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ProQuest Information and Learning 300 North Zeeb Road. Ann Arbor. Ml 48106-1346 USA 800-521-0600 UMl® UNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA GRADUATE COLLEGE MICHAEL HEAD’S LIGHT OPERA, KEY MONEY A MUSICAL DRAMATURGY A Document SUBMITTED TO THE GRADUATE FACULTY In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF MUSICAL ARTS By MARILYN S. GOVICH Norman. Oklahoma 2002 UMl Number: 3070639 Copyright 2002 by Govlch, Marilyn S. All rights reserved. UMl UMl Microform 3070639 Copyright 2003 by ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights reserved. This microform edition is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17. United States Code. ProQuest Information and Learning Company 300 North Zeeb Road P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 MICHAEL HEAD’S LIGHT OPERA, KEY MONEY A MUSICAL DRAMATURGY A Document APPROVED FOR THE SCHOOL OF MUSIC BY Dr. Eugène Enrico, Chairman Dr. Dolores Leffingweli - f Dr. Mery^Mantione Dr. William Henry McDtmaid Dr. Michael Rogers T © Copyright by MARILYN S. GOVICH 2002 All Rights Reserved ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The ardent interest and valued support of my committee members have greatly contributed to the realization of this document. I wish to thank Dr. Eugene Enrico for his enthusiasm, thoughtful guidance, and generosity of his time and expertise. 1 am especially grateful to Dr. Meryl Mantione for her personal encouragement throughout this study, as well as her ongoing support through all the recitals of the degree. Appreciation is extended to Dr. Michael Rogers for encouraging a creative approach to musical analysis; Dr. Dolores Leffingweli for her insightful questions which helped define the study; and to Dr. William Henry McDonald for his continuing interest in the project. Special acknowledgement is given to the femily of Nancy Bush— Dr Rachel O'Higgins, Mrs. Catherine Hinson and Ms. Maeve O’Higgins—for their efforts and assistance in providing vital information to this study. 1 am also extremely grateful to Dr. Barbara Streets for making available all her materials from the Michael Head Collection and her research on this composer, as well as for sharing her personal library. 1 wish to thank my mother and fother, and my three extraordinary children, Milena, Mateja and Nikola, for their invaluable support and encouragement. Most of all 1 am indebted to my teacher, mentor and husband, the late Professor Emeritus, Dr. Bruce M. Go vie h, to whom 1 respectfully dedicate this work. Besides teaching the highest level of skills and artistry in music, he inspired an intellectual curiosity in all his students and identified and encouraged their academic potential which was often beyond their imaginations. IV TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION............................................................................ I Purpose of the Study ......................................................................................1 Need for the Study ......................................................................................... 1 Procedures ...................................................................................................... 8 Limitations ....................................................................................................10 Related Literature ......................................................................................... 12 CHAPTER II: THE CREATORS OF THE OPERA.............................................19 Michael Dewar Head.....................................................................................19 Nancy Bush.................................................................................................... 42 The Genesis of the Opera, Key Money........................................................70 CHAPTER III: PERFORMER'S ANALYSIS....................................................... 78 Dramatic Values of the Libretto ...................................................................78 Musical Dramaturgy ......................................................................................90 CHAPTER IV: CRITIQUE / INTERPRETATION............................................. 200 The Genre..................................................................................................... 200 Relationship to Twentieth-Century Chamber Opera.................................214 Other Operas by Michael Head...................................................................218 Conclusion .................................................................................................... 226 Recommendations for Further Research ....................................................229 BIBLIOGRAPHY..................................................................................................... 231 APPENDICES..........................................................................................................246 A. LiAxtiXo Key Money..........................................................................246 B. Dramatic Works of Michael Head ....................................................... 256 C. Other Works by Nancy Bush................................................................258 VI MICHAEL HEAD’S LIGHT OPERA, KEY MONEY: A MUSICAL DRAMATURGY By: Marilyn S. Govich Major Professor: Eugene Enrico, Ph D. The reputation o f British composer Michael Dewar Head (1900-1976) rests primarily on his compositions for solo voice, most of which remain in print. Head also wrote two children’s operas and four light one-act operas. The unpublished manuscript of one of the light operas. Key Money, with a libretto by Head’s sister, Nancy Bush, is examined from historical, analytical and critical aspects, with an emphasis on informing directors and singers on aspects of performance. The historical chapter presents the musical environment and influences on Michael Head’s compositional style, much of which was taken from his personal diaries. The life and career of librettist Nancy Bush is discussed, with emphasis on her libretti for three full-length operas by Alan Bush, which were published and performed in East Germany. Her extensive work as a published translator and writer of English versions of songs is noted in an appendix. The genesis of the opera, which was commissioned and performed by the British Intimate Opera Company, is addressed, as well as its performance history. The analytical chapter consists of a determination of the dramatic values of the libretto and a full musical analysis, with particular emphasis on how the composer has articulated and defined these values and the dramatic events, in essence, how music serves the drama. The uses of musical parody and musical motives are identified and discussed. VII The one-act chamber opera is placed in perspective by noting its numerous commonalities with the Italian comic intermezzo of the eighteenth century and its relationship to miniature chamber operas of the present day, particularly Menotti's The Telephone. Michael Head's other operas are described. As an experienced professional singer. Head wrote music that not only enhanced dramatic values, but was highly singable. He achieved the desired dramatic effects with greatest ease for the singer and utmost intelligibility for the audierKe. Because Key Money is extremely well-crafted and it requires only two singers with piano accompaniment, this chamber work could be valuable in the repertoire of college studios, opera workshops and opera touring companies. VllI CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION PURPOSE OF THE STUDY The purpose o f the study is to examine and analyze the interrelationship of the music and libretto in the one-act light opera Key Money, by British composer Michael Head and librettist Nancy Bush.' This will be accomplished by determining the opera's dramatic values, the appropriateness of text setting, and the ways in which the music articulates and supports the dramatic elements. This study will bring this unpublished opera to light and contribute to the director's and performers' understanding and interpretation of this work. NEED FOR THE STUDY “While well over 2500 operas have been written by English and American composers and librettists during the twentieth century, almost all of them are unknown except to a very small audience.”^ This estimate of numbers of operatic works was given by Cameron Northouse in the preface to his book. Twentieth Century Opera in England and the United States, which was published in 1976. Obviously that number would be larger now. “While composers and librettists have continually produced operas of merit, they have not been given the