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Music theatre
in a
changing
society
m e nfluence of the technical media
Edited by Jack Bornoff
Secretary
of
the hernational Music Council
Unesco
,
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Music theatre in a changing society
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Cover
design by
RolfIbach
from
photo
by Westdeutscher
R m d M
Published in
1968
by the United Nations
Educational, Scientific and
CulturalOrganization
Place de Fontenoy,75
Parie-7e
pri nted
by Deeclb, T o d
nasco 1968. Printed
in Belgim
SHC.
D.38/A
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The General Conf er ence of Unesco, at i ts
thi rteenth
sessi on, in
1964,
adopt ed a resol ut i on aut hor i zi ng t he
Di r ect or - Gener al ‘ to car ry out a survey of t he present
si tuat i on and t rends and possi bi l i ti es of arti sti c creat i on
and of at t empt s at new f or ms of expressi on l i nked wth
t he ne w t echni ques f or t he di ssemnat i on of cul ture’ .
T o thi s end, a number of studi es have been under t aken
and meet i ngs have been convened to enabl e l eadi ng
speci al i sts
in
di f ferent f i el ds of arti sti c creat i on t o
exchange vi ews on t he f actors that have a bear i ng on
cont empor ar y arti sti c creat i on, s uch as new means of
expressi on, and t he response of t he arti st to t he needs
of an ever - gr owi ng publ i c, whi ch al so goes beyond
nat i onal cul tures and f ronti ers.
Thi s book, whi ch i s ai med at present i ng a sur vey of
cur rent t rends inmusi c theat re, s based on the di scussi ons
of a Round Tabl e organi zed
in
Sal zbur g
in
August
1965
by
Unesco,
t he
I nt ernat i onal Musi c Counci l and t he
I nternat i onal Musi c Centre. The meet i ng br ought
t oget her creat i ve and i nterpretat i ve arti sts ( composers,
choreogr aphers and desi gners musi ci ans and dancers)
and representat i ves of t he t echni cal medi a t o exam ne
t he i mpact of t he medi a on oper a, bal l et, pant om me and
other f or ms of arti sti c expressi on. The part i ci pants had
bef ore
t hem
paper s subm t t ed
by
l eadi ng expert s. The
book al so dr aws on report s of ot her i nt ernat i onal conf er -
ences and wor kshops bear i ng on the s ame subj ect hel d
si nce
1956
by
the
I nt ernat i onal Musi c Counci l and t he
I nternat i onal Musi c Cent re.
Mr . J ack Bornof f , Execut i ve Secret ary of t he I nt er -
nat i onal Musi c Counci l , who had been cl osel y associ ated
w th
these var i ous
meet i ngs,
was i nvi ted
by
Unesco t o
col l ate and edi t t he i nf or mat i on and opi ni ons resul t i ng
f r omt hemand t o add
hs
o wn vi ews. Responsi bi l i t y f or
t he choi ce of f acts present ed and t he vi ews expressed
l ies
wth
t hose to wh o mthey are ascr i bed and
wth
t he
edi tor.
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Contents
1
2
3
4
5
6
10
11
Introduction
. . . . . . . . . . . . .
The historical background of music theatre . . .
Music theatre today-contemporary forms and
O n the staging
of
music theatre
. . . . . . . . .
The housing of music theatre
. . . . . . . . . .
staging . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Experimental music theatre
. . . . . . . .
The use of electronics
. . . . . . . . . . . .
Total theatre
. . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Improvisation
. . . . . . . . . . . . . .
The ‘spectacle’of the musician performing . . . . . .
Oriental influencesin contemporary music theatre .
T h e influence of technical media on contemporary
music theatre . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Sound radio and music theatre-mutual accom-
modation . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
From stage to radio. . . . . . . . . . . . .
Characteristics
of
film and television
Opera in film and filmed opera
Opera
in
television and television opera
Musical phonetics . . . . . . . . . . . . .
From radio
to
stage-Columbus. Report
and Image
. .
. . . . .
. . . . . . .
. . . .
Thecreativeaspect . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Production problems . . . . . . . . . . . .
Theinterpreter . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Presentation
. . . . . . . . . . . . . .
The ‘spectacle’of abstract music
Patronage and prizes . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . .
ThePrixItalia
. . . . . . . . . . . . . .
TheSalzburgOpera Prize
. . . . . . . . . . .
9
14
17
32
35
37
37
41
46
49
50
52
57
64
64
66
71
76
81
82
95
100
103
107
118
121
122
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12
Ballet and dance in
film
nd television
. . . .
126
Traditional
dance . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
14 Pantomime . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137
15 The future . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
13 Tribal ceremony-ritual or spectacle? . . . . . 135
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9
Introduction
The revol ut i onary ne w t echni ques
in
sound and vi sual
reproduct i on made possi bl eby recent sci enti f i c di scoveri es
are great l y i nf l uenci ngthe course of musi c t oday.
Because t he I nt ernat i onal Musi c Counci l
( I MC)
bel i eves
in the need f or a meet i ng poi nt bet ween musi ci ans- both
creat i ve and i nterpretat i ve- and prof essi onal s
of
t he
techni cal medi a, we are happy t o have been asked
by
Unesco to pr epar e a sur vey on t he devel opment of
cont empor ar y musi c t heat re ari si ng f r om t he use of
t hese t echni ques.
Our credent i al s for under t aki ng thi s t ask are t he
f ol l ow ng: in 1956 t he I MC ni t i ated a seri es of congresses
and sem nars t o i l l ustrate al aspects of t he present at i on
of
oper a, bal l et and pant om me and al so, abst ract musi c
and mxed f or ms of music-' spectacl e musical ' -i n fi lm
radi o and tel evi si on. Aust r i an Radi o- Tel evi si on have
been our mai n par t ner in thi s vent ur e and Sal zbur g
the
venue of several of t he most i mpor t ant events. I ndeed,
t he Sal zbur g Oper a Pr i ze, created as a resul t of t he 1956
congress, has resul ted
in
over thi rt y wor ks
bei ng
comm ssi oned by tel evi si on stat i ons
in
var i ous par t s of
t he worl d-al l of t hem operas wr i t t en especi al l y for
tel evi si on.
In 1961, t he I nt ernat i onal es Musi kzent r um (IMZ),
wth
headquart ers
in
Vi enna, was establ i shed j oi nt l y
by
Aust r i an Tel evi si on and the I MC. t has t aken over and
ext ended our wor k of r esearch; i t has demonst r at ed t he
sui tabi l i ty-or otherw se- of var i ous f or ms of musi c t o
t he techni cal medi a; and
i t
has hel ped t o
bri ng
about
a cl oser co- oper at i onbet ween t he creat i ve art i sts in our
fi el d and the representat i ves of t he medi a.
I n 1964,we wer e responsi bl e f or the fi rst i nternat i onal
congress ever to
be
devot ed to
the
subj ect of cont em-
por ar y musi c theat re. The congress t ook pl ace in
Hambu r g and t hanks to the cl ose col l aborat i on
of
t he
Hambur g St at e Oper a we wer e af f orded t he possi bi l i ty,
every ni ght, of i l l ustrat i ng t he subj ect s of the congress
by per f or mances of cont empor ar y wor ks
in t he
theat re.
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10
All
the events
so
far held
in
Salzburg have been
placed under the auspicesof Unesco. In 1965,Unesco did
more; it co-operated with
us
in organizing two round-
table discussions devoted respectively to ballet in film
and television
and
to the prospects for the future of
music theatre. T h e Organization commissioned a number
of papers from leading experts for these discussions.
Enrico Fulchignoni, representing Unesco at the 1965
round-table iscussions, conceded that through the m a n y
examples which w e had sho wn in Salzburg and elsewhere
of works written especially for television,
and
through
the meetings arranged between creative artists and the
practitioners of the technical media, w e ad demonstrated
that tradition and experimentation were not necessarily
implacable enemies; w e had contirmed that
in
music, as
in literature and the plastic arts, it was
no
longer possible
to dissociate creativeness from theory, the work of art
from the aesthetic conflicts which surround its birth.
Fulchignoni cited Albert0 Moravia’s L’attenzione to
castigate the inattention of modern society. This w as
due as m u c h to an excess of riches as to poverty: the first
because of the quantity of visual and sound pictures
created
by
technological developments; the second
because of inhibitions and compression
in
the means of
expression. Music theatre, especially where television was
concerned, would benefit from the adaptation of both
aristocratic and democratic forms of spectacle. T h e
formula of the Renaissanceinvolving myths, both
Greek and Roman, ith the development of he
individual
and of scientific knowledge-might well be applied to
the present. There was a parallel in the contemporary
public’s desire to return to the roots, to discover the
origins of its entertainment.
T e n years
of
research, of congresses, seminars and
practical work in this field have led to certain conclusions
concerning ways of assisting creative artists-in
so
far
as they wish to be assisted-to exploit the far-reaching
possibilities of the technical media, and ways of helping
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11
i nterpreters to modi f y thei r styl e
of
si ngi ng, acti ng
or
danci ng to sui t t he arti sti c pecul i ari ti es of t he medi um
I t is si gni f i cant t hat the exponent s of t he di f f erent
f or ms of ent er t ai nment whi ch const i tute musi c t heat re
have several l y c ome to si ml ar concl usi ons concer ni ng
t he transfer of thei r art t o filmand tel evi si on, mor e
part i cul arl y t he l atter. It ma y now, as a resul t, be easi er
t han even
ten
year s ago t o f or mul at e certai n c o mmo n
convent i ons
wth
regard to space, movement and t i me
in tel evi si on. These will appl y above a l t o t he i nter-
preter-hi s body, hi s f ace and,
in
many cases,
hi s
voi ce.
