Momilani Ramstrum
Background
"Opera has not outlived its usefulness. People
still want music, still want the human voice raised in song, and still want
theater. Those three elements, combined and raised to the highest power,
yield opera." [1]
In the last one hundred years, opera has become
the bastion of the elite [2] with composers, singers, and audience members all contributing to
an illusion of highbrow art that is beloved for its familiarity and atmosphere
as much as its music and drama. This repertoire has not changed appreciably
in instrumentation, drama or singing style over the last 50 years. However,
in the area of electronically mediated music, opera continues to break new
ground. [3] Some electronic composers have revolutionized the way they have approached
the very foundational building blocks of their art. This change has initiated
an entire new genre of works that encompasses the possibility of any sound
being organized as music. [4] This music, when used in an operatic context, encompasses a vast range
of acoustic possibilities that not only extend the range of sonic potentials
to merge with the dramatic, but also changes the aesthetic rationales in
the compositional process. These new acoustic resources are being harnessed
by some composers to create a new type of opera. The traditional opera has
not gotten surpassed, merely enlarged.
Although there has been no widespread acceptance of
this new art form amongst traditional opera goers and programmers (directors
and general managers), electroacoustic and electronic operas continue to
be composed. In this paper we will explore the aesthetics for this new art
form, its practitioners, some examples and the aesthetic goals of some of
these artists.
There have been few books or articles [5] written on electronically mediated opera as of the writing of this
paper. There are many articles on the Internet, usually on a specific electronically
mediated opera, written by the people involved. In this paper, we will spend
much time looking at the aesthetic principles of electroacoustic music, and
the current state of the performance and reception of contemporary opera.
We will look at why those who like opera are so passionate about the art,
and can these considerations be applied to the appreciation of electronically
mediated works. We will also look at contemporary operas that utilize electronically
mediated sounds in their presentation. From these sources, along with information
from the artists themselves from recording project notes, we will extrapolate
and piece together the topic under investigation.
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the new
genre of music, electronically mediated opera, and how it's reception relates
to traditional and other contemporary opera. Specifically, we wish to answer
the following questions:
1. Why do people like opera and how does opera affect
people?
2. What are the problems with the reception of contemporary
opera?
3. How are electronics in electronically mediated operas
used and is there a new aesthetic at work with these operas?
4. Can electronically mediated opera be accepted and
performed in the mainstream of contemporary opera?
Limitations
In this paper, we will look at sources that examine
questions surrounding the reception and aesthetics of electroacoustic and
electronic operas that conform to the following limitations; [6] the work music have a story with drama, live human singers, and have
the possibility of being staged. There will be some component of electronic
mediation in the music, and the composer(s) is a human who wrote the music
or connected the sounds. We will not look at process music or music that
is composed by computer programming.
Methodology
A review of literature was undertaken by this author
to investigate the issues surrounding the generation and performance of electronically
mediated opera by contemporary composers. In this research, this author found
only one book with one article in its collection about electronic opera.
Consequently, the sources used were books and journal articles on the aesthetics
of opera, the reception of contemporary opera, and the aesthetics of electronic
music. CD liner notes of electronically mediated operas yielded some additional
material. The biggest source of information was the Internet where there
was much information on electronically mediated operas that have been produced
in the last twenty-five years.
Summary
In investigating the genre of electronically mediated
operas, we are seeking to understand the circumstances of the composers involved.
The motivation and aesthetic principles governing the composers and the reception
of their works will be the target of this exploration.
REVIEW OF LITERATURE
"At the very heart of the
whole operatic institution, at the basis of the very instinct that drives
human beings to want to "speak in song"and that in so doing leads
us to seek gratification in that strange monster born of the tortured and
torturous union of words and music, that is opera."
[7]
The Response to Opera
In Poizat's book, The Angel's Cry, he interviews
five opera lovers and asks them how they first acquired their passion for
opera. [8] In describing their stories, it is clear that the attachment each
has to opera is deep and consuming. They will stand all night for tickets,
go to see every performance of operas they like, spend large amounts of money
traveling through Europe to see opera festivals and feel that opera has helped
them work through family problems. They feel that the music is sublime and
in special rare instances their physical response to a particularly moving
scene could leave them weak, crying, cheering or "completely incapacitated."
[9] "Whereas the theater . . . works on other centers, With music
. . . you wonder . . . "What is happening to me?""
