‘JUST A WORD ON A STAVE AND THERE IS THE OPERA’: THE INTERACTION BETWEEN MUSIC AND LIBRETTO IN PHILIP VENABLES’ 4.48 PSYCHOSIS

Tempo ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 75 (298) ◽  
pp. 63-77
Author(s):  
Tom Crathorne

AbstractThe success of Philip Venables’ opera adaptation of Sarah Kane's 4.48 Psychosis is underpinned by its powerful presentation of the play's text. This is predominantly facilitated by the other musical forces present, rather than through clever text-setting alone. Venables uses an array of timbral techniques, theatrical performance directions, referential sound effects, interactions with literary devices in the text and allusions to other musical genres in the opera to support and supplement his vocal writing. This article argues that the instrumental composition in 4.48 is critical in ensuring comprehension of the libretto and that, because of his working methods, Venables’ adaptation is faithful to Kane's sensitive play.

2021 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 1-10
Author(s):  
Suganya Aravinthon

From the earliest days of the Tamil music tradition, music was considered to be a combination of vocal music, instrumental music and dance. Each of these musical genres is closely intertwined. Knowledge of one helps to know about the other. Instrumental music has been interpreted as accompaniment to solo music and dance and as a solo specialty. In Bharata's book 'Natyashasthram', musical instruments are generally divided into four categories as nerve (tata) hole (kasira) ¸ skin (avanatta) ¸ kana (kanja). In this context, it is a research paper on the history and use of the Nagaswaram and thavil instruments, which are referred to today as the Mangala Vaathyam, which the Tamils ​​have merged with their culture.  This article also examines in detail the ideological changes that have taken place over time in the use of these two musical instruments. At the same time, the use of these instruments in the sociological context is taken into account. Finally, this article is a historical study of the lineage of musicians who have mastered these instruments.


2020 ◽  
Vol 65 (2) ◽  
pp. 277-296
Author(s):  
Noémi Karácsony

"French composer and pianist Maurice Delage wrote several significant works inspired by his personal contact with the Orient. His travels to India inspired Delage to use innovative sound effects in his compositions, as well as to require his performers to adapt their vocal or instrumental technique to obtain the sound desired by the composer. His representation of the Orient is not a mere evocation of the Other, as is the case with most orientalist works, rather it reflects the composer’s desire to endow Western music with the purity, strength, and vivid colors which he discovered and admired in Indian music. The present paper presents the historical and artistic background which inspired and influenced Delage, the relationship between France and India in the early 20th century and reveals the composer’s idealistic point of view regarding India, its culture, and its music. The analysis focuses on the mélodie cycle Quatre poèmes hindous, composed between 1912 and 1913, striving to reveal the Indian influences in the work of Delage and the way orientalism is represented in French music from the first decades of the 20th century. Keywords: orientalism, France, India, 20th century, Maurice Delage"


2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 49-58
Author(s):  
Ibrahim Esan Olaosun

Inspired by the popular view in the field of semiotics that everything is a sign of something or a sign for something, this article dwells on food significations in ‘Lere Oladitan's poem titled “Mounds for Sharing” in his poetry collection titled ‘Poem of the Week.' Using this poem as the paradigm to deconstruct some other poems in the collection, the article deconstructs this semiological practice (food symbolism) in four ways: first, as a sign deployed by the poet to contribute to the aesthetic and affective qualities of the poem; second, as an appropriation and exhibition of the values of giving and sharing which typify many (if not all) African cultures; third, as a semiotic strategy of self- depiction and fourth, as the strategy for developing the motif of sacrifice practically demonstrated by the poet in the manner in which the poems were first freely disseminated before they were compiled and published into a book form in 2016. Mounds for Sharing is used in this article as the paradigm of the other poems in the collection because there is ample evidence to show that the poem is the container of the general motifs developed in the other poems. First, the poet himself refers to it as “the signature tune” of the collection. Second, “Iyán tí mo gún, Baba má jẹ ǹ nìkan jẹ́” (the first two lines of the poem) is now Oladitan's sobriquet or designation in Obafemi Awolowo University community. The poet is now being referred to as Professor Iyán tí mo gún (Professor the Pounded Yam I Prepare) in the academic community. Third, in the inaugural lecture presented by the poet on August 23, 2011, the poem was given a theatrical performance by Awo Vasity Theatre, a theatre that is based in Obafemi Awolowo Universty Ile, Ife, Nigeria. The article indicates that food-related representations in the poem convey more than the general sense of food as the substance eaten for survival. The analysis, cast within the framework of food semiotics, shows that each poem of ‘Lere Oladitan is a kind of food which carries one or a combination of such connotations of food as: food for the thought, food for the social psyche and memory and food for personal spiritual and psychosocial growth.