And here we mus t r emember t hat t he i nterpreter is at
hi s best when a cont act is establ i shed wi t h a publ i c,
a human cont act wth a l i ve audi ence. Surel y, one
of
t he
mos t i mpor t ant t asks of tel evi si on wll be to seek ways
of i ntensi f yi ng what t he Fr ench composer Emmanuel
Bondevi l l e has t er med the ‘ tepi d, f i l tered emot i on
of
t he
recei ver and t he smal l screen’ .
Ger har d Fr eund, Di rector of Aust r i an Tel evi si on,
cl osed t he 1965Round Tabl e wth s ome val uabl e advi ce
bot h t o creat i ve arti sts and al so to tel evi si on stat i ons
wth l ess exper i ence t han hi s o wn in artisti c m dw f er y.
I t happened t oo of ten t hat there was a l ack of sure
co- oper at i on bet ween t he creat i ve, r epr oduct i ve and
techni cal el ement s i nvol ved ; t eamwor k was essenti al in
t he creat i on of tel evi si on opera, bal l et and musi c theat re.
Of t en, t oo, t he component s of such a t eam wer e not
awar e of t he possi bi l i ti es and l i mtat i ons of t he medi um
Henc e t he val ue of
the
tel evi si on wor kshops whi ch i t
had been pr oposed to organi ze
in
associ at i on
wth
t he
Vi enna St at e Academy of Musi c and Dr amat i c Art. The
musi c exper t s of several stat i ons had compl ai ned t hat
t he wr ong peopl e had been comm ssi oned to create wor ks
f or tel evi si on. Thi s cri t i ci smpr oved t o be a boomer ang,
neat l y r et ur ned by Mr . Fr eund; i t was t o thei r o wn
musi cal staff t hat di rectors of tel evi si on shoul d l ook to
find t he creat i ve tal ent of t he ri ght cal i bre.
I t
shoul d not be f orgot ten t hat t o t he great mas s
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12
of the public,
all
modern music-whether of moderate
or
of extreme tendency-was a priori equally suspect.
Those responsible for the destinies of television were
working for the wide public which had it in its power to
annihilate the efforts of creative artists, interpreters and
technicians alike
.
simply
by
switching off. O n e could
not live and work in a vacu um and, in television, Tart
pour l’art’
was the greatest sin of all.
In
his
comment
on
modern music,
Mr.
Freund was
considering what w e please to call ‘serious’ music. Al
forms of ‘light’ music are on the contrary
a
priori accept-
able to the general public. T h e fact that little mention is
m a d e in the present study of musical comedy in no w a y
implies that its importance as a form of entertainment is
underrated. On the contrary, the influence of the
American, or American-inspired ‘musical’on the public
of today
is
considerable. And, at
its
best, the ‘musical’
represents a well-nigh perfect example of the total
theatre which composers, authors and choreographers of
more serious pretentions are striving to achieve.
But
musical comedy reaches the public through an entirely
different channel of communication-a commercial and
often highly successful one, it should be said. Its authors
m a y have their problems but they differ completelyfrom
those which beset the authors of opera or music theatre.
It
will
indeed be an auspicious day when a
Wozzeck,
or
even a
Carmen,
enjoys a run of several months at a
leading theatre
in
a capital city.
Returning to television, and without
in
any way
minimizing the importance to cultural life of the
development of the sound media, it must today be obvious
that television, the youngest of the technical means of
communication, is
also
the most influential. It combines
the fascination of things seen with the advantage of
seeing them
in
one’s home. But let us remember that
television, like the other media,
is
no more and no less
than a conveyor of information. It is for the creative
artists-authors, composers, choreographers and design-
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13
ers-to accept t he chal l enge and mak e
i t
al so one of t he
mos t pot ent arti sti c medi a of our t i me.
The f ol l ow ng st udy wll cover three aspects of t he
subj ect : (a) t he appl i cat i on of moder n t echni ques in t he
creat i on of wor ks wr i t t en for the st age; (b) the trans-
mssi on t hr ough t he medi a of radi o, tel evi si on and film
of wor ks wr i t t en
for
t he st age; and (c) t he creat i on of
wor ks especi al l y
for
t hese medi a.
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15
ser i ousness of pur pose usual l y f avour ed hi stori cal pl ots
havi ng pol i ti cal or soci al si gni f i cance. I ndeed, r omant i c
oper a cul m nat ed in what ma y be dubbed ‘ phi l osophi cal
opera’ ,
in
whi ch hi stori cal or mythol ogi cal pl ots are used
not merel y f or thei r i nterest as stori es
but
f or thei r
symbol i c si gni f i cance and t hus f or
the
phi l osophi cal
or
met aphysi cal concept s they ma y be seen t o embody.
Mar i o Labr oca, t hen Presi dent of
the
I nternat i onal
Musi c Counci l , in i nt roduci ng t he I MC’ s 1964Hambur g
Congr ess on Cont empor ar y Musi c Theat r e, recal l ed t hat
the
var i ous aspects of oper a have been i nf l uenced,
if
not actual l y det er m ned, by the var i at i ons in t he tastes
and habi t s
of
audi ences f r om t he l ast year s of t he
si xteenth cent ur y to thi s ver y day.
‘ The mos t recent i nf l uence wth t he most f ar - reachi ng
i mpl i cat i ons consi sts in the pr esent - day phenomenon of
a great publ i c abl e to chose f r omamong mul t i t udi nous
f or ms of ent er t ai nment . Today, n addi t i on t o t he spoken
theat re or t he musi cal theat re, t here are t he ci nema,
tel evi si on, radi o and spor t , and each of
t hem
has created
its o wn f ol l ow ng. We are l ed to ask oursel ves what
cont act is possi bl e bet ween t he prevai l i ng sensi bi l i ty of
t oday and a f or mof ent er t ai nment whi ch creates f abul ous
and unreal wor l ds inwhi ch heroi c characters bec ome t he
symbol s of ethi cal and rel i gi ous probl ems. ’
( Her e i t
mght
be rel evant t o quote a r emar k by a
f amous Ger man actor and pr oducer , the l ate Gust av
Gr i i ndgens, t hat
i t
is preci sel y t he unreal i t y
of
opera
whi ch br i ngs
i t
cl oser in spi ri t t han any ot her
ki nd
of
ent er t ai nment to
the
ori gi nal f or mof the theatre. )
Unti l t he Fi rst Wor l d War , sai d Labr oca, oper a was
the
ent er t ai nment par excellence of an af j auent soci ety.
Ev en wher e t he musi cal i di omhad al ready assumed an
essent i al rol einthedr amat i c devel opment ,
he
decorat i ve
el ement s wer e stil l muc h sought af ter by t he publ i c; t he
bal l et, f or exampl e, was consi dered i ndi spensabl e,
al t hough the musi c mght cl earl y cal l f or a fur ther and
speedi er devel opment of t he acti on.
2
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16
‘Think of the extraordinarily effective telescoping’,
continued Labroca, ‘bywhich Verdi,in the opening scene
of Otello, unfolds within the space of only eight minutes
a storm, a battle, and a victory.’
T h e preceding congress
of
the IMC, evoted to ‘Music
and its Public’, had revealed a certain weariness of opera
on the part of the public. Thiswas not entirely surprising,
thought Labroca: ‘ W h e n the public today goes to the
theatre to hear a n e w opera, it almost always experiences
a conventional spectacle, little different from which our
grandfathers used to enjoy. There
is
a feeling of unease,
particularly among the younger generation, on being
faced with a spectacle which to them seems antiquated,
useless, a dead weight. And yet, masterpieces have no
age, they are above passing tastes and fashions, and
therefore music drama as a genre is alive today
in
exactly
the s ame wa y as are the literature and the works of
art of past centuries.
‘ W e have a duty to welcome n e w forms
of
expression,
to help the creation of works which do not conform to
conventional patterns, to place means at the disposal
of hose w h o
wish
to tread n e w aths, and where necessary
to
transform theatrical institutions
so
as to adapt them
to the use of n e w stage techniques.’
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17
2
Music
theatre t oday- cont emporary
forms and stagi ng
Cont empor ar y musi c t heat re l ooks back i ncreasi ngl y to
t he
begi nni ng
of
t he genre, bot h in f or mand in stagi ng.
Ther e is no mor e ‘ cont emporar y’wor k t han Mont ever di ’ s
I1 combattimento
di
Tancredi
e
Clorinda
(1624),wth its
dr amat i c story whi ch is m med, danced and nar rat ed
in
song. We
indthe
nar rat or agai n,
in
a compl et el y di f f erent
styl e,
in
St ravi nsky’ s
L’histoire du soldat (1918)
and
in
Bri tten’ s
Rape of Lucretia
(1946).
Ther e is mor e t han a quest i on of semant i cs
in
t he use
of the t e r m‘ musi c theatre’ , as opposed to ‘ opera’ . Musi c
t heat re has bec ome cur rent in t he past t wo decades
among t he mor e sophi st i cated publ i c, mai nl y in Ger man-
speaki ng count r i es.
It
can mean a pr oduct i on of a
st andard oper a, whi ch stresses i ts theatri cal or dr amat i c
aspect ; as
i t
can mean a wor k whi ch eschews t he cl assi cal
musi cal f or ms of ari a, ensembl e, chorus, etc., in f avour
of the
dr amat i c cont i nui t y.
H H.
St uckenschm dt keeps steadf ast l y t o t he t er m
‘ opera’ , even
when
descr i bi ng what ma ny of hi s cont em
porar i es refer t o as musi c theat re.