[10]
Sutcliffe believes that "opera has a non-linear,
non-argumentative, non-logical character - which is intensely demanding if
audiences give it proper attention." [11]
While Graf states that "opera is fundamentally
unreasonable. It uses facts only as vehicles by means of which to enter its
own dream world. It treats in terms of music not only the story, but more
basically the emotion arising from the story. . . Only the devoted and knowledgeable
attention to the sincere expression of honest emotions will produce true
opera, fidelity to life on a higher level than mere photographic reproduction
of external facts. In the world of Robert Edmond Jones, it is "not
a description, but an evocation." [12]
Gloria Flaherty in her book, Opera in the Development
of German Critical Thought, details how German philosophers felt opera
had its power. Sclegel stated that all artistic media were merely conventions
used for communication. . . The spectator knows that the opera is senseless
and absurd if compared with reality. . . he must enjoy opera by submitting
to the artificial order it presents on the stage and by using his imagination
to pretend along with the performers." [13] Hiller "explained that opera captivated audiences because it
appealed to certain mysterious human inclinations toward the unknown and
the ineffable." [14] Herder "thought opera gave unsurpassed pleasure because it instantaneously
transported its spectators from the world of conceptual thought into the
magical and beautiful world of the dream." [15] Goethe believed that "the creator of opera . . . strove to integrate
his chosen components into such an indivisible unity that the audience would
quickly become enraptured and have no chance to analyze, reflect, or think
of
deception. . . .The audience derived its pleasure from
being elevated to the artist's lofty level and from being allowed for a short
while at least to share in the process of creation." [16] Schiller felt that nature was an universal idea that could "only
be grasped and given form in this world by the art of the ideal."
[17]
Many believe that opera's real power lies in the song
and the fundamental urgency for the drama to be sung. "The heart of
the operatic convention is the necessity of song, the acceptance that what
is being said needs to be sung. But sequences of notes which together do
not amount to a musical statement that people want to hear can scarcely claim
necessity. That is the central fallacy of many attempts at modern opera."
[18]
Sutcliffe states that not only is there a requirement
that the drama be in musical form, but that it is when the music has the
structure of a song that people want to hear it. "Song is the real
issue. . . Song remains what draws the public to an interest in operatic
material. Song is what is memorable. Song is the means whereby the themes
and ideas of past operas are brought to life. Song is the essence of the
drama that producers and designers are reacting to as they prepare to mobilize
the work on stage. Poetry must sing. Poetic drama must sing."
[19] He continues that when the music is not pleasurable to hear there
is a real lack. "It is of great significance that the pleasure principle
no longer seems to apply in opera. What worthwhile serious music being written
today offers anything to listeners in the way of simple pleasures?"
[20]
Bertolt Brecht, in paraphrasing Freud, states, "The
life imposed on us is too hard; it brings us too many agonies, disappointments,
impossible tasks. In order to be able to endure it, we have to have some
kind of palliative. There seem to be three types of those: powerful distractions,
which cause us to belittle our own sufferings, pseudo-satisfactions, which
reduce it, and drugs which make us insensitive to them. The pseudo-satisfactions
offered by art, if compared with reality, are illusions; but they are nevertheless
effective, thanks to the part played by the imagination in our inner life."
[21] Brecht points to the need we have for art to ease our existence give
us what we are unable to attain in life.
Alban Berg, while discussing Schoenberg's expressionism
wrote, "Passions are no longer simulated, but rather genuine emotions
of the unconscious-of shock, of trauma-are registered without disguise through
the medium of music." [22] Berg is stating that the music of today has a direct power to impact
the consciousness. Ethan Mordden feels that Berg's opera Wozzeck
encountered so much resistance, not because of the play, but because the
music made the play so "bitterly realistic." [23]
The power of opera, it would seem, lies in its ability
to transport the listener to the world of the play in a direct manner mediated
and evoked by the music (see table 1). This unique experience, that is opera,
is one that is experienced in a sublime performance under rare but eagerly
awaited circumstances. Can electronically mediated opera also produce this
effect of emotional strength, puissance and mastery? If the composer hasn't
the skill, the medium is not the obstacle.
Problems with the Reception of Contemporary Opera
Some feel that the contemporary opera must change in
order to stay alive. John Cox, in The Future of Opera states that
"opera music be prepared to treat its basic materials much more freely,
especially if this is the only way to enlarge its appeal and secure its economic
viability." [24]
The Italian opera composer, Lorenzo Ferrero, states
that "in Italy, opera is more than culture. It is part of our roots.