2005 ◽  
Vol 22 (4) ◽  
pp. 521-558 ◽  
Author(s):  
ELLEN T. HARRIS

ABSTRACT The notated absence of sound creates some of the most dramatic and compelling moments in Handel's mature music. Handel's practice can be traced to the word-based silences of the madrigal on one hand, and the rhetorical silences found in Corelli's trio sonatas on the other. By transferring Corelli's systematic use of silence to vocal music, Handel moved beyond word-painting to expressive text-setting. Some critics condemned these silences, which prove strikingly similar to the emotional pauses introduced later by Garrick into his theatrical roles, as incorrect. Others considered them sublime.


1995 ◽  
Vol 58 (1) ◽  
pp. 17-39
Author(s):  
O. Wright

Part 1 of this paper was concerned principally with the various problems that confront any attempt to provide a satisfactory transcription of these two examples. Given the nature of the difficulties encountered, it is clear that any generalizations we might wish to derive from them can only be tentative and provisional. Nevertheless, the paucity of comparable material, which on the one hand renders the interpretative hurdles all the more difficult to surmount, on the other makes the urge to draw at least some conclusions from the material provided by ‘Abd al-Qādir al-Marāghī and Binā'ī well-nigh irresistible. Such conclusions would involve, essentially, an assessment of the extent to which their notations shed light on the musical practice of the period and provide reliable evidence for the history of composition and styles of textsetting. But in any evaluation of this nature it is essential to avoid the temptation to confuse the sources with the speculative editorial interventions that produce the versions presented in part 1 (exs. 26–8 and 30). The area about which least can be said with regard to the naqsh notated by Binā'ī is, therefore, the nature of the text-setting, while with regard to ‘Abd al-Qādir al-Marāghī's notations it is, rather, the first topic we may consider, the relationship between melody and the underlying articulation of the rhythmic cycle.


2015 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 24 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Kornhaber

This article traces a genealogy of performance philosophy along two separate lines within the history of the twentieth-century academy.  On the one hand, it locates within the long history of philosophically-informed studies of dramatic literature a partial model for the work of performance philosophy, one that applied philosophical scrutiny to dramatic texts without ever extending the same consideration to theatrical performance—in spite of the practical theatrical work of many of this movement’s leading academic proponents.  On the other hand, it identifies in the poststructualist rethinking of textual authority an opening for the reconsideration of philosophical communication that returns performance to a place of philosophical potential that it has not securely held since before Plato’s dialogues.  It is argued that the intersection of these two trend lines in academic thought should be regarded as constituting an important intellectual genesis point for the emergence of performance philosophy and a useful means of approaching the purposes and boundary points of the field.


2021 ◽  
Vol 33 ◽  
pp. 119-146
Author(s):  
Klisala Harrison

Which kinds of Sáminess are expressed and engaged with music in Sámi theatre? Through descriptions of the kinds of musical genres and sounds presented, the article argue that the music of Sámi theatre can typically be described as cosmopolitan. As the musical expressions and engagements convey what is Sáminess, they present cosmopolitan versions of Sáminess. The author interprets performance moments as presenting types of Indigenous cosmopolitanism, in other words, Indigenous cosmopolitanisms. The article approaches music as musicking, which refers to all of the social interactions that go into creating a musical experience. Because this is theatre, this includes the social processes of staging other theatre values that relate with the music during theatrical performances. Other theatre values include costumes, set design, props, lighting, sound effects beyond music and movement such as dance and blocking. Overall, the productions perform a dynamic and fluid Sáminess that incorporates sounds, sights and movements from around the world, while often being “rooted” in what it is to be Sámi today and historically. Although most productions include identifiably Sámi music genres such as joik, it is worthwhile to note that some don’t. In these productions, the author identifies specific varieties of cosmopolitanism, such as vernacular cosmopolitanism, different forms of rooted cosmopolitanism and pan-Indigenous cosmopolitanism. The article examines case studies from Sámi theatre companies in Norway, Beaivváš Sámi Našunálateáhter and Åarjelhsaemien Teatere. The cases, among other productions, are the joik operas The Frost Haired and the Dream Seer and Allaq; the dance theatre productions Eatnemen Vuelieh and Gïeje; and the stage plays Silbajárviand Almmiriika.