H e
bel i eves t hat t he
opera
of
t he f ut ure
wll
consi st of a combi nat i on of new
musi cal expressi on wi t h cont empor ar y subj ect mat ter :
‘ Oper a on t he whol e has r emai ned
very
unr esponsi ve to
t he new achi evement s in l i terature. Never t hel ess t he
fi rst steps t owar ds a
rapprochement
have been made.
A f ew musi ci ans have secured the col l aborat i on
of such
dramat i sts as Becket t , I onesco, M chel But or and
I ngebor g Bachmann,
whi l e
others have wr i t ten di rect l y
for such
avant-garde
tages as t he Dancer ’ s Wor kshop of
San Franci sco. The scores wr i t t en by Luci an0 Ber i o and
Ro ma n Haubenst ock- Ramat i o text s
of
Samuel Becket t
and ot her moder n poet s are prel i mnary studi es
for
new
f or ms of opera. ’
I t appear s to St uckenschm dt t hat t he genr e of oper a
has not , as we a l once bel i eved,
di ed; i ndeed,
t here are
many smal l si gns whi ch poi nt t o i ts vi gorous r ej uvenat i on.
To
hm
t he f ear t hat t he oper a publ i c ma y not accept
a radi cal r enewal of i ts f avour i t e musi cal f or ms does not
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19
sense of t he wor d, combi ni ng dr amat i c reci tat i on
wth
speaki ng, danci ng, si ngi ng and m m ng- one
of
t he mos t
i nterest i ng exampl es of m xed f or ms in our century. ’
I t
is t hese new m xed f or ms, used in var i ous combi -
nat i ons and to var yi ng degrees, whi ch in our vi ew mak e
up t he cont empor ar y musi c theatre. A wor d of war ni ng,
however , on t he danger s of categori zat i on: it comes f r om
no l ess an aut hor i t y t han Gunt her Renner t . ‘ No one’ ,
says Renner t , ‘is abl e to expl ai n what t he t er mm xed
f or ms real l y i nvol ves.
At
best, one can s umup i ts var i ous
mani f estat i ons, el ement s, subj ects and i ntent i ons, but
in t he twenti eth cent ur y there exi sts no pr edom nat i ng
concept i onof f or mprovi di ng a model as
di d,
opera seria
and buffa in the ei ghteent h cent ur y and musi c dr ama
and r omant i c opera (l ater
verismo)
in t he ni net eenth.
Now, ever y wor k creates its o wn styl e, or rat her each of
t he many aspects of cont empor ar y musi c t heat re has i ts
own i nherent styl i sti c rul es. Some see thi s as a degener -
at i on of t he art of oper a, others as a si gn of i ts vi tal i ty
and of i ts const ant need for r enewal and change. Wh a t
mat t er s is t hat creat i ve r i chness shoul d be recogni zed
even when i t r uns cont rary to our taste.
I t
is to be f ound
in
wor ks as di f ferent as Schonber g’ s psychogr am
Erwartung, l acher ’ s corn6die- allet Prussian Tales,Al ban
Berg’ s
Wozzeck-expressionistically
based on a musi cal
structure-Fortner’ s ‘ l yri c bal l ad’ of Don Perlimplin and
even J an Ci kker ’ s ‘ dr amat i c passi on’ based on Tol stoy’ s
Resurrection.
And even a prot ot ype, such as t he so- cal l ed
sceni c oratori o, adm t s of a number of great l y di vergent
var i ants whi ch
in turn
have thei r o wn styl e and corre-
spondi ng rul es of product i on.
‘ For exampl e, St ravi nsky’ s
Oedipus
Rex
and Bri t ten’ s
Rape
of
Lucretia,
Honegger ’ s
Jeanne au Biicher
and
several wor ks of Off a l use styl i sti c el ement s whi ch have
been ascri bed to “sceni c oratori o”, and yet t hese wor ks
di ffer greatl y. Ther e can be no def i ni t i ve styl e of
pr oduct i on f or cont empor ar y musi c theat re as one m ght
al most say exi sts for Handel , Mozar t , Ver di and Wagner .
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And
yet the works which represent today’s music theatre
do seem to have one thing
in
common: they do not seek
to mo ve
us by
acting psychologically
on
our emotions,
by drawing us into a n emotional whirlpool, but by
moving us from a distance, through a n alert but
committed vis- -vis. This appears to be less; it is in fact
more, because the whole of the work of art, its
all-
embracing message,
is
directed at the whole man, his
intellectual and spiritual being, his emotions-perhaps
even to the subliminal. It is through no mere coincidence
that so m u c h emphasis is laid today on this particular
“distant”
form of
music theatre, let us call it scenic
oratorio, musical play, scenic cantata, etc.
‘The scenic oratorio is related to Brecht’s epic theatre.
It confronts the audience with a dramatic event, enables
it to participate
in
the action without being hustled,
opposes contemplation and reflection to illusion. More
often than not a narrator or speaker w h o fulfils a dual
function is introduced; he acts as a buffer between the
dramatic action o n stage and the public, and also as
a
link,
explaining or participating in the action. This
role
is
often entrusted to a small choir.’
(In
Searle’s
Ionesco opera The Photo
of
the Colonel, the characters of
Berenger and Edouard would have been totally incom-
prehensible with ‘conventional’ usic.)
‘Dodecophony and its successors can n o w encompass
the n e w characters, settings, action and developments
offered by contemporary writing with the result that the
opera-goer,
his
interest in the characters and events
on
the stage dulled through centuries of opera cliches and
trained to a one-sided visual and auditive enjoyment,
will
find
n e w interest
in
the characters and events as such.
Opera is given a chance to develop from what w e might
call
its
“culinary” character towards intellectual stim-
ulation.
‘The very lively discussion which followed every
performance, not only the premihre, of The Photo
of
the
Colonel
and the strong reaction it evoked in the
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i
newspaper s and el sewhere seemt o conf i rmt he need
for
stri ki ng event s in oper a as wel l as in ot her f or ms of
theatre. ’
T he gr oundwor k f or t he musi c t heat re of t oday can be
sai d t o have been l ai d in t he t wo decades
or so
bet ween
t he t wo wor l d wars. Ma ny of t he composer s who t hen
bel onged t o t he avant-garde achi eved onl y shor t - l i ved
f ame
or
mer el y a
S U C C ~ S
e scandale. One hears l i ttl e
nowadays,
for
exampl e, of t he Ger man, Ma x Br od, and
hi s construct i vi st opera Maschinist Hopkins
or
of t he
Czech,
Eml
Frant i Sek Bur i an, who col l aborated wi t h
t he Dada Theat r e in Pr ague; t he i nf l uence of t hese
precursors
of
our mos t advanced musi c t heat re shoul d
never thel ess not be underest i mat ed.
Ot her s have st ayed t he cour se and s ome of thei r
wor ks n o w bel ong t o t he cur rent repertoi re, at l east of
t hose count r i es wher e opera- goi nghas been and r emai ns
a tradi t i on. But it is not al ways the mos t successful
wor ks of t he maj or composer s
of
thi s per i od whi ch have
pr oved t o have t he greatest i nf l uence. Busoni ’ s Doktor
Faustus and Mal i pi ero’ s Sette canzoni in I tal y; Kr enek’ s
Jonny
spielt
a u .
a consi derabl e but shor t - l i ved success,
Hi ndem t h’ s Cardillac,Schonberg’ s (earl i er) Die gliickliche
Hand,
t he Br echt - Wei l l
Mahagonny
and t he Br ccht -
Hi ndem t h- Wei l l
LindberghJEug
in
Ger many; M l haud’ s
ChristopheColomb
fi rst produced
in
Berl i n) and Honegger ’ s
Antigone in Fr ance; J anacek’ s From the House of the
Dead in Czechosl ovaki a; al of t hese have cont r i but ed,
t o a greater or l esser degree, t o our cont empor ar y styl es
and forms of musi c theatre.
Thei r cont r i but i on, perhaps, is l ess t han t hat
of
Schonberg’ s Pierrot lunaire (1912), a mel odr ama
for
reci tat i on and chamber orchest ra St ravi nsky’ s
L’histoire
du soldat (1918).
‘ &e’citer,
jouer et danser’; rokof i ev’ s
The
Love for Three Oranges
(1919), St ravi nsky’ s
Oedipus Rex
(1927), and t he Br echt - Wei l lDie Dreigroschercoper (1928).1
1. The
dates
arethose
of
the first
performances.
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Her e, certai n out st andi ng creat i ve personal i t i es, a l
of wh o m have al ready been ment i oned
in
one connexi on
or anot her, deserve speci al ment i on f or thei r general
i nf l uence.
Al
but one of t hemare f or tunatel y sti ll al i ve
and acti ve.
Stravinsky
It is si gni f i cant that , even at thi s earl y st age
in our
consi derat i on of cont empor ar y musi c theat re, ment i on
has been made of t hree wor ks of St ravi nsky. Accor di ng
to Mass i mo M l a, wth but three except i ons (in
Le
rossignol, Mavra and t he Rake’s Progress), St r avi nsky
has accept ed none of t he f or ms of musi c t heat re handed
down f r omt he past . Hence t he mul t i t ude of new f or ms,
of ‘ spectacl es’whi ch are so di ff i cul t to cl assi fy si nce
they
bel ong to no pre- establ i shed t ype but create
on
each
occasi on thei r o wn uni que and i ndi vi dual genre:
Les
noces,
L’histoire du soldat, Renard, Oedipus Rex and to a certai n
extent al so wor ks l i ke Pulcinella ( whi ch onl y the sung
part s r emove somewhat f r om the nor mal bal l et)
Perse‘phoneand al so The Flood, composed mor e recent l y
f or t he new
medi um
of tel evi si on.