. . When we see how many people go to see an unknown opera of Rossini or
Donizetti, . . . that means that it is not true that the public does not
want new operas. . . If contemporary opera is not a slap in the face to the
public, the public will react very positively." [25]
The reception of contemporary opera has been problematic
for the last one hundred years. As the gap between 'serious art music'with
its lack of tonal function and the general listening public widened, operatic
companies made the decision to program new operas, if at all, only once per
season. New operas are often performed once for a premiere, but, a second
and third less publicized and less prestigious performances are not forthcoming.
No mistakes are allowed, as a poorly received opera will
not even finish their run. Even commissioned operas are not always performed
if the directors foresee a problem. [26] The music, costumes and set for these contemporary operas cannot be
reused in additional performances as they would be for a standard repertory
production, because there are none. So, while these operas are premiered,
they soon after die. Contemporary opera composer realizing this, have become
bitter and frustrated by this feeling that they "have no home."
[27] The solution has been suggested to film all new opera productions
so that they can be viewed beyond the live production. [28] This solution is not without its share of problems with the inherent
impossibility of translating the colossus of a stage production into a video
for television.
Ferrero also states that "99% of the musical organizers
do not believe in contemporary opera, and as a result, they don't invest
. . . in great singers [and] great directors. Or, they stage them in July.
. . with unknown singers or with an unknown conductor." [29]
The obstacles to the positive reception of contemporary
opera are with opera audiences, composers and producers (see table 2). It
is obvious that these problems are not going to disappear easily if at all.
The Aesthetics of Electroacoustic Composition
In composing for electroacoustic music, the composer
"is directly confronted with the sound phenomena, without the mediation
of a figural representation of sound, such as a written score. This gives
rise to many substantial differences in the approaches to music composition."
[30] The focus in Western music on pitch, harmony and rhythm has seen a
concomitant proliferation of notation to represent this. Other important
musical characteristics such as timbre and what happens between the notes,
have not been as accurately represented. In electroacoustic works, these
issues are of primary importance and are precisely and absolutely controlled
by the composer.
Karlheinz Stockhausen had four criteria for electronic
music that he employed in his composing. These criteria are, unified time
structuring, splitting of sound, multi-layered spatial composition and equality
of tone and noise. Unified time structuring is a principle in electroacoustic
music that has no possible parallel in the acoustic domain. It refers to
the sonic phenomenon where if you take a phrase that has a pitch and rhythm
and speed it up enough, the sound becomes a tone or noise. This timbre can
then be used to create new rhythms and pitches. So, "what was usually
thought of as music, and timbre, in this case, are really differences in
speed." [31] "Splitting of sound, means that a timbre is broken into its
component parts, which can then be used to form individual musical layers."
[32] An example of the splitting of sound is if you take a bell sound and
then split it into its spectral components and then use these components
as the basis for a compositional layer. In multi-layered spatial composition
you are able to move the sound around in a multi-speaker environment simulating
distance as well as placement. "Equality of tone and noise, means that,
if sound is considered to be a continuum from a simple sine wave at one end,
to a complex noise at the other, then sounds from any point along the continuum
are musically useful." [33] These concepts are effective in delineating the complex relationship
the electroacoustic composer has to sound. Pitch, harmony, rhythm, timbre
and spatialization can be structurally connected through selection of techniques.
This allows a wide, almost infinite, choice of musical materials from noise
to sine waves, rhythms to samples and static vibration to moving layers of
sound. The palette is no longer limited to what an instrument player can
reproduce. The player is no longer the imperfect representation of a composer's
creation, but, the music is the perfect embodiment of the composer's imagination,
connected through unified musical constellation.
Flo Menezes states that this idea has caused a "real
revolution in the heart of the musical conception of time and exposed a bipolarity
form which no aesthetic attitude related to composition can escape."