Author(s):  
Putri Desiana Sinaga ◽  
Anna Stasya Prima Sari ◽  
Novalina Sembiring

This research was conducted in order to improve students’ speaking skill by using digital storytelling at SMA Swasta Palapa Medan. Digital storytelling is the combination of recount text, sound effects, music, images, videos and InShot Application. This is Classroom Action Research (henceforth, CAR). The research subjects of this CAR are the eleventh grade students of SMA Swasta Palapa Medan in Class MIPA in the Academic Year of 2020/2021. The research findings showed that teaching speaking skill through digital storytelling at SMA Swasta Palapa Medan could improve the students’ speaking skill. The result of each test showed that the students’ mean score in pre-test is 55.74 with 11% of the students got score ≥70, in formative test the mean score is 64,44 with 37% of the students got score ≥70, and in post-test the mean score is 81,11 with 93% of the students got score ≥70. The writer concluded that the use of digital storytelling could improve the speaking skill of SMA Swasta Palapa Medan. On the other hand, the students’ responses towards the method of the teaching sound good because above 80% of the students are interested, motivated and enthusiastic in learning English speaking skill through the use of digital storytelling.


2011 ◽  
Vol 40 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Kai Mikkonen

AbstractAs has been argued in various theories of fiction, there can be no such thing as a totally fictional world. This paper seeks to examine the principle of minimal departure, defined by David Lewis and Marie-Laure Ryan, as an explanation for the impossibility of total fiction that would undermine all assumptions based on our actual world. The principle says that readers reconstrue the fictional world as being the closest possible to the reality we know, unless otherwise indicated.By drawing examples from the ontologically fluid worlds in Jasper Fforde's Thursday Next series, I suggest new areas in narrative analysis where the principle could be applied and point out some limitations in earlier definitions of this notion. On the one hand, we can examine those narrative and literary devices that directly play upon the principle of mimimal departure and allow fiction to enlarge the scope of the world that must be explained. On the other hand, I argue that questions of modality in fiction may be relatively immune to this principle. I thus introduce the rule of suspension of modal claims, indicating the need to refrain from making assumptions, in any strong sense, about what may be possible, necessary, or contingent in a fictional world. The principle of suspension of modal claims emphasizes the way fiction may encourage epistemological and ontological doubt rather than mimetic or antimimetic expectations (i.e. principles of minimal and maximal departure), compelling our judgement of the possibility and reality of fiction to hesitate, to linger over a range of possibilities.


2016 ◽  
Vol 16 ◽  
pp. 541-564
Author(s):  
Anna Boguska

Borders within borders: A new regionalism in contemporary Croatian literatureThe article is an attempt at a synthetic presentation of Croatian literature researchers’ reflection about regionalism in the twentieth and the beginning of the twenty-first century. The author observes that there is a tendency to see Croatian literature as one that produces two different models of texts in terms of poetics and philosophy – the northern, which is “Central European,” and the southern, which is “Mediterranean.” She then examines the coherence of the “ideal types” delineated by researches according to the themes and literary devices utilised, based on two short stories from 2006, by writers one of whom is from the northern and the other – from the southern part of the country. Granice wewnątrz granic. Nowy regionalizm we współczesnej literaturze chorwackiejArtykuł jest próbą syntetycznej prezentacji refleksji chorwackich badaczy literatury na temat regionalizmu w XX i na początku XXI wieku. Autorka wskazuje na istnienie tendencji do postrzegania chorwackiej literatury jako realizującej dwa odmienne – północny tj. środ­kowoeuropejski oraz południowy tj. śródziemnomorski – modele tekstów w zakresie poetyki i filozofii, a następnie na podstawie dwóch opowiadań z 2006 roku, napisanych przez pisarzy z Północy i Południa, sprawdza przystawalność nakreślonych przez badaczy „typów idealnych” do materiału literackiego.


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