Thesis (Ph. D.)--UCLA, 2009. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 167-182).

Inaug.-diss.--Leipzig. / "Literatur": verso of 3d p. l. Lebenslauf. "Beide Teile der Arbeit sind als selbständige Abhandlungen in den Sammelbänden der Internationalen Musikgesellschaft (IV. 2, 3) erschienen."--Pref.

Thesis--Cologne. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (p. 134-147).

Thesis (M.F.A.)--University of Massachusetts Amherst, 2008. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 53-54).

abstract: The focus of this study was the first Serbian opera, Na Uranku (At Dawn). It was written by Stanislav Binièki (1872-1942) and was first performed in 1903 at the National Theatre in Belgrade. There were two objectives of this project: (1) a live concert performance of the opera, which produced an audio recording that can be found as an appendix; and, (2) an accompanying document containing a history and an analysis of the work. While Binièki's opera is recognized as an extraordinary artistic achievement, and a new genre of musical enrichment for Serbian music, little had been previously written either about the composer or the work. At Dawn is a romantic opera in the verismo tradition with national elements. The significance of this opera is not only in its artistic expression but also in how it helped the music of Serbia evolve. Early opera settings in Serbia in the mid-nineteenth to early twentieth century did not have the same wealth of history upon which to draw as had existed in the rich operatic oeuvre in Western Europe and Russia. Similarly, conditions for performance were not satisfactory, as were no professional orchestras or singers. Furthermore, audiences were not accustomed to this type of art form. The opera served as an educational instrument for the audience, not only training them to a different type of music but also evolving its national consciousness. Binièki's opera was a foundation on which later generations of composers built. The artistic value of this opera is emphasized. The musical language includes an assimilation of various influences from Western Europe and Russia, properly incorporated into the Serbian musical core. Audience reaction is discussed, a positive affirmation that Binièki was moving in the right direction in establishing a path for the further development of the artistic field of Serbian musical culture. A synopsis of the work as well as the requisite performing forces is also included. / Dissertation/Thesis / Opera Na Uranku: Part I directed by Jana Minov / D.M.A. Music 2011

The thesis deals with Singing and music society Vítězslav Novák in Rakovnik. Main aim of my text is to provide a high quality monograph discussing almost one hundred years long tradition of said society, as well as its other two very important branches, The Rakovnik Opera and The Rakovnik Philharmonic Orchestra. For a duty of the thesis I have carefully studied Singing and music society collection placed in The National Regional Archive in Rakovník. Furthermore, I read a literature arguing legislative rules of societies. Also, I examined sources linked to cultural and historical issues of the city. The thesis is divided in following parts. Firstly, I wrote about history and activities of the society over the time of its existence in the city. Next chapters in precise refer to particular activities of the society including an introduction of its most important characters. Last but not least, I discuss the Rakovnik Opera, which is nowadays in the city even more remembered and significant than the society itself. The single chapter is dedicated to The Rakovnik Philharmonic Orchestra, too. It had been subsequently involved to The Rakovnik Opera, though.

The evidence found through comparing and contrasting staging manuals strongly suggests that Massenet might have been involved in the staging of his operas. Several important differences, which include the implications of the use of a chair versus a bed in the final scene, are presented through a comparison of the final duet of Massenet's Opera Thaïs in a restaging from the livret de mise en scène F-Pbh T 8 (1) with the Metropolitan Opera's 2008 production. In addition, a probable date between the premiere in 1894 and the revision in 1898 for the livret de mise en scène F-Pbh T 8 (1) is deliberated. Three staging manuals for Thaïs are examined, which were found to contain the same information, and these findings are contrasted with four staging materials for Massenet's opera Manon and several other staging materials for works by various composers.

This dissertation comprises a musical history and ethnography of musical culture on the island of Mauritius in the southern Indian Ocean. It details two interrelated performance traditions, examining the history and practice of European art music on the island in parallel with that of an endemic song-and-dance tradition called séga. Mauritius, once a notorious nest of pirates and privateers, was a famous overseas haven of French culture during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Wealth from trade, war, and piracy fueled a rich cultural scene that featured the latest music from Western Europe. Visitors to "The Little Paris of the Indian Ocean" also encountered séga, a percussion-driven music based on improvised songs and dances that developed amongst the island's African and Malagasy slaves. Today, séga is an integral part of the Mauritian tourism industry and is prominently featured in government cultural and educational programs. The general format of the dissertation is a musical history of Mauritius from its first human settlement in 1638 to the present day. It draws extensively on unpublished archival documents and on travelogues, letters, and diaries from visitors to provide specific details about the extent and nature of musical practice in Mauritius. It is also informed by historical newspapers, contemporaneous literature, and by recent discoveries in Mauritian archaeology. The narrative of the past half-century of Mauritian musical and cultural history takes the form of a musical ethnography and draws upon numerous interviews and on field research conducted in Mauritius from 2011-2012. The dissertation also includes a detailed study of music in contemporary Mauritian society, with special reference to the use of séga in nation-building policies, identity politics, the tourism industry, and in public education.

Since its publication in 1845, Prosper Mérimée’s Carmen has been adapted many times for stage and screen. This essay focuses on the novella, Bizet’s 1875 opera, Saura’s 1983 film and Paul Van Haver’s (known by his stage name Stromae) music video. Already the novella describes Carmen’s exotic aura as a strong, enigmatic presence in her laughter, singing, dancing, magic spells, and strange Gypsy dialect–qualities of otherness that Bizet effected musically in his opera. I propose a Jungian approach to Carmen (José’s anima tainted by his anxious desires) and in particular to her voice in order to explain archetypical aspects of her character in two musical numbers that would henceforth become her signature tunes: the Habanera and the Seguidilla. Both numbers are characterized by juxtapositions of transgressive chromaticism and plain diatonic, triadic tonality. Carmen’s voice, both as an object of desire and as a source of perilous power, is essential to her character and persists in Saura’s choreographic “backstage” Carmen (1983). Here, a peculiar ensemble of onscreen tape recording, diegetic humming, and metadiegetic daydreaming recalls Carmen’s vocal presence as surrogate voices of an avowedly inexperienced singer. While in Stromae’s music video, Habanera’s rebellious love-bird is transformed to Twitter’s blue bird, sitting on the shoulder of the user, casting its shadow on their life. The habanera is performed by the male-singer tuned with a rhythmic rap beat and its emblematic lyrics takes the aria into another level. In conclusion, I argue that different versions of Carmen retain and problematize her voice in spite, or rather because, of stark differences of their aural and visual settings as the ontologically ambiguous centerpiece of her character.

This work is intended primarily for young opera directors and students of opera directing. It?s divided into four chapters. The first three focus on the development of theater directing in the 20th century (with a spatial emphasis on opera.) In these chapters, I introduce a theoretical view on, and trends in, the task of the director. The second half of the work, chapter 4, offers a perspective on the practice of directing with a special emphasis on the director?s collaboration with the artist. The ambition of the work is also to place the work of important Czech opera director Bohumil Hrdlička into a Czech and, after his immigration, a European context. This under appreciated artist, and important European director, has yet to receive a full treatment of his work. In my exploration, I focus on the entire, broad, subject of opera directing on both a historical and practical level. My goal was to realize the complexity of the subject, interpret it, and synthesize it from the perspective of a director in such a way as to gain the necessary perspective on the field in the context of the 20th century, so as to be able to use this knowledge not only as a director but, more importantly, as a pedagogue. A similar historical and practical handbook, which also provides a personal view on the issues at hand, has until now been unavailable to students of opera directing in the Czech Republic.