[34] The two choices are to either see sound as a part of musical time
as instrumental composers do and pay more attention to attacks and metric/rhythmic
organization, or, to see sound as a "textural phenomena"as electroacoustic
composers do, with the perception of time as a "constitutive element
of the sound spectrum." [35] This produces an organization of musical time as essentially texture
according to Menezes [36] and focuses the listener on the same. At the same time, electroacoustic
music can be rhythmic and acoustic music textural. Menezes is alluding to
a predisposition of composers in this domain towards this aesthetic as an
end in itself. Penderecki, of course, could have had similar ideas in his
Threnody for Victims of Hiroshima. But, his notation was full of wedges
and graphic indications; a continuity of pitch and rhythm that is all but
impossible in standard Western notation. In many cases, the notation prompts
the art as we are limited by the language that we speak. In music notation
for instruments, we are further limited by the language that the players
can easily understand and readily interpret. Although there have been many
instances where contemporary composers have invented notation to fit their
needs, the players are then forced to learn new languages with every work,
increasing rehearsal time and difficulty of performance.
Trevor Wishart has some interesting additions to the
electroacoustic aesthetic. He states at the beginning of his seminal work
on sound composition, Audible Design, there are three assumptions
for the composition of electroacoustic works.
1. Any sound whatsoever may be the starting material
for a musical composition.
2. The ways in which the sound may be transformed are
limited only by the imagination of the composer.
3. Musical structure depends on establishing audible
relationships amongst sound material. [37]
Wishart feels that the "world of sound-composition
has been hampered by being cast in the role of a poor relation to more traditional
musical practice . . . Western Art music is strongly oriented to the study
of musical texts(scores) rather than to a discipline of acute aural awareness
in itself. Sound composition requires the development of both new listening
and awareness skills for the composer." [38] In giving us a new perspective on sound composition, Wishart alerts
us to the need for a "complete reorientation of musical thought."
[39] We can now analyze, understand, transfer and transform sounds in ways
formerly undreamed of by using computer technology. [40]
Menezes points to spatialization as being the reason
"electroacoustic music with instruments materializes as one of the
most advantageous modalities of contemporary music." [41] When confronted with the aural uncertainty of knowing whether the
instrument in front of the listener is producing the sound, or the sound
is from the studio presented here by speakers, the listener is in the grip
of "an advantageous, constant and at the same time nebulous illusion
. . .the listener constantly wonders about the nature of what he or she
hears." [42] This induces the audience to take an engaged and active part in the
listening process.
According to David Keane, the initial obstacle for the
potential composer of electronic music is "the infinite number of possibilities."
[43] He further states that when faced with this situation, the "electronic
music composer is unable to adequately limit his sound resources to the point
that it is not possible to give the kind of cohesiveness to his composition
that a successful piece of music requires." [44] It would seem that the Wishart's infinite possibilities can be a liability
if the composer is unable to focus her resources.
Keane also points to the ease of which composers can
produce sounds should not be the rationale for compositional choices.
[45] This means that once you have removed the physicality of sound production
as a limiting factor, you must self-impose other limits in an arbitrary way
that will somehow produce musical results.
Jan W. Morthenson feels that "electronic music
has no natural connection to ordinary music whatsoever; its sound-material
did not develop from traditional music. . . It has an entirely different
infrastructure; the relations between details in instrumental music cannot
be directly compared with relations in electronic music. Instrumental sand
vocal music are what Roland Barthes calls "Musical Practica";
every instant is related to a physical reality: playing capacities of instruments,
expressive behavior and an explicit interaction of people. This cannot be
reproduced or transformed into classical electronic music." [46] As Keane states above, Morthenson believes that the physical gestures
of acoustic music, along with its other modes of communication, are not able
to be duplicated once the need for them is removed, as it is in electronic
music.
Alternately, Keane in a later article writes that "an
understanding of the computer itself is essential if it is to be used as
a means of musical composition- but that understanding cannot be substituted
for the understanding of how musical structure interacts with the human mind.
I do not believe that the computer can significantly affect that relationship:
it can only more or less satisfactorily participate in such a relationship."
[47] He later asks, "Are there really new musical possibilities or
do we simply have new means of addressing the same musical potentials we
have always had? . . . Great works of art are great despite the technical
innovations that embrace, not because of them. . . The development of better
and better means . . . have allowed us ever greater subtlety and nuance,
but not, in itself, better music." [48] Keane is challenging the idea that there is anything fundamentally
new in composing with electronic resources. He perceives that "as with
any powerful technique . . . the technique should support the musical objective,
not be it." [49]
Keane is stating that with all the new approaches to
composition, we should never lose sight of the goal of musical communication.
This goal can be realized with whatever resources available, but, the composer
should not get lost in the techniques or processes of composition as an end
in themselves. In composing with electronics, the composer gets to directly
communicate with the audience without the mediation of an instrumental player.
