Slovene Musical Stage Works

This second installment of a two-part article on Slovene music literature and lyric diction surveys musical stage works in the Slovene language, with a large chart of composers and works, along with sample music examples and further commentary on Slovene composers.

Menelaus Εὐρυβίης‎

This concluding chapter examines Simonides’ ‘Plataea Elegy’. Sometime not long after the Greek defeat of the Persian army at Plataea, Simonides composed an elegy to commemorate this world-historical event in ostentatiously epic terms. Menelaus makes an appearance in the elegy, with the Dioscuri, as patron of the Spartan contingent. The intriguing poem provides a final glimpse of Menelaus as the archaic period draws to a close. It suggests that Menelaus’ place in the cultic environment of archaic Sparta was matched by a significant role in Spartans’ self-definition. The chapter then assesses Simonides’ description of Menelaus as εὐρυβίης‎. Simonides seems to have been the first to adapt the epithet εὐρυβίης‎ to describe a hero. Public performance of the elegy would have provided the opportunity for quick and widespread dissemination of the newly re-discovered word. Its special use then became normative in the lyric diction of epinician poets in the early to mid-fifth century.

Lyric Diction in J. H. Prynne

Pearls That Were is an anomaly in Prynne’s oeuvre; it whole-heartedly adopts a Romantic lyric diction that is only used in a fragmentary way elsewhere in his poetry. Such a characteristic diction—a ‘lightness ready-made’, as Prynne once wrote—raises questions of inheritance, and there are many echoes of the Romantic poets in the collection. This chapter considers the different ways in which sustained and fragmentary lyricism (in both poetry and criticism) can avoid the manoeuvre that Clifford Siskin termed the ‘lyric turn’, which exploits a ‘lightness ready-made’. Instead, Prynne reclaims this diction by giving it back its historical weight.

The Seven Point Circle and the Twelve Principles: An evidence-based approach to Italian Lyric Diction Instruction

Despite the ubiquitousness of Lyric Diction Instructors (LDIrs) in both the academic and professional opera world, there remains a dearth of research examining the approaches and methods used for Lyric Diction Instruction (LDIn) as well the nonexistence of university programmes through which LDIrs gain profession-specific qualifications and/or certifications. Owing to this paucity of LDIn educational background accreditation and accountability, LDIrs in both educational institutions and opera houses are typically comprised of opera coaches, present or former opera singers, or "native speakers" of the target language. Using the qualitative framework of action research, the study empirically tested my five session, Italian Lyric Diction Course for Opera Singers by examining the validity and efficaciousness of its design, materials, course content, and pedagogical approach of explicit articulatory instruction. Rather than focusing on the empirical testing itself, this article focuses on the underlying pedagogical framework, i.e., The Seven Point Circle (7PC) and the ethical code of conduct, i.e., The Twelve Point Circle (12PC) derived from my M.A. thesis study. Data collection instruments included: semi-structured participant interviews, audio recording, transcribing of the classes, and an invited panel of eight observer-feedback experts from the fields of foreign language pedagogy, pronunciation instruction, and Italian language instruction.

Menelusuri Karya dan Karsa Manthou’s Sebagai Seniman dan Pencipta Campursari

Manthous as Campursari Musician and Composer. The study reveals that in his early age Manthous wasnurtured in a highly disciplined environment, and he had a strong determination to become a reliable fi gure in theart-world. Before composing Campursari Manthous had dealt with Pop Krontjong which was well-recognizedworldwide. In addition, Manthou’s also served as a recording programmer in several well-known recording studios.Through years Manthous has developed his musical skills as music player, singer, composer and artist manager. Hiscompositions contain simple lyric, diction, and rhyme. They have been composed in accordance to his personalmoods, marketing strategies and orders. By composing Campursari, he expects all groups of people, especially theyoung generation, can accept and enjoy Javanese musical performance (karawitan) in different form