Forms, texture and dramaturgy of 20th century music theatre

Specific Foundation / Core

The course is also offered to exchange programme students.

The students should be in a position to: 1. have a general overwiew of the forms and the dramaturgy of the 20th century music theater. 2. understand the methodology of the analysis libretto together with the musicological analysis of the pieces. 3. to have knowledge of the stage directions of significant performances of the selected pieces. 4. have knowledge of the extended techniques of the vocal part of pieces of the music theater of 20th century. 5. to understand the parameters of the basic methods of vocal education through the performance of repertoire.

The course aims at the analytical approach of pieces of the music theater that constitute representative samples of the music dramaturgy of the 20th century. The aim of the course is to provide a historical overview of the opera and the music theater of the 20th century that is characterised by a variety of tendencies, genres and Schools. It also provides the tools for the analytical approaches of the pieces (analysis of the structure of the libretto and analytical and stylistic approach of the pieces). Wozzeck and Lulu by Alban Berg, Die Bassariden by Hans Werner Henze, Antigonae and Prometheus by Carl Orff, Le Grand Macabre by György Ligeti, Oedipus by Wolfgang Rihm, Die Bakchen, Lysistrata and Ho Gyrismos by Argyris Kounadis, Troades and Medea by Aribert Reimann are some indicative pieces under study, among others. The course includes monitoring of representative performances of the pieces by significant directors of the music theater of the 20th century: Friedrich Götz, Günther Rennert and Walter Felsenstein, Jean-Pierre Ponnelle, but also contemporary directors: Harry Alfred Robert Kupfer, Dieter Dorn, Peter Stein, Siegfried Schoenbohm, Patrice Chéreau, Peter Konwitschny, Luc Bondy, Willy Decker, Andrea Breth, Sir Nicholas Robert Hytner, Alex Ollé, Christof Loy and Yuval Sharon. Moreover, the course aims at the understanding of the parameters of the basic methods of vocal education and offers the possibility of practical application through the performance of repertoire. In every session, special focus will be given in the extended techniques of the vocal part in the selected pieces of music theater of the 20th century, the performance of which is characterised by a variety of sound and speech production like: Sprechgesang, falsetto, production of pitches while inhaling, overtone singing, screaming, among others. The course is addressed to students of musicology, opera singers, choroists, composers and students interested in the forms and dramaturgy of music theater of the 20th century and students interested in the understanding of the parameters of the basic methods of vocal education through the performance of repertoire. The course is also addressed to pianists interested in the accompaniment of singers (Korrepetition).

Music theater, Opera, Vocal education, Voice training

14-03-2021