This dissertation on Meyerhold situates his theatre practice, and, notably, his work on opera in the context of the changing political and cultural climate in Russia during the period 1905 - 1939 and its impact on developing artistic genres. It studies the way different genres in his theatre interlocked with, anticipated or captured cultural changes in relation to the aesthetics of the World of Art group, Imperial Theatres and the Soviet Policy on the arts and theatre. Meyerhold's work encapsulated the main tendencies and problems of the Russian avant-garde at the time, and the educational role of the arts in relation to the goal of social progress. The newly developing relationship between art and Soviet society was complex, where artists learned from everyday life at the same time as the public learned from art. In this context, concepts such as proletarian culture and artistic synthesis, in respect of the role of the arts are of vital importance to the argument of the thesis. Scholarly research on Meycrhold has predominantly focused on the director's work in dramatic theatre, not on his work on opera, a field that is one of the most important aspects of his practice as a whole. Meyerhold wanted to bridge the gap between the spectator and the performer, to create a unified theatrical experience by utilising all the arts as epitomised in operatic performance. Despite each genre presenting its own problems, which resulted in treatments of staging relevant to it, Meyerhold sought to bring theatre and opera together into an integrated performance -a spectacle set to music. The cross pollination between the arts in the theatre established new ways of perceiving and creating performances. His rewriting of the score and libretto for dramatic purposes significantly opened up new possibilities for staging opera. Mcycrhold established new theatrical techniques drawn directly from musical terminology and structures. The director became an author of a production creating tightly constructed musical, theatrical and visual compositions on the stage, which sought to capture and commemorate the spirit of the age. This interdisciplinary research analyses the aesthetic principles of music, art and drama, which have usually been separated in academic study. The methodology applied consists of an empirical and analytic study.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:631097 |
| Date | January 2005 |
| Creators | Dragasvic, Dolja |
| Publisher | Goldsmiths College (University of London) |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Source | http://research.gold.ac.uk/10907/ |
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