As M l a r em nds us, St r avi nsky hi msel f has i ndi cated
to us t he cri teri on whi ch gover ns hi s exper i ment s:
l i berate musi c f r om al subservi ence to ot her arti sti c
f orces; make i t
the
absol ute mast er of an entertai n-
ment , i ts raison-d’dtre.And thi s, paradoxi cal l y, even i n
cases wher e t he musi c has onl y a f r agment ary rol e t o
Mass i mo M l a consi ders t hat , in L’histoire du
soldat,
the i mposi t i on of t he smal l orchestra on t he stage, wel
in
vi ew
of
the
publ i c, is t ant amount
to
a conquest and
a si gn of the musi c’ s hegemony.
I t is not wi t hout
ast oni shment t hat one reads
af resh t he reasons whi ch
St r avi nsky gi ves for thi s di sposi t i on in hi s Chronicles o
my
Life (I ,
p.
157): ‘ For I have al ways hat ed l i steni ng to
musi c wth my eyes cl osed, wi t hout the eye t aki ng an
act i ve par t in proceedi ngs. It is essenti al , in order to
Pl ay.
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underst and t he musi c inal l i ts f ul l ness, t o see t he gest ure,
t he movement of t he di f f erent par t s of t he body whi ch
pr oduces it. The f act is that al l musi c whi ch is creat ed
or
composed requi res
in
addi t i on a means of exter i or-
i zat i on if it i s t o be percei ved by t he l i stener. I n ot her
words,
i t
requi res an i nt ermedi ar y, an execut ant . I f thi s
is an i nevi tabl e condi t i on wi t hout whi ch musi c fai l s t o
r each us, why t hen i gnore it
or
try
to
i gnore i t, why
cl ose one’ s eyes
to
thi s f act whi ch is
in
t he ver y nat ur e
of t he art of musi c?’ Thi s s ame t ext l eads t o t he faml i ar
pol em c agai nst t he kind
of
musi cal l i steni ng based
on
Ldr eam ng7n whi ch one i ndul ges mor e easi l y wi t h eyes
cl osed
in
t he ‘ absence of vi sual di stracti ons. ’ ‘ But ’ ,
cont i nues M l a, ‘ when St r avi nsky tel ls us-“these are t he
i deas whi ch i nci ted me t o pl ace my l i ttle orchestra. . .
wel l
in
evi dence
on
one si de
of
t he st age”- when he
adds- “why not l et t he eyes f ol l ow movement s whi ch,
l i ke t hose
of
t he ar ms
of
t he t ympani st ,
of
t he vi ol i ni st,
of
t he t r ombone, hel p t he audi t ory per cept i on?”- how
can one fai l t o sense t he t r emendous feel i ng t hat here is
t he ger mof t he ne w theor i es whi ch govern t he
avant-garde
musi c theatre, here is t he i ntui t i on of a musi c t heat re
wher e t he per f or mance
of
t he musi c,
wth
its accom
panyi ng gestures, is a spectacl e in i tsel f, t he genr e of
musi c t heat re based on musi c and i ts per f ormance whi ch
musi ci ans l i ke Ber i o, St ockhausen and Kagel are seeki ng
t o provi de?
‘ St ravi nsky uses new f or ms
in
order to “demyst i f y’ ,
t he theat re, i.e., t o pur ge
i t
of t he, t o hi m suspect ,
el ement
of
“i nterpretat i on”. Wh a t St r avi nsky seeks
part i cul arl y to avoi d is t he par adox of t he actor , of a
per son who represent s s omeone ot her t han hi msel f f or
t he t i me is on t he stage. The use of masks in Oedipus
Rex
and
The Flood,
he act i on of L’histoire
du soldat
t endi ng
t owar ds t he f or m of t he nar rat i ve, t he monument al
pl asti ci ty whi ch t he use of Lat i n al l ows Oedipus,al l t hese
are ef forts to depersonal i ze t he theat re. The di str i but i on
of t he voi ces in
Les
noces represent s anot her at t empt at
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depersonal i zat i on. “I ndi vi dual rol es do not exi st in
Les noces, but onl y sol o voi ces t hat i mper sonat e n o w
one t ype of character and
now
anot her ” (St ravi nsky,
Expositions
and
Developments, p. 115).
‘ St ravi nsky’ s mos t recent stage wor k, The Flood, says
Gi i nther Renner t , i s a var i ant of t he sceni c oratori o and
one whi ch, f or a l i ts ec onomy of means, represents an
ext ensi on of t he f orm The composer descr i bes T h e F l oo d
as a musi cal pl ay whos e subj ect is t he creat i on,
the
fal l
of man, t he f l ood, t he rescue and f i nal l y the pact of
God wth man. ’
In
f or mand in t he use of stage machi ner y, there is an
unbr oken l i ne f r om
L’histoire
du
soldat
(narrat i on,
comedy, dance) and
R e n a r d
( speaker , vocal sol oi sts,
choi r) t o T h e Flood. Her e, St ravi nsky’ s musi c theat re
appear s
in
i ts mos t r educed f or mbut at t he s ame t i me
l eavi ng al l previ ous wor ks f ar behi nd in t he mani f ol d
use of st age el ements. Sol o and choral si ngi ng, pant om me,
t he spoken wor d and bal l et are al used si de by si de or
in
cont rast t o i l l ustrate thi s human myt hol ogy. St r avi nsky
and hi s l i bretti st Craf t have devi sed a king of sceni c and
musi cal shor t hand. The story of t he creat i on is sw f t l y
and conci sel y tol d-i n mor e or ess t el egraphi c I anguage-
and each of t he theat re di sci pl i nes ment i oned is gi ven
equal i mpor t ance.
But Donal d M tchel l quest i ons St ravi nsky’ s use
of
t he spoken wor d combi ned wth musi c: there was good
r eason
why
mel odr ama had gradual l y ceased
to
f unct i on
in opera as a pr om nent par t of t he composer ’ s resource.
‘ The spoken wor d and musi c si mpl y do not mx-they
tend
to cancel one anot her out, ’ thi nks M tchel l .
And
yet , to do St r avi nsky ( and i ndeed the mel odr ama i tsel f)
j ust i ce, he adm t s t hat there are ma n y passages
in
T h e
Flood
whi ch fal l ver y convi nci ngl y on t he ear as a c om-
bi nat i on or al ternat i onof speech and musi c.
M ght
i t not
be t hat a devi ce whi ch seems to be regressi ve in a stage
work- and
T h e F l oo d
was ori gi nal l y wr i t t en for tel e-
vi si on-wl l pr ove to be t he
very
stuff
of
tel evi si on?
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Carl
Or
Unl i ke St ravi nsky, whose i nf l uence can be di scerned in
t he musi cal aspects of
hs
wor k, Car l Orff is so compl et el y
a ma n
of
t he t heat re t hat hi s means
of
expressi on, musi c
wth r hyt hm al most pri mt i ve rhythm as t he maj or
el ement , mi me and gesture, dance and t he spoken wor d,
are i next r i cabl y i nt er woven.
Orff
has tol d us in hi s o wn
wor ds h o whe has gone about
wri ti ng
hi s several i mpor t ant
wor ks based on Gr eek t ragedi es:
‘ I
have not creat ed a
l i bretto, a text speci al l y adapt ed to the musi c
or
a basi s
f or composi t i on, but have tri ed to i nterpret t he unad-
ul terated ori gi nal t ext ,
just
as, for exampl e, i t was
bequeat hed us
by
Sophocl es in Antigone
or
Oedipus.
I
purposel y avoi d the t e r m“compose” and consi der my
wor k here as an at t empt at i nterpret i ng t he Gr eek
t ragedi es for present t i mes
wth
pr esent - day means.
‘ The case of
the
Carmina Burana
texts is simlar.
I
mer el y ext racted these t wel f t h- cent ur y Lat i n songs
(fromthei r context), wi t hout any addi t i on
or
comment ar y,
wi t hout even an acti on and used
t hem
as a
peg
on whi ch
to hang the musi c. Thi s is har dl y what one woul d cal l
a l i bretto-and, of course, t he work was ref erred to as
stati c theat re and by many ot her cat chwor ds. Wel l , i t is
certai nl y somet hi ng
di f ferent-but
thi s is no achi evement
of mne; thi s part i cul ar ki nd of t heat re j ust happened
to be
due.
The s ame happened
wth
t he poems of Cat ul l us
whi ch I put t oget her to bui l d a smal l ar gument :
a madr i gal - pl ay. But here I t ook the l i berty of addi ng
an i nt roduct i on and a concl usi on.
And
agai n inAphrodite
I used the Gr eek text t o create a link wth Sappho. ’
Brecht
Anot her consi derabl e i nf l uence in cont empor ar y musi c
t heat re is Ber t hol d Brecht . Accor di ng to Egon Monk ,
speaki ng at t he Hambur g Congress, Brecht ’ s t heor y of
t he epi c theat re was fi rst f ormul ated
in
t he not es to t he
opera
The
Rise
and Fall of
the
City of Mahagonny,
for
whi ch Kurt Wei l l wr ot e the musi c. I t was theref ore
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Brecht’s work
on
an opera which gave rise to
his
criticism
of the bourgeois theatre he liked to describe, in terms
taken from the kitchen vocabulary, as ‘culinary’. W h y
did he choose an opera?
‘Opera for Brecht represented in its cleanest form
the theatre’s alienation from social topics. W h a t he
wished to combat, recht found herein wellnigh textbook
exposition: shutting out of the real world, construction
of an inward-looking ham world.
Al
this to the applause
of the spectator. Supply and d em an d were
in
complete
concordance. Brecht described the opera public as “avid
to become w a x in the hands of magicians”, willing, in
the last hours of its o w n world, to escape to another.
