Powerless to Express Flashcards
What is Neoclassicism?
- Return to late 18th century style, in itself return to Classical Antiquity or notions thereof.
- Not a strongly cohesive idea, not a school. Lots of different styles can be classed as neoclassical. Not a style in itself.
- Neoclassicism happened because bounds of tonality were pushed and there was a need for something else to change.
Importance of irony to Neoclassicism
Good to examine neoclassicism through the lens of irony (or lack thereof).
- Types of irony of the style
o ‘Immanent’ irony of the Classical style (using wit and irony e.g. Haydn)
o ‘Neo’ irony, so potentially a satire of that very style
Types of irony in 3 neoclassical operas
- Love for 3 Oranges - parodical irony
- Oedipus Rex – dramatic irony
- Rake’s Progress – neoclassicism used without ironic motivation, almost postmodernist: needed an opera so wrote one.
Importance of Gasset
- José Ortega y Gasset
o The Dehumanisation of Art (1925)
o ‘purifying’ the Romantic sensibility
o Modern art as anti-popular, always has masses against it. Elitist view of the ‘drab mass of society’
o Aimed to see the work of art as nothing but that
o Essential irony
o Non-transcendence.
o Deforming reality and shattering human aspect, and aesthetic pleasure from this.
Prokofiev, LF3O - general/plot
- OPERA AS PARODY
- 1921
- Parody of 19th century Romantic opera, ironic commentary on the genre
- Promotes ironic ideal of Ortega (even though written before)
- Onstage stage with onstage audience of aesthetes, providing commentary.
o Warring factions of opera-goers: ‘realistic comedians’, ‘high tragedians’, ‘ridiculous ones’
o Destroys illusion of show – anti-Wagner ideal of focus on drama. - ‘Ridiculous ones’ interfere with plot: they rescue the third dying princess with a bucket of water.
o Eliminates pathos of swan song.
Prokofiev LF3O - music
o Set pieces of aria and recit like Mozart, avoiding sprawling emotional melodic lines
o Like Busoni’s idea of ‘new/young Classicality’, saying that Magic Flute was operatic ideal, calling for no erotic, no excess of expression, short closed numbers. N.b. not neoclassicism per se, but set up basic tenets of it.
o Influenced by his neoclassical Classical Symphony (1917) which subverted expectations with Mozartian style – composed after exile from Russia in Bolshevik revolution; parallel since LF3O composed just after WWI. Older styles as means of detachment from horrors of war.
Stravinsky Oedipus Rex - general
OPERA AS DETACHMENT
1927 premiere in Paris
- ‘Aesthetic of abstraction’ from operatic genre as a whole.
- Compositional style shifted as a result of being outcast from Russia – move to non-expression.
How does Oedipus demonstrate an aesthetic of alienation?
Branded an oratorio, not opera
o Production, libretto and music functioned to distance audience from plot. Shattering human aspect as Ortegan aesthetic.
o Costumes covered singers’ bodies entirely and restricted their movement, statue-like
o Text in Latin (translation of Jean Cocteau’s version of Sophocles’ Greek play), to further alienate audience.
o English only used for narrator, reinforcing to the audience that the show is a performance/piece of art. Removal of human/realistic aspect.
o Return to Classical sources – Oedipus
How does the music of Oedipus show a neoclassical aesthetic?
o Negating emotion
o Largely tonal, with regular metre
o Structure not driven by motifs but by coherent key scheme (Classical aesthetic of tonal centres and their pull)
o Aria and recit clearly defined like number opera
o Instrumental forces more modest than pre-war music.
o Mainly winds – seen as less emotive than strings (used in his 1923 Octect as well)
Oedipus - Jocasta’s aria
o Jocasta’s aria ‘Nonn’erubescite’ when she calms Oedipus’ fear about oracle prophecy that he will kill his father
o Famous Stravinsky quotation, ‘music is, by its very nature, essentially powerless to express anything at all’.
o Mixes Handelian secco recit with rich Verdian harmony and instrumentation, intended to create emotional neutralisation because of audible incoherence of styles.
o Represents neoclassical ideal of ‘pure’ art but can argue against neutrality, since emotional excess of the two styles can be seen to have opposite effect.
Stravinsky, The Rake’s Progress - General
- 1951
- Stravinsky’s only full length opera, composed in America
- Libretto by W. H. Auden.
- Seen as culmination of neoclassical works
- Inspired by series of paintings by William Hogarth, A Rake’s Progress
- Follows protagonist, Tom Rakewell’s gradual loss of fortune as he is tempted by Nick Shadow (devil in disguise)
Rake’s Progress plot - neoclassical elements
o Easier to follow compared to Oedipus Rex with more activity and character development.
o But still not as much plot ‘as might be needed for a full opera’
o Still, plot has neoclassical focus on the moral, with a ritualistic, representational viewpoint instead of realist humanised one (Ortega aesthetic of dehumanised art).
o Ironic commentary on plot at end (like end of Don Giovanni - immanent irony) emphasising removal from reality, like LF3O
Rake’s Progress music - neoclassical element
o Uneven text setting (a bit because of Stravinsky’s poor grip on English language) creates sense of alienation, lack of realism in the opera
o Host of Classical and Baroque inspiration but mainly from Mozart
o Generally tonal, with Cosi melodic references (he only listened to this while composing)
o Number opera (like LF3O and Oedipus)
o Rhyming verse sections for aria and prose for recit, emulating opera seria
Rake’s progress - Anne’s aria
o Act I.3
o She realises she has been abandoned by her lover Tom
o References 19th century style in second part after Mozartian recit
o ‘I go to him’ follows Rossinian cabaletta idiom, leading to climatic virtuosic cadenza up to high C, after two verses.
o In serious context, not parodical, for two reasons:
- Auden asked for it, because he liked the ‘golden age’ of opera
- Italian romantic operas remained popular after WWII, against serialist works of Berg, Schoenberg. Strvainsky not fighting against it so no need to not include this style.
So..why is Rake’s Progress neoclassical?
o Neoclassicism not set style, Stravinsky at this point had no ambitions as a reformer (he said this about the opera)
o Late in his neolassical period – was about to move to serial period anyway.
o Unlike LF3O and Oedipus, Rake is neoclassical without the irony. Using neoclassicism without a motivation except that he wanted to compose an opera so just wrote one.
o Factors e.g. his neoclassical style for the last 20 years and liking Mozart play into it, but it is not a provocative work.
