abstract: Reverend Stormfield Goes to Heaven is an operetta in six scenes for seven vocalists and flute, clarinet, horn, percussion, piano, violin, cello, and double bass. The work’s approximate length is 40 minutes. The libretto is written by the composer and based on the short story by Mark Twain titled “Captain Stormfield Goes to Heaven.” The short story features the typical biting sarcasm of Mark Twain. The libretto combines part of the original text with alterations to satirize modern day Christianity and religious values in general. The story follows Reverend Stormfield as she arrives in Heaven and quickly learns that the locations and people she expected to see and meet are shockingly different. The journey takes her through comical scenarios and deeper philosophical dilemmas, and in the end she is left to confront her own disturbing past. The musical elements of the operetta include traditional and octatonic scales, twelve- tone rows and set theory based on the overriding intervallic relationship of the perfect fourth. The sets implemented as motivic ideas: 0-1-4-5, 0-1-6-7, and 0-2-5-7 are based on the perfect fourth and serve as the framework for many of the melodic ideas. The instruments provide an accompanimental role often incorporating melodic fragmentation and contrapuntal textures and techniques. Instrumental solos are featured prominently in arias and the instrumental interludes between scenes. / Dissertation/Thesis / Reverend Stormfield Recording: Scenes 1,3,4,6 / Doctoral Dissertation Music 2019

abstract: Aspiring opera singers receive training in many different areas including vocal technique, acting, foreign languages, and role preparation to help them prepare for the demands of the standard operatic repertoire. Many of the operatic roles within the standard repertoire are too demanding in their entirety for young singers who are still developing physically and intellectually. Vocal health is a great concern for young voice students and their teachers. An operatic role which demands more stamina or control than a student is currently capable of executing in a healthy way can result in vocal trauma. To avoid assigning repertoire to students which may push their limits, many undergraduate vocal students are not given the opportunity to perform an operatic role in its entirety until after they have graduated. Pauline Viardot’s operetta Cendrillon provides a solution to the often difficult task of giving experience to young singers without causing them potential harm. The knowledge Viardot gained by having a career both as an opera singer and a voice teacher resulted in a composition which contains full operatic roles that many young singers could capably perform. Viardot was sensitive to the issues that many young singers face, and as a result, she created an operetta which voice faculty can feel comfortable assigning to their students. In order to understand the demands of Cendrillon on young opera singers, this project included a performance of the piece with undergraduate voice students, many of whom had never been in an opera before. Through this process and a comparison of Cendrillon with some of the repertoire these singers will encounter later in their careers, it is clear that Viardot’s insightful compositional style provided a smooth transition for these relatively inexperienced students. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Music 2017

The operetta, The Pirates of Penzance, is a classic work by Gilbert and Sullivan, a work that continues to be produced frequently despite its Victorian setting and operatic style. For many years the standard performance style of all the operettas by Gilbert and Sullivan was upheld by the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company, who attempted to perform the operettas as they had originally been done. Though the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company helped stimulate interest in the works of Gilbert and Sullivan, nontraditional productions of G & S operettas produced outside of the company were able to reach larger audiences. When The Pirates of Penzance was produced on Broadway in the 1980's, it was enormously successful. Under the direction of Wilford Leach, the production was more accessible to audiences through its pop-oriented orchestrations, Broadway-style choreography, and cast of rock stars and well-known actors. This significant change in the way The Pirates of Penzance was performed inspired several other major productions of the operetta in that style and has now become the standard interpretation of the piece. It is due to these productions that The Pirates of Penzance continues to be produced and remain culturally relevant. It is interesting to note that, while the performance style of Pirates has changed significantly over the years, the role of Mabel has remained largely unchanged. In that regard, the role of Mabel continues to fulfill the goals and tradition of D'Oyly Carte while The Pirates of Penzance has evolved from an old-fashioned operetta to a popular musical theatre piece.

The thesis focuses on the staging of Soviet operettas in Czechoslovakia between 1946 and 1987. The import of the Soviet repertoire to Czechoslovak operetta theaters was linked to the cultural and political transformations at the outset of the communist regime in Czechoslovakia. The so-called Soviet socialist operetta would soon have been established as a model for new Czechoslovak operettas. As such, it became an important part of the repertoire which was influenced by the official polical system. The thesis surveys the progressing intensity of the import and the developing operetta genre in the Soviet Union. On the examples of Isaac Dunayevsky's operettas Free Wind and, more intensively, White Acacia, in comparison with the original versions of these operettas, it shows the tendencies of interpretation of Soviet operettas in Czechoslovakia, in the changing cultural and political context. The thesis also concerns the topic of critical perception in both cultural environments and, overall, it aspires to capture the examined topics in the widest possible contextual horizon.