‘For Brecht himself, his innovations represented the
renewal
of
already-existing patterns, not real trans-
formations. Renewal through the music, which fora short
time had disposed of a n e w technique; renewal
in
the
choice of subjects, which brought in contemporary
scenes of action and characters; renewal through design
which brought machines, trains, cars, planes
on
the
stage. But what are w e to think of this penetration of
the symbols of our time, w hen their significance does
not
go
further than their mere presence, when the ne w
means of locomotion are merely used as a vehicle
to
carry old fables-old feelings-the so-called eternal
values?’
‘Opera,’ wrote Brecht, ‘had to be raised to the technical
standard of modern theatre. Th e modern theatre is an
epic theatre.’ Mo n k continues: ‘The point of departure
of epic theatre is the audience. W h a t it needs in the stalls
are critics of the events which it portrays instead of
consumers
of
musical sweetmeats.’ B ut such a critical,
distant attitude on the part of the spectator towards
the action presented on stage demanded that a stage
technique in use in Europe for the past two thousand
years be abandoned.
‘The course of a play
or
of an opera should
no
longer
appear
to
be impervious to influences; the spectator
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shoul d not say to hi msel f
“it
had t o happen t hus” but
rather “it happened t hus; i t coul d have happened
otherw se. ”
I f
he sai d somet hi ng t o hi msel f , thi s meant
he had t o
thi nk; f
he t hought , one had to cease dr awi ng
hi m i nto t he spel l of the theat re, one coul d no l onger
at t empt t o offer hmthe f eel i ngs of aut hor s and composer s
as
i f
t hey wer e hi s own, one coul d desi st f r ompr ovoki ng
sympat hy rat her t han observat i on f r omhi m One had
to repl ace psychol ogi cal mot i vat i ons for ways of behavi our
by
soci ol ogi cal ones, f or
the
spectator was to be i nvi ted
t o cease cont empl at i ng hi s o wn navel
in
order to obser ve
the doi ngs of the power f ul ones and no l onger conf use
t hemwth fate.
‘ The
El i zabet hans wer e t he fi rst to por t ray ma n and
t he fate of man, and thei r pl ay const ruct i on seemed
sui ted to t he real i zat i on of t hese i ntent i ons.
No
l onger
compact acts
but
many shor t scenes, each an ent i ty
in
i tsel f, ordered accordi ng to the unf ol di ng of the pl ots
whi ch in
turn
shoul d cor r espond to t he unf ol di ng of
soci al processes.
No
mergi ng of detai l s i nto a whol e but
i nterest
in
t he cont radi ctory behavi our of t he characters
and t he i nterrel at i on of t he var i ous scenes. St age desi gners
wer e no l onger to gi ve pr ecedence t o the creat i on of
a mood
or
an at mospher e, f or a f aml i ar at mospher e
coul d wel l have engendered bor edom The st age was to
be br i ght l y l i t , for i nvest i gat i ons of t hat ki nd coul d not
be
carri ed out
in
darkness. Decor at i ons wer e t o be
recogni zabl e as decorat i ons, made of a l i ttle wood and
l i ght mater i al , t o
be
acted in
but
not l i ved i n, t hus
l eavi ng t he spectat or no openi ng t o conf use t he repre-
sentat i on of l i fe
wth
l i fe i tsel f.
And
f i nal l y actor - si ngers
wer e to cease t o mak e t he audi ence bel i eve t hat t hey wer e
not real l y actor- si ngersbut the l umber j ack J imMahoney,
for exampl e,
or
Wi do w Begbi ck. They must cease to
i dent i f y t hemsel ves
wth
t he character t hey por t r ayed,
l est t he audi ence
i denti fy
itself
wth
t hem for
i denti -
f i cati on meant l oss of t he f acul t y of j udgement .
‘ Brecht ’ s epi c t heat re was a rat i onal l y or der ed syst em
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aimed at making the spectator think in a rationa
manner, the final purpose being to awaken “an interest
in things of personal concern which occur outside one’s
o w n four walls.”
‘Music was the first element in epic theatre which had
its wings clipped. It was to m a k e little or no use of
its
faculty to conjure
up
emotions and to move. It could
neither intoxicate nor hypnotize,just as it was demanded
of those wh o played music not to yield to it. The function
of music should be no different from that of the text, the
stage-setting, he acting and all other components which
m a k e up the theatre. And all with the object of
“conveying truthful and unadulterated representations
of life, and in particular those which suggested solutions
to the various problems.”
‘Since music
is
not in a position alone to
fulfil
these
demands, it had
in
epic theatre to accept the function
of a component part of the theatrical work, the intentions
of which could not be expressed in music, and in the
realization of which it could do little more than help.
Did this represent too great a limitation
in
the possi-
bilities left to music? O r was the claim to complcte
primacy for music in opera on the contrary a burden
which hindered rather than helped?Kurt Weill subscribed
to the latter opinion: he felt that “the n e w operatic
theatre which is being created today has an epic character;
since the narrative form never leaves the audience
in
uncertainty or doubt about the stage action, the music
is
able to retain its own, independent, purely musical
effect.”
‘This met Brecht’s demand for the complete separation
of the three elements of music, text and design; but it
did
not alter the fact that music was n o w allotted
a limited function in a field in which it had previously
been dominant. Brecht’s relation to music was that of
a dramatist for w h o m a play and a n opera were only
slightly different means of expression of one and the
same theatre, and to w h o m therefore the question of
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whi ch art deserved precedence
di d
not mat t er in t he
sl i ghtest.
Onl y
wthin
thi s l i mt at i on
di d
he
concei ve
t hat musi c shoul d have an i ntri nsi c val ue, and onl y
wthi n
thi s l i mt at i on
di d he
consi der real beaut y to be
at a l attai nabl e. ’
Wenze
Hans
Wer ner
Henze’ s vi ews on t he stagi ng of musi c
t heat re are di amet r i cal l y opposed t o t hose of St r avi nsky
and Brecht : ‘ When I compose i nst r ument al musi c,
I meet
wth
di ffi cul ti es of f or m di ffi cul ti es
in
accom-
modat i ng and di str i but i ng t he t hemat i c mater i al ,
di ff i cul ti es in recogni zi ng t he pur pose
or
t he meani ng
of a part i cul ar devel opment of abst ract mot i ves. Such
a si tuat i onnever occurs inwri t i ng f or t he t heat re because,
here, everyt hi ng is real , t angi bl e, i mmedi at el y c ommu-
ni cabl e to t he senses and because
l i fe
i tsel f carri es
the
musi c
wth i t
t o such an ext ent t hat my senses want t o
react musi cal l y. For me hese f acts expl ai n my passi onat e
ent husi asm for ‘ ‘ theatre in musi c”. From t hem al so
der i ves
my
sense of unease, of di ssat i sfact i on
wth
exi sti ng condi t i ons, and
my
desi re f or a compl et e accord
and har mony bet ween t he component s r epresent ed:
pai nt i ng, dr ama, l i bretto and musi c. The combi nat i on of
t hese shoul d resul t
in
a si ngl e great and cl ear har mony
whose ori gi n shoul d be t he musi c, and whi ch shoul d
in
fact be di ctated
by the
musi c.
And in
order t o over come
my
feel i ng of di ssat i sf act i on wi t hout doi ng anybody an
i nj usti ce,
I
shoul d mysel f t ake over the cont rol
of
and
t he responsi bi l i ty f or t he pr oduct i on, scenery, cost umes
and l i ghti ng, as
wel
as t he musi cal di rect i on. Thi s
I
have actual l y done
in
t wo cases
wth
resul ts whi ch-
f or a l thei r occasi onal awkwar dness
or
convent i onal i t y-
have sati sf i ed me personal l y even
i f
not the wor l d at
l arge. ’
Henz e adds: ‘ For an operat i c score of our t i me to be
cont empor aneous, i t need not necessari l y be based on
t he pol i ti cal 2nd soci al di l emma of our day and age. Ver di
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30
was a ver y pol i ti cal musi ci an,
but
even he
di d
not use
subj ects t aken f r omt he per i od
in
whi ch he l i ved. The
actual i ty of a moder n opera rests sol el y
in
i ts musi cal
i di om Pr oducer s and desi gners shoul d fi rst st udy t hese
i di oms, and onl y t hen
thi nk
of pract i cal possi bi l i ti es of
i nterpretat i on.
I f
such trai ni ng wer e to exi st
on
a broad
enough scal e-and musi ci ans cannot suf f i ci entl y i nsi st
on
i ts i mpor tance- t he muc h l acki ng uni ty in sceni c
real i zat i on woul d
be
mor e easi l y attai nabl e. One woul d
suddenl y become awar e of certai n rel at i ons l i ke, €or
exampl e, t hat bet ween expressi oni sti c t heat re and t he
asymmet r i cal i di om of t rue moder n scores, si nce bot h
have a c o mmon source. Such a concept i on woul d however
demand a st ronger hi stori cal sense, whi ch woul d
necessari l y cal l f or f ur t her cl ari f i cati on and poi nt i ng out
and seeki ng af ter new aesthet i c terri tori es. ’
Britten
O
t he maj or composer s of our t i me, none has been mor e
successf ul t han Benj am n Br i t t en
in
revi vi ng t he f or m
of chamber opera.
And
none, surel y, has pr oduced a
greater r ange
of
sound or greater vol ume
in
i ts sonor i t y
f r om an orchest ra
of
thi rteen. Al most ever y one
of
Bri t ten’ s wor ks
for
t he stage, start i ng
wth The Rape of
Lucretia
(1946),
has added s ome new aspects t o musi c
theatre. Hi s wor k f or chi l dren,
Let’s
Make
an
Opera,
i ncl udes a first part inwhi ch t he opera, The Little
Sweep,
is
rehearsed wth t he par t i ci pat i on of t he audi ence i n
t he choruses;
i t
is bot h i nstruct i ve and entertai ni ng-
and is hi ghl y ori gi nal . Thi s is not the onl y wor k inwhi ch
Br i t t en uses chi l dren as i nterpreters.