This power can be seized and used to convey a potent message or dwindled
in sonic dabbling (for a summary of these approaches, see table 3).
The Production and Use of Electroacoustic and Electronic
Music in Opera
Electronically mediated operas have some similar
characteristics to traditional opera and some decided differences. In the
operas that were chosen for this study, they all have humans, singing in
operatic style, and a story accompanied by sound and music. [50] The only differences were that the accompaniment was conceived to
include much more than instruments of the orchestra.
There are three ways to produce these electronically
mediated sounds. One is to prepare a 'tape' [51] beforehand in the studio and synchronize the live action to the pre-recorded
material. [52] Secondly, the electronic and electroacoustic sounds can be created
and or reproduced through real time computer interactively. The composer
can program the computer to 'score follow' [53] and respond to the action on stage with preset directions. Alternately,
the live sound can be processed (filtered, harmonized, resynthesized etc.)
by a human operator directing a pre-programmed computer throughout the performance.
The third way to add electronics is to have a live manipulation of the sound
by a person processing the material in real time using a variety of electronic
equipment. Composers can use all of these methods in one piece and often
will have a human monitoring the computer even if it is doing score following,
just to make sure it is accurately following the live performance and reacting
properly.
The use of the electronics can be grouped into two categories.
The first is the use of electronic or electroacoustic sounds as just another
member of the orchestra. In this sort of technique, the added sounds are
used with pitch to create rhythms as a piano or violin would be played. The
timbres are different but their uses are not new. The second method uses
the new sounds as textures and masses of resonance, changing and evolving
in ways unique to the electronic milieu as described above (using unified
time structuring). Here even more than above, composers will mix these techniques
freely in their works.
The prominence of the electronic or electroacoustic instrumentation,
its balance with acoustic instruments (if present at all), and the voices
is a very individual issue. The addition of the electronic and electroacoustic
sounds, in all cases that I listened to, served to extend and heighten the
drama in a integral way. The use of this extended material was a logical
and interesting addition to the sonic material. The vocal techniques used
in these operas, were sometimes extended, but, just as often, not any different
than traditional opera techniques or the extended vocal techniques common
to any contemporary vocal work.
Electronically Mediated Operas
Many electronically mediated operas combine live
instruments and voice with electronically mediated music with the audience
is often surrounded with speakers. The effect of this immersion in sonic
ambiance can not be duplicated with a CD and a stereo reduction. With a stereo
CD, the timbres of voice, orchestra, instruments and electronics are all
compressed into one tight physical space. This situation is present in many
electronic pieces heard on a home stereo system. [54] After an extensive preliminary search on the Internet, this author
found fifteen electronic and electroacoustic operas. Most sites did not have
video or audio examples to download. The biggest problem in understanding
this medium is the access to performances of the works. New operas are expensive,
seldom performed after a premiere showing and video taping is prohibitively
expensive. The list compiled by this author of these operas and their composers
is shown in table 4.
Yet, despite the difficulties in producing quality
new electronically mediated operas, Philippe Manoury's opera, 60th Parallel
[55] emerges as a conception of bold and creative composer with a high
command of composition, technology and orchestration. One of the difficulties
in this field is the rigorous requirements for technical knowledge. With
a focus on technology, it is understandable that some electronic composers
would not have as strong a background in traditional instrumentation. On
the other hand, Pierre Boulez states that few musicians "have the courage
or the means directly to confront the arid, arduous problems, often lacking
any easy solution, posed by contemporary technology and its rapid development."
[56] Manoury, is obviously comfortable in both worlds and produces an opera
that has constitutive uses of acoustic and electronic instrumentation. His
conservatory training in composition and later immersion in technology appear
to serve him well.
Tod Machover's Valis is an electroacoustic opera
that was commissioned by IRCAM in 1987 and premiered that year at the Georges
Pompidou Center in Paris. Valis was reworked and recorded to CD in
1988 at MIT's Experimental Media Facility (also known as "Cube").
[57] This electroacoustic opera is well documented by Valis. He wrote of
his technical processes and musical thoughts in detail when he was in the
middle of creating this opera. [58] Machover's conception for and understanding of technology in his music
is penetrating and meticulously envisioned. Unfortunately, his music doesn't
hold up to the ideology. The drama is intriguing but the methods to carry
it out are not. Many timbres seem simplistic and one dimensional and the
rap and rock simulations are strained. In parts the music is very potent,
but overall, the result is uneven and ineffective.
