Music History

The Architecture of Arcadia: Quinault, Lully, and the Complicit Spectator of the Tragedie en Musique

by Alison CALHOUN

SEVENTEENTH-CENTURY FRENCH STUDIES; DEC, 2011, 33 2, p114-p126, 13p.

Most analyses of the Arcadia of the Ancien regime interpret pastoral politically as a place built in contrast to... more Most analyses of the Arcadia of the Ancien regime interpret pastoral politically as a place built in contrast to court life, a contrast that manifested itself iconographically as pastoral scenes built in the foreground of palatial backdrops, or Arcadian, garden-like courtyards. But, in the context of theatre, the scenography of pastoral was also constructed as a peaceful, verdant setting that opposed the dangers and marvels of mythological places and characters put into motion by machines. Even though Arcadia was a rather artificial version of a simple garden or forest, it was nevertheless part of a visual tradition that was understood as a possible world. For Philippe Quinault and Jean-Baptiste Lully, the pastoral space was key to harmonizing not only the singing, but also the ever-increasing use of machines and spectacular scene changes of early musical tragedy. Thanks to its familiar topoi, the pastoral setting (evident in didascalies, iconography, and within the verses of Quinault's libretti) created visual cues that helped forge a complicit spectator for this new form of tragedy, promoting credibility, and inciting specific emotions. Most importantly to the history of theatrical reception, the balance between the familiarity of pastoral and the strangeness of mythology encouraged the spectator to redefine the limits of aesthetic distance to include greater degrees of artificiality and fiction.

Review / Mélanie Traversier, Gouverner l’opéra. Une histoire politique de la musique à Naples, 1767-1815

by Etienne Jardin

Transposition. Musique et sciences sociales, 2012 (2)

Sédu* dans le Théâtre-Italien

by Etienne Jardin

published in 'Transposition. Musique et sciences sociales', 2012 (2)

L’ouvrage dirigé par Jean Mongrédien – Le Théâtre-Italien de Paris. 1801-1831 – et le site internet qui l’accompagne... more L’ouvrage dirigé par Jean Mongrédien – Le Théâtre-Italien de Paris. 1801-1831 – et le site internet qui l’accompagne permettent de mener des recherches sur les mots utilisés dans les périodiques du début du XIXe siècle pour rendre compte de l’activité de cette institution lyrique parisienne. Une recherche « sédu* » donne pour résultats 424 occurrences de mots commençant par ces quatre lettres (séducteur, séductrice, séduire, séduite, séduisant…). On s’intéressera à l’usage global qui est fait de ces termes dans le corpus réuni par Jean Mongrédien (fréquence, définition des termes et des objets qu’ils qualifient) avant d’aborder trois thèmes majeurs qui apparaissent au cours de leur analyse : la place de la séduction dans les livrets des œuvres jouées au Théâtre-Italien ; la séduction des interprètes ; et celle opérée par la musique.

The volume edited by Jean Mongrédien, Le Théâtre-Italien de Paris. 1801-1831, and the website which accompanies it, make it possible to search for words used in periodicals which recounted the goings-on of this theater in the early 19th century. A search for “sedu*” results in 424 hits of words beginning with these four letters (seducer, seduce, seduced, seductive...). The present article looks at the overall use of these terms in the body of work collected by Jean Mongrédien (their frequency, definition of the terms and the objects they qualify), followed by an investigation of three major themes that emerge from this analysis: seduction’s role in the printed programs of the works played at the Théâtre-Italien, the musicians’ seduction, and that of the music.

Why do Lutherans sing? Lutherans, Music and the Gospel in the first Century of the Reformation

by Andreas Loewe

Pre-print preview of a forthcoming article in Church History (mid-year 2012)

Martin Luther regarded music as a crucial instrument to communicate the Gospel and the Reformation message. From the... more Martin Luther regarded music as a crucial instrument to communicate the Gospel and the Reformation message. From the outset of his Reformation, a distinctive Lutheran musical tradition was fostered in electoral Saxony, its dependent territories and neighbouring principalities. A review of contemporary records from the second decade of the sixteenth century to the turn of the seventeenth century enables the assessment of the role music played as an educational and theological tool in the life of Lutheran communities: the School Ordinances of electoral Saxony and neighbouring principalities show the incorporation of music as a key curricular requirement in Lutheran education, while the Statutes of Lutheran choirs [Kantoreien] illustrate how theologians, educators and musicians closely worked together to shape Lutheran communities centred on music-making, in order to reform worship, further the Reformation message and to create community cohesion.

Environmental Activism in Music

by Richard Kahn

In: Music in American Life: The Songs, Stories, Styles, and Stars that Shaped Our Culture, Jacqueline Edmondson (ed.), ABC-CLIO, forthcoming.

