating, Adapting, And Performing Opera In Eighteenth-Century Cosmopolitan Europe: Lorenzo Da Ponte At The King's Theatre" (2017). Publicly Accessible Penn Dissertations. 2379. https://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations/2379 This paper is posted at ScholarlyCommons. https://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations/2379 For more information, please contact [email protected]. Translating, Adapting, And Performing Opera In Eighteenth-Century Cosmopolitan Europe: Lorenzo Da Ponte At The King's Theatre Abstract This dissertation examines music and text circulation in cosmopolitan Europe during the last decades of the eighteenth century through the lens of translation. London in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries was the largest center of Italian operatic performance outside of Italy. All performances sung at the King’s Theatre, London, were sung in Italian, the presumed language of opera, even when the works had been originated in other languages. This created the need for a culture of translation and adaptation of works from abroad, making them suitable for a London audience partially through the retention of foreignness and partially through domesticating practices. In the 1790s, a period of political tension between Britain and post-Revolution France, four French operas were presented at the King's Theatre in Italian translations attributed to the poet Lorenzo Da Ponte (1749-1838): Gluck's Iphig�nie en Tauride, Gr�try's Z�mire et Azor, Monsigny's La belle Ars�ne, and Sacchini's Arvire et �v�lina.
    [Show full text]
  • Whose Music Is It Anyway?: How We Came to View Musical Expression As a Form of Property – Part I
    CORE Metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk Provided by Villanova University School of Law: Digital Repository Working Paper Series Villanova University Charles Widger School of Law Year 2003 Whose Music Is It Anyway?: How We Came To View Musical Expression As A Form Of Property { Part I Michael W. Carroll Villanova University School of Law, [email protected] This paper is posted at Villanova University Charles Widger School of Law Digital Repository. http://digitalcommons.law.villanova.edu/wps/art2 WHOSE MUSIC IS IT ANYWAY?: HOW WE CAME TO VIEW MUSICAL EXPRESSION AS A FORM OF PROPERTY Michael W. Carroll* I. INTRODUCTION The year 2003 marked the end of the first decade of the “digital revolution.”1 Of the many changes wrought by developments in digital * Assistant Professor of Law, Villanova University School of Law. Thanks to Oren Bracha, Douglas Galbi, Jacqueline Lipton, Jessica Litman, and Michael Madison for insightful comments. I also received helpful comments on oral presentations of this Article at the Cyberlaw Retreat convened by Harvard Law School’s Berkman Center for Internet and Society and at the June 2003 Law and Society Annual Meeting. I thank the participants in both fora for their thoughts. The Villanova community has done much to support this project. For helpful and supportive comments, I thank my colleagues Michelle Anderson, Leslie Book, Ann Juliano, Greg Magarian, and Michele Pistone. For enthusiastic research assistance, I thank Christopher Nickels and Elizabeth Pulbratek; for unswerving administrative support, I thank Joan Delong; and for cheerful and efficient processing of numerous inter-library loan requests, I thank the reference librarians at the Villanova University School of Law.
    [Show full text]
  • A Bibliographical Guide to the Study of the Troubadours and Old Occitan Literature
    A Bibliographical Guide to the Study of the Troubadours and Old Occitan Literature Robert A. Taylor RESEARCH IN MEDIEVAL CULTURE Bibliographical Guide to the Study of the Troubadours and Old Occitan Literature Medieval Institute Publications is a program of The Medieval Institute, College of Arts and Sciences Bibliographical Guide to the Study of the Troubadours and Old Occitan Literature Robert A. Taylor MEDIEVAL INSTITUTE PUBLICATIONS Western Michigan University Kalamazoo Copyright © 2015 by the Board of Trustees of Western Michigan University All rights reserved Manufactured in the United States of America This book is printed on acid-free paper. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Taylor, Robert A. (Robert Allen), 1937- Bibliographical guide to the study of the troubadours and old Occitan literature / Robert A. Taylor. pages cm Includes index. Summary: "This volume provides offers an annotated listing of over two thousand recent books and articles that treat all categories of Occitan literature from the earli- est enigmatic texts to the works of Jordi de Sant Jordi, an Occitano-Catalan poet who died young in 1424. The works chosen for inclusion are intended to provide a rational introduction to the many thousands of studies that have appeared over the last thirty-five years. The listings provide descriptive comments about each contri- bution, with occasional remarks on striking or controversial content and numerous cross-references to identify complementary studies or differing opinions" -- Pro- vided by publisher. ISBN 978-1-58044-207-7 (Paperback : alk. paper) 1. Provençal literature--Bibliography. 2. Occitan literature--Bibliography. 3. Troubadours--Bibliography. 4. Civilization, Medieval, in literature--Bibliography.
    [Show full text]
  • “The Future Is Medieval”: Orality and Musical Borrowing in the Middle Ages and Online Remix Culture
    “The Future is Medieval”: Orality and Musical Borrowing in the Middle Ages and Online Remix Culture (Monograph) by Claire E.A. McLeish M.A. Candidate in Popular Music and Culture A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Popular Music and Culture The School of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies The University of Western Ontario London, Ontario, Canada © Claire E.A. McLeish 2013 Abstract This thesis re-situates sampling and the mashup in a broader tradition of musical borrowing and oral practice. Musical creators in the West borrowed throughout history; the variety and quantity of this borrowing remains dependent on the proprietary status of music. Copyright was first applied to music to protect printed scores, and is thus ill equipped to accommodate works that borrow recorded elements. Taking Ong’s concept of “secondary orality” as applied to hip hop by Tricia Rose, this thesis connects techniques of musical borrowing in the Middle Ages with those in the late-20th and 21st centuries through several close readings of representative works. By necessity, these orally circulating works are shared within a knowing community, one that understands the references and values continuing dialogue more than the contributions of individuals. Finally, this thesis makes recommendations for copyright reform, seeking to ensure that music with borrowed parts can continue to circulate in both commercial and non-commercial spheres. Keywords Orality, Music, Copyright, Authorship, Borrowing, Remix Culture, Middle Ages, Refrain, Mashup, Sampling. ii Table of Contents Abstract and Keywords ………………………………………………………………………………………………....ii Table of Contents………………………………………………………………………………………………………..... iii Chapter 1: Borrowing as Oral Practice…………………………………………………………………………….