Karlheinz Stockhausen's Donnerstag aus Licht is
part of an extensive seven opera cycle (for each day of the week) that was
begun in 1977 and is complete with the exception of the opera for Sunday.
Of the three operas that I looked at, Licht, is the most well documented.
There are published scores, librettos, photos, stage directions for the operas,
and a video (which was unfortunately unavailable) and many websites (including
a presumably official one at stockhausen.org). Stockhausen's music is provocative
and fascinating, never trite or facile (as Machover's music sometimes is).
It weaves effectively between electronics and acoustic sounds, never losing
sight of a powerful musical aesthetic that is at once interesting but also
compelling.
SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS
Summary
For opera to be effective, the music and the story
must work together to create a passionate, moving spectacle that transports
the audience to the imaginary world of the drama. This happens only rarely
in those sublime moments that motivates opera lovers to return, again and
again, to eagerly await this possibility from their traditional favorites.
Newer operas, even if capable of this feat, seldom get played past than their
premiere and so don't get the chance to find out if they could get to this
privileged place.
Electronically mediated operas use electronics in a
variety of ways to suit the composer's technological understanding and musical
needs. If these methods are to be effective as a way of musical communication,
the means, must support the end. The electronics must be used to make good
music, not interesting electronic processes.
In three operas that I briefly examined, principles of
competent music making were observed. The use of technology in the case of
Manoury and Stockhausen were subsumed in the greater import of creating an
effective musical drama. In the case of Machover, the composer's capabilities
favored the technology, and the music accordingly suffered.
Conclusions and Future Study
Will traditional opera be changed by electronically
mediated opera? Leonard Meyer, in his book Music the Arts and Ideas,
states that"the coming epoch will be a period of stylistic stasis,
a period characterized not by the linear, cumulative development of a single
fundamental style, but by the coexistence of a multiplicity of quite different
styles in a fluctuating and dynamic steady-state." [59] Traditional opera is not likely to embrace changes involving electronically
mediated operas in general. But, for example with Phillippe Manoury's 60th
Parallel, I see no blockage to the mainstream acceptance of this opera
as a fine art work for its own sake.
Morrden believes that the "twentieth century
will never succeed in burying the goblins of the nineteenth century; whether
in subject matter, scoring, vocal thrust, or formal design, the patterns
set down by the giants of the earlier century are always with us."
[60] This might be the case in Europe, but in the United States, it is
likely that opera based on African American models of music as proposed by
Leonard Bernstein and George Gershwin might be viable.
Sutcliffe believes that "the authenticity of operatic
or lyrical utterance lies in the fact that an audience will hang on the sung
music." [61] "The challenge of difficult operas in the 20th century has been
musical, not dramatic or verbal." [62] One change in opera might lie in the direction of melody and song.
This concept has been absent from many twentieth century opera composers
but not from the vital American musical theater tradition. The lesson learned
is to find a balance between pandering to public taste and maintaining a
personal workable aesthetic.
John Dizikes believes that there are actually "at
least four overlapping but different audiences" [63] for opera in the United States today. First is the major opera houses
with large budgets, hiring international singing stars, and singing operas
mainly from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries (from Mozart to Puccini).
[64] The second group consists of regional opera companies that produce
"lively interpretations, [and] offbeat repertoire." [65] The third audience is focused on the local and sometimes amateur productions.
These groups often produce "operetta, musical comedy, and light opera
alongside conventional European opera." [66] Dizikes'fourth audience, is the one that is most likely to produce
a contemporary opera. This group, "nourished on rock, jazz and non-Western
music and on multimedia shows, [finds] its home in colleges and universities."
[67] These small performing groups are "most receptive to new things
. . . and [make] the most audacious efforts." [68] It is clear, that though the major opera venues are unlikely to stage
a contemporary opera that includes electronic mediation (or any contemporary
opera [69] ), And although there continues to be difficulties with the longevity
of individual operas, it will be with the smaller production companies, playing
to university audiences, that electronically mediated opera will find a home.