An introductory source document and some fragmentary notes towards a diagnostic ecopedagogical critique of American... more An introductory source document and some fragmentary notes towards a diagnostic ecopedagogical critique of American music.

Guides to Writing about Music

by Kendra Leonard

Published in the Journal of Music History Pedagogy, Vol. 2, No. 1 (Fall 2011)

Guides to writing about music have become staples in courses on music history. This review covers three such books, by... more Guides to writing about music have become staples in courses on music history. This review covers three such books, by Bellman, Herbert, and Wingell, as well as RILM’s reference on musical terms and conventions. The review discusses the strengths or weaknesses of all four books in order to help an instructor decide what might be best for any particular course.

La poetica dello scarto

by Luca Rossetto Casel

Relazione

Elusione delle forme di danza nella Partita per flauto solo
in la minore BWV 1013 di Johann Sebastian Bach
Elusione delle forme di danza nella Partita per flauto solo
in la minore BWV 1013 di Johann Sebastian Bach

Il flauto nuovo di Claude Debussy - 4

by Luca Rossetto Casel

Syrinx

Le danze rituali della Sonata per flauto, viola e arpa Le danze rituali della Sonata per flauto, viola e arpa

Enea nel Lazio, opera riformata: prima l'azione, poi le parole

by Luca Rossetto Casel

Relazione presentata al XIV Colloquio di Musicologia del «Saggiatore musicale» (Bologna, 20 novembre 2010)

Seconda opera della stagione di carnevale 1760 del Teatro Regio di Torino, l'Enea nel Lazio composta da Tommaso... more Seconda opera della stagione di carnevale 1760 del Teatro Regio di Torino, l'Enea nel Lazio composta da Tommaso Traetta su libretto di Vittorio Amedeo Cigna-Santi costituisce un momento significativo nell’àmbito dei tentativi di riforma del teatro musicale di metà Settecento. Cronologicamente collocata in un periodo – incastonato tra gli anni trascorsi a Parma e a Vienna – che vede il compositore intensificare la propria attività nella capitale sabauda, l’opera s’inscrive in un più ampio progetto di riforma portato avanti dal Teatro Regio e rappresenta uno snodo fondamentale nell’àmbito delle sperimentazioni attuate dal compositore.
Su una struttura conforme alle convenzioni allora vigenti in Italia, Enea nel Lazio innesta soluzioni drammaturgicamente innovative, organizzate in una forma spettacolare coerente e originale. Il ripensamento spregiudicato del modello teatrale metastasiano, lo scarto fra la scansione in scene e lo sviluppo del dramma, il fluido avvicendamento di forme musicali chiuse e aperte, l’impiego della danza in funzione narrativa, il ricorso a una scenotecnica raffinatamente elaborata convergono a dare vita a una drammaturgia incentrata sul primato non della musica né delle parole; bensì dell’azione.

The Petite Récréation - Quatorze Airs Français, Italiens, Russe, Etc., Variés pour Flûte seule par Drouet

by Tom Moore

“A visit to Pianopolis: Brazilian music for piano at the Biblioteca Alberto Nepomuceno”,

by Tom Moore

Music Library Association. Notes; 57:1; (Sept 2000), 59-87.

The Fifty Grand Studies, op. 126, by Peter Joseph von Lindpaintner

by Tom Moore

Flute Focus, 26 November 2011

The Etude or Exercises for the Flute, op. 2, by Karl Theodor Metzger

by Tom Moore

Flute Focus, 22 December 2011

The XXIV grands Caprices pour une Flûte of Philip Seydler

by Tom Moore

Flute Focus, 27 December 2011

Conversation with C. Bryan Rulon

by Tom Moore

Sonograma, no. 13, 8 January 2012.

“The Six Thèmes Favoris, op. 71, and Caprices, op. 80 of A.B. Fürstenau”

by Tom Moore

Flute Focus, 28 January 2012

Recueilupdated

by Tom Moore

The Recueil d’Airs Variées Arrangées pour une Flute par les Meilleurs Auteurs

by Tom Moore

Tom Moore, "The Recueil d’Airs Variées Arrangées pour une Flute par
les Meilleurs Auteurs",
Flute Focus, 8 February 2012,
http://www.flutefocus.com/Students-Corner/recueil-airs.html

The Flute Sonatas of Albert Jacob Steinfeld

by Tom Moore

Flute Focus, 17 February 2012

The Délassemens du Flûtiste (Solos, Airs variés, Rondeaux, Romances, Valses, Boléros, etc.) pour Flûte seule, op. 47 of Eugène Walckiers

by Tom Moore

6 March 2012, Flute Focus