We fi nd
them as
a chor us,
n
the
dr amat i c cant at a
Noyes
Fludde,
ntended
f or stagi ng in chur ches or halls; and, i ndi vi dual l y, to
great dr amat i c effect,
in
The
Turn of the Screw.
Bri t ten’ s Curlew River
(1964)
s based
on
a J apanese
No h pl ay. The act i on has been transf erred t o medi aeval
Engl and and
a
cor r espondence establ i shed
wth
t he
cer emoni al character of t he ori ginal .
Curlew
River has
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31
been wr i t t en as a myst er y pl ay i nt ended f or per f ormance
in chur ch; in fact, a pl ai n- chant processi onal precedes
and f ol l ows t he wor k proper . The score cont ai ns anumber
of i nstruct i ons concerni ng t he pr oduct i on whi ch mar k
Curl ewRi ver as a str i ki ngl y ori gi nal exampl e of musi c
theatre. O speci al i nterest is t he i nt egrat i onof orchestral
seati ng-a chamber orchest ra, of course- w th t he decor
of t he pl ay; t he ori gi nal set i ncl udes seat s and desks
f or t he i nst rumental i st s and t he shape
of
t he chamber
organ is bui l t i nto t he desi gn
of
t he set.
The Burni ng Fiery
Fur nace, Bri tten’ s l atest wor k f or
t he st age (1966), is anot her ‘ parabl e f or chur ch
per f ormance’ . I t t reats
of
t he bi bl i cal story of t he t hr ee
Hebr ew adol escents who are mracul ousl y saved f r om
Nebuchadnezzar ’ s puni shment f or ref usi ng to worshi p
a gol den i dol . Li ke i ts predecessor , t he wor k is cast in t he
dr amat i c f or mof a medi aeval ri tual .
B6j art
‘ Tot al t heat re’ is
a
t er mwhi ch is becom ng i ncreasi ngl y
associ ated wi t h Maur i ce BBj art . Accor di ng t o Pi er re
Chevreui l l e, t answer s a new need fel t by certai n aut hors,
and t he publ i c is r espondi ng t o i t f avour abl y.
Wth
‘ total theat re’ t he aut hor s wi sh
to
br eak down t he
part i t i ons whi ch separat e t he i ndi vi dual component s of
a theatri cal per f ormance.
BBj ar t hi msel f consi ders t hat t oday t he ci nema comes
cl osest t o ‘ total theatre’ , but t hat oper a, if it wer e
t o r emember i ts ori gi ns, m ght wel l go back to t he
‘ spectacle total ’. Song and dance separat ed comparat i vel y
l ate; B6j ar t possesses s ome astoni shi ng l etters in whi ch
ref erence
is
made
to
certai n dancers
of
t he Royal
Academy under Loui s XI V who, it was sai d, sang
di vi nel y. I t was perfect l y nor mal at t he t i me f or a dancer
t o si ng and f or a si nger
to
dance. But t oday thi s ap-
pl i es onl y to t he Chi nese Oper a and J apanese No h or
Kabuki wi t h thei r adj unct of act i ng and acrobat i cs and,
in
a mor e l i mt ed
way,
t o certai n Amer i can arti sts.
3
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32
But, continues Bdjart, the association within one
and the same spectacle of song and dance does n o
necessarily ma k e for
‘tht%tre total’.
Total theatre should
convey the impression of life, wherein the means
of
expression are constantly mixed. In this sense, total
theatre
is
a kind of ‘super realism’, an attempt to come
as close as possible to real life but in a highly stylized
fashion.
It
is precisely because he considers the cinema
to
be a stylized art
in
which people take part
in
a realistic
action that B6jart has inserted film sequences
in
a
spectacle on two occasions,
in
A la recherche de Don Juan
and
in La
reine
verte.
In the former, B6jart shows
unconnected screen actuality-usually scenes of horror-
to coincide with a crucial point in the dramatic action
on the stage. This recalls the treatment of contemporary
newsreel
in
the Czech
Antigonae
(see Chapter
11).
‘In
most of
hi s
productions,’ says Chevreuilla, ‘Maurice
B6jart goes far beyond the ordinary prerogatives of the
choreographer. Choreography alone no longer satisfies
him; he has tried several times to produce an artistic
synthesis of the various elements which go to m a k e up
a theatrical performance: ballet, mime, song, spoken
text, film, staging.’
In
L a reine verte, it seems that he has fully realized
his project.
This
work, according to Pierre Chevreuille,
purports to show the three ages of m a n
in
the form of
concrete symbols. T h e casting of the two leading roles
complies with Bbjart’s concept
of
total theatre: Death
is
played by an actress, a dancer impersonates M a n and
the different elements
of
the work are
so
closely
interwoven that they form an inseparable whole.
On the staging
of
musi c theatre
It would be impossible to speak
of
music theatre in the
world today without mentioning a very important kind
of interpretative, or perhaps a better term would be
re-creative, artist-the producer. In traditional opera
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33
unt i l
cl ose on
the
turn
of
the
ni net eent h cent ur y t he
si nger was mast er ; t he conductor ’ s rol e was mor e or
l ess t hat of a di screet accompani st ; pr oduct i on was
practi cal l y non- exi st ent . Wth t he era of t he star
conductors- the 1910’s
wth
Mahl er
in
Vi enna, t he 1920’s
wth
Toscani ni
in
M l an, and each
in
successi on at t he
Met r opol i t an in Ne w Yor k- t he si nger’ s hegemony
waned. Toscani ni was abl e to tel l Chal i api n t hat he had
to si ng
in
t i me. However , oper a pr oduct i on was stil l , in
mos t pl aces, a rather per f unctory affai r. Even to thi s
day in I t al y, oper a posters and pr ogr ammes car ry t he
name of the conduct or , t he
‘maestro concertatore’ in
muc h
l arger t ype t han that of t he producer .
And
yet t he day of
the pr oducer has ar r i ved even
in
I tal y, wher e s ome
of
t he
best - known pr oducer s
in
t he l egi t i mate t heat re have
made r eput at i ons for t hemsel ves al so in opera- repu-
tat i ons whi ch have ver y qui ckl y ext ended abr oad.
Ther e are t oday t wo di ametr i cal l y opposed concept i ons
of t he pr oduct i on of t radi t i onal opera: neo- real i st- of
whi ch Vi scont i and Zef f i rel l i , n I tal y, and Fel senstei n,
in Ger many, are pr obabl y t he mos t di st i ngui shed
exponent s and t he expressi oni st - abst ract- expounded,
for exampl e, by a Schuh, and t he much- l ament ed W el and
Wagner . Henz e is a st rong suppor t er of t he f or mer
category. Taki ng not oper a but bal l et as hi s start i ng
poi nt ,
he
says: ‘ Every versi on of St ravi nsky’ s Firebird
whi ch di ffers f r omt he or i gi nal - whether i ts modi f i cat i ons
be due to a know- i t - al l t t i tude or to pl ai n i gnorance- i s
l ess good t han t he ori gi nal we k now ( nowin t he repertoi re
of t he Royal Bal l et , London) whi ch moves us t hr ough
t he compl et e accord bet ween the composer on t he one
hand and t he chor eogr apher and scene- pai nt er on t he
other. Thi s Firebird is the perf ect pr oof of my t heor y
t hat not hi ng shoul d be changed ina successf d real i zat i on
of t he “ur- text”. The musi cal theat re of a per i od conveys
not onl y the musi c of i ts per i od but al so, wth i t and
f r o m it, an exact i mage of its styl i sti c, spi ri tual and
psychi c origins. Per f ormances of St ravi nsky’ s Firebird
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which depart from the elegant, clear, naive and creatively
detailed original version,
with
all its lovable “mistakes”,
I find
insupportable.
And
just as insupportable, to me,
is
every representation of an operatic work of an earlier
period in which the scenic components d o not correspond
to a “t” with those of the period in which it was created.
Felsenstein, Visconti and ZefErelli take pains over such
exactitude; they k n o w that material can communicate
and
colours speak, they succeed
in
capturing the accents
of the music
on
the stage.
And
for this reason they are
far removed from the so-called odern music theatre.’
And it
is
precisely to modern music theatre that
Giinther Rennert looks for the rejuvenation of the
contemporary operatic stage. ‘Are n e w types
of
scenic
realizations which result from attempts to produce n e w
works of music theatre applicable also to the classical
and romantic opera repertoire?
I
believe that, within
certain limitations, the answer
is in
the affirmative.
A
producer w h o produces a contemporary work with
hi s eyes open, w h o has come close to the stylistic laws
inherent
in
these works and has transcribed them in
terms of the living present, suddenly looks “differently”
at The Magic Flute and
Don
Giovanni, Fidelio and
Falstaf or an oratorio by Handel. Nor would he wish
to force these works on to the procrustean bed of modern
formulae or to modernize them unduly.
‘But here and there he
w U
recognize the symbolical
aspect, the depersonalized sense, perhaps also the
romantic unreality of an older work and transpose it
by
using what he has learned from the technique of styli-
zation, “de-personalization’’ or the spatial choreographic
practice current
in
contemporary music theatre to reveal
in
works which have become frozen through convention
surprisingly n e w aspects which speak for our day and
age.’
None of the important personalities active
in
music
theatre today has gone so far as Vaclav Kaslik
in
accepting the visual media as a n integral part
of
stage
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35
producti on. Kasl i k is convi nced t hat
in
t he f ut ure
recogni t i on
wll
be gi ven, t hanks t o t he i nf l uence of
film
and t el evi si on, to a synthesi s of sung and spoken
wor ds, act i ng and t he dance, as is t he case wth t he best
cont empor ar y musi cal s. I n thi s concept i on, he rej oi ns
B6j art .