A basic problem might be in the small number of operas
being produced in the twentieth century. Italian opera composer, Franco Mannino,
has stated that "in Italy in the nineteenth century, around twenty
thousand different operas were written. And from twenty thousand in the nineteenth
century, only fifty titles have remained in the great repertoire of Bellini,
Verdi, Donizetti. In this century, there have been around a hundred or a
hundred and fifty, of which twelve are mine, and every year only one or two
new opera are performed. This is where the difference lies." [70] Maninno might be on the conservative side and there might even be
a thousand operas produced in the twentieth century. But if out of twenty
thousand, only fifty are considered truly great, the percentage is only 0.25%
of the operas produced should we expect to be long-lived. At this rate we
should expect at most only two or three great operas from the last century
to survive it. If we count the number of electronic operas in the twentieth
century, we might get up to two dozen. With the statistics as above, we might
not expect to get anything of significance from the electronically mediated
operas of the twentieth century. Since in fact there might be two, the genre
is indeed doing well.
I would like to extend this study to look more in-depth
at specific electronically mediated operas and analyze the musical and technological
interactions. I would also like to compile a list of the electronically mediated
operas that have been performed in the last fifty years and examine the trends
and processes to see what has been successful. This study will necessitate
the personal involvement with the composers themselves, as there is very
little published material, audio or video records of these performances.
With this investigation, it has been shown that this new art form is really
a part of the greater genre of opera. The differences in techniques should
never obscure the understanding that when drama, music, theater and technology
are combined, the potential for powerful communication is present. This potential
can only be realized, when the technology is married to a masterful composer
who understands the need for pacing in a moving drama. This combination has
yet to be realized, although we are nearing the era when the use of technology
will not be an impediment to that event.
INTRODUCTION
[Note 1] Ann Getty, The Future of Opera, Stephan R. Graubard, ed. (Lanham, Maryland: University Press of America, Inc., 1986), 2.
[Note 2] However, within this elite, many lovers of opera feel that their relationship with this art form is a purely physical one. (Michel Poizat, The Angel's Cry; Beyond the Pleasure Principle in Opera. trans. by Arthur Denner. (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1986), 7.)
[Note 3] "The quest of contemporary genius is remorseless, and no amount of professional, critical, and public apathy seems to stop composers and librettists from renewing the sacred and profane with their bizarre new models."(Ethan Morrden, Opera in the Twentieth Century (New York: Oxford University Press, 1978), 39.).
[Note 4] In this paper, we will refer to music that begins with a microphone, records a naturally occurring sonic event and then processes it, or music that incorporates electronically mediated sounds with acoustic ones, as electroacoustic music. Acoustic sounds are ones that are naturally occurring or made by the vibrations of instruments unmediated by electronics. Electronic music begins with oscillators, and synthesizes sound from sine waves.
[Note 5] This author found exactly one article in a book collection which contained information on the electronic opera, Valis, written by the author of the article, Tod Machover. Roughly one half of the article was about Valis, the other half was about composition aesthetics concerning electroacoustic music. (Simon Emmerson, ed. The Language of Electroacoustic Music. London: The Macmillan Press Ltd., 1986.).
[Note 6] These limitations are the inventions and interests of this author and do not represent any real divisions in the artistic community.
[Note 7] Michel Poizat, The Angel's Cry; Beyond the Pleasure Principle in Opera. trans. by Arthur Denner. (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1986), 7.
[Note 8] Poizat, 19.
[Note 9] Poizat, 17-19.
[Note 10] Poizat, 17.
[Note 11] Tom Sutcliffe, Believing in Opera (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1996), 6.
[Note 12] Herbert Graf, Opera for the People (Minneapolis: The University of Minnesota Press, 1951), 243-4.
[Note 13] Gloria Flaherty, Opera in the Development of German Critical Thought (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1978) 291-2.
[Note 14] Flaherty, 292.
[Note 15] Flaherty, 293.
[Note 16] Flaherty, 296.
[Note 17] Flaherty, 298.
[Note 18] Sutcliffe, 415.
[Note 19] Sutcliffe, 425.
[Note 20] Sutcliffe, 416.
[Note 21] Bertolt Brecht, Weisstein, Ulrich, ed. The Essence of Opera (New York: Crowell-Collier Publishing Company, 1964.), 343.
[Note 22] Ethan Mordden, The Splendid Art of Opera (New York: Methuen, Inc., 1980), 329.
[Note 23] Mordden, 330.
[Note 24] John Cox, The Future of Opera, 90.