    [Show full text]
  • Use of Parody Techniques in Jacques Offenbach's Opérettes and Germaine Tailleferre's Du Style Galant Au Style Méchant
    Use of Parody Techniques in Jacques Offenbach’s Opérettes and Germaine Tailleferre’s Du Style Galant au Style Méchant By Melissa Cummins, ©2017 PhD University of Kansas, 2017 MM University of South Dakota, 2013 ME Southeast Missouri State University, 1994 BSE Northwest Missouri State University, 1989 Submitted to the graduate degree program in Musicology and the Graduate Faculty of the University of Kansas in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. Chair: Colin Roust Paul Laird Scott Murphy Joyce Castle Jeanne Klein Date Defended: March 15, 2017 The dissertation committee for Melissa Cummins certifies that this is the approved version of the following dissertation: Use of Parody Techniques in Jacques Offenbach’s Opérettes and Germaine Tailleferre’s Du Style Galant au Style Méchant Chair: Colin Roust Date Approved: April 26, 2017 ii Abstract In past scholarship, Germaine Tailleferre has been briefly written about as the only female member of Les Six and as a composer of instrumental music. Her body of piano music and a few of her other compositions have been analyzed, but her operatic output and style have to this point not been examined. This dissertation begins to fill that gap by studying the radio operas that were commissioned in 1955 by Radio France. Using parodic techniques developed early in her career, Tailleferre and her librettist, Denice Centore, created a cycle of five short operas that reflected the historical scope of French opera in miniature: Du Style Galant au Style Méchant. The fourth opera in the cycle, Monsieur Petitpois achéte un château, is a parody of the opérettes of Jacques Offenbach.
    [Show full text]
  • The Ideology and Aesthetics of Andrew Lloyd Webber's Musicals
    THE IDEOLOGY AND AESTHETICS OF ANDREW LLOYD WEBBER’S MUSICALS: FROM THE BROADWAY MUSICAL TO THE BRITISH MEGAMUSICAL by Vagelis Siropoulos A dissertation submitted to the Department of English Literature and Culture, School of English, Faculty of Philosophy, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece In fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy 2008 2 TABLE OF CONTENTS Acknowledgements…………………………………………………………..page 4 Introduction A Dialectical Method for the Analysis of Musicals: From Fredric Jameson to Andrew Lloyd Webber..............................................................................................5 Chapter 1 Historicizing the Musical Number: From Vaudeville to MTV 1. Defining the Musical Number………………………………………………25 2. The Old Razzle-Dazzle……………………………………………………..32 3. Thinking in Fragments……………………………………………………...43 Chapter 2 The Era of Rodgers and Hammerstein and the Origins of the Megamusical: From Show Boat to West Side Story 1. The Musical Play……………………………………………………………56 2. Problems of Integration……………………………………………………..71 3. Modernist Experimentations………………………………………………..92 Chapter 3 Counterculture and the Birth of the Megamusical: From Hair to Evita 1. Rock/ Pop Opera…………………………………………………………..109 3 2. Musical Montage and Conceptual Staging……………………………….. 128 3. Counterculture and the Culture of Narcissism: From Jesus to Madonna……………………………………………………149 Chapter 4 Blockbuster Aesthetics and the British Invasion: From Cats to Les Misérables 1. “On Her Majesty’s Secret Service:” The British Conquer the
    [Show full text]
  • Avisn FORUM Journal of the Association Ellard De Honnecourt for the Interdisciplinary Study of Medieval Technology, Science, and Art
    AVISn FORUM Journal of The Association Ellard de Honnecourt for the Interdisciplinary Study of Medieval Technology, Science, and Art Volume 10 Number 1 Fall 1996 1Winter 1997 MAR 2 1997 C~~~~~#'Lo 1 LI - Page Directors ............................................................................... 2 Bulletin Board ...................................................................... 2 Farewell to a Friend: Jean Gimpel ......................................... 3 I From the President ................................................................. 4 I AVISTA Sessions: 1996 Medieval Congress .......................... 5 Abstracts of Papers Articles The Work of Count Galeran ................................................... 9 by Stephen ~ardn&nd John James Knights and Ladies at the Door ............................................ 10 by Janet Snyder The Plan of Saint-Urbain, Troyes ........................................ I5 by Michael T. Davis The Architectural Envelope of the Sainte-Chapelle ............. 2 1 by Stephen Murray Reviews Beat Brenk and Daniel Weiss on the Sainte-Chapelle Walter Cahn on Richard of St.-Victor's Ezekiel Commentary ............................................................ 25 by Michael T. ~avis Marion Archibald et al., on Coin Dies from London ........... 30 by Alan M. Stahl News from Members and Affiliated Societies ..................... 3 1 Activities... Past, Present, Future ........................................... 33 AVISTA Membership application ......................................... 39 Editorial
    [Show full text]