Arts and Humanities Commons^™

The Maker - A Multi-Media Opera In Two Acts, Aaron Lee

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

The Maker is an electro-acoustic and multi-media opera in two acts that seeks to expand upon the use of pre-recorded audio and video in the operatic genre as well as explores musical representations of classical Greek dramatic elements in the context of a re-imagining of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. Based on a libretto by Dr. Monika Lee, The Maker utilizes a harmonic system focused on managing common-tones to reinforce and augment dramatic tension. Additionally, The Maker uses concepts from classical Greek tragedies as the foundation of musical materials. In particular, it explores how the use of recurring musical motifs can be …

The Ghosts Of Madwomen Past: Historical And Psychiatric Madness On The Late Twentieth-Century Opera Stage, Diana Wu

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Insanity has been important to opera since the genre’s inception. For four hundred years, operas have featured characters driven mad by love, jealousy, and shame. In this same time period, however, cultural understandings of what it means to be insane have changed many times. This dissertation explores nine post-1945 British and American operas with mad characters: Gian Carlo Menotti’s The Medium, Igor Stravinsky’s The Rake’s Progress, Benjamin Britten’s Curlew River, Peter Maxwell Davies’s Eight Songs for a Mad King and Miss Donnithorne’s Maggot, Dominick Argento’s The Voyage of Edgar Allan Poe and Miss Havisham’s Fire, …

Re-Imagining Brazilian Portuguese Ipa: A Practical Guide Utilizing Paulo Maron’S New Opera Lampião, Jorge Luiz Alves Trabanco Filho

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

How often have North American singers considered singing art songs or opera arias in Brazilian Portuguese? How many Brazilian Opera composers do voice students and faculty outside of Brazil know? The lack of language familiarity of Brazilian Portuguese is a barrier to Brazilian vocal music’s accessibility and performance. And the challenging learning curve may contribute to the lack of interest non-native speakers may have toward Brazilian classical music. To help address this problem, the author decided to promote the accessibility of the Brazilian Portuguese repertoire of vocal music by re-imagining/simplifying sections of the Brazilian Portuguese IPA table. This simplified table …

Coloquio Entre Dos Perros, Comic Chamber Opera In Nine Scenes, Sandra Rocio Fuya-Duenas

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Coloquio entre dos Perros (Dialogue between two Dogs) is a comic chamber opera for four solo voices (one mezzo-soprano, one tenor and two baritones) and mixed ensemble (oboe, viola, guitar and percussion). The libretto, written in modern American Spanish, is based on the novel by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra entitled Coloquio que pasó entre Cipión y Berganza, perros del Hospital de la Resurrección, que está en la ciudad de Valladolid fuera de la puerta del campo, a quien comúnmente llaman los perros de Mahudes. The opera is divided into nine scenes, which relate the stories from the life of …

Prufrock: A Monodrama For Baritone And Electronics, Daniel Gardner

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Prufrock is a musical dramatization of T.S. Eliot’s, The love song of J. Alfred Prufrock for solo baritone and electronics; a full performance of the work should take approximately forty (40) minutes.

The work uses text from both Eliot’s original publication and a section removed from the text called Prufrock’s Pervigilium—first published in Christopher Ricks’s Inventions of the March Hare—and superimposes a narrative onto Eliot’s monologue of a man whose internal experience differs wildly from reality. As such Prufrock emphasizes the psychodramatic elements of the original text, reflecting them through the use of “auditory illusions” (particularly those described …

Teaching Prospective Verdi Baritones: A Repertoire-Based Approach, Andrew Rethazi

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

The Verdi baritone is one of the most sought-after voice types in the professional operatic sphere due to its leading presence in the Verdi repertoire. However, there exists a gap in the published scholarship about the introduction of the repertoire to younger baritones as a means of teaching the style and performance practice while still in the shelter of the post-secondary environment. This introduction to the repertoire can be a valuable tool in training potential Verdi baritones. The research goals of this monograph are threefold: 1) to establish prerequisite criteria of technical proficiency for young baritones to begin limited study …

The Donnelly Opera, Joshua L. Richardson

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

The Donnelly Opera is a one-act chamber opera based on an infamous Southwestern Ontario event: the murder of the Donnelly family in 1880. The libretto was written with the consultation of various historical sources. Modern text setting practices are utilized with careful attention to the use of perfect rhymes and natural syllabic emphasis to help maximize audience comprehension. The opera uses traditional vocal archetypes of aria, recitative, and ensemble singing. The focus of the opera is the dramatic portrayal of the events that took place leading up to the second murder trial. It is written for four vocalists (soprano, mezzo-soprano, …

Antoinette, An Opera In One Act, Colin Mcmahon

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Antoinette is a chamber opera in one act. It is a dramatization of the events leading to the execution of Marie Antoinette and is 30 minutes in length. The narrative of the opera was developed together with Vancouver based poet Ray Hsu, who wrote the libretto. Antoinette is intended to address modern societal issues through musical drama. These issues represent the biographical reality of the characters but are intended to resonate with modern audiences. Themes will include overconsumption, the dangers of so-called “Strong-man Politics”, mortality, and feminism. Antoinette is written for five principle vocalists (soprano, mezzo-soprano, tenor, baritone, bass) accompanied …

A Modest Proposal: A Chamber Opera In One Act, Kevin Morse

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

A Modest Proposal is a chamber opera in one act adapted from the 1729 satirical essay of the same name by Jonathan Swift. The opera’s narrative was developed in close partnership with Toronto-based Governor-General’s Literary Award-nominated playwright Lisa Codrington, whom I commissioned to write the libretto. Set in an unnamed city in the present day, the work explores themes of economic disparity, social class, political power and process, parents and children, love, anger, and revenge. I integrate musical quotations from (or references to) folk lullabies and the works of Mahler, Debussy, and Schoenberg to support and enhance the richness and …