[Note 25] Harry James Wignall, "Current Trends in Italian Opera." In Perspectives of New Music. John Rahn, ed. Seattle: Perspectives of New Music, Inc. (New York: W. W. Norton and Company, Inc., 1976, Volume 28, No. 2, Summer 1990), 316-7.
[Note 26] Claus Moser and Patrick Smith, The Future of Opera, 10.
[Note 27] Gian Carlo Menotti, The Future of Opera, 37.
[Note 28] Harold Prince, The Future of Opera, 40.
[Note 29] Wignall, "Current Trends in Italian Opera," 325.
[Note 30] Flo Menezes, "To Be and Not To Be: Aspects of the Interaction Between Instrumental and Electronic Compositional Methods." Leonardo Music Journal (San Francisco: The MIT Press, Volume 7, 1997), 3.
[Note 31] Michael Manion, "From Tape Loops To Midi: Karlheinz Stockhausen's Forty Years Of Electronic Music."Accessed on the WWW on June 26,2000. http://www.stockhausen.org/tape_loops.html, 8.
[Note 32] Manion, 9.
[Note 33] Manion, 9.
[Note 34]
Menezes, 5.
[Note 35] Menezes, 5.
[Note 36] Menezes, 5.
[Note 37] Trevor Wishart, Audible Design (York, UK: Orpheus the Pantomime, 1994), 1.
[Note 38] Wishart, 3.
[Note 39] Wishart, 12.
[Note 40] Wishart, 13.
[Note 41] Menezes, 7.
[Note 42] Menezes, 8-9.
[Note 43] David Keane, "Some Practical Aesthetic Problems."Robin Julian Heifetz, ed. On the Wires of Our Nerves. (London: Associated University Presses, Inc., 1989), 45.
[Note 44] Keane, 46.
[Note 45] Keane, 47.
[Note 46] Jan W. Morthenson, Robin Julian Heifetz, ed. On the Wires of Our Nerves. (London: Associated University Presses, Inc., 1989), 61.
[Note 47] David Keane, "The Quest for "Musically Interesting"Structures in Computer Music."Robin Julian Heifetz, ed. On the Wires of Our Nerves. (London: Associated University Presses, Inc., 1989), 97.
[Note 48] Keane, "The Quest for "Musically Interesting"Structures in Computer Music,"104.
[Note 49]
Keane, "The Quest for "Musically Interesting"Structures
in Computer Music,"102.
[Note 50] These were the limitations of works selected for this study as mentioned above.
[Note 51] The use of the word tape refers to the early days of electronic music when the recording medium would be a tape that would have been spliced by hand as part of the composition process.
[Note 52] A conductor is often the crucial component to make this work effectively.
[Note 53] The computer actually has a copy of the score in its memory and compares the live performance with what its memory says to determine where in the score it is and respond according to its programming.
[Note 54] With the advent of 5.1 channel DVD players becoming more standard, the possibilities for spatialization increase dramatically.
[Note 55] The libretto is by Michel Deutsch. The 60th Parallel was premiered in 1997 at the Theatre du Chatelet with the support of IRCAM and the Fondation Beaumarchais in Paris with the Orchestre de Paris led by David Robertson. The only recording available is from the premiere and is unavailable is the United States. I was able to listen to it because Miller Puckette, a friend of Philippe Manoury's, was at the premiere and lent me his copy.
[Note 56] Pierre Boulez, "Technology and the Composer", in The Language of Electroacoustic Music, ed. Simon Emmerson (London: Macmillan Press Ltd., 1986), 9.
[Note 57] Tod Machover, Valis CD liner notes by Tod Machover. Libretto, Philippe K. Dick. (Paris: Editions Ricordi, 1987), 5.
[Note 58] Tod Machover, "A Stubborn Search for Artistic Unity,"The Language of Electroacoustic Music Simon Emmerson, ed. (London: The Macmillan Press Ltd., 1986).
[Note 59] Leonard B. Meyer, Music the Arts and Ideas (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1967), 98.
[Note 60] Morrden, 39.
[Note 61] Sutcliffe, 416.
[Note 62] Sutcliffe, 418.
[Note 63] John Dizikes, Opera in America (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1993), 536.
[Note 64] Dizikes, 526.
[Note 65] Dizikes, 526.
[Note 66] Dizikes, 326.
[Note 67] Dizikes, 327.
[Note 68] Dizikes, 327.
[Note 69]
[Note 70]
Wignall, 314.
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