The subject of this thesis is the analysis of the collective literary output of the two young authors - German writer Martin Becker and his Czech friend Jaroslav Rudiš. A part of my thesis concerns also with their lives and own works. The object is to find Czech motives in the work and life of Martin Becker and influence of German culture on the books of Jaroslav Rudiš, to concern on typical characteristics and analysis of their collective works. In my thesis I arrive at the conclusion that the Czech stay, interest in Czech language and literature reflect in works of Becker, in the similar way are books of Rudiš influenced by his interest in German authors, art, history, German language and other. In collective work are these moments interwoven and supplemented.

This dissertation provides a guide to John Philip Sousa's operetta El Capitan through investigating its historical significance, compositional distinctives, and performance practice. Chapter one introduces the nature and scope of the work by presenting a statement of the problem, the need and significance for the study, and its delimitations.The historical section of this document traces the genesis and process of the actual composition of the work, including identifying pieces borrowed from other Sousa works as well as consideration of Sousa's sketchbooks and other sources for compositional techniques. This section also presents a synopsis and performance history of the operetta, as well as biographies of the composer, lyricist, librettist, and major stage performers.The second part of the dissertation explores Sousa's compositional techniques and how harmonic, melodic and rhythmic considerations advance the plot of the operetta and illuminate character motivation. A comparison is made between the original and published scores for discrepancies.The performance guide includes interviews with key personnel involved in the 1973 Minnesota Opera production of El Capitan. This section closes with an appraisal of the strengths, weaknesses, and potential for successful revival of the work.The appendices provide information on El Capitan in print and recording, the original libretto, copies of programs from significant productions of the operetta, a partial listing of performances of the work between 1970 and 1994, and a description of the roles by voice type. The appendix also includes a transcription of the stage directions found in a stage manager's guide to El Capitan located in the Tams-Witmark collection at the University of Wisconsin. / School of Music

Revision of thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Illinois, 1977. / Includes index. Bibliography: p. [253]-257.

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TITLE: German-Czech meetings in books written by Martin Becker and Jaroslav Rudiš SUMMARY: The subject of this thesis is the analysis of the collective literary output of the two young authors - German writer Martin Becker and his Czech friend Jaroslav Rudiš. A part of my thesis concerns also with their lives and their works. The object is to find Czech motives in the work and life of Martin Becker and influence of German culture on the books of Jaroslav Rudiš, to concern on typical characteristics and analysis of their collective works. In my thesis I arrive at the conclusion that the Czech stay, interest in Czech language and literature reflect in works of Becker, in the similar way are books of Rudiš influenced by his interest in German authors, art, history, German language and other. In collective work are these moments interwoven and supplemented. KEYWORDS: Martin Becker, Jaroslav Rudiš, radio play, operetta, story, collective work, novel

O objetivo deste trabalho é apresentar um estudo, de cunho histórico e crítico, sobre o teatro brasileiro, a partir de pesquisa realizada nos periódicos da cidade de São Paulo do período de 1901 a 1922. Com base nos dados colhidos, como notícias e críticas de teatro, buscou-se analisar a atividade teatral desse início de século, e repensar suas contribuições, seu papel social, e aparente estagnação - tão divulgada por intelectuais à época. O estudo interpretativo encontra-se no volume I. No volume II há um índice dos periódicos consultados, contendo uma síntese dos temas relativos ao teatro, abordados por escritores e intelectuais desse período. / The objective of this work is to present a study, of historical and critical matrix, on the Brazilian theater, from inquiry carried out in the magazines of the city of Sao Paulo. On basis of the gathered data, like news and criticism of theater, it was carry out analyze of the theatrical activity of this beginning of century, and rethought its contributions, social paper, and apparent stagnation - so spread by intellectuals. The interpretative study is presented in the volume I. In the volume II there is a rate of the consulted magazines, containing a synthesis of the relative subjects to the theater, boarded by writers and intellectuals of this period.