The
housing
of
music
theatre
The housi ng of musi c t heat re has an i nf l uence
on
cont empor ar y pr oduct i on; i t has even been suggest ed
t hat t he di ff i cul ty in f i ndi ng sui tabl e new wor ks ma y be
due to t he l ack
of
stages and audi tor i a
of the
r i ght
shapes and si zes. Ne w works, say
Mlk0
Kel emen and
B. A.
Zi mmer mann, t wo composer s of
the
younger
generat i on, deserve new houses in whi ch to be hear d and
seen. W e are out gr owi ng
the
t radi t i onal t ype
of
opera
house. And M chel But or , l ooki ng ver y f ar ahead,
concei ves
of
the futuremusi c publ i c
si tti ng
in a nacel l e,
sur r ounded
by
mobi l e sound sources.
F r om t he poi nt of vi ew of sound, t here is muc h t o
be sai d f or provi di ng t he possi bi l i ty of rai si ng or l ower i ng
the
orchestral pi t accordi ng to t he t ype
of
wor k bei ng
per f or med. El ectroni c devi ces shoul d be avai l abl e
to
composer s who wi sh to exper i ment
wth
di str i but i on
of
sound. Vi sual l y, a moder n aut hor - composerma y wel l
find t he pr osceni um ar ch an encumbr ance t o t he ki nd
of rel at i on he w shes t o establ i sh bet ween stage and
audi t or i um
O course, not al l creat i ve arti sts agree wth Kel emen’ s
cont ent i on t hat we are out gr owi ng t he tradi t i onal t ype
of
opera house. Swoboda, t he Czech desi gner ,
who
has
f r omt he out set been connect ed
wth the
Lat er na Magi ka,
has sai d t hat t he l ess moder n a theat re, the better he
l i kes it: ‘ I hat e theat res
wth
moder n equi pment because
I feel I mus t use i t ;
I
can t ake al
my
machi ner y i nto
a t radi t i onal theatre. ’ And
Lui gi
Nono was perfect l y
happy to see hi s oper a Intolleranza st aged by Vacl av
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Kaslik, with abstract sets and lighting effects
by
Emilio
Vedova, in Venice’s Teatro L a Fenice.
Quite apart from experiments
in
the electronic
diffusion of sound
in
the opera house, composers have
also for a long time been seeking-partly
for
musical,
partly for dramatic reasons-to break away from the
traditional concept of voices on the stage and orchestra
in the pit. For example, in Stravinsky’s
L’histoire
du
soldat and Weill’s
Mahagonny,
the musicians play
on
the stage. And Albert0 Ginastera,
in
his very successful
opera Don Rodrip-produced first
in
1965 at the Teatro
Colon, Buenos Aires, and then at the N e w Yo rk City
Center Opera-has distributed groups
of
brass and bells
at certain points in the auditorium.
O n e of the most recent experiments in total theatre,
Lars Johan Werle’s opera Dreaming about Th r?se,
created at the Stockholm Royal Opera House in Sep-
tember
1965,
is conducted in a large circular room. T h e
action takes place on a raised central platform around
which sits the audience; round the audience sits the
orchestra, disposed
in
groups of two or four. Concurrently
with the ‘live’ performance, loudspeakers on the ceiling
and under the platform relay a pre-recorded, lectronically
distorted sound track on tape. T h e effect
is
said to be
almost hypnotic.
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3
Experimental music theatre
A
publ i cat i on of t he
1966
Hol l and Fest i val devot ed
to
t he fi rst per f ormance of a muc h di scussed wor k of t otal
theat re, Labyrint, quot ed s ome apposi te r emar ks made
t wo year s earl i er
by
Pet er Br ook: ‘ We t and t oday bef ore
an undr eamt fi eld of exper i ment al possi bi l i ti es, above
all in
theatri cal archi tecture, but al so because tel evi si on
has gi ven us a
new
t empo, a new manner
of
l ooki ng.
We
must
n o w combi ne thi s new t empo and t hese
new
f or ms
wth
the
possi bi l i ti es of theatri cal archi tecture.
‘ Onl y in dest royi ng ol d f orms, in exper i ment i ng wth
new ones,
l i es
hope for the f uture.
Onl y
such a r adi cal
changewll open for t he theat re a possi bi l i ty
of
devel opi ng
f urther. I n t he same way as seri al musi c exi sts, so must
i t
be possi bl e to
fi nd
such a
thi ng
as seri al t heat re, whi ch
woul d ori gi nate di rectl y f r om exper i ence and l ead
to
a new truth. ’
M chel But or makes a subt l e di st i ncti on bet ween an
‘ouvrage’,whi ch der i ves f r om exper i ment at i on, and an
‘aeuvre’,whi ch is t he resul t of creat i on. The mos t recent
devel opment s of musi c t heat re l ead us to exper i ment s
in i mprovi sat i on- bot h musi cal and dr amat i c- whi ch
have mor e t han a t ouch of dadai smabout
them
They
cont ai n
in
var yi ng propor t i ons el ement s of musi c,
bal l et, m me, t he spoken wor d and dr amat i c act i on.
Many of
them
i ncorporate the per f or m ng musi ci an in t he
stage act i on. Al most a l makeuse of el ectroni c component s
in thei r musi cal or sound st ructure; s ome i ncl udevi sual
ef fects i nvol vi ng
film
proj ect i ons on si ngl e or mul t i pl e
screens. And inal t here is a general and genui ne concer n
wth
space acousti cs.
The use
of
el ectroni cs
The l ate Her mann Scher chen used to say t hat t he mos t
power f ul si ngl e f actor
in
t he f ut ure phys i ognomy of
musi c woul d
be
el ectroni cs: ‘ The creat i on of sound
t hr ough el ectroni cs is a real i ty t oday. W e have a new
i nst r ument at our di sposal - the magnet ophone- and
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38
f r o m
i t
resul ts t he ne w t echni que of pr oduci ng a musi cal
st ructure el ectroni cal l y. Thi s di scovery- l i berat i ng us
f r om t he l i mtati ons of pi tch, scal e and i nst r ument al
col our i mposed by hi therto- exi st i ng i nstruments-of f ers
uni magi ned possi bi l i ti es. I t enabl es us t o extend t he
sound r ange, whi ch i n t he t i me of
J . S.
Bach was l i mt ed
to three octaves, t o i ts total possi bl e span of seven
octaves. ’
Not
so
muc h t he r ange of sound as
the
di sposi t i on
of sound
in
space, accordi ng t o Bruno Mader na,
wll
pr ove t o be t he mai n cont r i but i on of el ectroni cs t o t he
musi c t heat re of t he future.
For a decade and a hal f now,
in
addi t i on t o Prof essor
Scherchen’ s o wn exper i ment al studi o at Gr avesano,
Sw t zer l and, studi os have exi sted in var i ous count r i es
wher e seri ous researchont he possi bi l i ti es of el ectroni cal l y
produced musi c has been carri ed out . Pi erre Schaef f er’ s
pi oneer wor k in
m u si q ue concrete
or i gi nated i n t he earl y
1950’s
in Par i s
wth Radiodiffusion-TBlBvision
Frangai se,
and soon af ter, el ectroni c musi c pr oper began to be
‘ manuf act ur ed’ at Col ogne
i n
t he studi o set up
by
West deut scher Rundf unk. Several si ml ar i nsti tuti ons
have si nce
been
created, of whi ch one
of
t he mos t
i mpor t ant is
in
M l an at
Radi odi f usi one- Tel evi si one
I tal i ana, wher e Br uno Mader na, t oget her wth 1, uci ano
Ber i o, created a ‘ St udi o
di
f onol ogi a musi cal e’ . Her e
a synt hesi s bet ween musique concrete and el ectroni c
musi c has been at t empt ed and al so a synthesi s bet ween
var i ous ki nds of ‘ musi c
on
t ape’ and i nst r ument al musi c.
Ther e are ot her studi os
in
Ghent and Ut r echt , in Ber l i n
at t he Techni sche Uni versi t at , i n Muni ch, in War saw,
i n Tokyo at t he St at e radi o
NHK
and
in
the
Uni t ed
St ates of Amer i ca at Pr i ncet on Uni versi t y and
in
San
Franci sco.
The dr amat i c possi bi l i ti es whi ch el ectroni cal l y pr o-
duced sounds coul d af f ord t he ‘ l i ve’ theat re, t he ci nema
and tel evi si on qui ckl y became apparent . It t ook l onger
f or operat i c composer s t o accept t hese
new
sounds as
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a val i d musi cal el ement ,
but
in t he l ast f ew year s t he
si tuat i on has radi cal l y changed wth t he i mpr ovement in
t he musi cal qual i ty of el ectroni cal l y pr oduced mater i al .
I nthi s per i od several i mpor t ant wor ks of musi c t heat re
have
been
creat ed i ncorporat i ng an el ectroni c component .
Thei r aut hor s have i ndeed s hown cour age in exper i -
ment i ng
wth
such new and rel at i vel y unt r i ed mater i al ,
al t hough
wth
ver y unequal resul ts as to the i ntri nsi c
arti sti c qual i ty. These wor ks, combi ni ng
or
al ternat i ng
t he use of el ectroni c techni ques wth ‘ l egi t i mate’
i nst r ument s, have pr ovoked shar pl y di vi ded publ i c
react i ons. For exampl e,
Intolleranza,
by Lui gi Nono
(1924),whi ch was created at t he 1961 Veni ce Fest i val of
cont empor ar y musi c, is an expressi on
of
i ts composer ’ s
vi ol ent protest agai nst oppressi on and t or t ure; several
aspects
of
i ts startl i ng and- to j udgeby publ i c react i on-
cont roversi al ori gi nal i ty are di scussed in Chapt ers
5
and
6.
Ot her I tal i an composer s of t he younger generat i on
are al so maki ng a cl ean br eak wth t radi t i onal opera.
Luci an0 Beri o’ s Passaggio and Gi acomo Manzoni ’ s
Atomtod,bot h pr oduced at L a Scal a
wthi n
t he l ast f i ve
years, exper i ment
wth
new f or ms and
wth
el ectroni c
i nst rument s. I n t he l atter, sound t ape and cor r espondi ng
vi sual proj ecti on are super i mposed on an al ready
compl et ed sound structure. Bot h Nono and Manzoni have
i ncorporat ed in several of thei r recent scores the r ecor ded
sounds of machi ner y
in
a metal l urgi cal f actory.
Bor i s Bl acher’ s mos t recent stage wor k,
Zwischen-
full.
bei einer Notlandung ( ‘ I nci dents duri ng a For ced
Landi ng’ ) , bears t he subti t l e ‘ Repor t age
in
2 Phases and
14
Si tuati ons’ .
I t
was comm ss i oned
by
t he Hambu r g
St at e Oper a and gi ven i ts fi rst per f ormance t here in
Febr uar y 1966. Not surpri si ngl y wth such a subj ect, t he
wor k cont ai ns a ver y l arge el ectroni c el ement , whi ch was
compos ed wth
the
assi stance
of
Prof essor Fri t z W nckel ,
t he di st i ngui shed el ectroni c engi neer of t he Techni sche
Uni versi t at in Berl in. Prof essor W nckel cl ai ms t hat :
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‘The traditional concept of an operatic performance-
voices, instrumental usic
in
a separate orchestra pit and
an optical construction in space, light and colour has
given w a y to a synthesis of all these elements in space-
in a space which encompasses stage and auditorium.
This
transformation can, but need not, faithfully reflect
the original sound; it can be deliberately distorted. .
Thus a n e w acoustical construction is achieved, which
uses space according to the producer’s conception.
‘Just as the stage has been cleared of machinery and
properties and lighting allowed to set the action, so have
electronics become the main element in the acoustical
aspect of a production. They can even transform the
h u m a n voice in cases where “pure singing” no longer con-
veys the sense of an action . . . and they can-through
the vastly improved quality of electro-acoustical repro-
duction-so support a voice that a singer can n o w sing
satisfactorily with his back to the public. Today
electronics allow sound to be directed from a particular
source placed anywhere in a given space; and uniden-
tifiable sources to fill the whole space. This is a step
nearer to the idea of a space-theatre, t least from the
sound point of view. It has its visual counterpart in the
fast-improving technique of movable stage-lighting.
‘The idea of “space music’’ can be said to have been
realized.In opera it can and should be more than bCmusic
in space”;
and
the designation “electronic music” then
becomes too limitative, since electronics sewe more than
just the musical part.’
‘At first,’ continues Professor Winckel, ‘one thought
of constructing the opera [Incidents during a Forced
Landing] without any instrumental parts whatever.
.
However, the composer
Boris
Blacher considered it an
even greater challenge to contrast instrumental and
electronic parts and, together
with
the singers-some
heard naturally and others through electronic distortion-
to create a n e w kind of polyphony.
.
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Total theatre
If t he Fr ench t er m
spectacle musical
wer e t ransl atabl e,
i t woul d mos t accuratel y descri be t he
ki nd
of musi c
theat re whi ch is devel opi ng out of cont empor ar y exper i -
ment
wth
musi cal , dr amat i c and chor eogr aphi c f or m
and cont ent , using bot h ‘ l i ve’ and el ectroni c means.
However , s ome of i ts pract i t i oners have i nvent ed t he
expressi on
thgiitre
total,
whi ch fi ts a whol e r ange of wor ks
whi ch use any or a l t hese i ngredi ents
in
di f feri ng degrees.
W e have al ready appl i ed i t to at l east one wor k by
Maur i ce Bgj art .
Bernd Al oi s Zi mmer mann’ s
Die Soldaten
was compos ed
bet ween
1958
and 1960 as a comm ss i on f r omt he
Cty
of Col ogne and was fi rst per f or med t here in
1965.
At
fi rst si ght, t he subj ect of Die
Soldaten,
based on a pl ay
by
J akob Lenz, wh o had a great i nf l uence on Buchner ,
does not seemt o cal l f or el ectroni c t r eat ment . I t
is
t he
story of
the
m sadvent ur es and downf al l of t he daught er
of a bourgeoi s f am l y at t he hands of l i centi ous of her s.
The composer gi ves thi s descri pt i on of hi s adapt at i on of
Lenz’ s pl ay: ‘ Theext ended scenes
wth
t he offi cers have
been condensed int he f or mof a collage;
n
t hree pl aces.
three poems of
Lenz
have been i ncorporat ed, whi ch are
not par t of t he pl ay. [In one part] t hree scenes pl ay
si mul t aneousl y. The di vi si on of acts and scenes,
in
accordance
wth the
musi co- dr amat i c concept , serves
t he not i on of “pl ural i sm”
wthi n
t i me (i.e, t he si mul -
t aneous unf ol di ng of di sconnected acti ons). Wh a t comes
l ater i s pl aced fi rst and what precedes is made to f ol l ow
Bac h choral es and j azz are j uxt aposed wth, inter alia,
snat ches of f ormal oper a and musi c theat re.
Al
of thi s
is
cont ai ned wthin a
ki nd
of pan- acoust i cal f or m of
musi c t heat re, whi ch fuses t oget her every el ement of
speech, song, musi c, pai nt i ng, fi lmbal l et, pant om me,
t ape mont age (noi se, speech and musique concr8te) t o
f or ma pl ural i sti c f l ow of
t i me
and exper i ence. . Uni ty
of t he
inner
acti on: t he nucl eus out of whi ch ever y phase
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‘In
contrast to
. . .
t radi t i onal operat i c f or ms whose
di f f erent l ayer ^ ^ serve to i l l ustrate or symbol i ze t he
cont ent or acti on, t he component s of
Labyrint
act al most
as
comment ar i es on one anot her . Thei r f unct i on is
di sori ent i ng rather t han correl at i ve. Ther e is no quest i on,
theref ore, of normal l y pr oceedi ng acti on, “l ogi cal ” pl ot,
‘6
meani ngf ul ” bal l et, “decorat i ve7’ sett i ng,
or
pr ogr am
mat i c, i l l ustrati ve musi c.
‘.
abyrint
mght
be descri bed as a t r i pt ych on t he
t heme of woman: Beaut y Ki t t , t he commonpl ace,
real i sti c pi cture of woman; Naamah, t he i deol ogi cal
pi cture of woman; and the fi lmt he pi cture of woman’ s
corporal i ty. The dr amat i c secti on present s a story
cent red r ound Beaut y Ki t t , part l y in t he manner of t he
natural i st i c t heat re of t he absurd, and part l y inf r agment s
of so- cal l ed si l ent pl ay.
‘ .
The
at once commonpl ace and eni gmat i c dr amat i c
acti on i s i nt er rupted at several poi nts by t he three vocal
sol oi sts. Chant i ng inLat i n, they rel ate t he mythi cal story
of Naamah, s ome i mpor t ant el ement s
of
whi ch der i ve
f r o mThe Bird o Paradise, a book publ i shed in
1958
by
the Fl em sh wri ter Loui s- Paul Boon.
‘ ust as t he dr amat i c acti on represent s t he common,
real i sti c pi cture of wo ma n and
t he
chant s
her
i deol ogi cal
i mage,
so the
film sequences in
Labyrint
depi ct her
physi cal i t y. . . These sequences expose t he anonymous
nudi ty
of woman, i gnor i ng her i ndi vi dual i ty. The ai m
is to create an al i enat i on ef fect, a di sori entat i on, in
rel at i on to thi s physi cal i ty. The spectator is deni ed any
hol d on t he i ndi vi dual : a l he sees is torso or l i mbs.
‘ The acti vi ti es of t he dancer s do not f or m a bal l et
in
t he usual sense; t he choreography t akes i ts depart ur e
not f r omtradi t i onal , expressi ve bal l et steps,
but
f r o m
el ement ar y, ever yday movement s , whi ch the audi ence
ma y i nterpret
in
an i nf i ni te number of ways. Her e, t oo,
t he ai mis an al i enat i on effect. Unl i ke i l l ustrati ve bal l et,
t he dances are mor e in t he natur e of “events”,
i nter-
rupt i ng t he dr amat i c act i on wi t hout r hy me or reason.
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‘The scenery can also be considered
an
independent
“layer” of Labyrint. Designed by the architect A d o van
Eyck, it consists of a number of labyrinthine set pieces
of such dimensions that the cast can act and dance both
on top of and underneath them. T h e great mobility of
these sets contributes to a disorientation in spatial
concepts. Th e choir, which sits in the auditorium as
spectator during the first two acts, in the third act
mounts the stage. nd becomes involved
in
the action
in and about the set, only to disappear afterwards.
‘ . .
The music of
Labyrint
embraces several forms:
the purely orchestral dances; the chants for three soloists
(contralto, tenor, and bass) and orchestra, relating the
story of the Bird of Paradise; the incantations for choir
and orchestra; improvisations for the three singers and
four instrumental soloists (piano, bass clarinet, double-
bass, and percussion); and electronic music.
‘ The aleatoric elements in the dances occur, more
strongly, in the so-called improvisations. Prompted by
signals from one of the singers, acting as
